Frequently Asked Questions
1. Does GCPN have a doctrinal statement? Yes, the GCPN affirms the Lausanne Covenant.
2. How is GCPN organized?
GCPN is served by a global facilitation team and seeks to "connect people and resources to accelerate global church planting" by developing relational catalyst teams in 15 regions which in turn seek to develop or encourage and provide support to relational national church planting mobilization teams in every country.
3. Is GCPN more project or process oriented?
Because GCPN is directed by a comprehensive gobal vision, GCPN is process oriented taking a long-term view. This process is of course composed of many projects and activities.
4. Does GCPN espouse any particular means or methods of church planting?
No, GCPN encourages learning and putting into practice fruitful practices being learned from all practitioners witnessing the acceleration of church planting.
5. What are some of the means encouraged by GCPN and their contribution?
Pioneer Church Planting teams are the earliest teams to arrive for the purpose of engaging Unreached People Groups (UPGs). UPGs are people groups not engaged by pioneer church planting teams or who have been engaged but remain "least reached" (e.g. under 2%) as compared with neighbouring people groups.
Saturation Church Planting (SCP) is seeks to mobilize the entire church in a nation to plant churches until all people groups are "saturated" (generally defined as at least 1 church for each 1000 persons) with vital disciple making communities. This broad partnership and its goals are generally based on the "3-legged stool" of national research (of the harvest field and harvest force), prayer movements and training for church planting. This approach was pioneered in the Philippines by Jim Montgomery, founder of Dawn Ministries.
Church Planting Movements (CPM) is a church planting tactic based on the model of Jesus in Matthew 10 and Luke 10. Workers seek persons of peace and establish house churches in the oikos (household) of the person of peace. More information is available from www.churchplantingmovements.com and www.cpmtr.org.
For more detailed explanation of the relationship between SCP and CPM goals and strategies please click here.
GCPN embraces and seeks to advance all biblical church planting methods to reach all peoples by empowering leaders in all nations. It seeks to be comprehensive (see diagram above) and believes that both the national partnership context and biblical means contribute to a maximum increase in church planting towards discipling all people groups within a nation.
