I'm gonna do a few series kind of interacting with and starting discussions about themes in some books on church planting. This first series comes out of the The Multiplying Church.
The forward to this book is written by Ed Stetzer, who explains that for a church to be faithful, it must be incarnational, indigenous, and intentional. I'll hit each of those ideas in three posts today. This is number three:
Intentional churches are “strategic about worship style, evangelistic methods, attire, service times, locations, and other matters.” There are some non-negotionals – preaching the bible, worship, discipleship, baptism. But methodologies are determined by how effective they’ll be in our specific cultural context.
Now some Christians will argue with this because they hold the view that everything is non-negotiable – and so the style we’ve always done music is still the right style, our old method of evangelism is still the right method, our service times (which were originally chosen because we were a farming community, and there’s no longer a farm within 20 miles) are still the right service times, and polyester is definitely still the right fabric for our suits. These are people who have never read Romans 15 and 16. They’ve made idols of their methods.
But here’s what I wonder: I’m sure anyone who reads this blog would agree that (though we can’t change our message) we can change our methods, but I wonder how we choose our methods. Have the methods your church uses (like your style of preaching and worship, your service times, the way you do small groups, what your web site looks like, the form discipleship takes in your church) truly been determined by what is most effective in your specific cultural context, or by something else? (Like maybe you carry on what you’ve always known, or you copy what’s been proven effective in some other church’s specific cultural context, or you do what keeps your core people happy because you hate confrontation?)
And, second question: Let’s say you were starting a new church in a cultural context that was new to you. How would you go about determining what methodologies would be most effective?
Tell me what you’re thinking…
- featured on newchurches.com
Monday, April 14, 2008
The Multiplying Church 3 - Intentional
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
When we first started our church, I'd have to admit that we borrowed a lot of what we saw was working in other places. Some of it translated, much of it didn't (a lot of lessons learned!). Now, doing what we do, each of our churches seem to be rising more out of the culture--that's definitely true with the churches that started with a mix of brand new Christians and unchurched people or totally unchurched people. Still to early to tell, though.
I would say the best way to determine what methods work best for the culture your church will be in is to live in it for awhile and be exposed to it--and not just for a couple of months like many "parachute drop churches" seem to do. I'm not sure you can learn and adapt to a particular culture in just a few months. It takes longer than that to get to know people, to learn the area hot spots, what drives the economy, what is important to people, the needs of the community, entertainment choices, etc. Maybe 1-2 years or more before the core group building begins. I don't know... I came back home, and already know the culture (but I still need to be a better student of it).
I remember our pastor talking about when he was planting our church... He and the small group from their "home church" just started walking the neighborhood, knocking on doors and talking with people. Not so much "we're starting a church you should come", but more "hi, we'd like to know you better". They would even help with projects if they walked in on the middle of it.
It was their way of practicing all 3 elements, all at the same time. They canvassed something like 3000 homes in the months before the first service.
I liked the way they approached it - handing out no more than a casual calling card but being real in the community. Making their presence known. I would have stood on the porch and chatted with someone... all the better for that first service if you go and already know someone. It's all about personal, human, connection!
Post a Comment