Planting Churches among the City's Poor - Volume 1

286 • P LANTING C HURCHES AMONG THE C ITY ’ S P OOR : V OLUME 1

Are we ready to TRANSITION? • Have called and gifted leaders been invested in through formal and informal discipleship? • Has a church government structure been developed so that the church has a way to make decisions and choose future leaders? • Is the church doctrinally sound on the essentials? • Have decisions been made about affiliating with a denomination or association? • Have missionaries planned a way to continue the relationships after withdrawal?

III. What about Cultural Differences?

A Christian missions organization: • Crosses class and cultural barriers

• To reach those unreached by the Gospel of Jesus Christ • And form culturally conducive churches among them.

~ Missionary Orientation and Training Course: A Guide for New Missionaries with World Impact . Los Angeles/Wichita: World Impact Press, 1996. p. 4

A. Indigenous Principles and the End Goal.

The end goal is to create a church that is completely at home in the culture of a people group and that is capable of functioning and reproducing without the missionaries. The most important missiological principle that World Impact embraced in its early days as a ministry was the Acts 15 principle: People do not have to change cultures in order to become Christians.

Some implications:

Missiologists refer to this as the principle of indigeneity. See Indigenous Churches .

The idea of using an indigenous approaches is central to World Impact’s understanding of how to take issues of class and culture seriously in the city.