• 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!

Balancing Act

Posted on December 14, 2012 by wtdavid

The other day we opened up the topic of the relationship between ‘being’ and ‘doing’.  Basically, we recognized that these two elements are inseparable.  One response was: “When I understand the great, free gift God has given me through Christ, then I cannot help but to share it out of the overflow of joy from my inner being. And the more we share the Good News, the more we realize just how reliant we are on Christ. Round and round we go.”  In many ways, it’s a careful balancing act to always allow one element to move us around to the other.air-conditioning-balancing-act

What I’m most interested in thinking about today in this post is: how does it all happen?  What does it practically look like when I ‘go to work’ as a church planter?

Let me suggest several ideas for us to chew on:

First, ask people close to us to participate in an honest assessment of our character and competencies.  We can easily overlook the weaknesses we have in our own character or work. We can excuse deficiencies in ourselves more quickly than we can in others.  All of this, points to our need to have others speak into our life and give feedback on character issues and core competency skills that need work.  By involving others in the assessment phase, we open the door, as well, to their potential coaching in helping us to grow in both character and competency.

Next, set a plan to grow in an area, but pray like mad that any effort would be inspired and driven by God.  All of us need to grow more in critical core skills related to our ministries.  However, that does not happen by osmosis.  We need to put effort to it.  That effort, though, cannot be separated from the ultimate power source, namely Jesus.  Round and round we go again.

Finally, remember that our model is our most powerful influence.  If we encourage others to be more in prayer, then we need to set the example.  If we complain to other workers about the fact that there are not more disciples or that the work is slow, we need to respond by re-engaging  ourselves in initiating spiritual conversations (see Core Skills module on evangelism, starting in January 2013) or in participating in developing and releasing others into ministry.  Our greatest help to new believers is actually engaging in ministry with them.  It will also be our greatest joy.

I’m sure there are others and I welcome hearing from you about them.  Let’s challenge each other more round and round the circle of character and competency.

Filed under: Character, Competency | 4 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 »

Anything New Under the Sun?

Posted on December 7, 2012 by wtdavid

Winston Churchill once said, “Those that fail to learn from history, are doomed to repeat it.”  The Scriptures tell us: “there is nothing new under the sun.”

British historian, Ian Shaw, in his recent work, Churches, Revolutions and Empires, demonstrates the very truth of this statement.  Using extensive research, Shaw highlights critical issues faced by the Church in the 18th and 19th centuries.  The examples he chooses would make you think he was talking about our current global context.   Shaw writes: “Many believed that, with the changing social and religious geography of Britain, urgent and innovative responses were needed if the church was to remain relevant in a new context.”  Sound vaguely familiar?  Shaw goes on to say: “One influential experiment was played out in the years after 1815, when the brilliant young minister, Thomas Chalmers … developed an approach to urban mission, which he publicized and promoted through his writings.”  How interesting that in 1815 the idea of ‘urban ministry’ was already in play.imagesCAVNOKB2

In our current day, we often juxtapose “being” and “doing”, or put another way, “character” and “competence”.  Time and again, one element of this combination is stressed to the exclusion of the other.  Many argue that what is most important is ‘being’ or our character.  God is not interested in numbers, but He is primarily interested in our heart.  Others counter by stating that the Bible is replete with instructions about stewardship and management of resources and that His ultimate desire is that we bear fruit in specific terms.

What’s interesting is that this same discussion has played out at many points in past centuries.  However, the debate waned at those times when people saw the two as being inseparable.  You cannot talk about “being” without it leading to “doing”.  You cannot speak about “character” without it implying the need for “competence”.

As we begin to move all our workers through the first core skills module on evangelism, our stance will be that spiritual intimacy with Christ will lead to sharing one’s story with another; and that sharing one’s story with another in a clear and contextual way will push us back to a deeper reliance upon and intimacy with God.  Both are equally essential in our ministries.

 

 

Filed under: Character, Competency, Core competencies | 4 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 »

Mobilization discipleship

Posted on November 8, 2012 by wtdavid

I had an interesting conversation yesterday with Simon here in Australia.  We were talking about mobilizing new workers when he ‘rephrased’ the task by saying: “People don’t want you to tell them what to do in the discovery process. They want you to journey with them as they discover, with you, what God is leading them into.”

It’s not necessarily about recruiting or convincing someone to join with us.  It’s about journeying with a person and discipling them on the journey as they discover more and more God’s passion for the world.  Call it: mobilization discipleship. 

Looking at the need for new workers in this light should change the way we go about the process.  First, our effort to mobilize new workers must be highly relational.  You cannot journey with a person if there is not regular, ongoing contact.  Second, the process can be messy as people journey in different ways and at different speeds.  And finally, we’ll need to take a more facilitative approach in the journey; listening more and asking questions that cause the other to reflect more deeply on how he/she wants to engage in God’s mission.

God calls us to pray more workers into His work force.  God also calls us to journey with those potential workers as they discern God’s call on their lives.

 

 

 

Filed under: Discipleship, Mobilization | 10 Comments »

A start to an answer

Posted on October 24, 2012 by wtdavid

Mark & I dialogued recently in the comment section of the post: “Should I really care about the WTGA?”  I thought his question and my attempt to answer could serve as another step in this ongoing conversation with the WT community. 

Mark wrote: “This post prompted two questions. The first is for me. In order to generously accommodate new friends from other cultures – to genuinely submit in partnership – how do I need to conduct myself in ministry? Attitudinally I certainly need humility but in practice I came up with two.

1. Learn how people from the incoming culture make decisions.

2. Learn how people from the incoming culture value relationships.

The second is: how will you know if we care? In other words, what is practiced on a day-by-day basis in our ministries that shows we care as much about the new global alliance as you do?”

I responded by saying: “Your question is not one easily answered.  The answer will be displayed more in our WT ethos than in specific steps that would be the same for all. Let me try one or two examples. First, when we are building a project for a new ministry outreach, we should look beyond our own team/field/Area, or to put it another way, beyond our own ‘silo’. Others in other places may have valuable insights that would help us in moving that project forward. This would be an outworking of what we mean be interdependence, consciously seeking ‘many voices’ to enter the discussion. A second example might be in how people approach ministry and particularly the issue of contextualization. Too often we will simply translate material from our home culture into the language in which we are working, not thinking about the cultural dissonance that might occur. I will know that people care about the Alliance when I see workers reaching out to others who are different from them for their ideas and input; when I see our growth in life and ministry being impacted by our interaction with those from other cultures and backgrounds.”

I know there is more to be said.  What do you think?

Filed under: Global structure, WTGA | 2 Comments »

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