"Waste of Time": A Question about the CM approach to Evangelism

George Patterson and Richard Scoggins compiled their Church Multiplication Guide: The Miracle of Church Reproduction (Pasadena, CA: William Carey Library, 2002) to present reproductive church planting as the normative activity of a healthy church. You can download a .pdf copy here. The way they present evangelism in that guide can help you understand a missionary method that might be typical of those who would identify with the "Church Multiplication Movement" or "Church Planting Movement". That is not to say that all CMM or CPM proponents hold to all of these tenets, but Patterson and Scoggins exhibit commonalities among most.

            At first glance it would seem that this is an instructional book about starting and maintaining a church planting movement. On a deeper level, though, Patterson and Scoggins structure their material in a two-part format that provides insights into their ecclesiological stance. The first part is a catechism for immediate obedience to Christ that includes basic discipleship and sound theological teaching. The second part presents church reproduction from the perspective of nine different key players within the church multiplication movement. The manner in which Patterson and Scoggins relate their training has some strong points as well as potential weaknesses.

            Patterson and Scoggins present an evangelism approach that is based on missiology within homogenous groups, a strong emphasis on ecclesiastical authority of the local church, a soteriology that is hallmarked by immediate baptism, and a view of predestination that leans somewhat toward hyper-Calvinism. They propose that any culture best reaches out to a congruent culture, so a church planter should be matched with a target population having cultural similarities (p. 123). According to the authors, this is not meant to be a condemnation of cross-cultural apostolic ministry, but it is a pragmatic evaluation of the ease to which homogeneous groups relate. It is a missiological approach based on responsiveness. This speaks to Patterson’s and Scoggins’ heavy reliance on numerical results as an indication of God’s blessing. The authors focus their attention specifically on neglected fields and advocate a mainline thrust into the working class segment of a people group. They believe this is best done by eliminating any incongruence between the target population and the church planter. Whereas this is supported by the authors’ appeal to numbers (see other posts on missiometrics), it could be argued that their approach has a more numerical than biblical basis and contradicts the cross-cultural thrust in the missionary journeys of the apostle Paul.  

The authors perceive evangelism as a local church activity, not a parachurch activity. Specifically, Patterson and Scoggins list evangelism as one of the primary activities of a healthy local church. They say that “evangelists working independently from the church contribute little to church planting and may cause damaging confusion in a pioneer field” (p. 110). Their adherence to the ecclesiastical authority of the local church even in evangelism is praiseworthy, but it might also be seen as restrictive and reductionistic. The local church is the initiator for evangelism, but to eliminate independent evangelists could also be nonbiblical and counterproductive to the authors’ appeal to apostolic ministry. At one point, the authors suggest that evangelism can be initiated through persons of peace who might witness to others even before they have accepted Christ themselves. In this case, there is already a disconnect between the local church and the convert, wouldn't you say?

When discussing evangelism they briefly bring an indictment against emotional pleas for individual conversion (p. 104). Although Patterson had previously employed this “decision making ritual” (p. 104) in Honduras, he now advocates a much more retentive process of baptism-based conversion. The authors reiterate their dependency on metrics when they suggest that “a harvesting method that produces 95% weed seed yields too few true converts to maintain church multiplication” (p. 104). However, this is also a controversial stance. Group or family conversion as opposed to individual intellectual assent seems to also be defined by certain cultural standards. Their objection to western overemphasis of individual decision is well noted, but here again they appear to swing the pendulum to an opposite extreme rather than a happy medium.

            Due to some of his statements in this work, Patterson appears to be a staunch Calvinist and potentially adheres to double predestination. He says, “Unfortunately some missionaries waste years on people whom God has not chosen for salvation [emphasis added], neglecting others close by whom God has prepared” (p. 125). It seems that the determining factor for knowing God’s election is the measure of immediate responsiveness. This is why Patterson and Scoggins seek out a responsive subculture within the host society. They believe that “economic differences will define this subculture as much as racial” (p. 133). If the plumb line of evangelism is simply response to the gospel, it could lead to some current sowing fields becoming the neglected fields of the future. Patterson thinks that “on most neglected fields, this means that you must carefully search for those who will respond and not waste your time with the others” (p. 125). Consequently, the authors’ exhortation to seek out immediate response is also an admonition to ignore delayed response.