The Ministry Plan
After 40 years of ministry experience, Deb and I have a pretty good grasp of how God has equipped us for Great Commission ministry. We are also keenly aware that the global community is no longer restricted to major cities. Now, even rural areas are strategic places for Great Commission ministry. Although I wrote my thesis for ministry in major cites, most of the principles found in it are applicable to ministry to the global community anywhere. The Abstract for the thesis is immediately below and a link to the thesis is at the bottom of this page. I hope to eventually update my thesis to reflect ministry to the global community both in the city but also in the more rural areas.
Abstract
The thesis of this project is that a church-planting effort should be established in metropolitan Boston, and then expanded to other metropoles. In the first section two main subjects are covered which indicate the need for ministry to world-class cities: the geo-political situation in the world and the human situation in the city. The purpose of the second section is to establish the hermeneutical, theological, ecclesiological, missiological, and apologetical parameters within which this thesis-project is written. The third section identifies the dilemma in the city, studies the various Christian responses to the city, and reviews evangelical ministry in Boston. And the fourth section evaluates the church-planting ministry with which the writer of this thesis has been involved thus far.
Then, on the basis of that evaluation and the lessons learned in the first three sections, a new ministry plan is presented. This ministry plan encompasses the planting of a model church and the establishment of four interrelating networks: local, regional, continental, and international. These networks are designed to provide the infrastructure for the establishment of churches in other world-class cities.