Ripe for Harvest

S ESSION 2: P REPARE • 153

8. Exercise prudence in speech and action. One cultural faux pas can have devastating consequences, Prov. 22.3.

9. Do not demand that people from other cultures join your own in order to be disciples of Christ, Gal. 5.1; 2 Cor. 3.17.

10. Live in biblical freedom: apply biblical principles, and do not elevate cultural platitudes (the 1 Corinthian 6-8-10 principles).

11. Recognize the universal nature of the Kingdom of God, and shift your loyalty. Get in step with what God’s universal, global, and historical plan is for the Church of Jesus Christ. Become a world Christian while serving here in your local assembly, Matt. 28.18-20.

12. Pray that God will guide you in the process and enable you to be effective in understanding and service, Matt. 7.7.

The Bottom Line: ____________________________________________

Review the following appendices in Planting Churches among the City’s Poor: An Anthology of Urban Church Planting Resources (please refer to the Appendix Table at the end of this session in order to find the location of each document listed below, i.e., its volume and page number), and then answer together the questions under Seminar Group Discussion . • Our Declaration of Dependence: Freedom in Christ • Targeting Unreached Groups in Churched Neighborhoods • Interaction of Class, Culture, and Race • The Complexity of Difference: Race, Culture, Class • The Missionary Vocation: Assessing Cross-Cultural Adaptability • The Continuum of Cultural practice • Five Views of the relationship between Christ and Culture • Authentic Freedom in Jesus Christ

Context Values/Vision Prepare Launch Assemble Nurture Transition Schedule/Charter

• The Cycle of Freedom • Theological Diversity • Translating the Story of God