Planting Churches among the City's Poor - Volume 1

P ART I: D EVELOPING U RBAN C ONGREGATIONS • 25

revelation of the presence of the kingdom of God on earth. It is through the creation (or planting) of churches that God’s kingdom is extended into communities that have not yet been touched by the precious surprise of the presence of the kingdom of God in their midst.” 7 The community of the kingdom is comprised of all who acknowledge the Lordship of Christ, who repent of their sins and obey Christ. When a person becomes a Christian, he enters into this fellowship with God and with other Christians. The characteristics of the community of the kingdom can be organized into three major categories: discipleship, worship and witness. 8 The church is a community of family-like relationships: a fellowship of disciples (I John 1:3). The church is a worshipping community that gives praise, honor and thanks to God (Ephesians 5:19-20). And the church is a witnessing community that spreads the message of God’s reign to others (Matthew 28:18-20). These categories, in balance, form the dynamic life of the church. A Community of Discipleship Jesus’ band of disciples were a community of the Kingdom. Before his death, Jesus commissioned the disciples to love one another, to bear fruit, and to testify about him (John 15). Discipleship means equipping people to live for Christ. It involves the internal and external disciplines needed for training in obedience (Colossians 1:28; II Timothy 2:2). Jesus discipled his followers, thus enabling them to disciple others. Following Jesus, the New Testament writers emphasized three ingredients of discipleship in the community of the kingdom: fellowship, sanctification and spiritual gifts. Fellowship is the supportive love relationship that bonds the disciples together in the Body of Christ. Sanctification is the process of being “set apart” for service to God. It involves maturing in Christ by showing the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-26; I Peter 1:2). Spiritual gifts refer to the Spirit’s enablement of each member of the Body to perform his or her function in building the church (Romans 12:4-8; I Corinthians 12:1-31). God uses the gifts of the Holy Spirit to build the community of believers in faith and obedience so it can witness of Jesus to the world (John 15:26-27).

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7 David Shenk and Ervin Stutzman, Creating Communities of the Kingdom: New Testament Models of Church Planting (Scottsdale, AZ: Herald Press, 1988), p. 23

8 Howard A. Snyder, Liberating the Church (Downers Grove, Il: Inter-Varsity Press, 1983), p. 86