Ministry in a Multi-Cultural and Unchurched Society

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Mi n i s t r y i n a Mu l t i -Cu l tura l and Unchur ched Soc i et y

b. A church planter would stay behind and mentor and lead these emerging leaders, grounding them in doctrines and practices to ensure the health of house churches.

c. “At the core of the Yanyin movement was a house church model that combined lay leadership develop ment, mutual accountability, biblical authority and rapid reproducibility,” p. 61.

II. Dynamic Church Planting Movements Reveal Three Interrelated Elements: Shared Spirituality, People Group Identity, and Multiplication Strategy.

Some aspects of Church Planting Movements are logical and intuitive, but many are not. Those who miss this point may well find them selves like the pre-converted apostle Paul kicking against the goads. A goad was a first-century cattle prod used by the herder to prod the livestock where he wanted them to go. When we act out of our own reasoning rather than aligning ourselves with God's ways, we are like an obstinate goat that puts itself at cross purposes with the Master’s will. If we want to be on mission with God we simply must pause long enough to understand how God is on mission. Only then can we know with some degree of certainty that we are aligned as his instruments and not misaligned as his obstacles. ~ David Garrison. Church Planting Movements: How God Is Redeeming a Lost World. Midlothian, VA: WIGTake Resources, 2004. p. 28.

A. Dynamic CPMs are based on an intensely shared spirituality .

1. CPMs presume a valid, distinctive apostolic spiritual identity worthy of the Lord, i.e., consistent with Scripture and informed by the Great Tradition.

2. Shared spirituality represents the essential identity and essence of the churches that are being reproduced and growing.