Winning the World

Session 6 Mobilizing American Cities for Church Planting Movements Issues and Concerns

I Keep Six Honest Serving-men

I keep six honest serving-men, (they taught me all I knew); Their names are What and Why and When, and How and Where and Who. I send them over land and sea, I send them east and west; But after they have worked for me, I give them all a rest. I let them rest from nine till five, for I am busy then, As well as breakfast, lunch, and tea, for they are hungry men. But different folk have different views. I know a person small – She keeps ten million serving-men, who get no rest at all! She sends ‘em abroad on her own affairs, from the second she opens her eyes – One million Hows, two million Wheres, and seven million Whys!

~ Rudyard Kipling, from The Elephant’s Child.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

I. WHY Ought We Consider the Power of Church Planting Movements for Ministry and Mission in Today’s American Inner-City Contexts?

Matt. 28.18-20 (ESV) And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. [19] Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, [20] teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

A convincing and compelling case can be made that the American church and mission leaders must take seriously the responsibility to begin their church mobilization and church planting efforts in their own Jerusalems and Judeas, rather than thinking about the Samarias of other places: Acts 1.8 – “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

A. The American inner city represents a tough and difficult mission field: 40 million strong .

99