Planting Churches among the City's Poor - Volume 1

P ART II: T HEOLOGICAL AND M ISSIOLOGICAL P RINCIPLES AND I NSIGHTS • 183

The Role of Sound Ecclesiology in Urban Mission Rev. Dr. Don L. Davis • World Impact’s Candidate Assessment Program (for missionary applicants). Wichita: World Impact.

Many questions are brewing about the church and its place in spirituality and mission:

• Can one be saved apart from the church? • Is it possible to be in a right relationship with God and his people and yet not be a part of a local assembly of Christians? • Is faith in the local church a “misplaced hope”?

The point here is simply to recognize that if we place all our hope in the local church, it is a misplaced hope. Many well-intentioned pastors promote this perspective by proclaiming, “The local church is the hope of the world.” Like most advertising slogans, this notion is emotionally appealing. The trouble is, the sentiment is not biblical. Jesus, and Jesus alone, is the hope of the world. The local church is one mechanism that can be instrumental in bringing us closer to him and helping us to be more like him. But, as the research data clearly show, churches are not doing the job. If the local church is the hope of the world, then the world has no hope. ~ George Barna. Revolution . Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale Publishers, 2005, p. 36. The essence of sound ecclesiology: The Church of God in Jesus Christ is central in understanding and appreciating the saving acts of God in Christ throughout salvation history, in today’s world, and in the age to come. • The Church of God in Jesus Christ is critically important in salvation history. • The Church of God in Jesus Christ is integral in its imagery in trinitarian theology. • The Church of God in Jesus Christ has great implication for us in urban missions today.

I. The Church of God in Jesus Christ Is Critically Important in Salvation History.

A. The Church is central in comprehending God’s saving purpose for the universe.