Planting Churches among the City's Poor - Volume 1

Prologue

What Is an Anthology? An anthology is a group of resources or items, a collection of some sort, usually selected from a larger whole, most often done by various contributors, authors, or creators themed according to a particular period, but usually concerning a single subject. In other words, an anthology brings together a host of various contributions and reflections all hoping to shed light on the nature of a single theme or enterprise. By this definition, the following work is in fact that kind of collection on the nature of planting churches, specifically leading teams and coaching planters, among people groups and communities which have historically been the product of benign evangelical neglect. In other words, peoples and communities which, because of their race, or poverty, or violence, or cultural distance, have not been our normal targets for evangelical mission. These documents, graphics, and essays are the result of decades of thought and practice done by urban missionaries among America’s urban poor. In their totality they offer a historical snapshot into the various thinking, writing, and reflection that emerged within the World Impact Religious Missionary Order, a community dedicated to planting churches in the most dangerous and least targeted urban communities for the past forty years. Why Plant Churches among the Urban Poor? More than two years ago, I wrote a short essay about the phrase “urban poor,” whether it was still legitimate to use the term, or perhaps, it should be abandoned as a demeaning and outmoded wording for more accurate and less offensive language (cf. http://worldimpact.org/ empowering-the-urban-poor .) I wrote the following: Since our founding more than forty years ago, World Impact has spoken prophetically regarding God’s election of the poor, the benign neglect of the evangelical church of America’s inner city poor, and the need for evangelism, discipleship, and church planting in unreached urban poor communities. We believe that credible urban mission must demonstrate the Gospel, testifying in both the proclaimed word and concrete action. In light of this, we have emphasized living in the communities we serve, ministering to the needs of the whole person, as well as to the members of the whole urban family. We have sought this witness with a goal to see communities reached and transformed by Christ, believing that those who live in the city and are poor can be empowered to live in the freedom, wholeness,

11