This dissertation examines the urban missiology of Roger S. Greenway. The thesis is the urban missiology of Greenway should inform the ministries of urban missiologists today. This dissertation answers four questions: How has Greenway's life and theology shaped his urban missiology? What is Greenway's urban church planting strategy? How has Greenway's understanding of holistic ministry enhanced his church planting strategy? What role does theological education and urban training centers have in his urban missiology? If urban missiologists hope to avoid the mistakes of the past and lay a firm foundation for the future, they should seek to learn from the urban missiology of Roger S. Greenway. Chapter 1 emphasizes the importance of urban missions in a rapidly urbanizing world. The chapter also introduces the research questions and the urban missiological thought of Roger Greenway. A brief overview of Roger Greenway's life and ministry is presented to demonstrate the importance of his work in relation to urban missiology. Chapter 2 contains a sketch of Roger Greenway's life and theological beliefs. The chapter considers the effects of his Reformed theological background on his urban missiology. Greenway's theology impacts every aspect of his urban missiology. Chapter 3 outlines Roger Greenway's church planting strategy. The chapter examines how Greenway's church planting strategy serves as the central piece of Greenway's overall urban missiology. The influence of Donald McGavran is evident in Greenway's urban church planting strategy. Chapter 4 explains Greenway's understanding and application of holistic ministry. Greenway believes that word and deed ministries must be infused with one another in order to complete the mission of the church. Chapter 5 delves into Greenway's theological education methodology and how he applied that methodology in the urban context. Greenway believed theological and missiological training should be contextualized into the urban context. Chapter 6 concludes with a summary of Greenway's urban missiology. The chapter also offers ideas for further research. The dissertation closes by offering insights gleaned from Greenway's urban missiology.

The problem this study addresses is that the Christian church in the postmodern west is in a condition of zero growth and even decline. Conventional strategies intended to reverse this condition have tended to focus on improved implementation of traditional methodologies of church growth. Despite the application of such strategies the church continues to decline, indicating the urgent need for additional approaches. Practical theology suggests such an additional approach: greater engagement with the local community. Certain churches have been identified whose congregations, acting, it is believed, under the leadership of the Spirit, are engaging their immediate communities in a wide variety of ways often with the result that people touched by the church respond with a new or renewed interest in the Christian faith and in some instances join or rejoin the Christian family. The implication, and the hypothesis of the study, is that widespread application of the practices of such community-engaging congregations, called “holistic” congregations, might have a positive impact in terms of growth in the wider church community. To determine the validity of this implication a small-scale inductive, empirical, effect-to-cause study was undertaken. Combining qualitative and quantitative research methods intended to identify the ethos of those churches that meet the developed criteria of “holistic” churches, as compared to a second group of “non-holistic” churches, the study addresses the question: Is it possible to discover the ethos of holistic churches with a view to reproducing that ethos in other churches? Analysis of the data gathered during the study identifies a number of specific characteristics shared by the holistic churches. In addition to suggesting strategies that may profitably be investigated and implemented by churches that wish to become, or become more, holistic in terms of their outreach ministry, the results also advocate the further study of holism as a possible key feature to the future of the Church. / Thesis (PhD (Practical Theology))--University of Pretoria, 2005. / Practical Theology / unrestricted