• 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’s it take to be intentional?

Posted on October 21, 2014 by wtdavid

In our TC4u group last Thursday, we were talking about how the Gospel practically works itself out in specific acts of obedience in our lives. We are no longer slaves to an ‘ought to’ or ‘should do’ mentality.  The Gospel frees us to a life of thankfulness that issues in acts of kindness and service.be intentional[4]

How does that work out in actual practice? Let’s take the issue of intentionality. How do I be intentional without turning it into a ‘law’ I must live out?

Several thoughts came quickly to mind:

First, drinking deeply from the example of Jesus would fill my heart with that heart desire to move towards others. Francis, a member of the WTGA, drew this out in a recent devotional that he shared with the members of the WTGA.  In talking about John 4, he showed how Jesus turned away from a vibrant ministry to encounter others needing the message of the kingdom, and in particular a lost and needy woman in Samaria.  Jesus was regularly ‘going out of His way’ to connect with an individual who was open or seeking.  I don’t like interruptions in my planned schedule, but Jesus ‘saw’ interruptions as a means to intentionally connect with others.

Second, as I allow others to intentionally enter my world and learn to receive from them, it will move my heart to want to do the same with others. Intentionality is a ‘two way street’ and learning to be intentional can come from watching others be intentional or being on the receiving end of that intentionality.

Finally, the command is clear, but my heart is stubborn. Praying for God to move my heart by driving me deeper into the Gospel would issue in thankfulness for His love and push me towards others.  The Gospel reminds us that we truly need Jesus ‘every hour’. Without His work in our lives, we are lost in a sea of selfishness, lacking the desire to move towards others and invest in them.  Praying the Gospel into our lives and asking others to pray with us to this end should melt our hearts and begin to move us out towards others.

Being intentional, in the Gospel, without allowing it to become a law for us, pushes us to God and to others for help.

 

Filed under: Gospel, Intentionality | 2 Comments »

Choosing intentionality

Posted on October 15, 2014 by wtdavid

The past few weeks, Rebecca and I have been ‘on the road’. Out of all the visits we made and the conversations we had, one word stands out in summary: intentionality.  Over and over again, we saw the power of intentionality and the fruit that flows from a deliberate choice to ‘be intentional’. intentional

The amazing thing is that it is not limited to one area or aspect of our work.

  • While on the campus of Sydney Missionary & Bible College, we saw fellow WT workers move towards students to listen to them and share with them the passion and adventure of sharing the Gospel and discipling others in cross cultural contexts.
  • While sitting in on one of our Sending Country board meetings, we heard discussion about intentionally approaching foundations and others for the funding needed to place mobilizers in key locations to share the vision of World Team.
  • While in Cambodia, we visited a ministry that responds to the total needs of the poor, but with an intentional focus on discipling workers in needed skills and new believers in their walk with Christ.
  • While visiting with long time friends in Austral Asia, we heard of their intentional efforts to raise up 2-3 new leaders within their group for the future.

Intentionality is not the same thing as having good intentions. Intentionality is a conscious choice on our part to proactively engage others.  It calls for us to give of our time, our wisdom, and our investment.

The amazing thing is that as we are intentional with others, so will they be as well in their work with others.

 

Filed under: Intentionality | 2 Comments »

The Gospel digs deeper no matter where we are

Posted on September 12, 2014 by wtdavid

This week finds Rebecca and I on ‘the other side of the world’. Perusing some literature at the Bible College where we are staying, I ran across this quote by the Principal:?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

“This grace (Ephesians 2:7) has reconciled us to God and to each other. It is not anything we have done or could do, but all the work of God. We must be aware that it can be easy when we inhabit the fields of grace to think that what we do does not matter as much as what we believe.  We rightly say that nothing we do will make God love us more and nothing we do will make God love us less.  That is true.  We do not bring anything to the table of salvation except our own sin. But while our works are not essential they are inevitable!  We were created in Christ Jesus to do good works (Ephesians 2:10).”

Though ‘our works are not essential they are inevitable’. I loved that line in Stuart’s article. It demonstrated afresh that the Gospel runs deep and produces change.  The Gospel cannot be active in a person’s life and not create transformation.

We lift up the Gospel as one, or rather the core value of World Team.  If that is true, then our lives should be in regular change, constant transformation.

Filed under: Godly living, Gospel | 2 Comments »

The Gospel digs deeper … again

Posted on September 4, 2014 by wtdavid

Last week, Rebecca and I participated in the Mission14: Vision Forward Europe Area Conference.  Two things caught my attention and reminded me of how the Gospel ‘must go somewhere’ when it floods into a person’s or a community’s heart.mission14-logo

First, the theme for the week was personal and leader development.  As Albert spoke on leader development, he emphasized that the foremost characteristic a leader needs to develop in his/her life is humility.  Of all the elements he could have chosen, he chose an element that only the Gospel could produce in a leader’s life. The antithesis of humility is pride which can only be rooted out by the Spirit’s work to drive us to faith and repentance.

Albert used John the Baptist as his primary example, pointing out the fact that at a given moment in his ministry John began pointing people away from himself to Jesus. A good leader, a gospel centred leader points people not to himself or herself, but back to Jesus.

Second, as I looked around the room, I was amazed by the large number of cultures represented. Yes, there were some struggles in communication, but we were all joined together in a common cause, a shared vision.  We experienced in a small way what the Church is and should be.  The only way that such a disparate group of people could fellowship and serve together would be as a result of God’s Spirit transforming hearts and breaking down barriers which would normally exist between people.

What I felt during that week was something I’m hoping will grow into a much larger reality across World Team as the Gospel continues to drive us back to Him, and asking that He will add more workers to His harvest from everywhere.

Filed under: Community, Gospel, Humility | 4 Comments »

The Gospel digs deeper

Posted on August 19, 2014 by wtdavid

Last week, we had a flood in our basement. It came from the aeration ducts on our patio.  Each duct has a pretty deep hole, but when there is more water than space in the hole it overflows through a vent into our basement.

That’s not a bad image for the Gospel being ‘poured out into our hearts’.  It fills the spaces in our hearts so much that it overflows and has to go somewhere.

However, ‘the Gospel’ can easily become a cliché in WT speak and lose its ‘capacity’ to disturb our regular habits or practices.  If it starts to dig deeper though; if we make way for it to overflow into and search our hearts to see what hurtful ways there might be (Psalm 139), we would be ‘flooded’ in good and godly ways, causing us to change displeasing ways.

Here’s one place that the Gospel should ‘flood’ and change.  It’s in our conversations about one another, sharing their “stories”. Sometimes the sentence starts out innocently, but ends with: “I can’t understand why they …” I’m sure most of us could fill in the rest of that sentence as someone immediately comes to mind.

Maybe we should call this for what it really is: gossip. women-gossiping

I’m sometimes amazed when I hear from someone a distorted version of something I shared in confidence with another and that has now been passed down through several parties.  I’m even more amazed that no one along the path questioned the further sharing of that story or thought to go back to the original source of the story to verify its authenticity.  I’m surprised when I hear someone sharing details about another person’s struggle in the form of a prayer request.

Obviously, I’m just scratching the surface of this whole issue.  However, the Gospel should ‘flood’ gossip out of our lives.  How that works, is another story.

Filed under: Community, Gospel | Leave a comment »

Learning to listen well in the midst of all the noise

Posted on August 12, 2014 by wtdavid

It’s becoming tougher and tougher to listen well to those around us.  Technology has increased our capacity to ‘communicate’ with one another, but not necessarily to listen well to each other.  The other day, I had my landline, cell phone and Skype all ringing at the same time.  How could I be available to listen well to each caller?  Noise pollution

We are all familiar with the text: “Let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger.”  I think a more truthful paraphrase in our context today would be: “Let every person be quick to speak, slow to hear, and careful about one’s anger.”  Our strong suit is to be able to share our ideas, not necessarily to hear, understand and consider the ideas of others.

World Team is entering a new phase in our ministries around the globe.  We sense that that God is calling us an agency to deep change.  However, if we are only committed to what I or you believe the future should look like, we will miss the dynamic that creates different and new attitudes and actions. Through listening well to others, ideas will be able to intersect and build off one another.

Yet the ‘noise’ around us can keep us from listening to others in such a deliberate way. Often, that ‘noise’ is nothing more than our own pride.

A simple step to push us towards listening well to one another would be to say: “Let me share what I think I just heard you say”, and try to summarize what you think the person just said.  That small reflex would begin to build the capacity to work together in seeking to further multiply disciples and communities of believers.

Filed under: Change & transition, Listening | Leave a comment »

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