Focus on Reproduction, Mentor's Guide, MG12

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F O C U S O N R E P R O D U C T I O N

Planting Urban Churches Sowing

Welcome to the Mentor’s Guide for Lesson 2, Planting Urban Churches: Sowing . The overall focus of this lesson is the introduction of the concept of oikos in urban evangelism. It is hard emphasize how important the idea of the oikos is for ministry, not just urban ministry, but all forms of outreach that are interested in multiplied impact on families, groups and communities. In this lesson we will cover in what ways an oikos is that web of common kinship relationships, friendships, and associations that make up a person’s larger social circle. We will start with a general outline of the idea of oikos in the NT, and then, begin to explore the practical application of this meaning for urban cross-cultural evangelism. D. N. Freedman’s account of the oikos in Peter’s epistle can give you some further background of the concept in the New Testament: Among these various images of community, it is the identification and exhortation of Christians as members of the household or family of God which dominates the letter from beginning to end. In two key passages of the letter, 2.4–10 and 4.12–19, the community is explicitly called the “household ( oikos ) of the Spirit” (2.5) or the “household ( oikos ) of God” (4.17). In the former passage, this phrase interprets the covenantal epithet basileion (Exod. 19.6) cited in 2.9, and describes the eschatological community as the “house(hold) in which God’s Spirit dwells” (Elliott 1981: 167–69). In the latter passage, “house(hold) of God” likewise identifies the community united with Christ and upon which God’s Spirit rests. Consistent with this household metaphor are further instances of oikos -related terminology. The readers also are assured that they are being “built up” ( oikodomeisthe , 2.5) by God and at the letter’s conclusion this metaphor of construction and confirmation is repeated (5.10). In the household instruction of 2.18–3.7, the servant-slaves are addressed not with the conventional term for slaves ( douloi , Eph. 6.5; Col. 3.22; Titus 2.9) but with the word for “household servants” ( oiketai , 2.18). In its only NT occurrence, synoikein is used to exhort Christian husbands to “live together” with their wives in the knowledge that both spouses are co-heirs of the grace of life (3.7). Similarly, all the addressees are encouraged to practice hospitality, love, and mutual service as “household stewards ( oikonomoi ) of God’s varied grace” (4.7–11).

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~ D. N. Freedman. The Anchor Bible Dictionary . Vol. 5. New York: Doubleday. pp. 275-276.