Monday, 28 October 2019

The Road Ahead: 10 Characteristics of a Future Church Planter, Part 1

The well-worn paths of the past can often be poor guides for missionary travelers toward the future evangelistic work in North America.

The well-worn paths of the past can often be poor guides for missionary travelers toward the future evangelistic work in North America. Future church planters that effectively engage a post-Christian mission field will look a lot more like 1st-century missionaries than they do from their 21st-century descendants. They will differ from our cultural norm in at least the following ten ways.

1 – A Different Filter: From Entrepreneurial Übermensch [1] to Apostolic Catalyst

The way we distinguish a rock star church planter is often freakishly similar to the way a successful pastor is measured—but with an additional entrepreneurial genome.

He is ostensibly a five-tool player with some bonus proficiencies that become necessary in launching and managing a successful start-up. The problem with calibrating our filtering systems to discover this unicorn is that when one is discovered, that person is often not as advertised.

The purported five-tool curriculum vitae often leans heavily toward shepherding and teaching with little natural passion directed toward the sending call of Christ’s mission. The outward multiplicative expression of the new church is often stymied from the onset.

Future movements require a new filter biased away from the ever-consolidating entrepreneurial Übermensch and toward a selfless, apostolic leader with a sending spirit. This self-sacrificing leader will form the zeitgeist for the subsequent nine shifts necessary for a future shaped by overlapping gospel movements.

2 – A Different Frame: From Sunday-centric to Christ’s Body

Church planters who have been exposed to a predominantly Christendom-ized culture often instinctively think of the assignment of church planting in terms ...

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from Christianity Today Magazine https://ift.tt/34a6tOg

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