Thu, Jul 8th - 10:14AM

Church planting literature tends to focus on methods, which shows that it is often situated within modern culture. A minority of recent material shows awareness of this and is being more subtly developed. Attention still needs to be given to interpreting the biblical text so that an adequate account of the nature of church may be used as a starting point. Equally, the fact that a community of faith socialises its members over a long period to live a particular shared lifestyle is often neglected. A vision of church that shows an understanding of process, together with a renewed biblical ecclesiology would go a long way towards remedying inadequate church planting hermeneutics.

The difference between methods and methodology is this: whilst there may be a number of methods for church planting, the decision as to which method is chosen is determined by methodology. In other words, the key question is found in the way that such a decision is made. Is priority given to organisational features, or spiritual features? Will the church be shaped by the needs of the congregation for discipleship, or will it be shaped around the desire to offer congregation members a choice? These questions may not matter as much as acknowledging the paradigm within which such questions are being asked. An appropriate methodology may well arise from this sort of theological reflection. Where the right questions are being asked, methodological rigour may lead to appropriate methods. It is in this sphere that the major challenge to church planting lays: developing an appropriate ecclesiology as a precursor to church planting methods.