.jpeg)
Stephen: Like every area of the church, the missionary endeavor is not immune from trends. Every so often, new terminology and methodology crop up, sparking discussion and change. Of course, not all change is bad, especially for the church in the West, where missions have been in decline for some time. In the last decade or so, one of the most popular trends in missiology has been something called disciple-making movements. DMM, as it’s called, promises to reverse that decline. And on the surface, it sounds biblical. What’s wrong with making disciples, right? Isn’t that the very heart of the Great Commission? But below the surface, there’s more to DMM that requires some discernment.
Chad, our question today is one that I know is close to your heart and that you’ve written about a lot. We want to talk about whether disciple-making movements are biblical.
Chad: Well, I’m not sure disciple-making movements are near my heart, though I have read, written, spoken, and debated about them more than most. But I’m thankful for the question nonetheless. Disciple-making movements, or DMM, really follow closely on the heels of church-planting movements, or CPM. Church-planting movements were something promoted initially by David Garrison and the International Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention. The general idea was that the missionary is not merely planting a church, but planting a church that plants churches. The method for this varied among practitioners, but the general goal remained the same. You’d often hear 2 Timothy 2:2 employed in regard to defining a movement. It became popular to point to four levels defining a church plant. Paul telling Timothy, so that’s the first level, telling the second level, entrust these things to faithful men, third level, who will be able to teach others also, fourth level. Many in the world of church-planting movements favored some troubling methods. For example, insider movements where the Christian would, to some degree, stay out of the church and in the religion they were already in. POP, or person of peace, was a method by which the missionary passed on his job of proclamation to someone they met who seemed favorable to the gospel and self-discovery Bible studies where no one really taught, the people studied the Bible and discovered the truth on their own. Many pressed away from the idea of a missionary coming and proclaiming the gospel and teaching the Bible, which seemed Western, top-down, and even imperialistic. Disciple-making movements carried all this a step further, largely coming from the work of a father and son, the Watsons. Also in the IMB, DMM stressed the making of disciples rather than planting churches. The claim is that Jesus never commanded us to plant churches. At its core, then, DMM is about establishing a movement for generations of disciples who make disciples.
There are three core parts to their method. First, the POP, or the person of peace. Second, the DBS, or the Discovery Bible Study. And third, obedience-based discipleship.
Now, the person of peace was an unbeliever that you met who was positive toward you in some way. And there are ways to establish that. The Discovery Bible Study was a study that was led by the unbelievers themselves. They would read the passage, write down what it means, and then write down some principle to obey. And that leads, third, to obedience-based discipleship, which is the idea that they would obey principle after principle until they fully bent the knee to Christ and so came to submission to Him and were saved. Now, with both DMM and CPM, there’s a heavy emphasis upon prayer and a trust in the Holy Spirit to help teach and correct the groups who are studying without the intervention of missionaries. They also both emphasize speed in the work, that this is a new work of the Holy Spirit, and they tell lots of anecdotal stories that sound encouraging.
Let me begin my critique by returning to the question, are disciple-making movements biblical? The simple answer is unequivocally no. I’m not suggesting, first, that no one has been saved, nor that no good work is done. The Lord can work whenever and however he wants. He is God. However, our basis of assessment regarding whether a method is biblical is how it stands up to the scrutiny of the Bible. The Bible is our sole authority for faith and practice. The Lord can do whatever He wants, but we’re responsible to do what He’s commanded us to do in His Word. So let me start there.
First, Christ commanded us to proclaim the gospel. This includes the historical facts of His life, death, resurrection, ascension, current session, and soon-coming return. This also includes the necessary response of faith and repentance and the reward of forgiveness of sins and the reception of the Holy Spirit. We see this command in summary form in Luke 24:44-49. We see the apostles follow this exact pattern in Acts 2 and 3 and 10, just to name a few passages. Further, we see the apostles following the command to then baptize those disciples and to teach them. We can see that clearly in Acts 2:41-42, as they’re baptized, devoted to the apostles’ doctrine, to the fellowship, in other words, the church, to the Lord’s Supper, and even to organized prayer meetings. This is church planting. This is what Jesus commanded. He did so precisely because His mission is to build His church.
Second, we’re discouraged from coming up with new methods that we deem to be more effective. Paul addresses this in 2 Corinthians 4:1. Therefore, having this ministry by the mercy of God, we do not lose heart, but we have renounced disgraceful, underhanded ways. We refuse to practice cunning or to tamper with God’s Word, but by the open statement of the truth we would commend ourselves to everyone’s conscience in the sight of God. See, the Word of God is to be clearly taught. We do not need to add worldly methods that appear more powerful to us. In fact, by doing so, we undermine the power of the cross. "For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel and not with words of eloquent wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power." 1 Corinthians 1:17.
That is a damning comment about any ministry method. But here comes an objection. Don’t we see these DMM methods in the Bible? Don’t we see the person of peace in Luke 10? Don’t we see self-discovery Bible studies in Acts 8? Don’t we see obedience-based discipleship in Matthew 28:19–20?
The short answer is no, that’s not what we see at all. However, I want to give a short reply to each of those claims.
First, don’t we see the person of peace in Luke 10? Luke 10 is often appealed to as the basis for the POP, the person of peace, because we read this as Jesus sends out the seventy-two. Luke 10:5.
Whatever house you enter, first say, "Peace be to this house." And if a son of peace is there, your peace will rest upon him, but if not, it will return to you. And remain in the same house, eating and drinking what they provide, for the laborer deserves his wages. Do not go from house to house. Whenever you enter a town and they receive you, eat what is set before you, heal the sick in it, and say to them, “The kingdom of God has come near to you.” But whenever you enter a town and they do not receive you, go into its streets and say, “Even the dust of your town that clings to our feet we wipe off against you.” Nevertheless, know this, that the kingdom of God has come near. I tell you, it will be more bearable on that day for Sodom than for that town.
Doesn’t that clearly tell us that in some towns there will be sons of peace, or, to be more gender-inclusive, persons of peace? Well, yes, it does. The question is this. What is a son of peace, or a person of peace? Is it someone who’s merely positively disposed to the missionary? The answer is no.
The key in this text is to note three facts. First, the son of peace receives you, verse 8. Second, the sentence upon those who do not receive you is damnation, verses 10 through 12. Third, those who receive you are doing so because they hear the Good Shepherd’s voice calling them out. In other words, son of peace is not a reference to someone who is pleasant. It is a reference to someone who has received the gospel of reconciliation with God.
Luke 10:16. Listen to what Jesus says. “The one who hears you hears me, and the one who rejects you rejects me, and the one who rejects me rejects him who sent me.”
Second, don’t we see Discovery Bible studies in Acts 8? The story of Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch is often appealed to as the basis for Discovery Bible studies, a self-directed study with no teacher. The Ethiopian eunuch is not yet a follower of Jesus, but he’s reading Isaiah 53 and trying to understand it. The Spirit of the Lord sent Philip to him. Let’s hear what the text says there. Acts 8:30.
So Philip ran to him and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet and asked, “Do you understand what you’re reading?” And he said, “How can I, unless someone guides me?” And he invited Philip to come up and sit with him. Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning with this Scripture, he told him the good news about Jesus.
This is a scene in which a foreign missionary, Philip the Evangelist, is teaching the Bible and proclaiming the gospel to an unbeliever. This is manifestly not a Discovery Bible study.
Third, don’t we see obedience-based discipleship in Matthew 28:19–20? Among DMM practitioners, it is popular to say that Jesus said, "make disciples, teaching them to obey." Thus, obedience is the basis of discipleship, but obedience to what Jesus taught is a means for making disciples. It is not the basis of discipleship any more than baptism is the basis for discipleship.
Friends, obedience is the fruit of faith in Christ. Obedience is not the basis of discipleship unless one assumes that we are saved by our obedience. The basis of our discipleship is the person and work of Jesus Christ and being united to Him through faith and by the Holy Spirit. We hear the gospel, and the light of the glory of Christ is seen by us as the Spirit gives us eyes to see, and we believe. We are born again by the Holy Spirit, made new through faith in Christ, and obedience is the fruit of this. It is never the basis. Listen to the clear logic in Titus 2.
For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others, and hating one another. But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration, renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our savior, so that being justified by his grace, we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life. The saying is trustworthy. And I want you to insist on these things so that those who have believed in God may be careful to devote themselves to good works. These things are excellent and profitable for people.
The idea that obedience is the basis of discipleship is a false gospel and we should repudiate it every chance we get.
Third, and finally, the task is clear. Proclaim the gospel and gather new disciples into the church through baptism. Teach them and serve communion and care for one another and pray together. The method is also clear. Proclaim Christ to unbelievers both here and among the nations. The word of God is powerful. It will not return void. The spirit of God will do the work of God through the word of God being proclaimed. How will they hear unless someone preaches to them? And how will they preach unless they are sent? This is not complicated. We send missionaries to preach the gospel and plant churches. We pray for the Lord to work powerfully through them to save them. We trust God's spirit to work through the means that he has given to us.
Stephen: Thanks for listening to Ask Missionary. If you'd like to download a free copy of Chad's booklet titled "A Brief Guide to Disciplemaking Movements," visit our store at missionary.com. While you're there, you can check out our glossary. Like our topic today, there's often more than meets the eye in missions terminology. This glossary feature was designed to help you and your church clarify what it all means. If you have a question you would like to hear answered on Ask Missionary, get in touch with us on X, Instagram, or you can contact us through missionary.com and your question may be featured on the show. And don't forget to subscribe to the show to get notified when our next episode airs next week. Thanks for listening.