I have heard more than one prominent and well intentioned Christian leader make the following statement: “The U.S. is the third largest mission field in the world.” Is this an accurate statement? My response is an emphatic, NO.
The thing the prompts a statement like this is falsely equating the concepts of lost and unreached. These terms are not synonyms. Lost means that you don’t know Christ personally. Unreached means that you have little or no access to the gospel.
The U.S. is 28% evangelical Christian, meaning that 72% of the U.S. is lost – 229 million people. It is accurate that the U.S. contains the third largest number of lost people for a single country in the world. But few of these people are unreached. Most have heard the gospel multiple times and have chosen to reject it. Just as Jesus said most would in Matthew 7:13-14.
China is 10% evangelical Christian, meaning that 90% or 1.17 billion people are lost. The largest number of lost people for a single country in the world.
Missiologists divide the world into three groups. World A is unreached (2% evangelical Christian or less). World B is underreached (2-5% evangelical Christian). World C is reached (5% evangelical Christian or more). In World C the Church of Jesus Christ has the resources to complete the task of evangelizing the rest of its people group without outside missionary involvement. In World A that is not the case. And in World B, some outside help may be needed.
Is the U.S. unreached? NO. Even cities that have a well deserved reputation for being resistant to Christianity and with an abundance of unchurched residents find themselves at 3 times the level of entry into World C. Is China unreached? NO. For the same reason.
Are there lots of lost people in these two countries? YES. Do they have access to the gospel? Well, that is a more complex question.
The question can’t be appropriately considered on a national level. It must be considered at the level of what the Bible calls a “nation”. Not one of the 238 countries recognized by the United Nations, rather the term would be better translated “people groups” (ethno-linguistic groups). See Matthew’s version of the Great Commission in Matthew 28:18-20 and Jesus’ prophetic statement about the timing of His return in Matthew 24:14.
The U.S. has 94 people groups according to Joshua Project that are classified as unreached. Most of them are native American groups in Alaska, Arizona, and New Mexico, or recent refugee pockets in major urban centers.
92% of China’s population is a single people group, Han Chinese. This people group is reached. In fact, workers from the Han Chinese have now surpassed the U.S. as the largest missionary sending entity in the world. But China also has 419 people groups among the 8% that are not Han Chinese that are considered unreached according to Joshua Project.
A second statement that I have heard from a number of prominent and well meaning Christian leaders: “We are all missionaries.” Is this an accurate statement. Again my response is an emphatic, NO.
The confusion is based on equating two words that are not synonyms – “evangelist” and “missionary”. It is true that every follower of Jesus is commissioned to be an evangelist. Not all very good or conscientious ones, but we are all evangelists nonetheless. Every follower of Jesus is also called to be on mission with God. Although many neglect that calling. But we are not all missionaries.
A missionary is an evangelist with two caveats. First, they are reaching out cross-culturally. Reaching out to people that are different than they are – dealing with the challenge of barriers related to language and/or culture. Not simply reaching out to folks very much like themselves. Second, they are reaching out to folks with little or no access to the gospel (World A). And in some cases, in specialized roles, to support the work of the national church among the underreached (World B).
Two questions. One, does the Church of Jesus Christ have a responsibility to evangelize every man, woman, and child in their people group? My response, emphatically, YES. Two, is there a special priority that the Scriptures assign to the Church of Jesus Christ to evangelize and plant churches among those with little or no access to the gospel (World A). Again, an emphatic, YES.
Sadly many of the churches that wholeheartedly affirm their response to the first question, lack that same enthusiasm in their response to the second question. They place a far higher priority on providing individuals in their community with easy access to the gospel from multiple sources, with literally dozens of opportunities to hear and respond, while doing little or nothing to advance the gospel among the unreached. This unequal response is the primary reason why we are still a good ways off from seeing the Great Commission completed globally.
Sunday, February 3, 2013
Monday, January 7, 2013
from January 6, 2013 prayer update
A key personal goal for me in 2013 is significant growth in the area of prayer. I am asking God for consistency and fervency, to extensively claim Biblical promises, and to meaningfully connect with Him. Prayer for myself, my family, and for the nations.
“(Prayer) lays its hand on Almighty God and moves Him to do what He would not otherwise do if prayer was not offered. It bring things to pass which would never otherwise occur. … Prayer is a wonderful power placed by Almighty God in the hands of His saints, which may be used to accomplish great purposes and to achieve unusual results. … The only limits on prayer are the promises of God and His ability to fulfill those promises. … Prayer moves the hand that moves the world.”
E.M. Bounds
Below are some of my favorite passages and promises about prayer that I am claiming and looking to God to make real in and through my life.
“Ask of Me, and I will make the nations your heritage, and the ends of the earth your possession.” -- Psalm 2:8
“Delight yourself in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart.” -- Psalm 37:4
“Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. You will seek Me and find Me, when you seek Me with all your heart.” -- Jeremiah 19:12-13
“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seek finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened.” -- Matthew 7:7-8
“Then He said to His disciples, ‘The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.” -- Matthew 9:37-38
“Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in Me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father. Whatever you ask in My name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask Me anything in My name, I will do it.” -- John 14:13-14
“I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in Me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing. … If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.” -- John 15:5, 7
“You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in My name, He may give it to you.” -- John 15:16
“At the same time, pray also for us, that God may open to us a door for the word, to declare the mystery of Christ, on account of which I am in prison” -- Colossians 4:3-4
“Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” -- I Thessalonians 5:16-18
“First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all the people” -- I Timothy 2:1
“You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions.” -- James 4:3
“Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.” -- James 5:16
“(Prayer) lays its hand on Almighty God and moves Him to do what He would not otherwise do if prayer was not offered. It bring things to pass which would never otherwise occur. … Prayer is a wonderful power placed by Almighty God in the hands of His saints, which may be used to accomplish great purposes and to achieve unusual results. … The only limits on prayer are the promises of God and His ability to fulfill those promises. … Prayer moves the hand that moves the world.”
E.M. Bounds
Below are some of my favorite passages and promises about prayer that I am claiming and looking to God to make real in and through my life.
“Ask of Me, and I will make the nations your heritage, and the ends of the earth your possession.” -- Psalm 2:8
“Delight yourself in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart.” -- Psalm 37:4
“Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. You will seek Me and find Me, when you seek Me with all your heart.” -- Jeremiah 19:12-13
“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seek finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened.” -- Matthew 7:7-8
“Then He said to His disciples, ‘The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.” -- Matthew 9:37-38
“Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in Me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father. Whatever you ask in My name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask Me anything in My name, I will do it.” -- John 14:13-14
“I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in Me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing. … If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.” -- John 15:5, 7
“You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in My name, He may give it to you.” -- John 15:16
“At the same time, pray also for us, that God may open to us a door for the word, to declare the mystery of Christ, on account of which I am in prison” -- Colossians 4:3-4
“Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” -- I Thessalonians 5:16-18
“First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all the people” -- I Timothy 2:1
“You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions.” -- James 4:3
“Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.” -- James 5:16
Sunday, December 2, 2012
from December 2, 2012 prayer update
Christmas. As much as many people enjoy the decorations, the music, the food, the gift giving, the time off from work, and the time with extended family, that is not what Christmas is about.
Christmas is all about the INCARNATION. God becoming man. God took the initiative to make the eternal and transcendent Creator of the universe understandable to man. Starting as a helpless infant, born to an unmarried teenager, living in poverty in a remote corner of the Roman Empire. And living, not for 33 years, but from that point forward into eternity future, as the God-man.
“And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen His glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.” – John 1:14
So why all the attention devoted worldwide to this annual holiday? Because Jesus is the hinge point of all human history. Nothing has been the same since this baby grew up to be a man. He spoke as no man had spoken before. He lived a sinless life. He made the infinite God understandable for the first time. He died as a substitute in our place to satisfy the justice of a holy and offended God. And He rose from the dead, opening the way for rebel mankind to be reconciled with his Creator. He is the reason that missions to least reached peoples around the world exists today.
Below are the words from “One Solitary Life” by Dr. James Allan Francis. It describes far better than I am able the impact of the incarnation of God in the person of Jesus Christ on human history.
Here is a man who was born in an obscure village, the child of a peasant woman. He grew up in another village. He worked in a carpenter shop until He was thirty. Then for three years He was an itinerant preacher.
He never owned a home. He never wrote a book. He never held an office. He never had a family. He never went to college. He never put His foot inside a big city. He never traveled two hundred miles from the place He was born. He never did one of the things that usually accompany greatness. He had no credentials but Himself...
While still a young man, the tide of popular opinion turned against him. His friends ran away. One of them denied Him. He was turned over to His enemies. He went through the mockery of a trial. He was nailed upon a cross between two thieves. While He was dying His executioners gambled for the only piece of property He had on earth – His coat. When He was dead, He was laid in a borrowed grave through the pity of a friend.
Nineteen long centuries have come and gone, and today He is a centerpiece of the human race and leader of the column of progress.
I am far within the mark when I say that all the armies that ever marched, all the navies that were ever built; all the parliaments that ever sat and all the kings that ever reigned, put together, have not affected the life of man upon this earth as powerfully as has that one solitary life.
Christmas is all about the INCARNATION. God becoming man. God took the initiative to make the eternal and transcendent Creator of the universe understandable to man. Starting as a helpless infant, born to an unmarried teenager, living in poverty in a remote corner of the Roman Empire. And living, not for 33 years, but from that point forward into eternity future, as the God-man.
“And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen His glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.” – John 1:14
So why all the attention devoted worldwide to this annual holiday? Because Jesus is the hinge point of all human history. Nothing has been the same since this baby grew up to be a man. He spoke as no man had spoken before. He lived a sinless life. He made the infinite God understandable for the first time. He died as a substitute in our place to satisfy the justice of a holy and offended God. And He rose from the dead, opening the way for rebel mankind to be reconciled with his Creator. He is the reason that missions to least reached peoples around the world exists today.
Below are the words from “One Solitary Life” by Dr. James Allan Francis. It describes far better than I am able the impact of the incarnation of God in the person of Jesus Christ on human history.
Here is a man who was born in an obscure village, the child of a peasant woman. He grew up in another village. He worked in a carpenter shop until He was thirty. Then for three years He was an itinerant preacher.
He never owned a home. He never wrote a book. He never held an office. He never had a family. He never went to college. He never put His foot inside a big city. He never traveled two hundred miles from the place He was born. He never did one of the things that usually accompany greatness. He had no credentials but Himself...
While still a young man, the tide of popular opinion turned against him. His friends ran away. One of them denied Him. He was turned over to His enemies. He went through the mockery of a trial. He was nailed upon a cross between two thieves. While He was dying His executioners gambled for the only piece of property He had on earth – His coat. When He was dead, He was laid in a borrowed grave through the pity of a friend.
Nineteen long centuries have come and gone, and today He is a centerpiece of the human race and leader of the column of progress.
I am far within the mark when I say that all the armies that ever marched, all the navies that were ever built; all the parliaments that ever sat and all the kings that ever reigned, put together, have not affected the life of man upon this earth as powerfully as has that one solitary life.
Sunday, November 4, 2012
from November 4, 2012 prayer update
I had the opportunity to teach Perspectives lesson 9 (“the task remaining”) three times in October. The mantra of this lesson is that God has not called His Church to simply “engage” in the Great Commission, He has called His Church to “complete” the Great Commission.
What does it mean to “complete” the Great Commission? I believe the answer is simple, but it is not easy. Biblically grounded and culturally relevant evangelism, disciple making, and church planting with every people group on the planet. We embrace too small a vision (a less than Biblical vision) for our church when our church’s vision is anything less than this.
In this lesson a major topic I discuss is “the 10 greatest challenges for this generation”. What remains for the Church of Jesus Christ to do to be able to say she has completed the Great Commission?
One of these 10 greatest challenges is the issue of language. It is estimated there are 6900 languages worldwide. Only 490 of these languages has a complete Bible. Another 1660 have a complete New Testament. Another 950 have Bible portions. And 1400 have translation projects underway. Sadly 2300 (1/3 of the world’s languages) have absolute nothing. How can Biblically grounded and culturally relevant evangelism, disciple making, and church planting happen without the Scriptures in the heart language of the people?
The good news is Wycliffe’s 2025 vision. Their vision is that by the year 2025 (13 years from now) a translation project will be started with every language. Wycliffe gets it. It is not enough to engage in the Great Commission. God has called His Church to complete the Great Commission. With amazing advances in technology and methodology developed by a Wycliffe sister organization (The Seed Company), Bible translation work can now be done in half the time it took a few years ago.
Unfortunately the task is more complex than this. What if a person or perhaps an entire people group can’t read? Then translating the Scriptures into their heart language is not a sufficient foundation upon which to launch the work of evangelism, disciple making, and church planting.
Did you know that only 37% of the world is literate? Another 35% is functionally illiterate (able to do very basic reading and writing, but not using it enough to be useful). 25% are completely illiterate. And another 3% are visually impaired. Missiologists have labeled this challenge the “orality” challenge. 70% of the world’s nearly 7000 unreached people groups are illiterate. They are part of the orality challenge.
Many of the leading missions sending organization are taking this orality challenge very seriously, including Pioneers. They are embracing technologies that allow people to hear the Scriptures in their heart language (after it has been translated) via inexpensive devices powered by solar energy with memory chips containing the Bible and other evangelism and discipling tools. They are also embracing Bible storying methodologies for evangelism, discipleship, and church planting that better tap into how people learn in oral cultures. Many are also embracing CPM (church planting movement) methodologies built around simple church and easily reproducible forms, which are very well suited for oral learners. Methodologies like “discovery Bible study”.
For the college educated in mega-churches in the Western world, much of this is far outside the realm of our personal experience. But it represents the reality of much of the task that remains. Please pray for the work of Pioneers and other excellent sending organizations that are taking seriously the task of “completing” the Great Commission.
What does it mean to “complete” the Great Commission? I believe the answer is simple, but it is not easy. Biblically grounded and culturally relevant evangelism, disciple making, and church planting with every people group on the planet. We embrace too small a vision (a less than Biblical vision) for our church when our church’s vision is anything less than this.
In this lesson a major topic I discuss is “the 10 greatest challenges for this generation”. What remains for the Church of Jesus Christ to do to be able to say she has completed the Great Commission?
One of these 10 greatest challenges is the issue of language. It is estimated there are 6900 languages worldwide. Only 490 of these languages has a complete Bible. Another 1660 have a complete New Testament. Another 950 have Bible portions. And 1400 have translation projects underway. Sadly 2300 (1/3 of the world’s languages) have absolute nothing. How can Biblically grounded and culturally relevant evangelism, disciple making, and church planting happen without the Scriptures in the heart language of the people?
The good news is Wycliffe’s 2025 vision. Their vision is that by the year 2025 (13 years from now) a translation project will be started with every language. Wycliffe gets it. It is not enough to engage in the Great Commission. God has called His Church to complete the Great Commission. With amazing advances in technology and methodology developed by a Wycliffe sister organization (The Seed Company), Bible translation work can now be done in half the time it took a few years ago.
Unfortunately the task is more complex than this. What if a person or perhaps an entire people group can’t read? Then translating the Scriptures into their heart language is not a sufficient foundation upon which to launch the work of evangelism, disciple making, and church planting.
Did you know that only 37% of the world is literate? Another 35% is functionally illiterate (able to do very basic reading and writing, but not using it enough to be useful). 25% are completely illiterate. And another 3% are visually impaired. Missiologists have labeled this challenge the “orality” challenge. 70% of the world’s nearly 7000 unreached people groups are illiterate. They are part of the orality challenge.
Many of the leading missions sending organization are taking this orality challenge very seriously, including Pioneers. They are embracing technologies that allow people to hear the Scriptures in their heart language (after it has been translated) via inexpensive devices powered by solar energy with memory chips containing the Bible and other evangelism and discipling tools. They are also embracing Bible storying methodologies for evangelism, discipleship, and church planting that better tap into how people learn in oral cultures. Many are also embracing CPM (church planting movement) methodologies built around simple church and easily reproducible forms, which are very well suited for oral learners. Methodologies like “discovery Bible study”.
For the college educated in mega-churches in the Western world, much of this is far outside the realm of our personal experience. But it represents the reality of much of the task that remains. Please pray for the work of Pioneers and other excellent sending organizations that are taking seriously the task of “completing” the Great Commission.
Sunday, October 7, 2012
from October 7, 2012 prayer update
One of the things I most enjoy about my work is the opportunity to connect face-to-face with church missions leaders from Pioneers partnering churches. Late in September I spent five days in Tulsa and NW Arkansas connecting with five of these churches. Churches like these five are absolutely core to Pioneers accomplishing its church planting mission among the world’s unreached peoples.
Fellowship Bible Church in Tulsa is a church I have had a long-term consulting / coaching relationship with. Their recently formed executive missions team is seeking to bring focus to the missions efforts in their church of 1000. As part of this process they recently worked at clearly identifying the DNA of their church, so they can align their missions strategy well with it. They have made progress toward developing a purpose statement, a vision statement, and core values for missions. The next step for them will be to grapple with eight important strategy related factors. The answers they identify as they interact around each of these factors will enable them to develop a clear strategy and roadmap for their future missions efforts.
Asbury United Methodist Church in Tulsa is a missions minded mega-church. MaryAnn Smith, their missions director of 25 years, recently retired. The new missions director, Jim Davis, was hired in August. Jim is a 40 something, newly married, former civil engineer, and former lay missions leader from a large Presbyterian church in Tennessee. It was great to meet him and get acquainted.
Fellowship Bible Church in Springdale AR has a lay led missions leadership team. Their chair, Mike Gibbs, teaches business classes at area colleges. It was great to meet Mike for the first time. And to discover that as someone who is my age, he is still seriously considering the possibility of going to the field long-term.
Bella Vista Christian Church in Bella Vista AR is located in an historically affluent retirement community. In recent years there has been an influx of young families into the community, creating a growing multi-generational congregation. Missions is led by David Conrad, a single, energetic, 26 year old associate pastor. I had a great time meeting with he and the retirement aged lay missions leadership team chairman at BVCC. I also held an initial consultation with their missions leadership team discussing key concepts related to developing a missions strategy and congregational mobilization.
Fellowship Bible Church Northwest Arkansas is a missions focused mega-church and a key Pioneers partner church. They have workers with us in Indonesia, Mexico, Tibetan China, and Turkey, and are committed to seeing church planting movements among the people groups they engage. Missions pastor, Dick Nelson, is a long-time staff member at FBCnw, leading a team of missions staff and interns. This was my first opportunity to meet Dick. I look forward to getting much better acquainted.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Below is a link to information about unengaged people groups around the world: www.joshuaproject.net/unengaged.php. With no access to the gospel, these are people groups where “there is no church planting methodology consistent with evangelical faith and practice underway”.
There are 1367 unengaged people groups worldwide. None of them are in the U.S. 848 (62% of the total) are from 10 countries (all in the 10-40 window): Chad, China, Ethiopia, India, Indonesia, Iran, Laos, Nepal, Nigeria, and Sudan. New missionary work among these people groups should be a very high priority among U.S. churches that are seeking to be missions-minded and strategic.
Fellowship Bible Church in Tulsa is a church I have had a long-term consulting / coaching relationship with. Their recently formed executive missions team is seeking to bring focus to the missions efforts in their church of 1000. As part of this process they recently worked at clearly identifying the DNA of their church, so they can align their missions strategy well with it. They have made progress toward developing a purpose statement, a vision statement, and core values for missions. The next step for them will be to grapple with eight important strategy related factors. The answers they identify as they interact around each of these factors will enable them to develop a clear strategy and roadmap for their future missions efforts.
Asbury United Methodist Church in Tulsa is a missions minded mega-church. MaryAnn Smith, their missions director of 25 years, recently retired. The new missions director, Jim Davis, was hired in August. Jim is a 40 something, newly married, former civil engineer, and former lay missions leader from a large Presbyterian church in Tennessee. It was great to meet him and get acquainted.
Fellowship Bible Church in Springdale AR has a lay led missions leadership team. Their chair, Mike Gibbs, teaches business classes at area colleges. It was great to meet Mike for the first time. And to discover that as someone who is my age, he is still seriously considering the possibility of going to the field long-term.
Bella Vista Christian Church in Bella Vista AR is located in an historically affluent retirement community. In recent years there has been an influx of young families into the community, creating a growing multi-generational congregation. Missions is led by David Conrad, a single, energetic, 26 year old associate pastor. I had a great time meeting with he and the retirement aged lay missions leadership team chairman at BVCC. I also held an initial consultation with their missions leadership team discussing key concepts related to developing a missions strategy and congregational mobilization.
Fellowship Bible Church Northwest Arkansas is a missions focused mega-church and a key Pioneers partner church. They have workers with us in Indonesia, Mexico, Tibetan China, and Turkey, and are committed to seeing church planting movements among the people groups they engage. Missions pastor, Dick Nelson, is a long-time staff member at FBCnw, leading a team of missions staff and interns. This was my first opportunity to meet Dick. I look forward to getting much better acquainted.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Below is a link to information about unengaged people groups around the world: www.joshuaproject.net/unengaged.php. With no access to the gospel, these are people groups where “there is no church planting methodology consistent with evangelical faith and practice underway”.
There are 1367 unengaged people groups worldwide. None of them are in the U.S. 848 (62% of the total) are from 10 countries (all in the 10-40 window): Chad, China, Ethiopia, India, Indonesia, Iran, Laos, Nepal, Nigeria, and Sudan. New missionary work among these people groups should be a very high priority among U.S. churches that are seeking to be missions-minded and strategic.
Sunday, September 2, 2012
from September 2, 2012 prayer update
Below are some excerpts from Steve Smith’s article, “Getting Kingdom Right to Get Church Right”, in the July-August 2012 edition of Mission Frontiers magazine. If you don’t currently receive Mission Frontiers, it is an outstanding and free publication of USCWM (U.S. Center for World Missions), published six times annually. You can subscribe at
www.missionfrontiers.org.
“What comes to your mind when you hear about a movement of God in which almost 200 churches were started within three years in a remote people group?
What comes to your mind when you hear about a movement of God in which 150,000 urban and rural churches were started in a ten year span?
Incredulity may be your first response, perhaps followed by suspicion or excitement. Yet Church-Planting Movements (CPMs) like these are spreading around the world in all types of cultures and religious worldviews. In these movements, successive generations of disciples and churches move consistently past the 4th generation in a short duration of time.
These movements sound foreign to many of us who have lived in more traditional churches where the kingdom has been established for centuries. But CPM-like movements are not simply a modern phenomenon. They have characterized the kingdom of God from Acts onward throughout church history.”
“As disciples throughout history have made it their priority to see the kingdom explode among lost populations, they have often seen churches multiply rapidly generation by generation through ordinary new believers. Unfortunately, as churches become established, a tendency emerges to consolidate efforts and focus more on the church development than on kingdom expansion.”
“Jesus’ entire ministry was focused on initiating the kingdom of God. He used the word ‘kingdom’ over 100 times, while He used the word ‘church’ only twice. … In Acts, the word ‘church’ is used twice as much as the word ‘kingdom’. The next progression in Jesus strategy was taking placing – planting multiplying church as agents of His kingdom coming on earth. … The word ‘church’ is used more in Romans to Revelation, almost three times as much as the word ‘kingdom’.”
“It is easy for churches to subtly shift their focus from the King and His kingdom, often becoming obsessed with themselves and their own successes, structures or traditions. … How easy it is for us to elevate the church along with our structures, programs, and traditions above the vision of knowing the King and establishing His kingdom. We easily lose sight of the end-vision. When we focus on church first, we get kingdom wrong.
Yet make no mistake: Church is at the heart of God’s kingdom plan! It is not either church or kingdom. It is both. When the church submits herself to the King and His kingdom ways, then the church emerges in all her intended glory!”
“The church was meant to be the agent of filling the whole earth with the glory of God -- His King-reign -- as the Body. The church was meant to be the eternal companion of the Son as the Bride.”
“This is why we focus unquestionably on Church-Planting Movements, not simple people movements. We don’t start churches because this is the most pragmatic way to reach people. We start churches because this is God’s plan in His eternal kingdom."
What a privilege to be part of an organization whose mission statement reads: “Pioneers mobilizes teams to glorify God among unreached peoples by initiating church planting movements in partnership with local churches.” Pioneers has 2450 workers on 229 teams among 146 UPG (unreached people groups) in 95 countries.
“What comes to your mind when you hear about a movement of God in which almost 200 churches were started within three years in a remote people group?
What comes to your mind when you hear about a movement of God in which 150,000 urban and rural churches were started in a ten year span?
Incredulity may be your first response, perhaps followed by suspicion or excitement. Yet Church-Planting Movements (CPMs) like these are spreading around the world in all types of cultures and religious worldviews. In these movements, successive generations of disciples and churches move consistently past the 4th generation in a short duration of time.
These movements sound foreign to many of us who have lived in more traditional churches where the kingdom has been established for centuries. But CPM-like movements are not simply a modern phenomenon. They have characterized the kingdom of God from Acts onward throughout church history.”
“As disciples throughout history have made it their priority to see the kingdom explode among lost populations, they have often seen churches multiply rapidly generation by generation through ordinary new believers. Unfortunately, as churches become established, a tendency emerges to consolidate efforts and focus more on the church development than on kingdom expansion.”
“Jesus’ entire ministry was focused on initiating the kingdom of God. He used the word ‘kingdom’ over 100 times, while He used the word ‘church’ only twice. … In Acts, the word ‘church’ is used twice as much as the word ‘kingdom’. The next progression in Jesus strategy was taking placing – planting multiplying church as agents of His kingdom coming on earth. … The word ‘church’ is used more in Romans to Revelation, almost three times as much as the word ‘kingdom’.”
“It is easy for churches to subtly shift their focus from the King and His kingdom, often becoming obsessed with themselves and their own successes, structures or traditions. … How easy it is for us to elevate the church along with our structures, programs, and traditions above the vision of knowing the King and establishing His kingdom. We easily lose sight of the end-vision. When we focus on church first, we get kingdom wrong.
Yet make no mistake: Church is at the heart of God’s kingdom plan! It is not either church or kingdom. It is both. When the church submits herself to the King and His kingdom ways, then the church emerges in all her intended glory!”
“The church was meant to be the agent of filling the whole earth with the glory of God -- His King-reign -- as the Body. The church was meant to be the eternal companion of the Son as the Bride.”
“This is why we focus unquestionably on Church-Planting Movements, not simple people movements. We don’t start churches because this is the most pragmatic way to reach people. We start churches because this is God’s plan in His eternal kingdom."
What a privilege to be part of an organization whose mission statement reads: “Pioneers mobilizes teams to glorify God among unreached peoples by initiating church planting movements in partnership with local churches.” Pioneers has 2450 workers on 229 teams among 146 UPG (unreached people groups) in 95 countries.
Sunday, August 5, 2012
from August 5, 2012 prayer update
CIT (center for intercultural training) is located in rural North Carolina, about 60 miles west of Charlotte, not far from the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains. I had the opportunity to spend last week there receiving some helpful continuing education training. Felt like I had found my way back to Mayberry RFD.
SYIS (sharpening your interpersonal skills) is a five day seminar that many missions sending agencies require of their new missionary appointees. Its aim is expressed in its title. We focused on highly practical relational skills and issues like: building community, building trust, conflict management, confronting / being confronted, drawing people out, encouragement, grief, helping others solve problems, listening, margin, moral purity, relationship killers, and stress management.
16 participants joined with 3 facilitators in a five day journey together. We made it through a 160 page workbook in 18 90 minute sessions. We shared life together during this training. Some instruction, but mostly some well done facilitation. Highly interactive. Creative. Some role playing. Some personal reflection.
For me, not a lot of new content. But some excellent reminders. Reminders that I needed. And I have little doubt will need again. It would have been nice to spread this training out over a longer period of time. It was pretty intense and hard to attempt to take it all in. Like trying to drink out of a fire hose.
I appreciated the fact that we had a “snapshots” page at the back of our workbook where we each faithfully recorded 1-3 high level takeaways at the end of each session. I wouldn’t have remembered much of what we covered without that helpful tool. Our final session together attempted to pull everything together and helped us focus on identifying a few high level takeaways from the week together. Lots of relevant applications, but the three I focused on were:
1) The relationship is almost always more important than the issue.
2) Some practical steps to take to become a better listener.
3) Some practical steps to take in managing conflict well.
For me the two contexts that would most benefit from forward progress with these issues are my family and my team with Pioneers.
I would welcome your prayers that I do a great job of reviewing and seeking to integrate into my life what the Holy Spirit laid on my heart through this continuing education experience.
SYIS (sharpening your interpersonal skills) is a five day seminar that many missions sending agencies require of their new missionary appointees. Its aim is expressed in its title. We focused on highly practical relational skills and issues like: building community, building trust, conflict management, confronting / being confronted, drawing people out, encouragement, grief, helping others solve problems, listening, margin, moral purity, relationship killers, and stress management.
16 participants joined with 3 facilitators in a five day journey together. We made it through a 160 page workbook in 18 90 minute sessions. We shared life together during this training. Some instruction, but mostly some well done facilitation. Highly interactive. Creative. Some role playing. Some personal reflection.
For me, not a lot of new content. But some excellent reminders. Reminders that I needed. And I have little doubt will need again. It would have been nice to spread this training out over a longer period of time. It was pretty intense and hard to attempt to take it all in. Like trying to drink out of a fire hose.
I appreciated the fact that we had a “snapshots” page at the back of our workbook where we each faithfully recorded 1-3 high level takeaways at the end of each session. I wouldn’t have remembered much of what we covered without that helpful tool. Our final session together attempted to pull everything together and helped us focus on identifying a few high level takeaways from the week together. Lots of relevant applications, but the three I focused on were:
1) The relationship is almost always more important than the issue.
2) Some practical steps to take to become a better listener.
3) Some practical steps to take in managing conflict well.
For me the two contexts that would most benefit from forward progress with these issues are my family and my team with Pioneers.
I would welcome your prayers that I do a great job of reviewing and seeking to integrate into my life what the Holy Spirit laid on my heart through this continuing education experience.
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