Structured for Spiritual Growth

There is an excellent article in the latest issue of the International Journal of the Frontier Mission. The article 'Social Networks and Fruitfulness in Church Planting' describes the two models which church planters operates in, depending on their paradigm. The first is the attractional model while the other is the transformational model. The latter is obvious much more substainable but in practice, many churches still operate based on the attractional model. This happens when churches are not truly structured for spiritual growth as stated in the book 'The Sticky Church' (p46). The author, pastor Larry Osborne, explained that 'Front-door churches that fail to structure for spiritual growth risk becoming merely a birthing center.. Back-door churches that fail to structured for spiritual growth will end up with programs and ministries that keep people from leaving but do nothing to help them grow or reach out to those who need Jesus."

Besides fostering a culture of community learning through small groups, mobilizing the discipling communities to engage in community outreach is also critical for spiritual growth. There is another excellent article in this issue of IJFM that describes how YWAM rediscover the importance of engaging in outreach in the society. Download and read it!