The Multiplier Factor « Issachar Initiative | Extending the Reach of the Church
Thirteen people gather in a modest living room in central China. Their huge task is to reach and disciple an unreached people of several million. Thinking about this brave small group, we might be reminded of the boy’s bread and fish in John 6: “…how far will they go among so many?” But that small lunch was enough because Jesus brought the divine multiplier factor.
Does God have a divine multiplier factor for that team of 13 in China?
Yes, because they aren’t a team of just 13 people. One church in North America has told them: “In reality, you have 3,013 members on your team because every person in our congregation is a part of your team too. Whatever you need, ask for it from a member who is back here in our church. We’re in this together!”
The local church is God’s multiplier factor for missions today! Individuals can make a tremendous contribution to missions. Technology can have a great impact too. But the multiplier factor only comes into play when we engage the local church. Why?
1. The power multiplier
“I will build my church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it,” Jesus declared. It is the church to whom Jesus promises success as she assaults the forces of evil.
We are in a cosmic spiritual battle. Paul called the Ephesian church to stand with him in the fearless proclamation of the gospel with “all kinds of prayers” because the struggle is against the powers of darkness (Eph. 6:18-19). If the Apostle Paul was dependent on the engagement of the church, who are we to think we can go it alone?
Winning is not dependent on technology, education, political power, or money. But it is dependent on a powerful team fighting on their knees. One pastor told me with joy that when his congregation came face to face with the desperate needs of the unreached, they began to pray “BIG prayers.” Big prayers impact the church itself, the community, and yes, the ends of the earth. Only the deeply engaged local church has the potential to exponentially multiply the prayer power. Only that prayer power will go far enough, deep enough, and last long enough.
2. The leadership multiplier
Saul was a “Type A” entrepreneur, gifted and passionate to take the gospel to the ends of the earth. But in Acts 13:1-3, God pushed the pause button. In essence He said, “Wait! I want the local church, especially the leaders of the local church, to be the engine of the missions process.” The Holy Spirit speaks to the leaders of the Antioch church, “You send Paul and Barnabas.”
In the 21st century, the local church continues to be the best engine for missions engagement. Here’s what happened when one church responded:
“Our elders identified people in our church who were seriously involved in ministry and who they felt might be gifted to serve cross-culturally,” an elder in a local church in Pennsylvania explains. “We developed a two-year class, and eventually from that group, we sent a team to Cambodia. Each member struggled at times with the decision to move ahead, but they kept coming back to this fact: This isn’t an individual goal nor a decision made hastily. This is the vision of my church, and we have the full confidence of our church leaders.”
God continues to call the church to prepare and send some of its best today. But will our generation complete the Great Commission? We can’t be sure. So the local church must also, right now, be raising up tomorrow’s missions leaders. How? By involving members of every age in Acts 1:8 efforts. Missions is caught better than taught, and the church is where those with powerful vision should be incubating it!
3. The resources multiplier
My life changed when a man in our congregation said to me, “This is the first time in decades of running a business that I ever saw any way take what I’ve learned and use it for God.”
At the time, I was directing missions in my local church and had just recruited this businessman to be part of a short-term team offering business seminars in Eastern Europe. Suddenly I realized that our church was full of people who had all different types of expertise—professional, business, hobbies, sports, etc.—that was being wasted. And most of them were not uninvolved because they were resistant. They were uninvolved because they didn’t know they were needed and they had never been asked.
To stake Jesus’ claim over every inch of this planet requires the full engagement of every member of the church. God has already built the vast variety of abilities needed into what He describes as His Body—a complex organism with an amazing variety of distinct parts. These parts are designed to work in tandem to reach common goals (Eph. 4:16).
No individual and no other organization on earth can get the job done. God has called the church to the task because no lesser institution can be successful. The local church is God’s multiplier factor. What’s God calling your church to do?
Ellen Livingood is the coordinator of All Means (www.AllMeans.org) and the president of Catalyst Services (www.CatalystServices.org). Both efforts are dedicated to multiplying the global impact of local churches.
Issachar Blogs highlight 10 Elements of the Great Commission found in Scripture. This blog relates to Element #9, Mobilizing People and Finances, based on the promise in Luke 6:38 to “give and it will be given to you,” and the command in Isaiah 6:8 to “listen to our Lord’s voice and be ready to go wherever He calls us.
The Multiplier Factor « Issachar Initiative | Extending the Reach of the Church.
Cross Cultural Books to Recommend
I’ve been learning lots about cross cultural ministry over the last few months. I’ve interacted with these books below:
I haven’t finished reading them all, but they come with HIGH recommendations. I’ll let you know more as I finish and use them!
It’s Not Fair! by Paul Eshleman about Unreached, Unengaged People Groups
I had the privilege to interview Paul Eshleman, director of Finishing The Task last week. I got to ask him when God grabbed his heart about Unreached, Unengaged People Groups…you should listen int to what he says:
Podcast: This is Not Fair by PaulEshleman-Encompass (click link to open and play)
MP3: This is Not Fair by PaulEshleman-Encompass (click link to open and play)
(See also Paul’s Article on the Unreached)
My highlights from Western Christians in the Global Mission by Paul Borthwick
All of the following are direct quotes from the book by Paul Borthwick Western Christians in Global Mission: What’s the Role of the North American Church?
Miriam Adeney echoes the same call: “Our music and our worship must be multicultural, not simply because our society is multicultural, but because the future from which God is calling us is multicultural…. Not just so that those from other cultures may feel at home among us but also so that we may feel at home in God’s future.”
I believe that we in North America must take initiative in becoming more intentionally international and intercultural.Consider four actions: get to know the world, develop multicultural fellowships, view business as kingdom work and get connected to the global church.
“With two eyes and two ears and one mouth, try to observe and listen four times as much as you speak.”
…I have not yet heard any leader say, “Well, you really set the pace in teaching us how to be servants.” We in North America know how to be in control, but do we know how to follow the orders of those who will lead Christendom through this century?”
“For us in Africa, we think from a family paradigm. When we come together in partnership, it’s a partnership based on relationships (not tasks), and we stay partners for life.”
In a relational view of partnerships, I don’t need to have all the answers, all the money or all the ideas. We come together as family to chart the way forward. We need each other, as Andrew Walls suggests: “Crossing cultural frontiers constantly brings Christ into contact with new areas of human thought and experience. All of these, converted, become part of the functioning body of Christ. The full stature of Christ depends on all of them together.”
The greatest challenge in building effective partnerships between Westerners and non-Westerners is control.
Unfortunately, for the most part, the North American mission force talks a great game about partnership, but paternalism and colonial patterns still predominate. My sense is that the global church would love to partner but isn’t interested in the strings that are attached or the models of ministry we bring. Rather, they are looking for friends who model Christlike family…
“we who live middle-class lives in North America or Europe are living a lifestyle that is, materially speaking, “better than 99 percent of all the people who have ever lived in human history.”
On the one hand, we might raise and spend more money on short-term mission airline tickets than the annual budget of our host church; on the other, many in North America cannot grasp the reality of the poorer world without a firsthand visit. There is simply no substitute for going and visiting our Majority World coworkers in the kingdom where they live and serve.
The North American church must move
- from being primarily doers to primarily equippers
- from being in charge to being equal partners
- from ownership and control to “We own nothing, control nothing and count nothing as our own”
- from Western missionaries to global missionaries
- from unhealthy dependencies to indigenous self-sufficiency and the promotion of dignity
- from competition to cooperation (from an emphasis on “my” brand to a focus on “his” brand)•from agency-based missions to church-agency synergy
Faith in God is so important. Am I letting him direct my steps? Westerners (and I include myself here) are such driven people. We rely on statistics, we rely on technology, we rely on news and we rely on our experiences and gifts. But we are not always good at learning to wait on the will of God. I have learned and seen true faith in some of these leaders who are being persecuted and have nothing. They truly understand Paul when he writes, “I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord” (Phil 3:8).
It takes everyone to accomplish the mission, and the body is better because of that.
One of our slogans is this: “Building crosscultural relationships is easier if we accept the fact that 40 percent of the time we will have no idea what’s going on.”
The key issue, as we’ll see later under the topic of partnership, is building relational trust as we grow as a family. And just like a family, when one of us needs money, we might ask a brother or sister for help. But even if that brother or sister cannot respond, we’re still family!
Being in reciprocal relationship with brothers and sisters will force us to focus first on relationships rather than the creation of global strategies.
We need to learn to receive as well as give….we, the rich, go to help you, the poor, or that we, the educated, go to help you, the illiterate. We think that the word resource means money first and education second. Reciprocity teaches us that our brothers and sisters are rich in many other ways.
“Too often, we who go to serve on crosscultural short-term missions practice self-congratulatory servanthood. We live in the hut, eat the local food, endure the heat and use the squat toilet, all the time quietly congratulating ourselves on our willingness to serve.The irony is this: I might be feeling proud as I “sacrifice” my North American comforts to be with my Majority World family, but they don’t necessarily see me as a servant. They welcome me as a guest, but to them, I am just living the way they do all day every day, fifty-two weeks a year. I am not acting as a servant; I am simply a new member of their family.True servanthood is serving people in a way that they interpret as servanthood.”
Christian missionaries actually helped to preserve cultures and languages. According to Sanneh, rather than serving as a tool for Western cultural domination, the translation efforts of European and North American missionaries provoked: (1) vernacular revitalization: the preservation of specific cultures by preserving their language; (2) religious change: people were attracted to Christianity and a “God who speaks my language” over Islam, which is fundamentally not translatable; and (3) social transformation: the dignity associated with God speaking indigenous languages revitalized societies and laid the foundation for the eventual ousting of colonial powers.
…to grow as the global body of Christ characterized by
- interdependence rather than independence and individualism
- reciprocity, by which all members contribute to the benefit of the others (and all members realize that everyone else has something to offer)
- humility, equality and mutual respect, with a stress on honoring the less significant-seeming parts of the body
- learning and discovery together.
The common thread is this: God’s people, relying on God’s power and presence, go out and look for opportunities to share and demonstrate the love of Jesus to all peoples everywhere.
Jesus says to his followers “As the Father has sent me, I am sending you,” he affirms the same truth (Jn 20:21). We don’t need to ask if we are sent; Jesus says we are. What we need to ask is where and to whom.
In one respect, the big question is not “Where do we fit?” but “What is God doing?” Joining God in his global eternal mission is our first priority.
What’s the first small step of intentionality that you need to take to start expanding your global vision?
The common theme is this: intentionality. Without intentional efforts to build our diversity, we will find ourselves in isolated, monocultural churches and fellowship groups.
We in our peaceful North American surroundings often forget that sixty-five of the sixty-six books of the Bible were written either from or to a context of uncertainty, political violence, oppression, poverty, exile and military force.
Until the Western church can learn what it is like in the rest of the world, it can only be a spectator, not a participant.
Those of us who want to interact globally will have to suspend some of our theological judgments and listen to how someone from another land is hearing the Scriptures, experiencing the power of God or applying the Bible to daily life.
“Missions is now mutual exchange among multiple centers of influence and learning and resources traveling all directions, not only from here to there.”
Does the church in America have the humility to learn from us, or do they consider themselves to be the world’s teacher? Does the American church have the magnanimous spirit to work alongside us in genuine partnership that is based upon mutual respect and shared resources, or do they simply see us as their “partners” to fulfill their plans in our countries?
Even though the Western world has dominated Christianity for much of Christian history, Christianity is now primarily a nonwhite, non-Western, nonwealthy religion….Some estimate that 70 percent of the world’s Bible-believing Christians (as opposed to nominal or cultural Christians) now live in the Majority World.
Where does the North American Church fit in the Global Movement?
The following notes I took at an insightful couple of presentations by missiologist Paul Borthwick. This topic is addressed more fully in Borthwick’s new book: Western Christians in Global Mission: What’s the Role of the North American Church? (See also My Highlights from the book)
Since they are notes, I haven’t made the attempt to write them as prose, but mere bullet points. Maybe this will be helpful to you. (download a PDF)
Connection Tour by Missio Nexus – Serving the Great Commission Community of North America with Paul Borthwick
Tuesday, May 28, 2013 @ US Center for World Mission
Topic of the Day: WHERE DO WE FIT? What is the role of the North American Church in the Global Mission Movement – Paul Borthwick
Truth be told, this book is full of anecdotal opinions – coming from his extensive work alongside indigenous leaders, not a “full scientific survey”
Does North America have a role in the future of global mission?
Paul’s answer is a firm — “It Depends” ☺
We must avoid both extremes of:
1) get out of the way of the Majority World Church (his preferred term for the Latin, African & Asian Church conglomerate)
2) continue to clamour for superiority in global mission
Some people use the “baton has been passed” to the Majority Church analogy
Fundamentally this is wrong because – we can’t leave/quit the race.
We do have something to offer the Majority World Mission Movement – We have a longer history and more mistakes made. They don’t have to make our mistakes again!…we need to pass them on.
We in North America are somebody else’s “ends of the earth”
Majority World churches asked a penetrating question, “ Will the North American Mission Movement march in the Global parade if we aren’t leading it?”
5 Tensions For North American Mission Agencies/Movement:
1) What does it mean to be an international agency?
- a. How many Africians (internationals) do we have on our board?
- b. What does it mean to be international …equal seat for everyone?
- c. Where will we partner with national leaders?
- d. Partnering with indigenous agencies?
- Eldon Porter – help North American agencies via Missio Nexus
2) How elastic are we with theological tolerance?
- – International theologizing (self-theologizing)
- – Nigeria question – what do you think of Benny Hinn? (people were healed by touching their TV when he was preaching/healing
- – “The rest of the world doesn’t know that the Book of Acts is over. They really believe that stuff.”
- • Where do relatives fit in theology, “whole households” African and Asian questions are familial, not individual
- • Do we have the capacity to suspend judgment on some theological issues?
3) What does Biblical Partnership look like?
- a. What does it mean? Who is the PRINCIPAL partner?
- b. Are we a Golf Team (bunch of individuals tabulating a group score) or a Rugby Team (everyone key and in the scrum)
- c. Westerners think of partnerships in transactional terms – time ending,
- d. Africans think of partnerships in family terms
- i. Recommendations to do partnering without money
- ii. Then after trust and relationship do small amounts of money, culturally appropriate
- iii. Highly Recommend – Mary Leiderleitner’s book Cross-Cultural Partnerships : Money and Missions
4) What is the role for the North American church in pioneering and leaving?
- Our greatest strengths
- • Initiative
- • Positivity
- • Forward looking/ Future
- ( sometimes its actually Naïve optimism )
- We must Listen & ask questions (Facilitator’s)
- Observe and listen 4Xs as much as we talk! (2 eyes & ears, 1 mouth)
Letters to Dear Dr. Robert A. Blincoe, in the book are insightful:
Western Christians in Global Mission: What’s the Role of the North American Church? (Kindle Location 2170). Kindle Edition.
5) What is our role in globalizing the North American Church?
- -The conviction “we have a story to take to the nations” is diminishing.
- -Today it seems “Missional” just means my neighborhood
- – Stop speaking mission-ese
- Our churches role in the great commission –
- “back translation” What do you think? 30% would be great(business mind)
- 1040 Window (2 weeks before April 15th) ☺
Part/Session 2 – Where do we fit? (Geared to Local Churches / Mission Pastors)
We are in a time where Mission is From Every Nation To Every Nation!
3 Trends in the Local Church Mission Action
1) Same Old, Same Old Group
(Just keep doing it the same way)
2) Heck with Mission Agencies, Let’s Do it Our Own Way
(streamlined, but a little dangerous & no collaboration)
3) Let’s Stay Home
(fix America first, the Majority World has more converts than us)
5 Challenges in Local Church Global Mission Engagement
1) Under 30 challenge
- a. People don’t give in the same way
- b. People don’t go in the same way
- c. Do they have a long enough attention span to do pioneer mission?
- d. Unreached people groups are long, hard work
2) Global Local Challenge
- a. Across the street, across the ocean
- b. World religions are here, not an exotic something from over there.
- c. Here and There
- i. Offer an introduction on talking to ethnic people, other religions, help give people practical tips
- ii. Call on Mission Agency for help
- iii. The first 5 questions you ask your Hindu neighbor, or an Islamic person, or Buddist…
3) Partnership Challenge
- a. What are other people doing?
- b. Intentional Reciprocity – are we going and what do they have to teach us (Co-equal partners)
- c. Is their anything we can do to serve what God is already doing?
- d. Take Listening trips…really listen…
- e. Why is partnership a one-way street? Don’t treat it like a franchise, or a subsidiary!
- i. Here’s what we have to offer…do you need this?
- ii. Here’s what we would like to learn…
- • Partnership is not based on transactional things (MOU’s) but on relationships
- • Secondary Impact Partnerships
- o Work with people who can go places that you can’t go… Latinos to Islamic pockets
- o The Multi-Cultural face of our North American church is key to reaching our “global” world.
4) Short-term Mission Challenge
- a. Lots of benefits, Lots of critiques
- b. “Short-term missions is the first time in Christian Mission History when the missionary is the primary beneficiary.”
- c. How do we link with locals?
- d. Short-term mission trips, with a long-term effect.
- e. Freak-show Missions – Draw a crowd and it can be used.
- f. Poverty-voyeurs, pigeonaries (fly in crap all over everything and leave)
- g. Please stop sending us your children – Mexico
- i. Could not see poverty at home unless they go to Mexico and see people in a village in poverty
- ii. What is the cost of short-term missions? What is the cost of NOT doing short-term missions?
5) North American Comfort Zone Challenge
- a. Re-evaluate our lifestyles
- b. Affluence comes naturally
- c. How do we prepare people to downsize their lifestyle, living more simply
- d. Example of MoveIn – commitment to be incarnational people in apartment, low-income housing
- e. We have an addiction to stuff
- f. Progress Paradox – Why does the richest place on earth have the most, mood altering, drug use, choices, different bottles of water?
- Middleclass Americans actually are the Top 1% of the rich people who have lived in all of human history
5 Practical Ideas to Eat – Josh Reeves | @VergeNetwork
We often speak of living out our gospel identity in everyday rhythms of life (know the story, listen, bless, celebrate & suffer, eat, rest & work). In fact, much of what we do is not meant to add things to the schedule, but bring intentionality to the things we are already doing.
The following lists are a few practical examples of simple things you can begin doing to bring gospel intentionality to your schedule. Hopefully as you are reading through these examples it will spark ideas for your own life.
5 PRACTICAL IDEAS TO EAT
- Start a monthly dinner night at your house that has an open invitation for anyone that wants to to join and bring people.
- Find people in your church community who love cooking and get them to help others grow in their appreciation for fine food.
- Set a goal to have more meals with neighbors/coworkers than you are currently having. Talk it out with your MC and get advice one what is a good starting point.
- Make a schedule each month with the nights you want to host people for meals. Prayerfully consider who you will share a table with (neighbors/co-workers/MC family).
- Start a supper club with people in your neighborhood or network of relationships. Have each person in the club signup to host a night. Have the host share the recipe with the rest of the group when they come over. Spend time during the meal sharing things you are thankful for building in a rhythm of intentionality into your meals together.
CONSIDER – LEVITICUS 23, MATTHEW 6:11, 26:17-30, ACTS 2:46-47, ROMANS 12:13
A Footwasher to the Footwashers online @ChristianityToday
A Footwasher to the Footwashers | Christianity Today
The first shall be last, and the last, first.
The mother of James and John, the sons of Zebedee, respectfully approached Jesus. She had a small request for Jesus. “Grant that one of these two sons of mine may sit at your right and the other at your left in your kingdom” (Matt. 20:21). It sounds like a typical Jewish mother’s request (“My boys are good boys!”). She wasn’t asking much, only that one could be the assistant Savior and the other the associate Lord. Jesus must have thought that he had heard it all now.
Jesus replied in a straightforward fashion, “You don’t know what you are asking! Are you able to drink from the bitter cup of suffering I am about to drink?” James and John chime in, “We can” (v. 22). Their response proves they are pretty clueless.
The other ten disciples get wind that mama has been politicking for the “Sons of Thunder.” The disciples start to make some noise of their own. “When the ten heard about this, they were indignant with the two brothers”—probably because they also wanted those positions (v. 24). Pride and vanity have a tendency to bring to the surface more pride and vanity. So we see the picture—all the disciples jockeying for position, working one-upmanship. They were a pretty ratty bunch.
The First Shall Be Last and the Last Shall Be First
Talk about a teachable moment. Jesus, the master teacher, was not going to miss this opportunity. But Jesus called them together and said, “You know that the rulers in this world lord it over their people, and officials flaunt their authority over those under them. But among you it will be different. Whoever wants to be a leader among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first among you must become your slave” (v. 25-27, NLT).
What a paradigm change! I wish I had been there to see the look on their faces. He had just described to them an upside-down leadership style. If you want to be a leader, become a servant; do what others are not willing to do. If you want to be first among the leaders, become a slave (a bond servant), not embraced with a legalistic obligation, but born of a free choice motivated by love. In this commitment there was no free agency; it was a lifetime of voluntary indentured service.
Remember, the Pharisees, the religious leadership of the day, modeled a different kind of leadership. They loved the best place in the synagogue. They loved to be noticed in the market place and for others to recognize them and say, “Hello, Rabbi.” The disciples must have been tempted to think that when their movement succeeds, it would be nice to occupy the best seats and to be noticed by the people. But after this little discourse by Jesus, they might have been thinking, Maybe I should rethink this leadership thing.
Finally, Jesus reveals to them the hinge that would support this radical service. That hinge would be the willingness to give up their lives. “For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many” (v. 28). At the core of all authentic service is a relinquishment. No, for most of us it will not be our physical lives, but in true service there is always the aspect of giving up what we want in order to do what he wants. How did this teaching go over with his disciples? Let’s fast-forward to the end of Jesus’ ministry on earth to answer this question.
The Secret Weapon
The scene is the last Passover meal that Jesus would share with the men he had picked to carry on his work here on earth. He knows their hearts and understands that they have a long way to go to apply his truth to their lives. He needed an object lesson that would demonstrate the leadership principles previously outlined. His disciples had been with him three and a half years. They had watched him raise people from the dead. He had touched people’s mouths and the mute spoke. Ears were opened and the deaf began to hear. They were amazed as the seas obeyed him. Yet, it hadn’t brought the change in their lives the Lord had sought. He needed a secret weapon that would not only change them, but also be a tool to reach the world. This was the last interaction with his disciples to etch upon their minds the image by which he was to be remembered. What would it be?
“Before the Passover celebration, Jesus knew that his hour had come to leave this world and return to his Father. He had loved his disciples during his ministry on earth, and now he loved them to the very end. It was time for supper, and the devil had already prompted Judas, son of Simon Iscariot, to betray Jesus. Jesus knew that the Father had given him authority over everything and that he had come from God and would return to God. So he got up from the table, took off his robe, wrapped a towel around his waist, and poured water into a basin. Then he began to wash the disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel he had around him” (John 13:1-5).
Jesus takes a common towel and washes the disciples’ feet. That night he must have shaken Hell. Demons must have shuddered when they pondered what would happen if this mindset replaced the mentality of the world—this system of the world that is under the “control of the evil one” (1 John 5:19), which says you are important according to position, possessions, or posture in life. Jesus blew a hole right in the center of this mentality by the most valuable taking the role of the least valuable.
A Footwasher to the Footwashers
I worked with Youth with a Mission (YWAM) for 17 years, 8 of those in Kona, Hawaii, where Loren and Darlene Cunningham, co-founders of YWAM, lived. On several occasions I heard Darlene say that God had called her to be a “footwasher to the footwashers.” When Loren needed to be away to take care of the vast responsibilities God had given him, Darlene was home taking care of the children, always with a positive attitude. I watched her spend untold hours counseling and encouraging those of us who were called to minister. We needed encouragement. Being logistical workers and not directly reaching the lost, we sometimes viewed ourselves as second-class missionaries. Darlene encouraged us by speaking worth and value into our lives both in relation to who we were and what we did. Through her life and example, she helped us esteem the high position of service to which God had called us. Like Jesus, she was willing to humble herself to lift others up.
I think we might be a bit surprised when God gives out rewards for our earthly deeds (Matt. 16:27). We might find high on his list of tasks, child-rearing responsibilities, washing socks, or championing others even though it placed us out of the glow of the limelight. I would not be the least bit surprised if on that day we have some shocked people when they finally realize that in serving God, it is not the height of the task or even its breadth that impresses God. It is the depth of our love for Christ—the motivation for our service—which catches the eye of our Father.
Read the original article here Copyright © 2013
Ken Barnes is the author of The Chicken Farm and Other Sacred Places (YWAM Publishing).
Seed of the Gospel and Indigenous Christianity
“The Gospel is like a seed and you have to sow it. When you sow the seed of the Gospel in Palestine, a plant that can be called Palestinian Christianity grows. When you sow it in Rome, a plant of Roman Christianity grows. You sow the Gospel in Great Britain and you get British Christianity. The seed of the Gospel is later brought to America, and a plant grows of American Christianity. Now, when missionaries came to our lands they brought not only the seed of the gospel, but their own plant of Christianity, flower not included! So, what we have to do is to break the flower pot, take out the seed of the gospel, sow it in our own cultural soil, and let our own version of Christianity grow.”
-D. T. Niles ( from Sri Lanka)
A hero of the faith speaks about obstacles – James Gribble
This is taken directly from the journal of James Gribble:
“There is no place in all the world more needy, no place more dark than [central Africa]. It seems as if all earth and hell have united in saying ‘No’ to the carrying of the Gospel there.
Yet we know that it shall be preached there, for the ‘Great Commission’ implies it. And we find that the church will be composed of representatives from every tongue, tribe and nation (Rev. 5:9).
“So even if the obstacles that confront us tower up to heaven, we know that we will, by the grace of God, overcome them.”
– James Gribble
If you’d like to know more about James Gribble and his story, I’d recommend this video “A Grain of Wheat” by my friend Dave Guiles who masterfully tells the story.
What the church should be about…
“I simply argue that the cross should be raised at the center of the marketplace as well as on the steeple of the church. I am recovering the claim that Jesus was not crucified in a cathedral between two candles, but on a cross between two thieves; on the town’s garbage heap; at a crossroad so cosmopolitan that they had to write His title in Hebrew and Latin and Greek … at the kind of place where cynics talk smut, and thieves curse, and soldiers gamble. Because that is where He died. And that is what He died for. And that is what He died about. That is where church-men ought to be and what church-men ought to be about.”
George Macleod, founder of the Iona Community in Scotland
Missions Mobilizers meet in Wooster, Ohio by @DaronButler
My friend Daron posted a little pic and article about this important meeting I was at last week:
Daron Butler Blog: Missions Mobilizers meet in Wooster, Ohio.
Also, @JohnAWard caught me doing a little presentation:
Here’s a further list of resources which were talked about during the day:
- Website for Unreached, Unengaged People Groups http://FinishingTheTask.com/
- Prayer Sprint Powerpoint Slide Download here & the link for info online — http://encompassworld.org/sprint
- A link to all of John Ward‘s info on the Encompass Recruitment Process https://www.dropbox.com/sh/8br2pizmopkvrvu/6ghePVWdkr?n=148536683
- NorthStar Adventure in Japan: http://encompassworld.org/northstar
- Pictures below of the Brochure on the ESL Training at Ashland Grace (May 4 – 8:30am-5pm)
- Link to the Ministry to the Dominican Republic with Carl Keys http://www.partnersnchrist.org/
- Mission Frontiers Magazines…all online! http://www.missionfrontiers.org/
- Article on EXPORTING: the Lost Aspect of Disciplemaking http://www.missionfrontiers.org/issue/article/exporting
- DVD of the James Gribble Story http://www.encompassworldpartners.org/resources/resource-center/item/2090-a-grain-of-wheat
Prayer for the Nations — Via Text for the next Month!
Walk In Love
“As you have heard from the beginning, His command is that you walk in love.” – 2 John v.6
Jesus lived His life walking in love. He actually had to learn to walk—as all toddlers do. He loved his parents and his mentors in the temple. He walked into religious places and loved them. He loved the outcasts by enjoying dinners and drinks with them. He loved the children and brought them into the middle of His circle. He even walked on water.
He healed the chronically ill, the blind and loved Lazarus enough to raise him back to life. He loved those “Gentile dogs”—the non-Jews who He welcomed into His Kingdom. He stooped onto the ground with a basin of water, towel wrapped around his waist, and washed His disciples’ feet showing them the full extent of His love. He walked up a hill after a beating, with a crown of thorns and a cross. He escorted the man hanging next to Him on the cross—a mocker and thief—into paradise. He died, was buried and walked out of the tomb indicating His loving victory over sin and death. He walked through the walls into a locked room to be with His beloved disciples after His resurrection.
Jesus walked on this planet in love and as He departed, he lovingly shared with his disciples, “Go into all the world and preach the Good News to all creation.”
Jesus’ love moved Him on mission to our world–from a baby through the ascension. As we walk in His love, it will move us to mission as well. Won’t you consider how you can “Walk in Love”?!?!
“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.” – John 3:16
UNREACHED People Groups and our rationalization…
Almost every time I speak about unreached people groups, I hear a comment like, “We’ve got plenty of unreached people right here where we live, without worrying about groups halfway across the world.” And that’s true. There are more individuals living within already “reached” people groups, than there are in all the unreached people groups of the world. However, there is one major difference. Most people in the West have great access to the message of Christ through media, local churches, and believers. For 300 million people in the unengaged, unreached people groups of the world, there is no way, outside of divine revelation, to hear the message of Christ. There is no church, no missionary, and not one verse of Scripture translated into their language. How much longer will we wait until we go to these groups, and put them on our priority list for funding and manpower?
By Paul Eshelman // Director of Finishing The Task)
Read the rest of Paul’s article in Mission Frontiers
Hear Paul tell the story of when God grabbed his heart for the unreached