http://worldcat.org/entity/work/id/137947987

Mobilizing local churches in the Great Commission Association in cross-cultural church planting

The Great Commission Association is a small association of evangelical churches, over half of which are in the United States, with a strong church planting vision. The movement's founders believed that there would be thousands ofworkers mobilized and thousands of churches planted, both in the American culture and cross-culturally, through the efforts of Great Commission Association churches. While God has blessed and churches have been planted in America and abroad during its thirty-five year lifespan, the mobilization of workers and planting of churches has occurred at a much slower pace than was originally hoped for, especially with respect to the cross-cultural component. This paper highlights a sample of Great Commission churches that have been successful in cross-cultural church planting and a sample that has not and compares the perceptions ofleaders and key members of both as to what causes success or the lack thereof. Perceptions such as strong leadership and Great Commission vision were seen as components of success whereas a lack ofthese was seen as an indication of non-success. Other perceptions, such as good follow-through by the sending church and strategic partnerships, were noted as success indicators, whereas a lack of spiritual maturity and lack of adequate training were perceived as barriers to success. Many other perceptions were mentioned by individuals in both the successful and unsuccessful categories. After analysis ofthe data, recommendations are given to help catalyze an increase in the mobilization efforts ofthe association and to help recapture the urgency ofthe initial vision, especially as it relates to cross-cultural church planting.

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