Planting Churches Among the City's Poor - Volume 2

266 • P LANTING C HURCHES AMONG THE C ITY ’ S P OOR : V OLUME 2

C. Their cultural background, Rom. 16.3-4 (ESV) – Greet Prisca and Aquila, my fellow workers in Christ Jesus, who risked their necks for my life, to whom not only I give thanks but all the churches of the Gentiles give thanks as well.

D. Their spiritual condition, Acts 15.41 (ESV) – And he went through Syria and Cilicia, strengthening the churches .

E. Their particular geographical location and proximity

1. 2 Cor. 8.1 (ESV) – We want you to know, brothers, about the grace of God that has been given among the churches of Macedonia . 2. Rev. 1.4 (ESV) – John to the seven churches that are in Asia : Grace to you and peace from him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven spirits who are before his throne.

II. The Problem with the Hodges Three-Self’s Paradigm of Church Identity

The Melvin Hodges paradigm emphasizes the need for indigenous independence in church starts and development. According to Hodge, churches must be self-governing (the indigenous church controls its own affairs and direction), self-supporting (the indigenous church supports its activities and leaders on the basis of its own funding and resources), and self-propagating (the indigenous church produces outreach and mission through its own efforts, evangelizing, discipling, and reproducing daughter churches). This paradigm is problematic if by “self” we mean completely separate and autonomous from the influence and support of any other congregations . A. No church can be fully autonomous (i.e., a law to itself; we are all connected to apostolic witness, to the communion of saints, and to our common head and source, the Lord Jesus Christ), Eph. 4.4-6. B. Likewise, no church can be expected to meet its own needs entirely ; the apostles defined self-support in ways that ignored Hodge’s element of complete indigenous support (e.g., the Jerusalem famine and the Macedonian offering, cf. Acts 15, 2 Cor. 8-9).