MENU

Country Church, City Church

By Andrew Shaughnessy, Nov 14, 2017

Sunday morning, and the congregation trickles into the little South Asian church plant—young professionals and artists, students, teachers, and lawyers. It’s small, maybe 160 on any given Sunday, but it’s growing steadily—the pews filling with the denizens of a rising middle class whose growing ranks are transforming the economic and cultural landscape of their rapidly urbanizing country.

They’re not the first target demographic you think of when you hear about missions in South Asia. In societies like this one where the gap between rich and poor is vast, slum dwellers and the village poor typically take the spotlight for mission work. But this rising urban middle class has spiritual needs that are just as great, and solid churches able to reach and disciple them are few.

Targeting influential urban centers
“Not to say that it isn’t important, but there’s already tons of mission work going on among the poor and in the villages,” said MTW missionary Jacob Ingram,* who planted this church of young professionals. “As an organization, we have worked with probably 100–120 church planters who are targeting that rural, poor demographic, but hardly anyone we’re working with is targeting the urban centers, which have enormous influence and potential for creating change.”

Urban areas are growing faster than rural, and in places like South Asia, reaching the rapidly-growing middle class is strategic, and not just because they are under-exposed to the gospel. With their economic power and resources they are able to be culture influencers, and are capable of sustaining and growing the national Church themselves.

Building self-sustaining congregations
“Missions work in villages is often dependent on Western money,” Jacob said. “And that’s created some difficult problems in the national church. … One of the bonuses of planting an urban, middle-class church is that it’s much more capable of sustainably supporting village church-planting work, and it’s a much more healthy way of doing that than having the funds come from overseas.”

In pursuit of the goal of creating a national church that can sustainably support village church planting, Jacob and the church plant have set up a partnership with a local seminary. Pastoral interns work with the church, and when they graduate they will go through a church-planter incubator program. The first two interns graduated this past June, and one of them will be moving to a major city within the same country to plant a church. Another young man is currently in the program. When he graduates the church hopes to work with him to plant a daughter church within their city.

“Our church is meant to be a church-planting church, so this really excites me,” said Jacob. “It’s why we exist.”


*Name has been changed. 

Andrew Shaughnessy

Andrew Shaughnessy is a long-time word slinger who spent nearly six years as MTW’s staff writer, gathering and telling impact stories from missionaries across the globe. These days, he’s off working as an analyst and editor in the publishing industry, writing fiction, and mountaineering. He holds a B.A. in history and English literature from Covenant College, and an M.S. in political science from Portland State University.

Please login to continue
Forgot your password?
Recover it here.
Don't have an account?
Create an Account
Sign Up for Free
Name
Email
Choose Password
Confirm Password

GET INVOLVED

Assistant Pastor and Administrator Needed for International Church Plant
Longer
Support an International Church Plant Through Hospitality
Longer
Support an International Church Through Christian Counseling
Longer

Should We Still Send Missionaries?

Why should we send missionaries around the world when there are so many needs here?

SEE MORE

After You Retire, Redeploy in Missions (VIDEO)

"I think the challenge for anybody who's approaching retirement is to recognize that God has not put a time limit on our spiritual gifts."

SEE MORE

Flourishing Through Work+Place Ministries (VIDEO)

MTW's Work+Place Ministries business trainings are helping people run small businesses, become self-sustaining, and further the gospel.

SEE MORE

Give thanks for the work God is doing in South Asia in the wake of COVID lockdown relief. Ask God to grow the new believers who came to faith in Christ as a result.

Pray for the national pastors serving in Mexico and Cuba, many of whom are bi-vocational, and the work God is doing among them.

Pray for the people of Mati, Greece, who are responding with spiritual openness following disaster response efforts of the Greek Evangelical Church and MTW. 

Pray for the kids in Aquiles Serdan neighborhood of Reynosa, Mexico, and the outreach of Isaiah 55 ministry there.

Pray that God would remind the Western Church of the critical importance of sending missionaries to serve internationally.

In the aftermath of the Turkey/Syria earthquake, pray that the Lord would multiply the “fish and loaves” being given to the hungry crowd and that His great name would be praised.

Ask God to raise up new missionaries from among those who have retired and are thinking about their next calling. 

Pray for students in West Africa receiving business training through our Work+Place Ministries, that they would flourish and the gospel would go forth as a result. 

Pray for the Roma people in Slovakia, that God would draw them to Himself, and grow the young body of believers there.

Pray for those who have been left alone with no surviving family members. Many stories are emerging of entire families, save one, who died in the earthquake.

SUBSCRIBE TO MTW ONLINE

Stories from the field straight to your inbox.