They are merely transplanted replicas of those found in sending cultures. The following Monthly Missiological Reflection on The Missionary as a Listener reflections on responses to this reflection and describes how contextualization occurs in new church plantings. After describing responses to the previous MMR on Transplanted and Contextualized Churches , this reflection describes how contextualization occurs in new church plantings. Missionaries should not only be master teachers of the word of God but also effective cultural listeners. Instead of making cultural decisions unilaterally because of their life experiences as Christians and training as missionaries, they should serve as partners within the body of Christ and collaboratively work with the developing Christian community to develop church patterns that are both theologically responsible and culturally impactful.
Many churches are like caterpillars.
They are self-absorbed consumers who can only crawl in the earthlies. These type of churches must undergo a spiritual transformation to reflect the nature of God. Only then can they become like butterflies, drawing nector from God and Christian community as they spread God's pollen from place to place. The month s reflection continues the discussion of money and missions by defining paternalism, describing two historical models for dealing with paternalism, and finally offering specific questions to help evaluate the use of money in missions. Too many mission-sending churches and agencies operate with no model for the use of money in missions.