Planting Churches among the City's Poor - Volume 1

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

Church/Mission Relations

Semi-Autonomous Teams The church-planting strategy described in this paper calls for semi autonomous teams which are trained and commissioned by World Impact to plant churches in inner-city communities within a period of five years. To accomplish such a goal, the teams must concentrate all their energies on the vision of planting a church. The teams will therefore operate as special ministry units, planning their own ministry goals and schedules with the guidance of World Impact’s national office and in coordination with other World Impact ministries in the area. In some cases teams may be sent to establish churches in cities new to World Impact. In these circumstances the team itself will provide personal support for each member while external support is established through networking. If the team operates where World Impact has a city ministry there will be cooperation between team members and city-ministry staff. If the city ministry operates a school close to the church-planters target community, the school and the new church will be mutually supportive. The relation between the church-planting effort and World Impact camps or clinics will be one of mutual support, cooperation and encouragement, but the basic autonomy of the teams will remain intact. Cooperation and non-interference between city ministry and church planters is the goal. Veteran church planter Tom Eckblad confirms this perspective when he says, “It could be argued that all institutional ministries should be part of a total effort to plant the churches.” 172 But he acknowledges the unique and specialized role of church planters when he says, “Institutional work by itself does not establish churches.” 173 Schools or clinics can support church planting, but they cannot by themselves plant churches. All of our ministries must be seen as part of a supportive network that is building God’s Kingdom in the inner city.

To insure smooth cooperation between the various aspects of World Impact’s ministry in a city, directors must give their staff an overarching

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172 Eckblad, p. 25

173 Eckblad, p. 25