Culturally Relevant Church Planting
The Gospel proclaimed
Christian
The Gospel experienced
Switching from event-orienation
To valuing people
Non-Christian
ChristianNon-Christian
Weighing the four functions of a church
Worship
(Service)
Fellow-ship
Disciple-ship
Mission
Beware of this subtle danger
The danger is to confuse a church service (organisation) with a church (organism)
Context Analysis
Every person lives in a culture. Culture is defined as „a way of life of people“.
Culture is made up of presupositions, values, behavioral norms, basic attitudes held by a group of people and that influence their behavior.
Four cirles of cultural context: 1. Things we believe, 2. Things we think, 3. Things we do, 4. Things we have.
Cultural Circles
Things we have
Things we do
Things we think
Things we belive
The material culture: Things that people have
What things do people have?
What do people wish they had?
Why? („Why“ leads us to their interpretation of things and thus their value systems)
What physical needs are being met by government, community activists, churches?
What physical needs are not being met?
The social culture: Things that people do
What behavior does the target audience exhibit and why?
What changes in behavior are discernable?
What are people not doing that they might normally have done twenty years ago?
Where do we notice that people are challenged by need?
The cognitive culture: The things people think
What Ideas (1), attitudes (2), or values (3) lie behind people‘s behavior?
What do they want to get out of life (hope)?
The religious culture: The things people believe
What is the meaning of life held by our audience?
Why do they (not) believe in God?
Who is God in their opinion?
Cultural Analysis: The Goal
To love is to understand. Understanding the people God has called us to love means that we have grasped their needs, fears, and lonings.
Now we compare our findings with what the Bible/Gospel has to say to our culture.
This is the goal: To meet the needs of our culture in a way that enables them to be submerged into the reality of God‘s love, and allows them to clearly understand and respond to the Gospel.
Culturally relevant church planting
The Gospel of Jesus
Gifts in the team
Needs in the community
Four crucial questions that lead to practical implimentation
Based upon our cultural analysis, what missional behavior will each of us display weekly?
What are we learning from the people we are loving, serving and trying to reach for Christ?
Where do we see God at work?
How well are we making disciples?