Sending and Supporting Simple Church Planters As Local Missionaries
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Digital Commons @ George Fox University Doctor of Ministry Theses and Dissertations 3-2010 Mission Fields Across the Street: Sending and Supporting Simple Church Planters as Local Missionaries Rick Shrout Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.georgefox.edu/dmin Part of the Christianity Commons GEORGE FOX UNIVERSITY MISSION FIELDS ACROSS THE STREET: SENDING AND SUPPORTING SIMPLE CHURCH PLANTERS AS LOCAL MISSIONARIES A DISSERTATIGN SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF GEORGE FOX EVANGELICAL SEMINARY IN CANDIDACY FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF MINISTRY BY RICK SHROUT LYONS, OREGON MARCH 2010 PORTLAND CENTER LIBRARY GEORGE FOX UtUVERSITY PORTLAND, OR. 97223 DISSERTATION ACCEPTANCE CERTIFICATE RICK SHROUT DATE: MARCH 9, 2010 TITLE: MISSION FIELDS ACROSS THE STREET: SENDING AND SUPPORTING SIMPLE CHURCH PLANTERS As LOCAL MISSIONARIES WE THE UNDERSIGNED CERTIFY THAT WE HAVE READ THIS PROJECT AND APPROVE IT AS ADEQUATE IN SCOPE AND QUALITY TO COMPLETE THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DOCTOR OF MINISTRY IN LEADERSHIP IN THE EMERGING CULTURE DEGREE 5 -- (;I DATE DATE GEORGE Fox EVANGEI.ICAI. SEM I NA R Y CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ............................................................................................... iii SECTION 1. ABSTRACT ................................................................................................... ! SECTION 2. THE PROBLEM ............................................................................................ 3 Introduction ................................................................................................................... 3 A Personal Context ....................................................................................................... 4 Working Tenninology ................................................................................................ 10 Exploring Cultural Changes and the Modem Church ................................................ 12 Sumtnary ..................................................................................................................... 28 SECTION 3. OTHER PROPOSED SOLUTIONS ............................................................ 30 Introduction ................................................................................................................. 30 Seven Other Options ................................................................................................... 31 Sutntnary ..................................................................................................................... 43 SECTION 4. THE THESIS ............................................................................................... 44 Introduction ................................................................................................................. 44 Discovering Missional and Relational Identity in the Heart of God ......................... .45 Recovering Missional and Relational Identity Through the Simple Church .............. 58 The Partnership of Traditional and Simple Churches in a Postmodem World .......... 69 Sutntnary ..................................................................................................................... 74 SECTION 5. THE PROJECT ............................................................................................ 75 SECTION 6. PROJECT SPECIFICATIONS .................................................................... 78 SECTION 7. POSTSCRIPT .............................................................................................. 82 STREET CROSSERS: Conversations with Simple Church Planters and Stories ofThose Who Send Then1 ......................................................................................................... 86 Introduction ................................................................................................................. 90 Chapter I: Simply Put .............................................................................................. 105 Chapter 2: Simply There ........................................................................................... l38 Chapter 3: Simply Together.. .................................................................................... l75 Chapter 4: Simply Go ............................................................................................... 216 Epilogue: Simply Do Something .............................................................................. 252 Appendix: Connections ............................................................................................ 266 REFERENCES CITED ................................................................................................... .267 11 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This project was a long time in coming. Like all "original" thoughts, they do not exist without all the minds that precede them. This is no less tme of the ideas behind this work. Its content would not exist without the stories of the people behind the four ministries described within these pages. And there are many more experiences and journeys to which I am indebted. I chose four stories for Street Crossers from among dozens of interviews. All are worthy of recognition and would serve to challenge and inspire, if those stories were told. My appreciation goes to the following workers in the kingdom: Chuck Allen, Tom Anthony, Bill Bean, Harold Behr, Mike Bishop, Peter Bunton, Mark Burton, Joseph Cartwright, Guy Caskey, Neil Cole, Galen Currah, Tony Dale, Marcus Dorsey, Trey Doty, Robert Fitts, Jason Evans, Donald Gingras, Rich Hagler, Jim Henington, Alan Hirsch, D. G. Hollums, Darin Horst, Jess Hutchison, Dan Jansen, Glen Johnson, Jason Johnston, Aaron Klinefelter, Nate Krupp, Dan Mayhew, Wayne Mmtin, Chris Marshall, Rachelle Mee-Chapman, Kenny Moore, David Nichols, Susan Olson, Amy Palmer, George Patterson, Tom Planck, Kevin Rains, Rob Robinson, Alex Ryan, Steve Schroepfer, Keith Shields, Ken Shuman, Brian Simmons, Glenn Smith, Danae Stewart, Michael Stoltzfus, Rose Swetman, Doug & Becky Taylor, Bill Tenny Brittian, John White, and Greg Yoder. I probably forgot someone, so a special thanks goes out to you, too. From George Fox University, I thank Kent Yinger for his guidance, thoughtful suggestions, and mostly for his unfailing patience to see me through this endeavor; Loren Ill Kems for his watchful eye; Leonard Sweet for his love of words and for setting the bar at writing six books in the time it took me to write one; and to the brothers of LEC2- thanks to Tony Blair for his editorial prowess and encouragement that kept me going; to Winn Griffin for his "fatherly" prodding when I needed a swift kick-and to the rest of the pack who raised me up from a valley of ecclesial cynicism to a hill top where I could see hope for the church once again; Rick Bartlett, Jason Clark, Rick Hans, George Hemingway, Todd Hunter, Randy Jumper, Eric Keck, Nick Howard, Mike McNichols, Ken Niles, Craig Oldenburg, Rob Seewald, Dwight Spotts, and David Wollenburg. Lastly, thanks to my greatest sources of inspiration-Toni, my wife, and my father, Bill Shrout. Both battled cancer during the writing of this project. Toni continues her fight to this day (February 8, 2010). My father passed from life to life on August 25, 2009. Their fight for life served as a distraction to staying focused on this project. That was my excuse, anyway. But their fight and detem1ination also served as an incredible example and motivation to finally finish my doctoral journey. IV SECTION 1 ABSTRACT Churches in North America are ineffective in reaching their smTounding neighborhoods when those neighborhoods are populated predominately by people who embrace a postmodem lifestyle and worldview. One of the reasons for this ineffectiveness stems from an ecclesiology that leans heavily upon institutional stmctures and methods that fly in the face of postmodem sensibilities. This problem is addressed by proposing partnerships of established churches and denominational agencies with simple church planters as a way for traditional churches to play an active role in supporting a missional presence in an emerging culture through planting simple churches. 1 Section 2 introduces the problems and challenges confronting the modem church in reaching postmodems in North America and shows that a significant factor contributing to this challenge is the inappropriateness of a highly institutional ecclesiology. Section 3 discusses what others have put forward to address anemic outreach and church growth in North America and how these efforts have fallen short in solving the problem. Section 4 offers a thesis that the church, properly understood, is missional and relational at its core and finds its identity in the triune nature of God, and that simple churches can readily embody and express this core identity. In light of this claim, an alternative to reaching an emerging culture is explored through an examination of the core values of simple churches and how these values resonate with postmodern 1 Refer top. 13 for definition of terms such as traditional and simple church, etc. sensibilities. Lastly, instead of insisting traditional churches undergo radical reconstruction in order to effectively connect with a changing culture, the author suggests how they can participate in planting simple churches to reach an emerging culture. Section 5 outlines a solution to the problem in the fonn of a book project that presents contemporary examples of partnerships between traditional ministries and simple church planters, provides