What Kind of Church Are We Planting?

 What kind of church are we planting in Africa? New Testament churches would be a simple, accurate answer but we could talk all day about what that means and, perhaps, never come to agreement.

I am proposing that one characteristic of an effective, New Testament church in Africa is that it is a missional church - a church that is focused on being the church in it's community and in the world (Matthew 28:19-20 [28:19, 28:20]) rather than one that is focused solely or even primarily on bringing people to a particular location. I am not advocating that the church not gather; neither am I advocating that the church not invite people to gather. (Hebrews 10:25) Gathering together is important for corporate worship, mutual encouragement and admonition, equipping for being the church. Gathering in is important so that those who are not followers of Jesus can experience the love of Christ. A missional church, though, does more than that.

To illustrate, here is a simple video that explains the basic concept of a missional church:

Whether you are an expatriate worker or a national believer, is this the kind of church you are planting in Africa? What are you doing to develop missional churches where you are?

For the Kingdom,
Bob A