Planting Churches Among the City's Poor - Volume 2

P ART I: C OACHING U RBAN C HURCH P LANTERS • 101

4. S/he must possess an extroverted, outgoing personality and style.

a. Biblical rebuttal: 2 Cor. 10.7-10 (RSV) – Look at what is before your eyes. If any one is confident that he is Christ’s, let him remind himself that as he is Christ’s, so are we. For even if I boast a little too much of our authority, which the Lord gave for building you up and not for destroying you, I shall not be put to shame. I would not seem to be frightening you with letters. For they say, “His letters are weighty and strong, but his bodily presence is weak, and his speech of no account.” b. The truth of the matter: The authenticity of the missionary call is based on the anointing of the Holy Spirit , not on outward characteristics of appearance and personality expression. a. Biblical rebuttal: 1 Cor. 3.4-10 (RSV) – For when one says, “I belong to Paul,” and another, “I belong to Apollos,” are you not merely men? What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, as the Lord assigned to each. I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. He who plants and he who waters are equal, and each shall receive his wages according to his labor. For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, God’s building. According to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled master builder I laid a foundation, and another man is building upon it. Let each man take care how he builds upon it. 5. S/he must assume final responsibility for the fruitfulness (or lack thereof) of their missionary endeavors.

b. The truth of the matter: Ultimately, only God gives the growth in ministry and determines the fruit of our labors.

6. S/he must possess professional religious credential and academic certification.

a. Biblical rebuttal: Acts 4.13-14 (RSV) – Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated, common men, they wondered;