Читать книгу Church for Every Context - Michael Moynagh - Страница 44

Against the background of a swing in emphasis from ‘come’ to ‘go’ mission, Paul strove to maintain good relationships with his fellow apostles and relied on teams. He adopted an ‘incarnational’ strategy based on being attentive to context, loving and serving, building community, allowing individuals to come to faith at different paces and founding, in the midst of life, churches that were self-reproducing. His churches were culture specific with indigenous forms of leadership.

Paul modelled new contextual church. Yet some of the ‘For reflection’ boxes warn against making simplistic links between the New Testament and today. Even so, Paul cannot be ignored. By planting churches that started other churches, he modelled church reproduction, which has inspired numerous church planters and much of the church planting literature. To the extent that he is an example to follow, he has set the bar at a challenging height for church founders today.