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?