• 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!

What am I going to do?

Posted on January 9, 2013 by wtdavid

1plus1 is a challenge to each of us in the WT community to intentionally disciple one person into a relationship with Christ and to intentionally disciple one person into cross cultural ministry.  The question that immediately comes to mind is: so what am I going to do?

That is a question that each of us must answer for ourselves individually.  However, Mark in his reply to my post, reached out to all of us and asked for some ‘shared responses’.  He wrote: “I am wondering if there are others of you out there who read David’s challenge, but were thinking the same thing I am?  Let’s hear from you. And David, any advice for us?”

My response or my answer to the challenge comes with three questions:Progress in Action - Road Barricade Improvement and Change for F

One, why not intentionally plan time in my schedule to be with someone seeking Christ or someone interested in serving cross culturally?  My day can easily fill up with lots of good activities and responsibilities.  If being with others is a priority, then I need to plan that into my day or at least be open to divine interruptions that lead me to people who are seeking Christ or seeking to serve Christ somewhere in the world.

Two, why not pray asking God to lead me to the right places to fish?  I am not a fisherman by hobby, but I do know that if I’m looking for something, I need to put myself in a place where there is a likelihood I will find what I am looking for.  However, I don’t know the people in whom God is working and I need His help to discern where I should put my time and energies.

Three, why not look for ways to open up spiritual conversations?  Contextualizing the Gospel means in part that we look for ways that will allow people to engage with the Gospel themselves and discover Christ in that interaction.  Sometimes, I, along with you, get lost in a conversation and can’t see a way to turn it to Christ.  Being intentional will mean that we look for ways to bring the person into dialogue with Christ about their personal relationship with Him or their desire to serve Him. Caroline gave a great example the other night when she talked about all the discussion that was going on about the ‘end of the world’.  Her simple statement/question serves as an example of opening spiritual conversation: “It’s funny how people can get so caught up in this frenzy of thinking that the world is going to end.  And it didn’t.  But it sure makes one think about what is after all this.  Have you ever thought about that?”

There is no one path, but there is one challenge, and to meet that challenge we totally need God.

Filed under: 1plus1, Challenge, Sharing the Gospel story | 4 Comments »

1plus1

Posted on January 7, 2013 by wtdavid

Christmas is both a time to consider the wonder of Christ’s birth as well as an opportunity to again marvel at His ongoing presence and work among us.  Chris Tomlin’s song: “Emmanuel (Hallowed Manger Ground)” underscores this thought in such a clear way.  How unbelievable it is that our God chose to come to dwell among us: “Emmanuel, Emmanuel, God Incarnate here to dwell”.

That intentionality serves as our anchor and our model.  Last January, we began the year by talking about such intentionality.  I wrote: “Missional living is a constant struggle of intentionality.  Our lives and ministries continually call for deliberate and purposeful action.  We do not wait for people to move towards us, rather we must move towards them in an intentional way, just as God did916492-16x9-512x288 and does for us.”

As we start this year, we are keenly aware of two facts that weigh heavy on our hearts.  One is the need that many right around us have for a personal relationship with Christ.  We are surprised by the growing number of irreligious or people who believe there is no God.  In a recent Church Life survey done in Australia, the number of people stating that they believed there is ‘no God’ had nearly doubled in the past twenty years.  Another is the constant need for more workers.  Currently, there are almost fifty appointees from our various Support Centers who are waiting to join teams around the world and who are not able to be ‘sent’ because of a lack of funding, training or ministry allocation.

In light of God’s intentionality towards us, in light of His desire that we be intentional in our life, development and ministry, and in light of these facts which tug at our hearts, here’s my challenge to each of us as we begin this year of 2013:

 

That each worker in the World Team community would intentionally

disciple one person into a relationship with Christ and that each worker

would intentionally disciple one person into cross cultural ministry.

 

If only a tenth of our workers met this challenge, we would welcome over thirty five new brothers and sisters into the community of believers.  If only a tenth of our workers met this challenge, we would have more than thirty five new workers ready to be mobilized to new ministries and people groups.  However, I want to trust God for much more than that!

Many years ago, Paul (WT UK) called to see if I wanted to run the London marathon with him.  I thought he was kidding.  I had never run a marathon in my life.  He simply laid the challenge out, stating that he had two bib numbers for the race.  His question was straightforward: “Are you in or not?”

If “you’re in” for the challenge I have laid in front of us, then share your ‘yes’ with another co-laborer in the Gospel so that you might pray for one another, trusting this intentional God to use even us to lead others to Him and to challenge others into service.

 

 

Filed under: Challenge, Discipleship, Sharing the Gospel story | 15 Comments »

More on Core Skills

Posted on December 10, 2012 by wtdavid

We all recognize that evangelism is an integral part of church planting.  But does it stand alone?  Or is it the first step towards discipling people to become committed followers of Jesus who will in turn make other disciples?  We call this reproduction and multiplication.  One focus of this on-line core skills module (Evangelism: Abundantly Sowing the Seed) is to think and do evangelism with the end in mind, that is, to share the Gospel in such a way that churches multiply. CS-masthead-logo

The course speaks to our motivation for sharing Christ (something we admit we all wrestle with at times) and exploring how we evangelize in a way that sows the seeds of multiplication.  Other topics include: the role of prayer in sharing our faith, evangelism as a means of ‘discipling the lost’ and what it means to find a person of peace.

Another topic looks at contextualization in the book of Acts and what the Scriptures teach us about contextualizing the unchanging message of the gospel today.  We also look at how ‘spiritual conversations’ can be used when interacting with neighbors and others, as a bridge to sharing Jesus with them.  Contextualization looks very different in our many ministry settings.

Trained WT facilitators will be leading this initiative.  I will be encouraging all Area Directors to send dates and sign-up information to field directors and all field workers for offering the module in 2013.

Filed under: Church planting, Competency, Sharing the Gospel story | 3 Comments »

Core Skills

Posted on December 4, 2012 by wtdavid

In his landmark work, Christian Mission in the Modern World, John Stott writes that evangelism is sharing the good news with others, no matter what the outcome. It is using words to describe the events of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection for our sins “Our goal,” Stott concludes, “is to present Christ Jesus in the Power of The Holy Spirit that people may be persuaded to come to Him in penitence.”CS-masthead-logo

Last June I shared how engaging so many of you on your fields reinforced both your and my desire for ongoing training in the basic core CPM attitudes, skills and knowledge that all church planters employ.  Effective church planters are characterized by a learning mindset, always sharpening their ability to communicate meaningfully the story of Jesus.

The Roadmap Team, led by Joi, along with Daniel, Laura, Amy, Mike, Bob and Chuck, has developed our first online module, Evangelism: Abundantly Sowing the Seed.  Eight workers from Asia, Europe and Africa volunteered to help field test the module in September and October.  Their response was positive and helped the team improve the module in order to offer it to all WT workers throughout 2013.

One couple, working in Asia, was so challenged by the module that they are considering the possibility of serving as facilitators.  One section of the module that got them thinking was how to address barriers and bridges to the gospel, which led to further discussion with teammates.  Interaction with people from other fields also produced insightful discussion from various perspectives.

You will soon be receiving material which will tell you how you will be able to participate in this module.  It will be offered numerous times during 2013.

Filed under: Core competencies, Sharing the Gospel story | 1 Comment »

What do you mean when you say “innovation”?

Posted on January 6, 2012 by wtdavid

I am sometimes asked a question in light of our global vision statement.  It goes something like this: “What do you mean when you say ‘innovation’?”  Rightly so, it is hard to be intentional about something, if we don’t understand what we mean by the concept (see 04.01.2012 post)

Wikipedia defines innovation this way: “Innovation is the creation of better or more effective products, processes, services, technologies, or ideas that are accepted by markets, governments, and society. Innovation differs from invention in that innovation refers to the use of a new idea or method, whereas invention refers more directly to the creation of the idea or method itself.”  This is somewhat helpful, particularly the distinction between invention (or creativity) and innovation.  However, it still doesn’t help us answer the practical question.

The word innovation also comes from the Latin word meaning “to renew or change.”  So, innovation is the process of initiating change or renewal.  However, what does that look like?

The more I thought about it, the more I realized that the harder I try to “define” innovation, the farther away I move from it.  Rather than defining it, here are a few concrete examples. From these we can discern what innovation means and might look like in our context.

  • A worker in Asia proposes to his board to buy a storefront and open a training school for refugees temporarily resettled in his country.  Being a certified chef, he suggests the school train refugees in food preparation, a marketable skill in most places of the world.  From the very start of the course, this worker talks openly and freely of his faith, offering opportunity for students to share needs and for prayer to be offered.  An innovative approach to outreach.
  • A worker in Europe sees several people come to Christ.  These new believers express a desire to study the Word, and they agree to meet for Bible study once a week.  The worker wants to implicate new believers more quickly in owning and taking responsibility for gatherings.  At the very first meeting, the worker deliberately does not show up.  When these new believers realize that the worker is not coming, they start the study themselves and continue on for weeks before recontacting the worker.  An innovative approach to discipleship or small group leadership.
  • Given the prolific number of cell phones in our world today, one group of workers developed short videos that presented the person of Jesus Christ.  They then sent these videos out to numerous contacts in ‘closed countries’ where they served.  Many came to a personal relationship with Jesus Christ as a result.  An innovative approach to sharing the Gospel.

A creative idea that leads to prayer and new approaches.  What do you mean when you think innovation?

Filed under: Church planting, Innovation, Sharing the Gospel story | 6 Comments »

Ministry practice 5.0

Posted on November 3, 2011 by wtdavid

What is that we actually do as cross cultural workers?  The CPM Roadmap (like the WT Continuum) makes an attempt at ‘painting a picture’ to describe the ministry in which we are engaged.  It is a good model, a good framework from which to work.

As we continue to look at cross cultural ministry from another perspective, we said that the first step is to engage others in spiritual conversations.  The second step is to encourage others to read God’s story contained in the Bible. The third step is to journey with people in their discovery of God.  Another step then might be to invite people into community.

We work, most of the time, from the following model  when we invite people ‘into’ community (described by Stuart Murray in his book, Church Planting: Laying Foundations):

Belief   [which leads to]        Behavior  [which leads to]        Belong

 

Right belief is seen as a prerequisite for participating in the community.  That belief should then give way to right behavior which demonstrates the authenticity of one’s commitment to Christ.  There is certainly much truth in that statement.  As the Bible says, “In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.”  (Matthew 5:16)

However, what would happen to our thinking about community if we flipped this model/process in this way:

 
Belong   [which leads to]        Behavior  [which leads to]         Belief

 

What if we invited people, people on the journey to discovering God, to first experience the community of believers?  Would they experience Christianity in a different way?  Would Christianity become life rather than just adherence to certain propositional truths?

It’s an interesting discussion.

So what should we do?   We pray boldly asking for God’s wisdom to know how to invite people into community, the community of God’s people. We depend on the Spirit to lead people in seeing real Christianity (right belief issuing in right behavior) as they journey towards Him.  We trust God’s Spirit to lead many to come to a living and vibrant faith in Jesus.

Filed under: Church planting, Community, Mission, Sharing the Gospel story | 4 Comments »

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