Answer (1)

In a wonderful chapter in Wayne Cordeiro's recent book cited below, he tells of a conversation he had with a prospective church planter who had been asked by his denomination to start a new church in Hawaii in a region in which that denomination was not represented. The question Wayne asked, which this prospective planter could not get his head around, was whether he loved the people of the varied cultural backgrounds that made up the Hawaiian community in which he would be seeking to minister. Loving God was great, but not enough. Loving the church was good, but not enough. Loving ministry was okay, but never enough. Would he be coming to plant with a sufficient love for the people he would be coming amongst? Would this be central in his thinking? If you want to know how this turned out, have a look at The Irresistible Church: 12 Traits of a Church Heaven Applauds (2011) - trait 9 (p.107).