Planting Churches Among the City's Poor - Volume 2

T WENTY - FIVE Y EARS OF U RBAN C HURCH P LANTING AMONG THE P OOR : A R EPORT • 403

Twenty Five Years of Urban Church Planting Among the Poor: A Report 15 a) Some leaders and staff lack competencies and/or training for assigned tasks. b) Communication needs to remain a continued priority as misunderstandings abound. 3. Ongoing purge of “old culture” demons a) Internal challenges related to race and culture b) Internal issues related to gender (especially women and current policies) c) Inappropriate uses of spiritual authority 5 Four Recommendations for 2015 A. Present research to regional and national leaders. Publish publically accessible reports on World Impact’s first 25 years of church planting. 1. Begin Monthly “National News and Notes for Urban Church Planters” 2. Solicit Internal Feedback and Revise Internal Report 3. Publish National Church Planting Report (for external communication; June 1), “Twenty Five Years of Urban Church Planting Among the Poor: A Report.” This would be a white paper available at www.tumi.org Identify agreed upon language and qualifications for WI church planting nationally. 6 1. Publish Ripe for the Harvest: A Manual for Urban Church Planters (2015). 2. Publish A Fresh Harvest: A Manual for Cross-cultural Church Planters (2015). B.

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5 As illustrated by the influence of Howard Butt's, The Velvet Covered Brick: Christian Leadership in an Age of Rebellion (New York: Harper & Row, 1973) on Dr. Keith Philips, who once described the book as his “favorite book on leadership.” 6 Examples of this language include “charters,” job descriptions for roles (“Coach,” “Team Leader,” etc.) and levels of training for each role (e.g. “provisional,” “senior”). Most of this language is already documented in The John Mark Curriculum (Los Angeles: World Impact Press, 2000), 500 pages.