EMQ » July–September 2023 » Volume 59 Issue 3
Summary: Innovative strategies are linking new and existing methods of evangelism and discipleship in ways not previously explored. In many cases, technology is playing a key role. The result is rapid expansion of the global church on both quantitative and qualitative levels.
By Josiah Palusky
The twenty-first century opened the floodgates. Urbanization, smartphones, social media, and the internet each brought new opportunities to rapidly spread the gospel message. Alongside the digital age, another revolution was gaining momentum: disciple making movements (DMM) and church planting movements CPM). This multiplication-focused missions community brought a powerful shift towards discipleship, but an ideological divide grew between movement practitioners and ministries that focus on mass gospel proclamation.
I grew up in a missionary family that stressed discipleship and the slow, relational task of community transformation. When I heard ministries talk about millions of people clicking an “I accepted Christ” button on their evangelistic website I would roll my eyes and say to myself, come on guys.
However, my outlook began to change when I started meeting people who were highly invested in discipleship and used mass evangelism strategies to catalyze discipleship and church planting movements. I started to ask questions.
What if these two worlds aren’t mutually exclusive?
What if mass communication strategies can accelerate movements?
