Winning the World

146 Wi nn i ng the Wor l d: Fac i l i tat i ng Urban Chur ch P l ant i ng Movement s

1. Key text: 1 Cor. 15.1-5 (ESV) – Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, [2] and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you – unless you believed in vain. [3] For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, [4] that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, [5] and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. 2. Definition of the pair: We must strive to see that individuals are provided for with the kind of personal, tender loving care that only a spiritual parent can provide, while at the same time, develop standardized reproducible instructional guides and processes that allow for efficient and dynamic replication. 3. Description of the problem: the tendency to focus either on the need to feed individuals as little babes in the faith or structure all follow-up and discipleship in terms of formalized curricula and processes designed to ground new believers in the faith 4. Deepening our perspective and practice: We must recruit, equip, and resource spiritual parents to care for the souls of the little ones in our churches on an individualized basis of mentoring and friendship as well as developing more efficient, standardized, and formalized instructional materials and processes that ensures that all new converts can understand, defend, and share the same basic core of truths regarding Christ and his Kingdom to others.

H. Complimentary Concept Eight: congregational survival and health alongside multiplying church planting movements

1. Key texts: Matt. 28.18-20 (ESV) – And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has