Abstract
The last decades of mission thinking and practice have presented multiple new methodologies, stories, and “movements” that have at times both invigorated and challenged existing missiological thinking. From Church Growth Movement to chronological storytelling to orality to Insider Movements, each new approach has brought a discussion of what is/are a biblical model(s) of missions. These various approaches have corresponded with some of the greatest Gospel harvests in history among the previously unreached, but they have also sparked controversy and suspicion in the process.
The large scale “fruit” of the Disciple Making Movement (DMM) meant its missiology would naturally draw concern and distrust. A response was needed, not just of anecdotes, but one of deep theological reflection. Motus Dei: The Movement of God to Disciple the Nations is written to be a that serious missiological response, both as an apologetic and an invitation. The collection of essays covers extensive topics and leaves the reader with no doubt about what DMM is and its goals and methodologies are.
Motus Dei is not an introduction to DMMs. Readers seeking that should begin with the book's Forward author, David Garrison's Church Planting Movements and A Wind in the House of Islam. However, Section 1 covering the first five essays does ensure the reader has clarity as to what DMMs are and are not. The section feels at times as if its goal is to address critics of the DMM phenomena, including chapters on identification and counting of both disciples and DMMs. The authors make clear they are not talking about Insider Movements, but rather Christ-centred and identifying communities of faith. The third chapter focuses on addressing the higher-level theological and missiological concerns about DMMs. The concerns raised are genuine. However, the book also acknowledges that some of the concerns regarding DMM and its practitioners by missionaries/agencies arise specifically due to success in traditionally hostile environments and the size of the DMM phenomena. Traditional missionaries/agencies which have seen small numbers of new believers have a legitimate wariness of large movements and worry that “shortcuts” are taken to gain the numbers described in books like Garrison's.
This opening section is then deepened in the second section, as it provides the common theology and practices that define the various DMMs globally. This section seeks to accomplish two goals at the same time, providing some of the “nuts and bolts” of DMMs, while also providing a biblical and theological apologia to critics of DMMs. One of the misconceptions of DMMs is that they are merely scattered groupings of new believers whose growth is random, disorganized and potentially heretical. This section elucidates the well-developed ecclesiology and missiology of DMMs. As a reader only aware of these movements from Garrison's books, this second section provided the best explanation and understanding of how DMMs begin and operate.
The biggest complaint I had regarding the third section is about Movement Dynamics. This section felt like the essays were included for reasons beyond the goal of expressing the DMM's missiological theology. While each was interesting, given the length of the book, they acted as a distraction from the task already at hand. An example is Why Movements Rise and Fall, which repeated much of the prior section's “nuts and bolts,” but also showed that movements follow the business life cycle found in business literature (which granted is very helpful). There were no examples to help illustrate where DMMs today have headed (those that have risen and fallen already). While Its conclusions can be applied to every missiological movement over the past one hundred and fifty years, it wasn't DMM exclusive, something true of the rest of the chapters in this section.
There was a need to go beyond the skeletal explanations found in the first two sections of the book, and the fourth section, Case Studies, provides that with narratives of DMMs in various contexts. Each of these provides helpful insights into the DMM phenomena but can also be applied to missiological contexts outside of DMMs. This is especially true of the final chapter on second-generation challenges, a challenge of all workers seeking to see generation fruit.
The final section rewards the reader for their diligence, but also may dampen any excitement for those wanting to start DMMs. The section's lead essay, working from empirical data, provides a profile of the leaders at the heart of DMMs. For all interest in moving toward DMMs that the prior sections may have generated, this chapter's profile of leaders of DMMs will likely highlight the mismatch between existing leaders and the apostolic leader profile. The penultimate chapter also describes the process that agencies must go through to support DMMs and their practitioners. For legacy mission agencies, with “DNA” based on the move of God at the time of origin, the described changes to facilitate DMMs will require time and intentionality.
The final chapter serves as a capstone and rationale for the book's writing, as well rationale for the choices of preceding chapters in their presentation on DMMs. This reader sensed their desire to answer critics and concerns while also expressing a needed missiology and theology of DMMs. In so doing, the desire for better understanding, and more importantly cooperation between existing churches and DMM communities is sought. There is also an honest admission that DMM practices need constant evaluation and sharpening to ensure healthy and lasting fruit, something true of all ministries. The practitioners behind this book want long-term, impactful, Christ-identifying churches that change the cultures they exist in and the global challenges before humanity. These are goals that both critics and supports of DMMs can applaud.
Reading Motus Dei feels like going on a year-long course in DMM missiology, and thus makes it ideal for the academic setting. But for mission agencies/leaders who are seeking to keep in step with the Spirit, it will provide a challenge and a guide to seeing DMMs in the context in which they operate. A well-rounded missiology of DMMs was needed, and Motus Dei has provided it in rich detail.
