Faster, or faithful?

But we could go further. We could talk at length about those who do stay on the field and the many problems that they create. We could talk about the numerous false converts and phantom churches produced by an emphasis on rapid multiplication with minimal doctrine.

Phantom churches, syncretism and team splits from rapid multiplication.

Missionaries are taught, and I kid you not, they're told that when they get on the field, they are to establish rabbit churches, not elephant churches. Rabbit churches with minimal doctrine, minimal ecclesiology so that they can reproduce quickly like rabbits, whereas elephant churches take a long time to establish. But the problem with all of the rabbit churches as one of my missionary friends points out is that they're all devoured by hawks and wolves.

Aubrey Sequeira on “rabbit churches” and “elephant churches”.

Friends, urgency doesn't mean speed. Urgency demands carefulness, diligence in preparation, and discernment in approach. Because our urgency is driven by the knowledge that Christ is worthy of the worship of the nations. I serve as a pastor in the Middle East at an international church.

Urgency doesn't mean speed.

I appreciated so much my friend Aubrey's address. Today in missions, movement methodologies are ascendant, insider movements, church planting movements, disciple-making movements, four-field, short-cycle church planting. Don't think that these are outliers. This is the vast majority of missions today. And the elephant in the room is this. Those things may go on, but go back in five years and see if those churches still exist. That'll tell you the fruit of that type of methodology. Go back with somebody that speaks the language of the people that say that there's a church planted among them, and then evaluate those metrics.

Brooks Buser: movement methodologies are the majority of missions today.

My fear is that nearly an entire generation has been lost to this type of missions. And just in the last couple of years at Radius, we've seen the beginnings of reflection and possible recalibration. So I speak about planting churches that will outlive us.

His fear: a generation lost to this kind of missions.

They must have the written word. Yes, an oral translation is light years faster. You can hand them voice recorders. With the scriptures that have been done in maybe a month and a half. But teaching them how to read, you have deposited information to help expand their world. You've esteemed in their eyes and the eyes of the national government what you're doing.

Orality is a good start but a horrible end for a church.

Dr. Garrison found that around the world, church planting movements, and that's a rapid conversion, not just of individuals, but of large sections of people groups. He found that they've occurred in the last quarter of a century in many and varied parts of the world. Analyzing, learning from, and repeating the fruitful parts of the work that brought these about seemed to him the obvious way.

Mark Dever on David Garrison's assessment of church planting movements.

We happily teach younger Christians to teach what they know as soon as they're in Christ. We'll listen and correct and instruct. So I'm not opposed to formal education. I've participated in it myself. I think schools are helpful, but they're not essential. Uh, David concludes his book with the question, how will we respond to the evidence about these church planting movements? Well, I hope we'll respond by seeing better, more church-centered, more long-sustained and healthy work than I've typified many of these movements.

Respond with more church-centered, long-sustained, healthy work.