This Friday I am taking a class in church planting at our West Oz Baptist Theological College. Its part of a church health/church growth course.
I’d like to begin with 3 questions:
1. What is the gospel?
2. What is conversion and how does it occur?
3. What is the/church?
We’ll see where it goes from there. If these students are anything like I was then they will think they know the answers…
Once we get into it a little they might think again.
I’m not trying to be a smartarse (like I’d need to try…), but rather trying to rock the equilibrium a little now, so that they are better prepared for what they encounter in a missional context.
These questions took on new answers as I exited the established church scene and began to walk the missionary journey.
I would like to suggest that the measure of a church is its ability to transform society rather than the number of people attending the Sunday service. That sounds like a great idea… but we are pretty bound to bums on seats.
Sometimes I feel like my role is to be the provoker and disturber rather than simply the teacher.