I was introduced recently to a current in missions called “Disciplemaking Movements” (DMM). I have not studied these in depth, so what follows is what it claims to be: some personal reflections on this relatively new approach to missions.
Inductive Bible studies were not an element in the ministry of InterVarsity Christian Fellowship at its beginning, nor did IV invent them. But by the time my wife Ruth and I got to university, they were central to the IV ministry. There developed a large current in IV which held that inductive Bible studies were a much better tool for discipleship than preaching or teaching.
My InterVarsity campus staff (who became our Regional Director soon after I graduated) was solidly Reformed in soteriology, but not so strong in ecclesiology. He had a Plymouth Brethren upbringing and so was saturated in scripture, but had not fully recognized the deficiencies of the Plymouth Brethren regarding the church. When I joined interVarsity staff and moved to Philadelphia, my Area Director was a graduate of Westminster Theological Seminary and he introduced me to Reformed ecclesiology.
My father was in the Church of the Brethren, which arose in Germany during the Pietistic movement. The Brethren were simple folk who had a simplistic approach to Christianity – do what the Bible says – but they were deficient in historical or theological reflection. Fortunately God prevented them from abandoning the theology of the historic creeds, but otherwise they had little appreciation for any ideas they could not find in the Bible on their own.
It seems to me that these examples exhibit the Anabaptist concept of the church: us good folk who love Jesus, meet together for encouragement, and do what we read in the Bible. It emerged in the radical Reformation, in the Church of the Brethren, in InterVarsity, in generic contemporary evangelicalism, and now in these new mission movements. In fact the church is not merely a social community that reads the Bible and prays. The church is an other-worldly creation of Jesus. The church is the visible expression of the Kingdom of God on earth, and as a spiritual-political entity has a King, laws, and officers. You don’t get to be a church by saying you obey Jesus and singing songs. A church is created by Jesus through His appointed representatives (ordained officers). Just as you aren’t married by loving each other; loving each other makes you lovers. You are married only when an officer (pastor or civil magistrate) pronounces you married. You aren’t a Christian by believing in Jesus. Believing in Jesus makes you a believer; baptism makes you a Christian. A church is created by Jesus through ordained (authorized) officers.
The unaddressed question of the articles referenced about Disciplemaking Movements is how a church may arise when there are no authorized men present. Surely it is wonderful when people read and discuss the Bible, even unbelievers. It is mean-spirited to disparage this. Reformed people ought energetically to encourage all sorts of people to read the Bible and talk to all sorts of people about it. Too often Reformed people are so terrified of error, they shut people out of the Kingdom. Yes, error will creep in. Error creeps in to confessional denominations! This is why the teaching office is essential to the church – to correct error and guide people into the truth. A healthy spiritual environment should encourage everyone to read and discuss the Bible, and also to provide authoritative teaching of the truth and correction of error. Both are needed.
If Stephenson wants to help Diciplemaking Movements do better, good for him – but the origin and foundation of these movements is deeply flawed and unstable. Vegas identifies serious issues with these movements, but fails to hit the crucial issue: a fatally flawed concept of the church.
These mission movements have correctly understood how to engage some unbelievers with the scripture and the gospel. They fail in establishing churches because they have no means to do it. Traditional missions may err by limiting what ordinary people can do, thus cramping the growth of the church. However, to the extent that they send ordained men to the field, they are able to establish true churches.
We need a free and energetic enthusiasm about the spread of the gospel, and a lawful approach to establishing real churches.
Articles Referenced
Stevenson, J. R. “Reformed Theology and Movements: What Can We Learn from Each Other?” Global Missiology 20, no. 1 (January 2023). http://ojs.globalmissiology.org/index.php/english/article/view/2722. Accessed April 19, 2025.
Vegas, Chad. A Brief Guide To DMM: Defining and Evaluating the Ideas Impacting Missions Today.” Radius International. https://www.radiusinternational.org/a-brief-guide-to-dmm/. Accessed April 19, 2025.
C. David Green
Easter, 2025
David Green 