Dear Sir,
Paul Hinton's letter highlights some very important issues in relation to church planting.
In London where I live most new church plants seem to be aimed deliberately or by default at younger urban students and professionals. Perhaps this is understandable as so many gravitate to London for study and work. However there are vast segments of the city as well as of the population that are bereft of gospel churches.
In part I think this is because of a defective ecclesiology that among other things exalts pragmatism over principle, particularly in relation to the homogeneous unit principle of church growth. At one recent conference I heard the main speaker advocate this in relation to churches having services with different music styles even though he was a card-carrying Calvinist who should have known better. His plea was that we need to do whatever it takes as long as it is not forbidden in the Bible in order to make disciples. His passion was admirable, but he let it get the better of him.
Making disciples is about more than seeing people becoming Christians; it is also about enabling them to grow in Christ and that should be in the context of a church that is as diverse as possible in a particular location in terms of age, ethnicity and class. For many reasons no church will be as diverse as it might want to be, but surely if we are faithful to the vision of the church in the New Testament we should aspire to have churches being planted that by their diversity display the manifold wisdom of God in saving all kinds of people in Jesus Christ to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms (Ephesians 3.7-13) as well as to a watching world.
Yours sincerely,
