• 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!

An online meal together

Posted on June 17, 2025 by wtdavid

A fellow church planter, from another culture, once said: “I have yet to participate in an American Thanksgiving online.”  His point was well taken. The Internet is great for communicating across the time zones of the world. But, when it comes to experiencing incarnationally an event, another culture, or another person, it is woefully lacking.  

One of our guiding principles as a WT community is “incarnational” or “incarnational living”. That is where we surrender “our rights to our home culture, language, and ways and embrace those of the host culture.” To do this online is near nigh impossible, because you will miss a certain number of “cultural cues” that could help you understand and embrace this new culture. That’s probably why at the start talking on the phone is one of the more difficult aspects of cross-cultural living. Without facial expressions and other gestures, you only have the voice to go on. And you often miss what the other is actually trying to say.

I’m grateful to a member of our local French church who recently wrote an article on the challenges youth workers could face with the next generation: Generation Alpha.  This will be the first generation raised primarily on the Internet. There will be strengths and weaknesses from this context. One of the challenges though will be the non-incarnational, non-interactive nature of their spiritual development. They will be trying to “share a Thanksgiving meal without being physically in the same room.”

Now I’m not picking on the next generation as we still don’t know how they will “enter” the global missions movement.  I’m just trying to underscore how the coming generation, as well as ourselves, may be pulled, without even realizing it, into a world of strictly online relationships and virtual cultural experiences.

Zoom, Teams, and other platforms are good. However, to really understand the culture and viewpoint of another, you need to “see” and experience their world with them in person, incarnationally.

Filed under: Cultural intelligence, Incarnational living, WT Ministry Framework | 2 Comments »

Raw authenticity

Posted on November 15, 2022 by wtdavid

Two stories or events came to mind when I think about raw authenticity.  What I mean by raw authenticity is simply the clear, honest, and straightforward expression of one’s character or that of a group.

The first story.  Talking with a friend recently, I noticed that the organization he worked for had processed 35+ new workers during the pandemic. “How were you able to bring in so many new people in the midst of one of the most difficult times?” I asked.  His answer was enlightening. He told me that they had no idea as to why they drew in so many new workers.  They hired a consultant to help them figure out “what they were doing right”. 

Basically, the consultant said that the organization my friend worked for had not varied from their guiding principles over many years.  In other words, their strategy may have changed, but who they were and how they lived together as an organization had not altered. 

The second story or event.  I once worked for the administrator of a long-term health care facility.  He often ‘preached’ about the value and dignity we were to give or show to the residents of this facility.  They were our focus. We were there to serve them.  The way he personally demonstrated his commitment to this guiding principle was that his office door was directly accessible from the main hallway of the facility.  No need to go through someone else to get to his office.  And that door was almost always open.  Any resident could simply walk right in if they wanted to talk to the director of the facility.

In both cases, what was said to drive their relationships, drove their relationships.  And people were drawn to that authenticity of life and openness.  Yes, there was an organizational culture and work strategy that people adhered to and believed in. But what seems to keep them or have kept them onboard was the outworking of the principles to which they held.

We talk a lot about the Gospel as the driving guiding principle of our mission (see the WT Ministry Framework). Perhaps we need to reclaim that principle as the driving force behind our actions and the way in which we work and will work together.  And we would do well to look for daily expressions of that Gospel expressing itself in love, in and through our lives (Galatians 5:6).

What that might look like is fodder for ongoing discussions … and certainly a next blog post.

Filed under: Authenticity, Character, Gospel, WT Ministry Framework | Leave a comment »

Multiplicational ministry

Posted on May 28, 2019 by wtdavid

I recently read the following quote:

“Here, then, is the shape of mission for … the twenty-first century.  Here is the way ahead – a team of focused missionaries who have caught the vision of church multiplication, who have seen the larger picture, who understand that biblical multiplication of reproducing churches results through a determined equipping of local believers for the work of church planting.  It is a vision that calls for a new breed of missionary. One who finds fulfillment, not so much in gathering the harvest, but who by investing his or her own life and energy in the training of others, assures the multiplication of that harvest beyond anything they might have done alone.”

It seems to me that there are a lot of ‘strong’ words in this short quote: ‘the way ahead’; ‘focused missionaries’; ‘seen the larger picture’; ‘a determined equipping’; and ‘a new breed of missionary’.

However, it was the last line that set me back a bit on a first (and even second) read.  The writer argues that investing in others, training them, “assures the multiplication of that harvest beyond anything they might have done alone.”

Multiplication.  It is part of what we say we are all about as World Team workers.  Yet, it is a tricky concept to get our hands around and see how it should work it out in our day to day ministries. 

The author of this quote simply pushes us back to the importance of investing in others (spending the time and energy) to train them to carry out the ministry.  This is the exhortation that Paul gives to us in Ephesians 4:12 – “to equip the saints for the work of ministry”.

Investing in others for the purpose of multiplication bears fruit in the long term, not necessarily in the short term.  The investment is well worth the effort because what is left behind after we leave is a growing number of people carrying out the ministry, and multiplying themselves in others!

One question, though, came to mind and caused me to assess my commitment (or determination) to invest in others and “assure” that kind of ongoing multiplication: What do I prefer more: to do a ministry activity myself OR spend the time it takes to train another to carry out that activity (and as a result be recognized by others)?

Moving to more of this kind of investment and multiplication probably starts by addressing our own pride and desire to be recognized and valued by others.  We must constantly remind ourselves that ‘the God of all grace’ (1 Peter 5:10) is the One who loves us with an unfailing love and called us to be part of His family, His global spiritual community.

By the way, the quote above?  It was written by Joe Conley when he described the outcomes of the Caliraya conference (the launching of our united mission) in 1999 in the Philippines! Just put “WT in” in place of the 3 dots in the early part of the quote.

Filed under: Multiplication, WT Ministry Framework | 4 Comments »

Who is your one (bis)?

Posted on January 24, 2017 by wtdavid

The word, ‘bis’, in French is a way of adding an additional thought.  It’s an ‘encore’ if you will.

Last week, I wrote a post about the ‘slogan’ shared by my brother’s pastor in regards to Ephesians 1:1-14:  “Then he shared this slogan via a question: “Who is your one?”  Who is the person God has put on your heart?  Are you close to anyone who is far from God?  Are you in touch with anyone who is wondering how they fit into God’s mission in the world?”

I wanted to cdiscipleship-potential-160526ome back again to that question.  As I thought more about that slogan, I remembered a good friend from seminary (a New Zealander) who used to ask me a similar question every time we met for coffee.  We would sit down at Friendly’s (an ancient version of Starbucks) over a cup of American ‘coffee’ and he would start out by asking: who is your man?  Or later on, the question morphed to: how is it going with your man?

In his language, he was asking about the person that I was reaching out to or discipling.  He was pushing me to get past just talking about people to actually moving towards people and investing in them.

His weekly reminder was the help, the accountability moment I needed.  His weekly question was the reminder that someone was thinking about and praying for me in this regard.  That weekly reminder over a cup of ‘coffee’ was one of the main ways God kept my eyes focused on the His larger mission.

Last week, I asked: “Who is your one?”  Maybe I could state that another way: who are you reminding regularly about God’s mission by asking: Who is your man?  Who is your woman?  Who is the one in whom you are investing?

Filed under: Discipleship, Sharing the Gospel story, WT Ministry Framework | 4 Comments »

What am I supposed to be doing?

Posted on November 21, 2016 by wtdavid

It seems like a rather straightforward question for cross cultural workers.  We would normally answer by using the verbal equivalent of our role.  What am I supposed to be doing?  Church planting, discipling, translating the Bible, or teaching, for example.what-am-i-supposed-to-be-doing

However, what if we tried to answer the question by ‘keeping the end in mind’?  In other words, what if we responded to the question by focusing on the longer term objective?

The World Team Ministry Framework puts it this way: “reach, invest in, and equip others to release them into ministry”.  That’s what I am supposed to be doing every day as I work as a church planter, discipler, Bible translator or teacher.  I am supposed to be raising up another corps of committed followers of Jesus who will join in ministry.

Two outcomes come quickly to mind.  First, the ministry is a shared activity.  We as cross cultural workers are only one part in much larger plan God has to ‘multiply’ His people around the globe.  Our role may be one of a church planter, but our longer term objective is to raise up other church planters.  Second, I will have to ‘stand to the side’ from time to time to let others be launched into ministry.  Just as someone did for us, we need to platform, support and encourage others into ministry which will mean letting others do the ministry in our place.

Perhaps this is one of the long term outcomes John was referring to when he wrote: “I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth.”  (3 John 4)

Filed under: Church planting, Vision, WT Ministry Framework | 4 Comments »

Stand up with me

Posted on September 19, 2016 by wtdavid

A number of months ago, I saw this commercial online and felt it captured, in a humorous way, the struggle that many of us have in ministry calling others to join us in the vision God has placed before us.

As believers, we talk a lot about community, working together, teamwork, and learning how to carry out the ‘one another’ exhortations.  However, in practice we are at times reticent to join with others; to stand up with them.  The simple reason being that we believe we often have a better idea or better vision than the one being suggested. Instead of giving support to a vision, we prefer to evaluate and critique that direction.  Is this beginning to sound a little like a group that wandered through the desert for a number of years?

Now I’m not suggesting that we each drop the dream God may have given to each of us.  However, it is time for us as a World Team global community to stand up together and to lock arms together to fulfill the mission & vision God has given to us: Innovative teams multiplying disciples and communities of believers, bringing the Gospel within reach of lost people everywhere we go.

It’s time for us as a World Team global community to stand up together and share our resources with one another (human, prayer, intellectual and financial).  It’s time we stand up together and challenge young and old into cross cultural ministry with us.  The idea of World Team growing to 500 workers in the next five years will not happen if we don’t stand up together and mobilize together.  It’s time we stand up together and speak the Gospel to one another day in and day out so that our confidence would be in the Lord and not in ourselves.  It’s time we stand up together and live by what we say are our guiding principles and organizational ethos, and fulfill our central ministry focus.

Will you stand up together with me?

Filed under: Community, Gospel, Vision, WT Ministry Framework | 1 Comment »

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