The idea I keep coming back to is that a denomination could call and deploy a pasor as a house church planter in the same way they have often sent missionaries to plant churches overseas. The key would be to have the same kind of expectations for these new missionaries, and the congregations they would plant, as you have for the ones who traveled overseas. For example:

We don’t expect the evangelized people to join our congregation “back home.”

We don’t expect the new congregations to look like us, but to reflect their own, indigenous culture.

We don’t expect the new congregations to suport the missionary financially - that’s our job back home. But we do look to them to develop and support their own indigenous leadership in order to carry the work forward among their own people.

We don’t expect to see the missionary at the home chuhrch very often, except perhaps on occasion in order to share stories about the work and renew the partnership relationship. We certainly don’t expect the missionary to care for the members of the home church here!

We don’t expect the converts to become members of our denomination, but we hope and anticipate that they will be blessed by the theological, spiritual and cultural gifts we have as they gather themselves into their own “denomination” (or whatever fits in their context and culture.) We do hope and anticipate that they will emerge as a natural partner with us in the work of the Kingdom.

You get the idea, I’m sure. A lot can be harnesed in the parallel as long as people can accept that it’s mission work, not just another tactic to get more people into the church WITH walls.

Anyone else thinking or working this way?

Tim