Ripe for Harvest

S ESSION 2: P REPARE • 193

Preparing for the Task (Please refer to As You form Your Plan, Keep Your Overall Purpose in Mind in this section as you answer the questions below.) 1. What demographic work still needs to be done? 2. If the missionary/church planter’s role is to translate Scripture cross-culturally, how will we find out more about the culture we are planting this church in (i.e., attend certain movies, visit barber/ beauty shops, library research, find out where people in this community congregate)? 3. Do we need to do any more work in finding out the history of this community (i.e., important facts, key concerns and issues)? 4. Who are the leaders and role models in this community? Who are the key decision-makers in this community? 5. What kinds of things are found to be offensive in this community? 6. What language(s) will be used in the church plant? 7. Do we intend to plant a mono-ethnic or multi-ethnic church? 8. With whom in the community will we pursue our first evangelistic contacts (adults/children, men/women, parent/grandparents, occupation, ethnicity)? 9. What are some ideas for us to make entree into this community? 10. What style of worship music will we use in our initial meetings? Why? 11. How will we identify, acknowledge, and train emerging leaders? 12. How will we discuss and respond to questions on various ethical issues, e.g., divorce, smoking, substance abuse, dress? 13. What resources will we need and how can we obtain them? 14. How will we oversee the handling of the money (collect, count, receipt, record, deposit, reconcile, write/sign checks, write reports to keep the leaders/body up to date on income/expenses, etc.)? (See “Bank Accounts and Receiving Gifts” in Planting Churches among the City’s Poor: An Anthology of Urban Church Planting Resources for more information).

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