Avsnitt
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As we listen to episodes from our Launch gathering in Melbourne, we continue the second of a two podcast series with Roger, Praxeis New Zealand leader as he shares on building teams in the West.
Roger continues sharing stories of how he has sought to see teams birthed.
Principles of forming team
We’re to expect opposition when we start teams.
How we operate as a team is what we’ll reproduce.
Teams need to have a culture of learning.
Work with what you've got. Don’t wait until you have what you think you need.
God’s word not our experiences is what teaches us to build teams.
Challenges we face when building teams
We’re fighting apathy and indifference.
When confronting a religious spirit we’re realising we don’t need permission for mission.
Individualism is always counter to team. We need to catch God’s vision together.
How to multiply teams?
"We are to see fruit on other people’s trees"
Catalysing DMM is like scaffolding, it’s temporary and isn’t flash.
Being anonymous is key.
We know the fruit in the harvest is diverse and doesn’t grow on just one tree. So we need multiple teams for the many affinity groups around us.
What’s Jesus calling us to lay down?
Teams need to be more committed to the King’s mission and purpose than our own individual callings and gifts. Instead of recruiting, we need to allow God to engineer team formation.
Final words encouragement
How do we counter the spirit of apathy, indifference, distractions and individualism? Being obedient and staying in the game despite our weaknesses and lacks. All roads lead back to prayer. Fervent, focused, passionate, sustained prayerful workers will see teams form and multiply.
Video: To view this two part podcast as a video, click on the video below!
https://vimeo.com/930255024/7b98814cd3 -
Join us as we continue this series of episodes from our Launch event in Melbourne. Hear Roger, Praxeis New Zealand leader in this first of two podcasts sharing his thoughts on building teams in the West.
Building teams is crucial. If we cannot build teams, we won’t see movement. Roger will reflect over these next two podcasts about the positive experiences he has had as well as the disappointments that he has faced.
Many years ago a multiplying movement happened amongst the Maori people. It is conservatively estimated that over 50% of the Maori population became followers of Jesus. But today NZ has a similar bleak picture to Australia with steep declines in the number of people identifying as Christians.
“Kiwis still crave spirituality but not from organised religion. They have swapped church for the yoga mat.”
Roger will share and discuss some of the big questions that we have to wrestle with as we make disciples that multiply. “How did the Father send Jesus? So how does He send us? (John 21)”, “How do we raise teams across the land?.
Finally, Roger will reflect on some of the lessons that he has learnt about building multiplying, catalysing teams of disciples including:
Often see early breakthrough, but this early fruit does not necessarily multiply
Look to the relational streams & connections to build teams
Go slow to go fast
Tune in next week for the conclusion of Roger’s presentation…. Or simply watch the whole video below!
https://vimeo.com/930255024/7b98814cd3 -
Saknas det avsnitt?
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In this episode, we will hear from Brian and Klaus from when they shared at our February Launch gathering. Brian begins by sharing the current picture in Canberra. It feels bleak as they look at the numbers of people attending church. It is an even more despairing picture when they look at the number of people actively engaging almost lost people as disciple-makers.
But God has given them a vision and has been taking the whole church on a journey, challenging their understanding of how to make disciples. He has been leading them to lay down old ways of doing things to pick up new ways that He is teaching them.
“We have to unlearn a bunch of things and we don’t even know what we gotta unlearn.”
So what has shifted?
Building focus to field focus (being where the people are)
Charismatic leader focus to ordinary people doing the work
Prayer - making prayer the priority to receive love, faith, guidance and power for the next steps (the harp and the sword)
Moving away from a sermon-focus to interactive accountability to God’s word and Spirit by all people
A greater allegiance to Jesus as King
Moving from information focus to discovery and obedience.
From a Sunday focus to being a disciple every day of the week
From being a self-serving community to an outward focused community
As you finish listening to this journey, take a few minutes to ask yourself, what are the things that you and your community need to lay down so that you can pick up the new things that God has for you? What are the bold and courageous steps that God is asking you to take?
https://vimeo.com/927840111 -
We catch up with Brian and Klaus from Grace Church Canberra at our Launch gathering in Melbourne to hear their journey of the paradigm shifts that they and their local church has gone through as they completely embrace DMM.
View this interview as a video here.
These guys represent the Crosslink network of more than 160 churches around Australia and have a vision as a local church of seeing the whole of Canberra reached.
They share how their journey into DMM included being struck by and influenced by people like Chris Galanos and his faith and expensive obedience steps to reach a million people in ten years.
Paradigm shifts to DMM
As seasoned pastors, Brian and Klaus tell us how they have had to lay down
A focus on numbers and a service.
Sermons, knowing preaching won’t transform people’s heart and lifestyle.
The idea of church, shifting it a smaller group, determined to follow Christ.
Their status as the key leaders where everyone depends on them.
All the tools they had acquired so they can pick up new ones.
An old lifestyle to embrace a new way of life, practicing being a disciple maker themselves.
Old goals to set new ones all about multiplication.
Brian says,
“Multiplying generations of disciples is our biggest but our most worthy challenge”.
Shifting to DBS
Brian shares how he realised one day that he had been selling the scriptures short.
“If you let the scriptures do their own work, they can lift somebody from wherever they are into the presence of God”.
Ordinary people
Grace church is one of the only churches Brian knows of in the world that have completely transitioned to everyone in the church embracing DMM. This has seen the whole church become a team of disciples makers, engaging in places like local parks and homes.
Brian says,
“We don’t want anyone sitting in the stands. We want them sitting on the bench or engaged on the field. We know that if we as a congregation of ordinary people can see some kind of movement in one part of Canberra, then this will encourage others to do it in other parts of the city.”
Final words of encouragement
Klaus finishes saying,
“Ordinary people, not just evangelists, can learn to walk with Jesus one step at a time”.
Brian closes saying,
“The heart of God is for all people. He has given us as the family of God the opportunity to reach all the people who are estranged from his family. This isn’t just an event. It is a process toward a lifestyle of fruitfulness that is reproducible without any limit”.
https://vimeo.com/919113480/9f1b71c23d -
We reconnect with Mike Hey at our 'Launch 24' gathering in Melbourne. In this episode Mike shares with us some of his history, serving with OM and highlights some of the principles of seeing DMM catalysed in a multicultural city like Adelaide.
To see this podcast as a video, click here
Seeing DMM in Adelaide
Mike has a vision for Adelaide as a house of prayer for all nations. He shares how planting simple and reproducible churches starts with prayer. Mike joins with others and they pray for their neighbourhoods, asking God how they can be a blessing.
For example, on many occasions, Mike tells us how they find themselves simply asking people to the park for a BBQ. Spiritual conversations are had and some begin to invite Mike and the team into their homes where they seek to gather for DBS (Discovery Bible Study).
Mike says how one of his friends came and said, “I don’t want to take a leap of faith but I’m curious about Jesus”. After doing a DBS, he was asked what he will do with what he had learnt. In response he said, “I’m going to share this story with my friends who are gamers”. Mike encouraged him to return and tell the group how it went.
Mike says every neighbourhood of Adelaide can be a house of prayer wherever a follower of Jesus lives. Starting new churches is as simple as praying, blessing, finding a person of peace* and using the DBS to form a new community of faith.
Mike's final encouragement
"Trust that God can use you. That as you step outside your door, you can pray, "God be gracious to and bless every one on this street. Cause your face to shine on every Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, Agnostic, Atheistic and even Christian who has lost their way. So we together would turn back to Jesus and follow him and be obedience and make disciples of all nations."
*Mike defines a person of peace as someone who is receptive to God and shares what they are learning with their relational network. -
Today we hear from 'Simon', a movement catalyst in central India. You’ll be moved to pray for India and respond afresh to the Great Commission as Simon shares how he is seeing movement amongst severe persecution.
After sharing how he got caught up in what he calls a great commission ministry, Simon shares his three main practices:
Multiply disciples
Multiply leaders
Multiply churches
These practices have produced over 8 generations of disciples around Simon amongst many streams.
Simon shares some of this perspectives on the ongoing persecution in India. He asks for our prayers for those undergoing this persecution. Yet he correspondingly also asks us to pray for the Indian believers to stay strong so new disciples and churches continue to grow and multiply.
Final word of encouragement to us:
“Pray, obey the simple things that Jesus said and go out to make disciples. Then the end will come” -
This is our last episode with Stuart on his latest book, Prayer Power. Stuart encourages us to desperately seek to engage in persistent prayer and multiplying disciples.
“God doesn’t expect the impossible from us but for us to expect the impossible from him. He wants us to see the face of the nation in the next disciple we minister to.” -
In this, our second last episode with Stuart, he talks about the vital importance of raising prayer support. This is for every single one of us who are making disciples (whether we are so called ‘full-time’ or ‘bi-vocational’).
Stuart refers to forming three important prayer groups:
A core group of personal prayer intercessors who pray regularly for you
A wider group of committed intercessors who are also praying frequently
And regular team prayer with those ‘on team’ with you locally
He emphasises the importance of regular and brief communication which includes how God is answering previous prayer requests.
“If you don’t have adequate prayer cover, then you are an endangered species.” -
In our fourth episode with Stuart, we continue exploring his book Prayer Power.
But what about when it feels like God doesn’t answer our prayers?
Stuart shares a personal story of how he persevered in prayer for his family to come to faith. We hear how God wants us to have his best in his grace and timing, not always what and when we want it.
We can keep our faith alive by simply finding one or two other believers and pray with them. -
Stuart continues to talk about persistent prayer, persecution and poverty being the three common threads of seeing explosive church growth around the world.
We hear of his experience in China, seeing passionate and persevering prayer amongst desperate locals.
Referring to seeing prayer at Crossway birthed, Stuart shares how starting a culture of prayer is a mixture of personal discipline and God’s grace. -
In this second episode of our summer series with Dr Stuart Robinson, Stuart reflects on international revivals that were sparked by prayer.
“We can work, but unless we’re working with God, its just us working. But when we pray, God works.”
“The history is very clear, when God’s Spirit comes to revive an entire nation, seldom does he come to the big watering holes. He comes to the little outback places where there is just a group of little faithful people who are praying and praying."
Stuart starts to share some of his own prayer experiences where he waited on and encountered God.
He describes how prayer doesn’t come easily to us as humans. It starts through the habit of discipline. Describing how Jesus got up early in the morning to pray, Stuart encourages us to start our day in the same way. -
For this summer series we are talking with Dr Stuart Robinson about his book, ‘Prayer Power: Changing The World Around You'.
Stuart begins by giving us a little backstory of how he has come to deeply value prayer. After seeing breakthrough amongst an unreached people group (UPG) overseas, Stuart and his wife Margaret came back to Australia. They arrived carrying a personal experience of the power of prayer, seeing tens of thousands amongst this UPG coming to faith. The result was the birthing of Crossway, one of the largest churches in Australia.
In this first bite-sized episode, whilst referring to the decline of the western church, Stuart speaks of one of the key factors where he sees explosive exponential growth of the church. Persistent, prevailing and persevering prayer.
“If you want your work, your church, your life, your family to go and to grow, you have to take into account this factor of persevering and prevailing prayer. Unless we discover this in the west, then we’ve had it.” -
This is our second podcast with Mike Hey. In this episode Dave finds out what Mike Hey tick. Dave looks at the Lord's Prayer (Luke 11:1-4) and how it is connected to the Beatitudes (Matthew 5:2-12) with Mike. We listen to Mike's reflections on these two passages and how they have helped him to pray.
Acronyms Mike loves
Mike shares his 'WALK' acronym for prayer:
W - waiting in his presence
A - aligning with his purpose
L - loved and loving
K - knowing him as our Shepherd
Steve Smith's last book ('Spirit Walk'), also has an acronym of 'SWAP' for prayer:
S - surrender everything to prayer
W - wait
A- Avoid all sin
P - Perceive the prompting of the Spirit
Cultures eats strategy for breakfast
Kingdom culture starts with prayer
BLESS
In the final part of the episode, Mike shares about his own 'BLESS' acronym by sharing some stories from Adelaide:
B - Be the presence of Jesus (starts with prayer life)
L - Listen to others (listen to their story)
E - Enjoy building a relationship with others
S - See God is already at work
S - Show Jesus (be intentional)
Word of encouragement
Mike finishes by referring back to Abraham sharing that we have been designed to bless. He shares how it might look like to practically connect spiritually with others in our lives. -
During our next two episodes, Dave catches up with Mike Hey in Salisbury (Adelaide’s northern suburbs). Mike is a mature practitioner and is part of Operation Mobilisation’s (OM) international leadership.
Brief background
Mike shares a little of his and his wife, Ann’s background including serving with OM since the 1970’s in India. Since then they have focused on catalysing disciple making amongst unreached people groups as the director of OM’s ‘Doulos’ ship, working amongst university students and serving in Asia for ten years.
India
Mike shares his association with Victor John (co-author of ‘Bhojpuri Breakthrough’ with Dave Coles who has shared on this podcast*). He describes the paradigm shift that allowed Victor to embrace a movement of now millions in an area once known as one of the hardest places for mission. One of the keys for Victor was the question: ‘Who can you share this with?’.
The Australian challenge
“The church has locked the light inside the building.”
Mike describes how the church in Australia needs to be turned inside out as we learn to seek God together for our city:
“We are not just doorkeepers at the house, we are gatekeepers to the whole city.”
You’ll be inspired as you hear many stories of Mike connecting with and seeing people discipled by encouraging everyone to do three basic things - Pray, Bless and Disciple.
Walking
The idea and practice of walking is modelled by Mike as he lives by the motto: ‘Say what you do and do what you say’
“You gotta walk with Jesus, walk with other friends of Jesus and together, work out how He wants you to walk in your sphere of influence.”
We can disciple people by:
Walking ahead (modelling)
Walking beside (assisting)
Walking behind (watching)
Walking away (leaving)
Slowing down, or 'walking' and making time for people is essential.
Final encouragement
Mike commits to doing three things every day:
Being attentive to God
Being together with others (asking God “What are you sending us to do?”)
Being intentional to follow those instructions
And so Mike finishes this episode by encouraging us to pause, abide and listen to Jesus. It’s all about us finding our identity in Jesus and His identity in us.
“Stay close to Jesus. Stay close to the cross. Step out your door and you’ll have the joy of seeing Him work through you and connect you with people. You’ll be surprised in the way he does it. Don’t rush ahead, slow down and listen.”
*Dave Coles previous podcast -
We catch up with Phil Brown from Oikos Australia who shares about his new book release, ‘The Seven Calls of Jesus’.
Phil’s story
Phil begins by giving us some insight into how he has become involved in disciple making movements. He carries a passion of seeing ordinary people empowered to creatively take the Gospel into every nook and cranny of Australia.
Phil’s book
‘The Seven Calls of Jesus’ looks at the simple yet profound calls Jesus made that framed his own ministry, the early church and is still deeply relevant to us today. Phil hopes many can easily access this book as a helpful disciple making training resource. It's filled with wonderful stories highlighting Phil as an active and fruitful practitioner of what he is teaching.
Ekklesia - a loving community
“I have a dream that people in Australia couldn’t go for more than a week before bumping into one or more fired up followers of Jesus…coming across interesting and intriguing faith communities.”
Phil tells us stories and insights into what ‘ekklesia’ historically means and is looking like today in Australia. He describes how since the early church, there is still “something magic about these communities. He asked us "What’s in your hand? There are many modules to do ekklesia…hospitality and a passion for Jesus is a pretty lethal mix!”.
Listening - the key to sharing
We listen to Phil’s heart for people encountering Jesus. He illustrates the importance of listening to people. To ask questions, picking up on their needs. These are the keys to move into people’s worlds, engaging spiritually in prayer and Bible storying in everyday life.
Words and prayer of encouragement
Phil ends by sharing how the words we want to hear from Jesus in the end are, "Well done, good and faithful servant!” (Matthew 25:21, 23). He encourages us to be faithful, leaving the results to God. To be tuned into the Spirit, being sensitised to every opportunity.
Phil’s closing prayer:
“May these courageous, frontline workers sense that you have brought them to the Kingdom for such a time as this.” -
This week we speak with Steve Addison. Steve has recently said goodbye to his wife, Michelle, after her struggle with cancer. We catch up with Steve to not only see how he is going but to hear from him how the Gospel is true and real in the hardest of times and places. He shares what the Gospel means when we face the reality of life and death.
“We made it!”
Steve starts by saying how he has a deep sense of satisfaction in the goodness of God after going through the last four years of Michelle battling with cancer. When it was becoming obvious that God wasn’t going to heal Michelle, Steve shares how they both looked at each other and said “we made it!”. Michelle and Steve celebrated what God had done in and through them after their 42 years of marriage.
The relevance of the Gospel
As Steve reflects on his latest book, ‘Acts and the Movement of God’, we hear his deep realisation these days of the triumph of God. Despite God’s messengers in Acts facing so many hardships and suffering in Acts, God still triumphs. In the midst of the turmoil and our weaknesses, God is doing his work.
Steve asks us, so what does God want from us? He wants us to trust him when it doesn’t make sense. Regardless of appearances, even unanswered prayer, God is faithful and good. In the end, Steve tells us how God’s power was not at work to heal Michelle, but it was at work to reveal himself.
Sharing the Gospel with others
Steve describes the many opportunities he and Michelle have had to share the Gospel with others. For example, he would often share the secret to Michelle’s obvious positivity, saying it was her faith and hope in the resurrected Jesus. Many people then responded by sharing their own spiritual experiences.
'Indeed, we felt we had received the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead.' (2 Corinthians 1:9)
Reflecting on Paul’s words, Steve encourages us that whatever hand we’re dealt, this is our opportunity to bring glory to God.
Tribute to Michelle*
We hear of how Michelle pioneered a ministry to internationals through the integration of English conversation and Discovery Bible Studies. Life long friendships have formed from those she has discipled. Others have now continued on this ministry. Along with her family and friends, these people are the fruit and legacy of Michelle’s life that we celebrate.
The season ahead?
We listen to how Steve is seeking to stay active as he heads out to Greece early next year. He will be helping build a hub that is serving the surrounding regions. Steve plans to travel into these areas to help serve. Steve tells us how we will be allowing God to speak during this time as he processes Michelle’s passing and looks to the future.
Final words of encouragement
“Be prepared for the greatest challenges you can imagine and expect to find God in them. Expect to lean into your weakness in order to discover the glory, power and presence of God.”
Steve spoke to a new disciple recently saying, “Brother, its going to be hard. And its going to be good. Because God is good.”
"You can find God in any circumstance. Answered prayer. Unanswered prayer. Death. Life. The unchanging thing is the character of God revealed to us in the Lord Jesus. So make him your goal. Not a movement. A movement is the fruit of people who place him first and do his will."
*A tribute to Michelle has also been posted by Steve on his blog site here. You can also view Michelle's funeral online here. -
We continue our conversation with Ian Kristofer in Mozambique. In this episode we hear about what Ian has been learning as he sees movement take off around him in various unreached contexts of Mozambique.
Reaching the Shona
“We disciple in everything”
During the forming stage of seeing movement amongst the Shona people in central Mozambique, Ian shares how God refined him to make disciple that would make disciples. He encourages us to remember the ‘MAWL’ (Model, Assist, Watch and Leave) method to disciple people in any context and situation God has placed us.
Through engaging with Vida (‘Life’), a local person of peace, Ian learned to share and obey Jesus whilst also helping this 18 year old discover how to do the same. From this young man, we hear of a movement being birthed through people discovering, encountering and sharing Jesus.
Engaging the Makua
Ian tells us the story of being invited into a Makua village after moving to northern Mozambique. After sharing God’s word through a discovery process, Ian saw this initial group grow rapidly. However it suddenly diminished due to the men who had originally welcomed Ian into their community.
“The person of influence isn’t always good influence”
Ian tells us how an initial person of peace is not always the person who is going to spread the gospel. Instead they might simply be the 'door opener’ into a community. However the harvest is ripe beyond this individual.
“Even though a person of peace is someone of influence who is willing to receive from you and share God’s word, they aren’t always the ones who will keep sharing or have good influence.”
Despite the drop off, after discipling the chief of a Makua village a number of DBS groups formed. Inside Makua leaders were even moved by God to start radically reaching out to the Yao people where movement has taken off.
Movement amongst the Yao
Ian shares with us the story of how he and his wife Carla saw a church birthed through discipling two Yao people of peace who each had encounters Jesus. We listen to Ian tell us how the gospel spread rapidly through these two people’s encounters with Jesus. Within two years, up to 1000 people had been baptised and 50 groups were multiplying down to a fifth generation in some cases. The challenge these days is to source enough audio bibles to keep up with the growth!
“We can’t and shouldn’t control a movement - instead catalysing corporate prayer is key”
Ian describes how he is catalysing prayer groups through a 4 week prayer rhythm. We hear how we meets for an hour, once a week with some of his key Yao inside leaders. Ian shows them how to pray in four ways - gratefully, transparently, prophetically and with harvest focused intercession. Then after four weeks he empowers someone else in the group to be the host for the next four weeks. This monthly prayer rhythm is allowing Ian to reluctantly yet slowly step away from the group as he seeks to ‘MAWL’, this time in prayer.
“We can’t and shouldn’t control a movement - instead quick delegation of leadership is key”
Ian shares how as movement catalysts, we need to be empowering those who are obeying God. These are those who are already operating as elders in these new churches. For example, he tells shares now God is currently speaking to Yao inside leaders about seeing healthier marriages in their own context.
Prayers and words of encouragement
Amongst the background sounds of seeds falling on Ian’s roof, Ian finishes by praying for us the listener from the parable of the sower. Asking God to help us have the love, courage and obedience to walk through through all the four soils.
He shares a word for those of us in distant lands asking the question, “Father is this possible?”. In reply, Jesus’ words, “Greater works than mine you will do” (John 14:12) and “Tarry…until you have been clothed with power from on high” (Luke 24:49) are God’s response.
He encourages us to pray, -
Over the next two weeks, we'll hear from Ian Kristofer, missionary and author of the book ‘Making disciples and leading others to make them’*
Ian’s story - from the US to Africa
In this episode, Ian shares his story of growing up in the US. He comes to faith in Jesus through his father’s bible study and then has two radical encounters with God as a teenager. After meeting his wife Carla during college in the late 90s, his call to missions was confirmed from these encounters. Fifteen years later, after giving up the passion to play baseball and reaching the heights of a worship song writing ministry, God opened the door for the family to move to Africa in 2015.
Starting off in central Mozambique working with the Shona people, God slowly started to show Ian what ministry would look like whilst Carla worked in the medical field. Ian highlights the inward shifts God needed to do to from hearing the voice of man to hearing the voice of God. The fruit of this was seen in Ian and Carla creating a school for hearing God’s voice.
After relocating to a village in the north of Mozambique, God started to show Ian disciple making movement principles in the Gospels and Acts. It was at this time that Ian met 'Life', a local Muslim boy who had a miraculous encounter, and a movement was birthed. God’s heart and call to the Muslim people was also ignited in Ian.
'Many are called but few are chosen' (Matt 22:14)
Ian unpacks his own experience and understanding of the call of God into missions. He shares more of his own encounter and invitation to follow Jesus. Reflecting on two passages from Jesus’ prayer in John 17, Ian describes how even though everyone is called not everyone chooses to be chosen.
“My prayer is not for [my disciples] alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message” (John 17:20). Ian reflects that those who the disciples would reach after the resurrection would also be called and have the same option to ‘get out of the boat’.
“I have brought you glory on earth by finishing the work you gave me to do (John 17:4)”. He shares how this 'work' must be Jesus’ discipling of others over the past three years. So too are we invited to be ‘all in’ and invest ourselves in the discipling of others. We can be chosen.
The definite switch between called and chosen Ian depicts with a baseball metaphor. As an ex-baseball player, he and his teammates were all called to play baseball. But not everyone was going to bat a particular position in the lineup. This player was chosen by the coach with clear directions of how to play for the team from that position. Just like a player and coach, it is our choice to listen and obey Jesus. We choose to be chosen, making the core of who we are a place of intimacy and obedience to God.
Word of encouragement and prayer
Ian encourages and prays for those of us who are responding to being sent by God from Isaiah 6 and Luke 5:8-10. Just as Isaiah and Peter confessed how they were sinful men, Ian prays that we too would have the courage to speak the truth of who we think we are. As we do, God will then show us who we really are - those who become 'fishers of men'.
*Click here to download Ian’s book as an audio book via apple books -
We hear Dave’s latest sermon at Crossway Baptist Church in Melbourne. He draws from familiar themes and stories from those like Wilson and Roy Moran that we have heard recently in this podcast. Get ready to reproduce and multiply as a disciple maker.
God doing a new thing - do we perceive it?
Be inspired as you hear how God is doing a new thing (Isaiah 43:18-19; Mark 1:15). Dave describes how God’s kingdom is advancing today among the poor, prisoner, blind and oppressed (Isaiah 61:1-2; Luke 4:18-19). It's happening in some of the darkest and hardest of places around the world.
Movements - a turning point in modern missions
Dave reflects on a turning point in modern missions when he first heard of a few movements in some of the most unreached of places in the 90s. This ripple in the pond of global mission has now turned into a wave representing 1,965 movements, 114 million new disciples and 8 million new churches. And it will become what Dave sees as a tsunami in our day.
“But it can’t happen here”
Where movement is now happening, the term “it can’t happen here” was repeated again and again. But in places like North India that were once termed ‘the graveyards of mission’, movements have emerged and are exploding. We can also be tempted to think God can’t move in our context today.
Stories from Africa
Workers in North Africa once echoed the same phrase in the 2000s - “It can happen in India but it can’t happen here”. After capturing some key movement principles* from India, these same people persevered and finally discovered one Somalian person of peace in their sixteenth year of work. 40 people were baptised that year and as a result the first church was born. Today, fifteen years later, we now see over 20,000 churches emerging in Somalia. Over 30 generations deep.
Dave shares Wilson’s movement story again. One that saw 11 disciples from the dark and broken places of Kampala, Uganda multiply to 5680 churches.
*Some of the principles these African workers learned from movements in places like India include:
Prayer
Disciple making
Involving everyone from day one in the movement of God
People of peace
Discovery bible studies
Multiplication (God’s idea from the very beginning - Genesis 1:26-28; also see Habakkuk 2:14)
Why not Australia?
Wilson says to us in Australia,
“Its easy. Simply obey Jesus. Anyone can do that.”
We can either join the “it can’t happen here” brigade or activate our faith and become disciples that multiply and make other disciples.
Fulfilling the Great Commission by having spiritual grandchildren
Dave shares one last moving story of one of his own disciples from India showing him photos of his ‘spiritual grandchildren’. This included a picture of a Nepalese ex-prostitute who encountered Jesus and is now the leader of a church in the slums of Mumbai helping those around her disciple others who disciple others. Dave says to us,
“If she can do that, you and I can do that”.
Movements are filled with ordinary people who have learnt Jesus’ secret of making disciples. They have at their core the Great Commission (Matthew 28:18-20). Dave highlights how this is a universal call to all of us as the church since the command finishes with Jesus saying, “And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age”. So this includes us today. Dave urges us saying,
"We can’t just sit in the pews, or 4 million people would go to hell."
Just as we are made to have families in the natural, so are we called to have spiritual children and grandchildren. Dave asks us,
“Have we wrestled in the same way with scriptural bareness as we do with natural bareness?”
God’s song for the church in the West
Dave finishes by encouraging us with a prophetic word - God’s song for the church in the west:
“Sing, O barren one, who did not bear;
break forth into singing and cry aloud,
you who have not been in labor! -
This is part 2 of our two part series with Chris Galanos.
People of peace (in a western context)
Chris shares how he came to realise the significance of the person of peace by sharing a powerful story from an access ministry his father was part of in a local US gaol.
Engaging with 'PIPSY' people
Chris encourages us to join God where he is already working. Jesus tells us when we help those in need, we help him (Matthew 25:31-46). Chris sums up those in need in this passage in four groups:
P - Poor (hungry or thirsty)
I - International (stranger)
P - Prisoner
S - Sick
(Some have added Youth as the Y in this 'PIPSY' people acronym)
Chris shares how he has found these groups of people are often the most responsive to spiritual conversations. After all, Jesus’ call was to the poor (Luke 4:14-30). And so is ours.
Multiplication moving people away
Chris shares how those in the network started to expand to people from other places. His started to offer his training online. He tells us how only a small percentage of those who do the training go on to become practitioners.
However, fast forward to last August and Chris is now seeing:
5000 leaders engaged in the work from around the US.
1368 groups are running with several hundred in West Texas.
Chris says how he started to realise how God's vision for the 1 million new disciples might be a lot broader than West Texas. He has seen this with 35 states of the US and 33 nations becoming involved.
Today, Chris celebrates seeing 800 churches birthed around the world. More people are now part of the movement than were originally part of his mega church.
Chris describes how Jesus' Great Commission vision for all the nations was always meant to multiply out of our control.
Coaching and teams
Chris shares how ongoing coaching is vital. It gives accountability and motivation to get what he calls ‘base hits’ every single week. He often asks those he coaches this question:
Out of the seven elements, which do you think is the most important?
His answer is number 7 - ongoing coaching.
"Without it, we probably won’t do the other 6 elements.”
Chris continues sharing the importance of having what he calls both 'coaching call' and local teams.
The local teams are where people ‘raise the sails’ together.
The broader teams are groups of likeminded people from around a country or region. This 'coaching call' group is an important team for people to belong to as they feel part of a wider vision. Iron sharpens iron in this teams. People learn from each other’s successes and challenges.
What is church?
Chris illustrates how we have added a lot of extra-biblical definitions to what the bible calls ‘ekklesia’. He says how we need to remember two things about church.
Church is not a building or place, it is a people.
Church does not need any money.
Chris points to Paul's words to the Corinthian church (1 Corinthians 14). When a church gathers, no one person should dominate the meeting. Instead everyone participates as each person uses their gifts. Chris also refers to the example of the early church in Acts 4. He shows us how instead of leaving a Sunday gathering saying how great one person was during the service, the early church left with boldness.
Word of encouragement - two or three reaching 100,000!
From what those like Justin Long (a researcher from ‘Beyond’) are seeing globally with movements,
“A team (focusing on multiplication) of just two or three can reach 100,000”
Chris finishes this series by speaking directly to us as the listeners,
“Do you have another friend or family member who is on fire? One or two others who want to go 'all in' on multiplying disciples? If you do, God can use you. Could you believe for 100,000 people as a team? God can use you as you gather a team and raise the sails together." - Visa fler
