• 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!

The art of sacrifice in a region (Europe)

Posted on December 8, 2014 by wtdavid

The Mission¹⁴: Vision Forward Europe conference was the final Area conference in 2014.  The conference focused on personal and leader development with presentations by Albert, Steve and Mark, and  was furthered through small group interaction. One highlight was the number of new workers partnering with WT Europe since the last Area conference.  About 15-20 workers have joined WT Europe within the last three years and a number of those workers come from partnerships with other like minded agencies.2014 Europe Conference Picture 2

As I wrote in the previous post, “I shared a number of challenges with each region or Area.  The purpose was to affirm and celebrate what God has done through us over the past few years as well as to challenge Area members to “excel still more” in their work and ministry for Jesus.”

During the WT Europe conference, I shared the following challenges.

First challenge: give away the ministry. Though our drive may be to hold on to the ministry, we must allow, empower, and give others the responsibility to carry out spiritual ministry.  This calls for a strong grasp of the Gospel which reminds us that our ultimate value is not to be found in our work, but in Him.  Multiplication then is a natural outgrowth of a heart that is centred in the Gospel.

Second challenge: choose afresh apostolic rather than pastoral.  A cross cultural worker is by nature someone who is concerned with the spiritual state of others; he/she has a pastoral stance towards others in the sense of wanting those apart from Christ to come into a personal relationship with Him.  However, our calling is to be starters and equippers; our calling is an apostolic one.  We can easily fall into a pastoral stance and inhibit the development of nationals to build and shape the ministry. From the start of any new work, our approach needs to be apostolic.

Third challenge: live in and out of community.  Our values can make great sound bites.  However, for our values to become the compass by which our work and ministry is directed, we must work out those values in the context of community.  The TC4u challenge was a reminder to the WT community of our need as workers to find and build a community where we can speak into others lives as well as allow others to speak into our lives.

Fourth challenge: learn to measure progress.  Numbers are important, but stories tell so much more.  The challenge is to do both well.  Metrics is not a pleasant word for many, but we are called to give an account of what we have done with the resources God has placed at our disposal.  However, accountability is not just about counting disciples or churches, but also about demonstrating the progress and growth that has occurred.   Both are needed and that is the challenge that faces all of us.

I share these challenges given to the WT Europe workers with all of us both as a reminder of the challenges given, but also as a motivation to pray for one another as we seek to learn the further change and growth to which God is calling us.

Filed under: Challenge, Development, Vision Forward 2014 | Leave a comment »

The art of sacrifice in a region (Asia)

Posted on November 25, 2014 by wtdavid

The Mission¹⁴: Vision Forward Asia conference was the third Area conference in 2014.  The conference focused on facilitative church planting with presentations by Tom (Biola University) along with several workshops by Area members.  One innovative highlight was the “prayer corners” offered on several mornings.  These “prayer corners” allowed workers to briefly share their ministry and then have a small group pray for the needs shared.  After a certain time, groups then shifted to other “prayer corners” and began the process again.Bali 2014 042

As I wrote in the previous post, “I shared a number of challenges with each region or Area.  The purpose was to affirm and celebrate what God has done through us over the past few years as well as to challenge Area members to “excel still more” in their work and ministry for Jesus.”

During the WT Asia conference, I shared the following challenges.

First challenge: allow others to speak into your life. Our natural tendency is to defend ourselves when others (from inside or outside our context) seek to share insights about our life and ministry. We do not receive well critical comments from others.  However, those comments often contain elements of truth and insight to help us further grow in our journey with Christ.  With our hearts centred in the truth that we are loved more than we dared imagine, we can hear and receive well what others would share with us.

Second challenge: choose facilitation. Choosing facilitation means that we will set aside our goal of self accomplishment in order to enter others into the ministry who can then join in the task which God has entrusted to us as a community.  It will call us to learn how to begin ‘doing less and leading more’.  By that, I mean that we will more quickly share, delegate and facilitate others; giving away ministry rather than holding it for ourselves.

Third challenge: live out our values.  As a World Team global community, we are committed to Gospel centred life and ministry, adoration, community, and building into others. Those values can often be just words on a page, aspirational values if you will. We must choose to live together out of these values as they form the bedrock of who we are and all we do.

Fourth challenge: excel still more.  WT Asia has seen significant growth in its ministry over the past number of years.  We should not rest on what has already happened, but continue to desire to do even more for Christ.  It calls us to ‘think outside of our current box’ and recognize that God is using a variety of modes and means to bring the Gospel to unreached peoples around the globe.  We must continue to grow, to change and to be ever passionate about our calling: to multiply disciples and communities of believers.

I share these challenges to the WT Asia workers with all of us both as a reminder of the challenges given, but also as a motivation to pray for one another as we seek to learn the further change and growth to which God is calling us.

Filed under: Facilitation, Listening, Prayer, Vision Forward 2014 | Leave a comment »

The art of sacrifice in a region (Africa)

Posted on November 20, 2014 by wtdavid

The Mission¹⁴: Vision Forward Africa conference was the second of Area conferences in 2014.  The conference focused on our WT Ethos (purpose, vision, values and ‘culture’) as well as getting input from national leaders about partnering to reach the unreached.  The large group and small group interaction times were fruitful, with many opportunities to talk further about the issues being raised.20140524_123751

As I wrote in the previous post, “I shared a number of challenges with each region or Area.  The purpose was to affirm and celebrate what God has done through us over the past few years as well as to challenge Area members to “excel still more” in their work and ministry for Jesus.”

During the WT Africa conference, I shared the following challenges.

First challenge: learn to say ‘no’. Learn to say ‘no’ to one thing in order to build a heart for a new team.  World Team Africa has historically focused its work(s) in one specific region.  The outgrowths of these efforts have been progress in translation projects, multiplying small groups and leader development.  That good work now needs to be turned towards other projects in other locations and countries. In order to do that, it will mean that workers will need to say ‘no’ to one thing to have the time to give towards researching and building new teams to reach new unreached people groups.

Second challenge: ask the hard question. “When is the time to move on?”  This hard question is not restricted just to WT Africa workers. It is the question that we all need to ask ourselves at certain times.  “When is the time to move on?”  In other words, at what point do we need to transition to a new work and project?  How might our ongoing presence be inhibiting others (national believers) to take leadership of the work?  This is neither an easy question nor an easy discussion.  However, we must help one another to regularly think through this question.

Third challenge: offer and accept outside-in input.  Each of us has experience and wisdom gained from our unique journey with Jesus.  However, we are each easily blinded to our faults and shortcomings.  Offering and accepting outside-in input is a way for each of us to come alongside other workers by investing in their lives.  However, we must be equally willing to accept the same input from those outside our contexts.  I often hear workers, in response to the offer of outside input, say that ‘those people would not understand our context.’ Granted there is an element of truth in that statement, but people from the outside are also able to see things to which we can easily be blinded.

I share these challenges to the WT AFrica workers with all of us both as a reminder of the challenges given, but also as a motivation to pray for one another as we seek to learn the further change and growth to which God is calling us.

 

Filed under: Partnership, Planning, Vision Forward 2014 | 6 Comments »

The art of sacrifice in a region (Americas)

Posted on November 18, 2014 by wtdavid

The Mission¹⁴: Vision Forward Americas conference kicked off our year of Area conferences in 2014.  The conference focused on examining elements that promoted or encouraged church multiplication.  Topics such as: “Seeing with Pilgrim Eyes”; Engaging the Excluded Middle”; and “Thinking with the End in Mind” were parts of the daily discussions.  Large group and small group interaction provided opportunities to dig deeper into each topic and consider specific applications to current ministries.small group prayer

As I wrote in the previous post, “I shared a number of challenges with each region or Area.  The purpose was to affirm and celebrate what God has done through us over the past few years as well as to challenge Area members to “excel still more” in their work and ministry for Jesus.”

During the Americas conference, I shared the following challenges.

First challenge: restructure. WT Americas is historically one of our longest standing Areas.  It is where one part of our mission found its start.  God has blessed through the number of people who have come to Christ and the communities and church associations that have arisen as a result of our WT Americas workers.  However, the number of WT sent workers has diminished over the years and we find ourselves in situations where there is only one couple or unit in a location.  We need to ‘restructure’ WT Americas in its ministry oversight so as to better serve our current workers and create opportunities for new workers, wherever they might come from.

Second challenge: partner to send.  The Latin America church is now sending workers to serve Christ around the world.  We need to initiate dialogue with one or more like minded agencies as to how we can come alongside them and serve them in seeing more workers from the Global South to be sent into cross cultural ministry.

Third challenge: develop and release to younger people.  WT Americas has a large number of highly experienced workers with significant longevity in ministry.  This wealth of experience should be shared with the younger generation.  Becoming mentors and coaches for the younger generation will open up new avenues of service for our highly experienced workers.  It will also mean that we will be quicker to release these younger workers into ministry and leadership so that they can begin to develop and grow in those ministry functions.

I share these challenges to the WT Americas workers with all of us both as a reminder and as a motivation to pray for one another as we seek to learn the further change and growth to which God is calling us.

 small group prayer

Filed under: Development, Leadership, Vision Forward 2014 | Leave a comment »

The art of sacrifice in a region

Posted on November 12, 2014 by wtdavid

At the Mission¹⁴: Vision Forward Area conferences this past year, I shared a number of challenges with each region or Area.  The purpose was to affirm and celebrate what God has done through us over the past few years as well as to challenge Area members to “excel still more” in their work and ministry for Jesus.

We can each settle in to a ‘comfortable’ way of doing ministry and lose that edge of daily learning what it means to “die to our fleshly love of impressing people in this way for glory for ourselves.”  I will often fend off challenges that may be given to me by ‘defending’ the good stuff that I’m already doing, and concluding by saying something like, “besides you don’t really understand what I am dealing with here in my ministry.”

We all need others to help us gain better perspective and grow in our character, gifts and abilities.  Naaman (2 Kings 5) was fortunate enough to have a number of servants who were willing to “bring him up short” in a crisis situation.  Otherwise, he probably would have walked away from the redemption and healing he sought.

Over the next few posts, I would like to share what I shared with each Area: both as a reminder of the challenge, but also as a motivation to pray for one another as we seek to learn the further change and growth to which God is calling us.

Filed under: Challenge, Gospel, Vision Forward 2014 | Leave a comment »

Americas Vision Forward 2014 Conference

Posted on January 22, 2014 by wtdavid

So what happened last week as workers from the Americas gathered for their Vision Forward 2014 Conference?  Sean (WT Haiti) shares his impressions and his takeaways in this short clip.

 

Filed under: Vision Forward 2014 | Leave a comment »

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