Gregory the Great would have made a great church planter, but instead, he was a kind of church planting coach. Gregory sent missionaries to Britain to “make the Angles into Angels.” His choice emissary was Augustine of Canterbury, who, with 40 monks, set up mission base at in England. Like many of his Celtic predecessors, Augustine realized the strategic value of having a mission training and sending center among his target people. Augustine’s tactical prowess was driven by a robust missiology. Gregory the Great coached him on three great principles of contextualization:
- Adaptation
- Gradualism
- Exchange