Is Indigenous the Goal? Church Planting as a Response to the Great Commission

For 150 years missionaries have been sent out with the goal of planting indigenous churches. This goal has served well in urging missionaries to establish churches that are self-sustainable. However, indigenous in modern usage does not carry the same connotations and implies ethnic homogeneity among first nations peoples. This article analyzes the problems with maintaining church planting approaches with indigeneity as the goal. In light of a world increasingly urban and global, a focus local church planting allows for a more biblically faithful approach to planting churches that are culturally sensitive, but not strictly indigenous.