• 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!

Have you heard the story of Trey?

Posted on February 9, 2021 by wtdavid

Have you heard the story of Trey?  That’s not his real name, but hopefully this story will be a reminder to each of us of the power of the Gospel to change a life. Slowly, deliberately, but surely.

Here’s how my friend shared the story with me.

“I met Trey several years ago on a street in Chiang Mai. The Lord prompted me, for some reason, to speak to him. I invited him to have a coffee and we chatted for a while.  A few weeks later, we met again and at that point I invited Trey to come and visit our church. He wasn’t really interested.  He subsequently ‘dropped off my radar screen’. I prayed for him but didn’t run into him again for several years.

Then one day, there he was, walking down the same street again as I was. We grabbed a coffee together and caught up on what had happened since we last saw each other.  I later asked if he wanted to visit a cultural exposition that was being held in the coming weeks. He agreed to go with me.

As our friendship grew, I asked Trey if he might be interested in reading the Bible together – just reading it and discussing what we thought the Bible was trying to say to us.  He was willing, though it wasn’t an enthusiastic willingness.  And so, we started reading the Bible together.  

Then the pandemic hit, and we were forced to meet virtually on our cellphones.  In one of those virtual meetings, we read the passage from Mark 1:14-15.  As we talked about what it meant, Trey came to understand faith and repentance, and that day he gave his life to Jesus.

As we continued to meet, it was a joy to listen to Trey’s prayers: short but so simple and sincere. Trey started reading the Bible 5 minutes a week and praying for 5 minutes, then it became 15 minutes per day!  God was building into this new disciple!

I introduced Trey one day to another person in our community group. I thought it would help him to get to know other believers, and that he might be encouraged to join our community times.

Recently, Trey told me how he had talked with one of his co-workers about the Bible. They talked about what each thought the Bible passage meant!  I pray that Trey will become a disciple who makes disciples. He is certainly not done with ‘growing in Christ’. So, I (along with others in the community) keep praying and walking alongside him.”

So, have you heard the story of Trey?  Hopefully this story has been be a reminder to each of us of the power of the Gospel to change a life. Slowly, deliberately, but surely.

Filed under: Community, Discipleship, Repentance & faith, Sharing the Gospel story | 4 Comments »

I joined a movement

Posted on February 1, 2021 by wtdavid

I often say that I am part of a mission. And that is completely true.

I also say that I belong to a grouping of churches which ‘sent out’ my family and I to serve Christ in another place, in another culture.  And that is true as well.

Recently though I am beginning to say that I am part of a movement.

Saying that is more than just an exercise in semantics. There is depth and commitment behind the truth that I belong to a movement.

A movement in simplest terms is a grouping of individuals or organisations who work together to advance their shared idea, activity, or ministry objective. Being part of a movement means we work collaboratively and collectively, and leverage all our resources together for the growth and development of the movement.

There is fluidity and flexibility to a movement in its outworking in different contexts.  There is loads of room for creativity and innovation.

Yet, something ties the movement members together.  There is alignment in mission and direction.  There is a willingness to lead, and there is a willingness to follow.

What ties the movement members together though is the desired outcome.  For us as WT movement members, it’s seeing multiplying groups of disciples and communities of believers among the lost. 

But the hardest step in staying in step with the movement is learning yield; to humbly give up what we may want or think is the (our) right way to do things, to serve the larger desire and outcome of the movement.

Filed under: Church, Discipleship, Movement, Multiplication, Unreached people groups | 4 Comments »

Why challenges don’t always work

Posted on January 25, 2021 by wtdavid

Giving oneself (or a group) a challenge can be exciting.  The idea of ‘rising above’ one’s (or a team’s) current capacity creates a certain thirst or motivation to take on the challenge.  Cycling 150 kilometers for a humanitarian aid project, or learning a new language in order to communicate the Gospel with a neighbor or colleague from another culture, or praying for a daily or weekly spiritual conversation would all qualify as possible ways to push ourselves to ‘exercise’ and work beyond where we currently find ourselves.  

However, any challenge can quickly lose steam and interest as other important priorities (or simply daily life concerns) come along to sap the effort needed to daily take on a given challenge.

You may remember that two years ago, we launched the 1+1 Challenge.  It was an encouragement for each of us to pray towards leading one person into a relationship with Jesus, and journey with one person towards cross cultural missions.  If you were like me, you started well, but the motivation slowly dissipated as time went by and other things got in the way.

Now there is nothing wrong with the many other objectives of our lives and ministries taking priority over current challenges. What intrigues me though is why I (and perhaps you) can be quick to accept a challenge, launch out, but then slowly lose the motivation to continue.

There it is.  It’s ultimately a question of ‘motivation’.  In other words, is this challenge something God is calling me and us to participate in?  And if so, where am I (we) going to find the drive to pursue any given challenge?   

For us, this is where grace and the Gospel comes in.  Chalmers called it: ‘the expulsive power of a new affection’.  Only when we are deeply aware, overwhelmed you might say, by the deep, constant, and eternal love of God for each one of us could we find the intrinsic motivation needed to pursue His challenges for us. Only when His compassion and mercy demonstrated to us is able to displace what currently holds sway in our hearts, can we find the strength and courage to do what He calls us, what He challenges us to do.

Probably the greatest being that in whatever do, we do all to the glory of God.

Filed under: 1plus1, Challenge, Gospel, Grace | 2 Comments »

Where is home?

Posted on January 18, 2021 by wtdavid

It’s the blessing and the struggle of any cross-cultural worker.  The idea of ‘home’ seems elusive to our thoughts.  Where is home?  We know where our passport tells us we are from, but we feel at times caught between worlds.  We know how to ‘fit in’ in more than one culture, all the while sensing a certain aloofness or detachment at times to each one.

There are several common responses to living between worlds.  One response is to enjoy the blessings of a second culture, while pointing out regularly how our first culture is somewhat better.  Phrases like: “I just don’t understand the … [fill in the people of another culture]” or “We just wouldn’t do that in our culture”.  A second response is to seek to become a member of the second culture; to adopt all the ways of that culture without any questioning.  A third response is to ‘float’; to not fully adopt the new culture, nor hold tenaciously to one’s passport culture. 

One response is not better than another.  Living between cultures, living between worlds is just downright hard.  Nevertheless, God calls us to ‘excel still more’ (1 Thessalonians 4) in our walk with him; to learn how to navigate this life to which He has called us.

We affirm the fact that we are aliens and strangers in this world (1 Peter 1) and that God has reserved a ‘home’ for us elsewhere.  Yet, how do we live here and now?

That question often comes to mind when someone here asks me the proverbial question: “You’re not from here, so where is your home originally?”  It’s a reminder that I do live between worlds.  Yet, how do we live here and now?

A couple of suggestions for us to consider:

  • Learn to reason as one does in your adopted culture and appreciate that new perspective.
  • Ask the question: what does the Bible call me to do in this instance (rather than just my passport culture)?
  • Think on Christ who ‘lived between worlds’ and now lives in us, to show us how to live between worlds, and to give us the courage, grace and capacity to do so.

Filed under: Contextualization, Crossing cultures, Lifelong learning | 2 Comments »

What keeps you in the work?

Posted on January 11, 2021 by wtdavid

I’m sure that you have either asked yourself the question or been asked the question: What keeps you here?  What keeps you going when life and ministry get a bit tough? 

We’ve all had one of those days when we wonder how we can keep going in this work of cross cultural church planting.  And we’ve all had someone ask us the question as to what keeps us ploughing ahead when the work doesn’t go exactly as planned.

I’ve started reading and studying through Romans again and found the start of an answer in the very first words of Paul: “Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God” (Romans 1:1).  To put it simply, what kept Paul in the work was a thoroughgoing understanding of God’s grace, and the truth that it was God who had sent Paul into this work.

Paul was a “servant” who served because he recognized the depths of the riches of God’s grace towards him (Paul).  And if God had shown Paul such grace through the gospel, then this gospel was for all peoples, all nations. One writer put it this way: “If we would be used of God, we must have view of the gospel that is as broad as the universe.” 

Paul was also an “apostle”, that is one who is sent.  If we were honest with ourselves, we would admit that we didn’t ‘run into this work’ on our own initiative and effort.  We felt the pull of God’s call upon our heart.  Most of us remember and could put words to that ‘calling’. He was the initiator. And what He did was to send us. 

So, when things get rough, when the work doesn’t progress as we would like, our best move is to run back to the Father.  Ask for Him to restore to us the joy of our salvation, to recognize His grace at work in our own lives.  And then remind ourselves who called us, who sent us to do the work of the ministry.

When I remember that latter piece in particular, that it was God who sent me, it can cause me to see how much more I need to grow in prayer and in ‘believing’.  And it will keep my feet from running from the work, towards engaging even more in the work.

Filed under: Calling, Church planting, Serving, Unreached people groups | 2 Comments »

All We Need

Posted on January 4, 2021 by wtdavid

In the last two days, I have both listened to a sermon and then later read an article in the McKinsey online magazine on the topic of: “surviving or thriving”.  I found it a creative way to describe the dilemma, difficulty or struggle in which we find ourselves as we move from 2020 to 2021.

I tried to envision where I would place myself on that spectrum of “surviving or thriving” over the past few months.  Where have I lived more out of a surviving attitude than from a thriving stance?

Now, our fight is not just with pandemics, but with the ongoing struggle of sin – within our hearts and in this world.  And I had to ask myself the same question, just in other words: where have I lived my life and ministry out of a surviving attitude the past few months, rather than out a thriving relationship with my Lord?  It’s the kind of question I know I should ask myself as I reflect on the past year and look to the year ahead.  

This is where John Newton (yes, the John Newton who wrote Amazing Grace), in one of his pastoral letters, was a great help in seeking an answer. 

“As to the remedy, neither our state nor his honour are affected by the workings of indwelling sin, in the hearts of those whom he has taught to wrestle, strive, and mourn, on account of what we feel.  Though sin wars, it shall not reign; and though it breaks our peace, it cannot separate from his love. Nor is it inconsistent with his holiness and perfection, to manifest his favour to such poor defiled creatures, or to admit them to communion with himself; for they are not considered in themselves, but as one with Jesus, with whom they have fled for refuge, and by whom they live a life of faith.

They are accepted in the Beloved, and have an Advocate with the Father, who once made an atonement for their sins, and ever lives to make intercession for their persons.  Though they cannot fulfil the law, he has fulfilled it for them; though the obedience of the members is defiled and imperfect, the obedience of the Head is spotless and complete; and though there is much evil in them, there is something good, the fruit of his own gracious Spirit. They act from a principle of love, they aim at no less than his glory, and their habitual desires are supremely fixed upon himself.”

If I were to summarize Newton’s words, I would simply write: all we need to thrive is Jesus!

As we start a “new year” together, with all the complexities and difficulties of life and ministry in the midst of a pandemic, could we build one another up each day by the reminder that “we are accepted in the Beloved, and have an Advocate with the Father”?  Could we live and minister by faith, believing He will do great things in our hearts and through our lives? May we “aim at no less than his glory” as we serve Him together as a global community of co-laborers in the Gospel.

Filed under: Jesus Christ, Reflection, Repentance & faith | 5 Comments »

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