• Our hope-filled future is bound up in sharing the story of Jesus, in discipling others, in bringing those disciples together into communities of believers, and in developing and releasing those believers to create other communities... till Jesus the King comes again!

We live in community

Posted on March 16, 2021 by wtdavid

In Philippians 2, we read these words: “Do all things without grumbling or disputing, that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world.” 

It’s a description of what transformed relationships within the community of Christ should look like, and what they should not look like.  It’s a picture of how the Gospel works itself out in practical ways in our community with one another.

Grumbling, murmuring or disputing are not to be characteristics of our relationships with one another. It’s what got the people of Israel in numerous difficulties, undermining their witness to the surrounding peoples and nations. 

We might contextualize grumbling, murmuring and disputing today as disagreeing constantly, seeking to be right in any discussion, or just plain ornery with others.

What strikes one in this text is that the apostle Paul tells only us the negative elements to put off.  Paul implies that by putting off, we would recognize, in Christ, what needs to be put on.

That pushes us a bit deeper to consider what is really at the root of grumbling, murmuring and disputing.  The biblical writers put their fingers on one of two possibilities: pride or unbelief.  It’s either our desire to be the master of our destiny as well as that of others or it’s our inability, our lack of assurance in God’s love for us, despite what often drives us.

One writer put it this way: “We cannot present a reason for Christ to finally close off his heart to his own sheep.  No such reason exists.  Every human friend has a limit.  If we offend enough, if the relationship gets damaged enough, if we betray enough times, we are cast out. The walls go up. With Christ, our sins and weaknesses are the very resumé items that qualify us to approach him.  Nothing but coming to him is required – first at conversion and a thousand times thereafter until we are with him upon death.”

As Christ works in our hearts through the Gospel, we should become more and more sensitive to the impact of our words on others.  He will open our eyes for us to see more clearly the needs of others and how we, by our words and actions, can minister to other members of the community.

Filed under: Community, Gospel | 4 Comments »

Have you heard the story of Trey?

Posted on February 9, 2021 by wtdavid

Have you heard the story of Trey?  That’s not his real name, but hopefully this story will be a reminder to each of us of the power of the Gospel to change a life. Slowly, deliberately, but surely.

Here’s how my friend shared the story with me.

“I met Trey several years ago on a street in Chiang Mai. The Lord prompted me, for some reason, to speak to him. I invited him to have a coffee and we chatted for a while.  A few weeks later, we met again and at that point I invited Trey to come and visit our church. He wasn’t really interested.  He subsequently ‘dropped off my radar screen’. I prayed for him but didn’t run into him again for several years.

Then one day, there he was, walking down the same street again as I was. We grabbed a coffee together and caught up on what had happened since we last saw each other.  I later asked if he wanted to visit a cultural exposition that was being held in the coming weeks. He agreed to go with me.

As our friendship grew, I asked Trey if he might be interested in reading the Bible together – just reading it and discussing what we thought the Bible was trying to say to us.  He was willing, though it wasn’t an enthusiastic willingness.  And so, we started reading the Bible together.  

Then the pandemic hit, and we were forced to meet virtually on our cellphones.  In one of those virtual meetings, we read the passage from Mark 1:14-15.  As we talked about what it meant, Trey came to understand faith and repentance, and that day he gave his life to Jesus.

As we continued to meet, it was a joy to listen to Trey’s prayers: short but so simple and sincere. Trey started reading the Bible 5 minutes a week and praying for 5 minutes, then it became 15 minutes per day!  God was building into this new disciple!

I introduced Trey one day to another person in our community group. I thought it would help him to get to know other believers, and that he might be encouraged to join our community times.

Recently, Trey told me how he had talked with one of his co-workers about the Bible. They talked about what each thought the Bible passage meant!  I pray that Trey will become a disciple who makes disciples. He is certainly not done with ‘growing in Christ’. So, I (along with others in the community) keep praying and walking alongside him.”

So, have you heard the story of Trey?  Hopefully this story has been be a reminder to each of us of the power of the Gospel to change a life. Slowly, deliberately, but surely.

Filed under: Community, Discipleship, Repentance & faith, Sharing the Gospel story | 4 Comments »

"The main line"

Posted on March 24, 2020 by wtdavid

Filed under: Community, Prayer | Leave a comment »

Resources Refresh

Posted on March 12, 2020 by wtdavid

Sitting in discussions with our Asia leaders last week, I learned of the obstacles and challenges they each face in ministry to the unreached in that part of the world.  I was also amazed by the number of opportunities they have in front of them to launch new works to new unreached people groups.

Yet, there is a consistent problem these leaders run up against – the lack of resources, primarily people resources. 

If they just had the people, they could extend the reach of their team to a new people group, but they just can’t seem to find or mobilise the people that they need.

Sometimes, in discouragement, we might say that our lack of resources simply indicates that it is not God’s will for us to enter this new people group.  And that could be true.  Sometimes, we might say that the people resources we currently have are all the resources God has given us for the moment and we just have to work with what we have.  And that could be true. 

Sometimes though we might just need to look at the situation with ‘new eyes’.

For one, we might look at our prayer life with ‘new eyes’ and determine that it may need a “refresh”.  Jesus said in an oft quoted text: “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.”  (Matthew 9:3). Two things catch our attention in this passage: that we are called to ‘earnest prayer’; and that the ministry we are seeking to resource is His ministry.  Rather than focusing on what we do not have (workers), we should put our focus back on the God of the harvest whose resources are unlimited.

For another, we might look at our ‘resource poor’ situation with ‘new eyes’ and recognize that we are not alone; we are part of a larger community.  Rather than feeling that we need to find these resources all on our own, we might begin to network with other like-minded WT workers who could come alongside of us in seeking the resources we need to minister to new unreached people groups that God lays on our hearts.

Finally, we might look at our current team situation with ‘new eyes’ and realize that we are actually ‘resource rich’ with current workers and colleagues within WT.  A survey done several years ago demonstrated that the average number of years of ministry on field among all our workers was: 18 years.  That’s a wealth of experience!  And maybe, we might begin to pray and challenge some of our colleagues to consider serving on other teams that are just starting, and bring that experience to this new team

May we earnestly pray the God of the harvest to supply the resources that we need!

Filed under: Collaboration, Community, Mobilization | 4 Comments »

Up, in and out

Posted on July 18, 2019 by wtdavid

I was talking today with a young church planter from Asia, working with a national organization in country.  He had just returned from facilitating a training session on launching and building discovery Bible groups or small house churches.  National pastors, Christians in professional jobs and students attended this training.

I asked him how he helped these different groups of people to adopt or own the idea of small groups that multiplied themselves in a given area.  His response was simple and straightforward: “Up, in and out”. 

Jumping off from Acts 2:42, he shared that his goal was to lead people to first begin by praying (‘up’) to God about whether He wanted them to move in this direction. I found that so refreshing that he shared an idea, and then let the participants be convinced by God that this would be the direction in which they should now go.  Then the current group (‘in’) would solidify their own fellowship and community through time spent together in ‘teaching, fellowship, and prayer’.  This would then lead the group members to move towards others (‘out’) and offer an opportunity to others to look into the Bible and discover God together.

I know I may have heard this phrase before, but it had a fresh ring to it this time, coming out of the mouth of a brother in Christ from another culture and country.  Prayer, fellowship, and outreach.  This is part and parcel of our life and ministry. 

Let’s learn fresh ideas together and then turn to God to see if and how He wants us to apply them.

Filed under: Community, Prayer, Training | Leave a comment »

Praying together

Posted on February 14, 2019 by wtdavid

Praying together

So, what really happened during our World Team Day of Prayer last week?

Here are a few comments I received back from World Team Global members which I hope will encourage your hearts:

“As Spain Team West gathered to pray together on Friday, we enjoyed praying for these 2 people groups and learning more about them. It enabled us to lift our eyes from our own endeavours and surroundings and contemplate others from very different cultures and the challenges of reaching them with the gospel. I sensed it was our privilege to pray for these people groups for God’s Spirit to break through so that others can know the deep love of God.”

“We are going to Lorraine who, as you know, is wheelchair bound. It will be an encouragement for her to continue participating in this vital day. After the passing of her husband Paul into glory, our team has shrunk even more. Nevertheless, we carry on with the day of prayer and the work. First things first.”

“It is always a special time when I pray for World Team ministries in other parts of the world.  I pray a lot for our WT Americas missionary team, for new people groups and new ministries, but less for other Areas’ needs.  Praying for the Cham and Dadjo opened a new window on what the Lord is doing in other parts of the world, and in a small way, to be a part of what He is doing.”

World Team Canada met for prayer ‘virtually’ and a fair sized group was surprised to have a member of Hook Evangelical Church (UK) join them and explain their church’s passion for the Dadjo and their commitment to pray for this people group for the past 10+ years!

So, what really happened?  I believe we united our hearts in prayer, for God to work in significant ways among the Dadjo and the Cham … and we did this ‘work’ together, all around the globe [a Doodle online calendar was a first start at seeing how we prayed together over the 24-48 hour time period].

Much thanks and gratitude for your participation!  However, let us not forget that this is only the start of the ‘marathon’ of prayer for these two people groups! Press on together!

Filed under: Community, Prayer, Unreached people groups | 2 Comments »

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