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Church Planting for an Emerging Culture, Part 2

Church Planting for an Emerging Culture, Part 2. Canute R. Birch I, Ph.D. Suggestions for church planting in a multicultural environment. Doing it the Old Way. Forced worship: state church Anything goes. Just Doing it the Old Way. What is this?. Homogeneous Unit Principle.

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Church Planting for an Emerging Culture, Part 2

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  1. Church Planting for an Emerging Culture, Part 2

  2. Canute R. Birch I, Ph.D. • Suggestions for church planting in a multicultural environment

  3. Doing it the Old Way • Forced worship: state church • Anything goes Just Doing it the Old Way

  4. What is this? Homogeneous Unit Principle

  5. The Homogeneous Unit Principle is the method of doing church planting which seeks to establish congregations only among people of the same race/ethnic group.

  6. Each with his/her own race only Whites with Whites Hispanics with Hispanics Hispanic church: usually 80% or more Hispanic. In the majority of cases they are 100% Hispanic. • White church: usually 80% or more White members. In the majority of cases they are closer to 100% White.

  7. Each to his/her own • Racial/ethnic isolation which results in-- • Absence of fellowship • Lack of understanding • Entrenchment • Inability to optimize use of resources Disadvantages Disadvantages

  8. Who uses the HUP? Evangelicals

  9. Who are the evangelicals? • Southern Baptists • Episcopalians • Presbyterians • Methodists • Seventh-day Adventists

  10. Why do they use it? • It works. • It panders to the racist nature of its adherents. • It fits snugly into the racist ideology on which this nation was founded. • It justifies the warped theology of constructionists. • It keeps the “haves” isolated from the “have-nots.” • It keeps everybody in their comfort zone.

  11. HUP is unbiblical Old Testament To: Jews New Testament To: Christians 1 Pet. 2:9, 10 “But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light …” • Exod. 19:5, 6 • But you are a chosen generation…

  12. Who developed the HUP? An American Missionary to India—Donald McGravan

  13. Its precursor was the indigenous church principle which he observed being used by the other missionaries in Kerala, India in the pre-1950s. Because of the endogamous restrictions of the complex caste system of India, missionaries sought to convert whole tribes instead of individuals so that they would not be outcasted once they were converted.

  14. McGravan established an institute at Fuller Theological Seminary in California in the 1960s to trained church planter from the evangelical movement in this method (Rosenberg, 1989).

  15. The SBC’s use of the HUP is factual, but not biblical. • “Southern Baptists, and other Southerners, are thus using the HUD to rationalize the maintenance of Black-White segregation because they feel that these two groups, in a very powerful and special way because of the long weight of Southern history, should be endogamous castes, just as if they lived in Kerala, India” (Ellen M. The Southern Baptists—Subculture, Rosenberg, 1989).

  16. A Better Strategy

  17. The Heterogeneous Unit Principle It is the biblical missionary method. Matthew 28: 19--“…all the nations…”

  18. But what is it? • The heterogeneous unit principle seeks to bring people together from all different racial/ethnic backgrounds and establish congregations that are fully integrated without regard to race, caste, tribe, and so on.

  19. What else? Advantages Disadvantages It is costly It is unpopular • It brings believers together. • It fosters fellowship (Gr. Koinonia; 1 Jn. 1:6-7). • It exemplifies the power of God at work, uniting people of different races and ethnicities. • It brings the “haves” and “have-nots” together as one, sharing and caring for each others needs (Acts 2). • It works best. What else?

  20. Which method is the All Nations Church? The Heterogeneous Unit Principle

  21. All Nations SDA Church, Berrien SpringsAll Nations SDA Church, ChicagoAll Nations SDA Church, TexasMosaic, SBC, L.A., California Exemplars All Nations SDA Church, Berrien SpringsAll Nations SDA Church, ChicagoAll Nations SDA Church, TexasMosaic, SBC, L.A., California

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