Planting Churches among the City's Poor - Volume 1

P ART I: D EVELOPING U RBAN C ONGREGATIONS • 31

liturgy and worship. Dialogue with and openness to indigenous peoples, old and new, are signs of a high-quality relationship between a church and its neighborhood.” 22 Self-Functioning The church is a body where each member functions according to his/her gift (Ephesians 4:16). The church functions as an organism (relationships, personal support) and as an organization (structure, formal identity). As an organism the church has different parts that fulfill important functions. The church is not fully functioning if only the pastor does the work of the church. To be a functioning organism every member of the church should participate and contribute according to their God given gifts and abilities. Paul said, “ to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good” (I Corinthians 12:7). The church is not self-functioning if it only responds to the missionary’s directions. Every missionary church-planter must face the danger of dependency that will hinder indigenous self-functioning. The missionary’s role is crucial in church planting. In indigenous church planting what the missionary does not do is just as important as what he does . Wherever possible the missionary should use indirect leadership so the budding church does not depend upon him or her for spiritual direction and leadership. He or she should guide the young Christians to look to God and to themselves for leadership. The missionary is an advisor to the leaders chosen by the developing church. This process can begin even before the group is officially constituted as a formal church body. Even a home Bible study group can select its own informal leaders. The missionary church-planter also “thinks reproducible” in all his/her dealings with the indigenous church. His/her teaching and example center on imparting the life of Christ in a way that is reproducible in the local culture. Charles Brock says, “Normally, he should not do anything which the people cannot do for themselves shortly after they are saved,” and, “Do not use anything which the people cannot or will not provide for themselves.” 23

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22 Clinton E. Stockwell, “Barriers and Bridges to Evangelization in Urban Neighborhoods,” Signs of the Kingdom in the Secular City, Ed. David Frenchak and Clinton Stockwell (Chicago: Covenant Press, 1984), p. 104

23 Brock, p.58