what are the advantages of church planting movements over against ...

St Francis Magazine Vol 6, No 6 | December 2010
firm God as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.” 91 “One has to hypothesize
about how the lay people would respond to the same queries,”
muses Parshall. 92
Third, Islam has a proven capacity to undermine Christian community.
For example, Smith draws attention to Christian groups
which, in the 7 th -8 th centuries, formally converted as “insiders” to
Islam. Their communities soon disappeared, as Imams systematically
indoctrinated subsequent generations. 93
4.5 How can Islam’s power be overcome?
Spiritual forces of evil can be withstood and overcome only in the
power of Christ’s salvation. 94 This salvation is more comprehensive
than a merely privatised experience. By justifying sinners at the
cross, 95 Jesus broke Satan’s power over them, 96 that they might be
rescued from the dominion of darkness and transferred into the kingdom
of light. 97 This spiritual reality generates correlating visible
evidence: 98 where God’s kingdom exists, Satan’s house is plundered,
99 and a new family is created. 100
A holistic, biblical understanding of salvation, then, means Christian
conversion introduces the believer into the visible Christian
community, 101 united in Christ to all other believers. 102 The local
91 Parshall, ‘Danger! New Directions’, p. 408.
92 Ibid., p. 407.
93 Smith, ‘An Assessment of the Insider Principle Paradigms’, p. 41.
94 Ephesians 6:10-20; 1 John 3:8.
95 Romans 3:21-26.
96 Colossians 2:15; Hebrews 2:14.
97 Colossians 1:12-13.
98 Matthew 12:28.
99 Mark 3:23-30.
100 Mark 3:31-34.
101 Smith, ‘An Assessment of the Insider Principle Paradigms’, p. 43.
102 Ephesians 2:14-18.
903
St Francis Magazine is published by Interserve and Arab Vision