Ripe for Harvest

52 • R IPE FOR H ARVEST

b) 56% of these churches were still active at the time the study was completed in January of 2015.

2. Community Church (51-200 people): The community church is the most common expression of church, numerically speaking, in the world today. This expression can be under stood as a “Family Reunion” with aunts, uncles, grandparents, and lots of cousins! a) A recent study of approximately 160 church plants launched between 1991 and 2015 among the urban poor showed that some 34% fit this category.

b) 82% of these churches were still active at the time the study was completed in January of 2015.

3. Mother Church (200+ people): The mother church (or “hub church”) represents a larger assembly of believers, and can be understood like a “Battalion” in a nation’s armed forces. A unit that has lived, worked, and trained together to represent their nation’s interests in a particular locale.

C. All healthy expressions share seven essential practices.

1. Baptism (Matt. 3.13−17; 28.19−20; Rom. 6.1−14)

2. Prayer (Matt. 6.5−15; Psalms; Luke 18.1−15; 1 Thess. 5.17)

3. Lectio divina (Matt. 4.1−11; Ps. 119)

4. Ministry (John 13; Eph. 4.11−16; Rom. 12; 1 Cor. 12; 1 Pet. 4.10−11)

5. Church discipline (Matt. 6.14−15; 18.15−20; 2 Cor. 2.1−11; 2 Thess. 3.13−15; Gal. 6.1)

6. Proclamation (Matt. 4.23; 1 Pet. 2.9; Phil. 2.15−16; Acts 1.8)

7. The Lord’s Supper (Matt. 22.2−14; 26.26−31; 1 Cor. 11.17−34; Rev. 19.6−9)

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