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taught effectively about the transition from making a profession of faith to living a Christ-like life. Members of the indigenous church carry out the evangelism mandate largely through friendship and kinship networks. However, discipleship, defined as “the process of finding and winning the lost, folding them into a local church, and building them up in faith,” is lacking.10 The result is the proliferation of heresy and a failure among believers to grow and multiply once the missionary who established the church has moved on. Ideal vs. Reality Evangelical scholarship informs us that “the functions of the church are those timeless truths that must never change.”11 In fact, Gene Mims articulates the following five functions of the church: evangelism, discipleship (spiritual formation), fellowship, ministry (service) and worship.12 Gary McIntosh reminds us that the church is an expression of the living body of Jesus Christ and as such must be “a channel of life for both spiritual birth and spiritual growth.”13 The church impacts its community for Christ and “is an instrument of God’s work in the world.”14 The question arises: Are these functions demonstrably evident in indigenous churches?
10
Gary L. McIntosh, Biblical Church Growth: How You Can Work with God to Build a Faithful Church (Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 2011), loc. 1001, Kindle. 11
Aubrey Malphurs, Advanced Strategic Planning: A New Model for Church and Ministry Leaders (Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 2011), 71, Kindle. 12
Mims, 6.
13
McIntosh, loc. 465.
Ferdinand Nwaigbo, “Self-reliance in the 21st Century Church in Africa,” African Ecclesial Review 44, no. 1-2 (2002): 59. 14