Thoughts Along The Journey

We as a global community of cross-cultural workers are committed to facilitating movements of disciples and churches among those who are lost.  As many writers have observed, church planting or church multiplication movements do not come about as a result of our efforts. They are first and foremost the work of God’s Spirit among a people group.

So, one of the primary means by which CP movements arise is by prayer – fervent, perseverant, and informed prayer on behalf of a people group where the number of believers is extremely minimal. 

It is prayer that is at the top of everyone’s list of CP movement characteristics.  However, two obstacles may keep us from this kind of movement prayer. 

The first obstacle is our desire to “do something”.  Prayer seems like such a passive activity in our minds. We want to be able to engage in some tangible work that would, in our minds, lead to a demonstration of God’s work among a people group.  And yet God calls us again and again to pray.

The second obstacle is a misplaced faith.  Jesus in Mark 11:22-24 says: “Whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.”  Alistair Begg comments on this verse this way: “In this bold command, Jesus reminded His followers to trust God, because it is actually faith’s foundation in God that gives that faith significance.  We should not have faith in faith or faith in ourselves, but faith in God alone.”

Once again, we can be tripped up by our own desire to “do something” first, rather than putting our faith in God alone and letting Him direct our actions as He builds a movement among people groups.

Begg goes on to write: “When God is the object of our faith, we can have an audacious faith – a faith that believes the impossible to be possible with Him.  We can know that we are speaking to someone who is able to do far more than we can even imagine (Ephesians 3:20-210. Jesus essentially says to us, I want you to pray in a way that says you actually believe in a God who is too wise to make mistakes, who is too kind to be cruel, and who is too powerful to be subdued by the normal forces of the universe.”

As we look forward to 2023, let us ask God to give us this kind of audacious faith as we pray for CP movements among people groups across this world.

Filed under: Movement, Multiplication, Prayer |