Planting Churches Among the City's Poor - Volume 2

P ART II: C HURCH P LANTING T OOLKIT • 245

b. Starting small, informal fellowships that meet in homes, coffee chops, warehouses, fast food restaurants, industrial complexes, parks, and other conventional places.

c. Focus on relationship: loyal to one another above everything else, which translates into loving concern

3. George Barna, Boiling Point : independent faith groups that meet for a complete church experience . . . “this option will appeal to individuals who are especially interested in restoring authenticity, community, and simplicity to the church,” p. 14.

a. Gen X (18-25) is the largest single generation in the history of humankind (around 2 billion).

b. Through interconnection of the world through global media, a “world culture” of the young has emerged.

c. The Gen X generation in the decades to come will dramatically impact the nature of “Church,” whose changes will be lasting and normative, p. 14. 4. Old as well as new believers are longing to find their place; some have become embittered having left the church or meeting together with a sense of prideful exclusion, p. 15.

H. The crowning standard of House Church

House churches, and churches of any kind, should never be exclusive entities cut off from the rest of the body of Christ. The litmus test used to discern if a house church is healthy is simple. The healthy house church will focus on loving the Lord, loving each other, reaching the lost and loving the rest of the body of Christ anywhere and everywhere.

~ House Church Networks. p. 16.

1. Loving the Lord

2. Loving each other

3. Reaching the lost

4. Loving the rest of the body of Christ anywhere and everywhere