Planting Churches among the City's Poor - Volume 1

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

language group in every city deserves at least one thriving cluster of redeemed people who point the way to salvation. . . . In order to evangelize the cities today, we must return to the New Testament model of urban evangelism. The approach used was to plant house churches or cell groups throughout entire metropolitan regions. Every urban congregation should be in the cell group planting business. 156 Whichever solution the congregation pursues in answer to the need for permanent facilities, their focus on people must remain at the forefront of congregational life and ministry. Facilities exist only to serve a church’s ministries and should never become the dominant consumer of the congregation’s time or money.

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156 Shenk and Stutzman, p. 143