Mission Frontiers

November-December 2012:

Peoples on the Move

Contents:

From the Editor

Peoples on the Move: Can the Church Cope With Mobile Mission Fields?

by Rick Wood

Peoples on the Move

A God-Ordained Opportunity for Reaching the Unreached

by J. D. Payne

Immigrant Europe

Greater Europe Mission Retools to Reach Them

by Henry Deneen

And a Little Child Shall Lead Them

One Family's Journey on Mission in Europe

by Daniel Rhys

The Boy Who Would Not Die

The Remarkable Testimony of One Lost Boy

by Gary and Louise Short

International Church Reaches “The Nations” Through Refugee Ministry

by Susie Rain

Reaching the Nations in Your Community

by Dave Imboden and Brian Considine

Small Groups That Have the DNA of a Disciple-Making Movement

by Paul Watson

Generational Mapping

Tracking Elements of Church Formation Within CPM's

by Nathan Shank

Affinity Blocs

Arab & Jewish Peoples

by Darrell Dorr

Further Reflections

Relationships Also Matter

by Greg H. Parsons

Editorial

From the Editor

Peoples on the Move: Can the Church Cope With Mobile Mission Fields?

by Rick Wood

We are a planet on the move. More people are moving to more places, more rapidly than at any time in human history. With rapid transportation available to increasing numbers of people, the unreached peoples of the world many times are moving in next door to us. Will the Church have the vision and strategic insights necessary to effectively reach them with the gospel and then send them back as missionaries to their homelands? Completing the task of bringing the gospel to every person, tribe and tongue will depend upon whether the Church will effectively tackle this challenge of mission fields on the move and “the strangers next door.”

Missions is no longer simply a matter of geography—putting people on planes and sending them overseas to somewhere else. It is all about the priority task of identifying cultural and linguistic barriers to the gospel and overcoming them—no matter where they present themselves—12,000 miles away or next door. As a kingdom of priests we are called to be on mission with God. It is our job to reach the unreached peoples in our midst—no matter from where they come and no matter what the barriers to reaching them. This is not a job to be left to the pastors—who are supposed to “equip the saints for the work of ministry...” (Eph. 4:12). We must seek the best training, preparation and resources to take on this task even if some pastors do not have the slightest idea about how to go about reaching the unreached in our midst. As individuals, we must take the initiative to find these “strangers next door” and learn how to lead them to Jesus.

But here lies the central question. How well equipped are we to disciple anyone, not to mention going cross-culturally to do so? The focus of our churches has not been on training people to be soul winners, disciple-makers and church-planters. The focus has been on gathering people into large groups and speaking to them in a lecture format called a sermon. The focus of most Western churches is on worship, teaching and fellowship but generally not on equipping every believer to be a disciple-maker.

God has provided us with stellar examples from around the world of how simple obedience to the Word by average believers can transform entire peoples as they apply Church-Planting Movement principles. These principles of multigenerational discipleship and church-planting can be employed anywhere and lead to the rapid replication of disciples and churches among a people. Greater Europe Mission has retooled its efforts in Europe to apply these principles of multigenerational discipleship to reach the Muslim refugees that are traveling through this area. Their goal is to initiate Discipleship- and Church-Planting Movements in 50 of the major cities of Europe. See page 10 for more on this dramatic change in strategy that is bearing much fruit.

By learning and applying these principles, you could be the one God will use to initiate a Church-Planting Movement among a people that has moved in next door to you. See the articles on page 22 and page 26 for more information on various strategies for making disciples and planting churches. See also the information for the book T4T: A Discipleship Re-Revolution by Steve Smith with Ying Kai on the inside back cover for detailed instructions on how to apply these CPM principles.

By means of His sovereign will, God has brought many unreached peoples into our midst so that they will have access to the gospel. But how many churches are even aware of the ethnic diversity that surrounds them? And if they are aware do they really care to reach people who are very different from themselves? Will we ignore them, preferring the company of people who are like us? Or will we obey God’s command to disciple all nations and equip ourselves to reach out to them with the gospel? God gives us the choice of whether we will be on mission with Him or simply a passive listener of sermons for our own edification. The church must change its focus from just sermon delivery to equipping disciple-makers if we are to make progress in world evangelization.

Planting Mobile Churches

Our whole imagery of planting churches indicates a static church. Plants are by their nature rooted in one spot and do not move. So how does a church planted in one particular location begin a movement to Christ among an unreached people or refugees often on the move? It involves a complete shift in ministry strategy and focus from an attractional/centripetal focus to a centrifugal focus. As explained on page 10 of the article Facing the Brutal Facts of Church Planting, in the July-August 2012 issue of MF:

Centrifugal forces push objects outward away from the center. Centrifugal forces are at work in Church-Planting Movements (CPMs). Rather than joining a central, mother church, CPM churches spin out to form new bodies of believers within the communities of lost persons that they eventually reach for Christ. Contrast this with centripetal forces, which characterize our Western church model. In the West, there is little incentive for a pastor to spin off his church members into multiplying new (yet small) congregations of believers.

The key to reaching mobile people is to equip them to be mobile disciple-makers and church-planters—to use a little centrifugal effort to release them to begin new churches among their own people as well as back in their homeland. With this approach no matter when they leave our neighborhoods they are equipped to start new churches wherever they go. If we try to keep them within our churches with attractional/centripetal force then we will not be equipping them for reproduction when they leave and thereby stifling the potential development of a Church-Planting Movement within their families and spheres of influence.

But in a real sense, we are all people on the move and the best strategy is always to train everyone who will respond to be disciple-makers and church-planters. That way no matter who comes to our churches and no matter when or if they do leave for another part of the country or the world they will be equipped to start a new church wherever they land.

We Need a Change of Identity

We must change the way we think about church and our role in it. Every believer needs to have the identity of a disciple-maker not a church member or attender. Every believer must see that he has an active role to play in fulfilling the Great Commission. Every believer has already been called to be involved in ministry and it is his or her job to discover the specific role that God has for him or her. We have to get away from the idea that all God expects of us is to go to church on Sunday and give our tithe.

The identity of the Church needs to change as well. Many pastors seem to think that if they have good programs to attract people to the church and they preach a good message, they have done their job. If the people of a church are not equipped to be disciple-makers then the job is still undone. Every church must become a training center for multigenerational discipleship and church planting, not just a worship center. This is the only way to deal effectively with a mobile world and the only way that there is any hope of bringing the gospel to every person, tribe and tongue. A Church full of passive people, whose only significant role is as listeners, is an easy target for defeat. But Satan cannot defeat the Church when the majority of its people are trained as disciple-makers and deployed into action on behalf of the unreached—no matter where they may roam.

About The Author

Rick Wood

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Feature

Peoples on the Move

A God-Ordained Opportunity for Reaching the Unreached

by J. D. Payne

Samuel and Young Cho are a middle-aged, Korean couple living in Lutherville, Maryland. Korean is their heart language and English is their second language. A few years ago, the Lord used this couple to begin Nepal Church of Baltimore, after they met a Nepalese waitress and her family. Recently, the Chos also planted a Bhutani church in Baltimore.

The Nepalese, whether from Nepal or Bhutan, are considered among the world’s least reached peoples . . . and they live in Baltimore, Maryland, USA.

In 2008 the Chos took a short-term mission trip to Nepal and visited the families of the church members living in Baltimore. While in Nepal, one family invited other family members to hear Samuel preach. Several people came to faith and the Antioch Church in Jamsa was planted. By the conclusion of the trip, over two hundred people had made a profession of faith in Jesus.

Did I mention the Nepalese are considered among the world‘s least reached peoples . . . and they live in Baltimore, Maryland, USA?

Shortly after returning from the first missionary trip, the Chos decided to take a second trip to Nepal to minister to refugees and also travel into India. After finally arriving in a Jhapa refugee camp in southeast Nepal, the Chos were able to locate relatives of members of the Nepal Church of Baltimore. During this visit the Chos were able to share letters and gifts from family members in the States. One of the family members living in Nepal made a profession of faith in Jesus.

While on this second missionary trip, the Chos were able to plant two more churches and to observe two hundred Nepalese, three hundred Bhutanese, and thirty-five Indians make professions of faith in Jesus.

And it began when Koreans living in Maryland started evangelizing and planting churches with Nepalese living in their neighborhood.

What if more believers like the Chos took seriously the need to cross cultural barriers and take the gospel to the least-reached peoples living in the Western world, where the challenges to getting the gospel to the people are not as daunting as trying to reach them in their homelands? What if more kingdom citizens living in Western nations recognized the Great Commission opportunity set before them—that the Sovereign Lord has moved the world into their neighborhoods so that such peoples may become his followers?

Imagine the global possibilities if churches would serve, share the good news, plant churches, partner with, and send the least-reached peoples of the world back to their families, tribes, villages, and cities as missionaries. Believers living in the West have dreamed and talked about these possibilities for some time. While some churches have moved beyond talking and are doing it, far too many kingdom citizens remain oblivious to the needs in their neighborhoods and the Great Commission potential that exists.

While the perspective used in this book is unique and contemporary, the notion of reaching those who migrate to our countries and sending them home with the good news is not new. For example, Frank Obien, in his book Building Bridges of Love: A Handbook for Sharing God’s Love with International Students, wrote that in the 1960s he noticed that while missionaries were traveling the world, international students were coming to the United States—only to return without anyone sharing the gospel with them. Don Bjork, in a 1985 Christianity Today article, attempted to raise awareness of the migration of the nations to the United States. Commenting on the realities in the 1970s and 1980s, he wrote:

Millions of strange new faces began appearing on the streets of American cities, collectively changing the face of the nation itself. But who in the church really noticed? Unseen or unheeded, the fields at home were long since ‘white unto harvest.’ Yet right down to the end of the 1970s, few missions leaders really knew what was going on. The ‘invisible migrants’ took no pains to hide, yet it seemed few missions took pains to seek.

Progress has been made since Bjork‘s article, but unfortunately it is too little and too slow. While such discussions have taken place in the past, most evangelicals have been slow to respond. The good news is that more and more people, churches, networks, denominations, societies, and mission agencies are talking about this topic once again and starting to act on the need.

Many of the world’s least-reached peoples live in our communities. Now is the time to cross the street and meet the strangers next door.

Global movements of peoples across history, whether forced or voluntary, are under the eye of the Sovereign Lord. Migration does not occur by happenstance. This book is written from the conviction that God permits the movement of peoples across the globe in order to advance his kingdom. Some people move to locations and thus are able to hear the good news (Acts 17:26–27). Others, who are kingdom citizens, move and are able to share the good news in their new locations (Acts 1:8). With these points in mind, the purpose of this book is twofold.

First, it is my desire to educate the Western church on the scope of global migrations that are taking place as the peoples of the world move to the West in search of a better way of life. At present there are large numbers of believers and unbelievers migrating to Western nations. Much of the Western church is fairly ignorant as to the numbers, cultures, and beliefs of such peoples.

Second, I want to challenge the Western church to reach the least-reached people living in their neighborhoods and partner with them to return to their peoples as missionaries. An enormous Great Commission opportunity exists that seems to be going unnoticed by the church. The United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, other Western European nations, Australia, and New Zealand presently receive an enormous portion of the world’s migrants, with the United States receiving the largest percentage of those migrating to the Western world. Refugees, students, long-term and temporary workers, and immigrants move to these regions of the world every year.

At the time of this writing, the opportunities for ministering to such peoples are as simple as locating them, finding out their needs, and serving them with the love of Jesus. Obtaining visas is not a problem. Overcoming governmental opposition to missionary activity is not an issue. Western churches can easily begin welcoming and serving the strangers next door with little preparation. As migrants come to faith in Jesus, there are numerous opportunities for equipping, partnering, commissioning, and sending those believers as missionaries back to their people to multiply disciples, leaders, and churches.

The Divine Maestro

From a human perspective, the global movement of people from one geographical location to another is sometimes chalked up to sociocultural push-pull realities. War and famine push people out of East Africa while the promise of safety and a better life pulls them to France. A poor educational system in India pushes students out of their homeland to follow the pull of a better education in the United States. This view of the migration of peoples across the globe is a complex matter of economics, power, freedom, justice, and a better way of life. While such social forces are at work in our world today, we must realize that through such means the Sovereign Lord is working to bring about the expansion of his kingdom. Since the world is presently under the rule of the gods of this age, human wickedness sometimes brings slavery, hardships, death, and destruction, resulting in the forced migration of peoples. Yet the God of the ages is still in control while all of creation groans for his return (Romans 8:22).

The premise of this book is that the Sovereign Lord orchestrates the movement of peoples across the globe in order to advance his kingdom for his glory. Whether through believers transferring jobs and finding themselves in new locations or unbelievers moving to cities of refuge where they may first come face-to-face with the message of Jesus, the migrations of peoples do not happen as an afterthought in the heart of God. The church may be oblivious to such workings of the Spirit, but the seasons and times of life are part of the King working out his plan to redeem the peoples of this world from the bondage of the wicked one.

Until that day when the kingdoms of this world will all bow to the kingdom of God, the church is to be on mission, making disciples of all nations and teaching them obedience (Matthew 28:20). While a major part of making disciples occurs as we go throughout the world (Matthew 28:19), we must realize that the divine Maestro has been orchestrating the movement of peoples into our neighborhoods. He has been bringing the peoples of the uttermost parts of the world into our communities.

While this book in no way diminishes the importance of churches in the Western world going to other nations to reach peoples with the gospel, this book does offer a challenge to Western churches: what are you doing to reach, equip, partner with, and send the strangers next door back to their loved ones with the good news? Are they simply strangers with strange ways, or do you realize the Great Commission opportunity that is present?

children. I gave birth to my youngest child in that camp. Then we received the news that we were allowed to come to this country. We did not know the language and had very little money. When we arrived in the city, we lived in a bad part of town. I was mugged once and my children were harassed daily. We were completely lost and lonely. My knowledge of the language is still poor. We all still have nightmares about the things that happened in our own country. We also fear what will happen to us here in this new country. How will we survive? Does anyone care?

Immigration, Migration and Kingdom Perspective

• My name is Jo. I left my country six years ago looking for hope and a better life for my family. I came to this country to find a higher paying job so that I could take care of my wife and five children. I came here so my children could have an opportunity to receive a good education. I moved here in search of prosperity. What I found were twelve-hour workdays and very little time with my children. The longer we are here, the more I fear my children will forget who they are and where they come from; I want them to remember our language, our culture, and our family values. Very few people have befriended us. I miss the tight-knit community in my home country. We are so lonely here. Where is our hope? Who will be our friend?

• My name is Fatima. I came to this country five years ago with my eleven children after my husband was killed during the war in my country. Before coming to this country, we spent many years in a refugee camp in another country near our home. Life there was very hard. We had little food, and there was no schooling for my children. I gave birth to my youngest child in that camp. Then we received the news that we were allowed to come to this country. We did not know the language and had very little money. When we arrived in the city, we lived in a bad part of town. I was mugged once and my children were harassed daily. We were completely lost and lonely. My knowledge of the language is still poor. We all still have nightmares about the things that happened in our own country. We also fear what will happen to us here in this new country. How will we survive? Does anyone care?

• My name is May. I am an international student at the university. My dream is to become very successful and make my family and my country proud. It is a great honor to be able to come to this country to study, but taking classes in a different language is very hard. It is also difficult to be separated from my family. In my country, three generations of a family usually live together in one house. Here at the university, I live all by myself. I spend a great amount of time studying, and most of the time I am lonely. I want to get to know some nationals, but everyone seems so busy and like they are in such a hurry. Does anyone care? Who will be my family while I am here?

While not all migrants share the same stories, Jo, Fatima, and May represent a great number of people migrating to countries across the world. For some, migration offers hope for a better way of life financially and educationally; for others, migration provides a way to escape persecution, war, and death. Highly skilled specialists and entrepreneurs migrate to a much better standard of living and quality of life than the family that is forced to relocate because of genocide. Some individuals and families move to other countries to be greeted by family and friends who preceded them, thus able to offer some stability and security to their newly arriving relatives. Others arrive as students, refugees, or workers, knowing few, if any, people.

Though the stories are not exactly alike, all migrants have stories to tell. While it is important for us to hear such stories, having a kingdom perspective requires that we are praying and looking for opportunities for the stories of migrants to intersect with the story of Jesus, so that their future stories involve him.1

Who Is Moving In Next Door?

by J.D. Payne

The Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life released an important report in March 2012 on the religious affiliations of international migrants. If you have not seen the report or fascinating interactive maps, you need to check them out here http://www.pewforum.org/Geography/Religious-Migration.aspx and here http://features.pewforum.org/religious-migration/map.php#/Destination/None/all.

Report Highlights

214 million international migrants exist in the world today. That is about 3% of the world’s population.Nearly half of the world’s migrants are Christian (49%), and more than a quarter are Muslim (27%).

Christians and Muslims are the two largest religious groups among migrants as well as the two largest religious groups in general. However, Christians comprise a much greater share of migrants (about one-in-two) than they do of the general population (nearly one-in-three). Muslims comprise only a slightly higher share of migrants (27%) than of the world’s population (23%). Hindus comprise 5% of international migrants but 10-15% of the global population.

In percentage terms, Jews have by far the highest level of migration. About one-quarter of Jews alive today (25%) have left the country in which they were born and now live somewhere else.*

The United States

Of the 43 million foreign-born people living in the United States as of 2010, an estimated 32 million (74%) are Christian. The U.S. also has been the top destination for Buddhist migrants (including many from Vietnam) and for people with no particular religion (including many from China).

The U.S. has been the world’s second-leading destination for Hindu migrants, after India, and for Jewish migrants, after Israel. Among Muslim migrants, however, the U.S. ranks just seventh as a destination—behind Saudi Arabia, Russia, Germany, France, Jordan and Pakistan.

There were more than 2 million Muslim immigrants living in the U.S. as of 2010, representing about 5% of the U.S. immigrant population.

The U.S. leads all other countries as a destination for international migrants overall. One of every five international migrants alive today resides in the United States.

Mexico has been by far the largest country of origin for U.S. immigrants. In fact, the U.S. has received about as many migrants from Mexico alone (more than 12 million, including both legal immigrants and unauthorized ones) as any other nation has received from all sources combined. Among the other leading countries of origin for U.S. immigrants are the Philippines (1.8 million), India (1.7 million), China (1.4 million) and Germany (1.2 million).2

As we think missiologically about these realities, it is helpful to consider a challenge that was published in Scattered to Gather (http://www.jdpayne.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/Scattered-to-Gather.pdf) that missions should be done to the diasporas, through the diasporas, and beyond the diasporas.

Missions to the Diasporas

We must reach the unreached who have migrated into our neighborhoods. Many of the word’s unreached peoples have migrated not only to the West but also to many countries of the Majority World, offering the Church there wonderful Great Commission opportunities to respond in love, service, and sharing the faith. Many of the strangers next door are the keys to unlocking doors into the lostness of people you and I will never be able to meet.

About The Author

J. D. is a National Missionary with the North American Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention and an Associate Professor of Church Planting and Evangelism in the Billy Graham School of Missions and Evangelism at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky, U.S.A. where he directs the Center for North American Missions and Church Planting. He can be contacted at jpayne@sbts.edu

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Feature

Immigrant Europe

Greater Europe Mission Retools to Reach Them

by Henry Deneen

As I watch the landscape of Europe and see the economic, political, social, and religious upheaval all across that great continent,  I am reminded of God’s promise in John 16:33: “These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world.” Europe is experiencing a “perfect storm” of negativity, defeat, destruction, and seemingly, a total disregard for the things of God. What better place can a follower of Christ invest his or her life than in the midst of this chaos? We see churches becoming museums, rock-climbing businesses, and restaurants. We see the peoples of Europe losing faith in authority and institutions and feeling overwhelmed by the incredible numbers of immigrants streaming into Europe from all across the globe. We see economies collapsing.

Walking the streets of London two years ago I observed the highly-energetic, focused, driven people in the arts, media, business, and politics, and realized that it is going to take specially-trained and gifted people who believe in the urgent message of the gospel, to help transform the spiritual landscape of Europe and see peoples and nations turned upside-down by the principles of God’s Kingdom.  Calling people to this urgent task of reaching Europe with the gospel and helping them realize that as we reach Europe with the gospel, we are truly reaching the nations, have become the strategic and personal objectives for me as well as for Greater Europe Mission (GEM). We know as did Esther that we have been called “for such a time as this,” and we began several years ago to position ourselves to respond in the quickest and most effective ways possible.

Luke 1:37, on display on the wall in my office, reminds us every day that “… nothing is impossible with God.” This reality began to permeate our thinking and guide our decisions, strategies, priorities, and prayers four years ago. “Immediate, radical obedience” became a guiding principle for us, and we know that only this type of God-inspired obedience is pleasing to Him. We began to pray and believe, as a mission family, that the incredible movements of God seen in the 10/40 Window and in great nations such as China, India, and Bangladesh can indeed take place among the nations of Europe. For us, a large part of the battle was believing that God was at work in Europe and that extraordinary Kingdom advances could and would take place there. My personal prayers each day include asking God for people who are humble learners and who are willing to do whatever it takes to see the gospel spread rapidly across Europe and to the nations.

It became clear that radical new strategies were required. Many nations are in one location. God has brought them to us, and sent us to them. We will not look past them.  Because of these realities we quickly refined and sharpened our Vision and Mission to focus on the rapid reproduction of disciples and churches in Europe. Our leadership teams felt that current models/methodologies would take far too long to impact all of Europe with the gospel, much less the nations beyond Europe. We knew that our leadership structure needed to be flattened; our leaders needed to be fully empowered; our Vision/Mission needed to be singularly focused; all in our Mission family should be constantly updating our skills, both professional and personal, in light of the task before us; and that we needed to work closely with churches to develop church-based teams as a necessary element in seeing all peoples of Europe reached for Christ. We also knew, most importantly, that prayer had to occupy the premier place in all of our plans. Meeting for prayer, fasting and praying on the first Monday of each month, establishing our prayer website (www.pray4gem.com), and seeking to practice the presence of God each day have been vital for our growth as followers of Christ, as well as in seeing much progress toward achieving our Vision/Mission.

Prayer led us to the realization that Europe is not only strategically positioned to impact the world through economics and politics, but is a new home for peoples coming from all nations. Standing in the Frankfurt airport, for example, and seeing flights to and from many nations affirmed my belief that as we reach Europe with the gospel, the nations will be reached as well.  We have learned that 80% of all immigrants entering the European Union come through Athens, Greece, making it a very strategic portal with global reach. Immigrants who have come to faith in cities across Europe are immediately sharing their faith with those from their home countries and others who are similarly-situated. They are clustering together for a sense of community and belonging in countries that are not their own.  This enables us to reach segments of populations, such as Iraqis, Afghans, and Indonesians, in clearly-identified areas. We also came to realize, through prayer, the vital role that cities play in the lives of those in Europe and beyond. We are discovering the diversity of peoples and occupations in the great cities of Europe, as well as the many domains that exist:  government, economics, science, church, family, education, communication arts, and entertainment. We began to call workers, based on their giftings and life experience, to move to a city and seek to influence one or more of these domains. Only as we saturate these domains with the gospel will all peoples be exposed to the truths of Jesus and have an opportunity to respond.

We are asking God for catalytic leaders, people who can build a team around themselves and catalyze Discipleship- and Church-Planting Movements in the cities of Europe. In June, 2010, our Board voted to allow non-North Americans to join our Mission family, which was a much-needed strategic step forward. We began to pray for, search for, and find catalytic leaders from outside North America and the results have been incredibly positive. The Englishman leading our UK initiatives mobilized 361 people from many different churches and organizations to work in London during the Olympics this summer, and is working to catalyze rapid Discipleship- and Church-Planting Movements throughout the U.K. A businessman from Texas has moved to a port city to work among immigrants and is building his team. One hundred fifty volunteers joined him this summer, and they saw 41 immigrants give their lives to Christ, 15 of whom were baptized in the Sea! We celebrated with our first-ever team from Malawi, Nigeria, and South Africa, as they led 17 to Christ in London! These leaders are calling others to the tasks of reaching these great cities for Christ and are showing a God-inspired ability to take risks, mobilize effectively, pilot, learn, and partner with many in Europe. Catalytic leaders are a major thrust of our vision to see Discipleship-and Church-Planting Movements in 50 major cities in Europe and North Africa over the next five years. In November, I’ll be joining a group of businessmen and pastors from Iowa who are committing to catalyze work in Barcelona. In October, I met with a church outside New York City that has committed to catalyze work in two Balkan countries. God is leading churches and teams to focus on strategic cities and engage as a church family with prayer, people, strategies, and resources.

One of the major training and mobilization tools we are using is DMT (Discipleship Multiplication Training). So far this year, we have held training events in Dublin, Ireland; Houston; Denver; Kiev, Ukraine; and Prague, Czech. We thank our colleagues Steve Smith and Ying Kai for leading this training and pointing so many toward biblical reproduction principles. (Pick up their book, T4T: A Discipleship Re-Revolution. See the inside back cover of this issue for more details.) Many GEM workers, church partners, and national believers are responding, and the results have been amazing. One French pastor who attended the Dublin training said with tears in his eyes that he would love to see rapid reproduction become a reality in his community. Coaching and accountability follows the training for all attendees. We are seeing churches and individuals catch the vision and then respond by praying and going. This is taking place, we believe, because of the focus on prayer, major cities, catalyzing Discipleship- and Church-Planting Movements, high-energy training, and, most of all, the movement of God’s Spirit. We are seeing GEM’s highest number of appointees ever; hundreds coming to Christ across Europe and being baptized; and churches being planted and some reproducing, rapidly, to the fourth generation. Our GEM family has instituted monthly accountability which helps us encourage and come alongside each other. We also instituted quarterly metrics in 2011 which have been a great blessing for our GEM family, our prayer partners, financial investors, and those who have a heart for Europe. These are indeed thrilling days. The power of God’s Holy Spirit is blowing across Europe, and His presence is clearly evident in the lives of many whose hearts have been given to Him.

These steps have not been pain-free. Change can be difficult and stressful for people and an organization, and we have not been an exception. We began to implement our new Vision/Mission in the Spring of 2008, just before the financial crisis hit. Some believe there is an implication that the new directions diminish the value of their ministry. Nothing could be further from the truth, but communicating that reality has been difficult. We have learned that constant communication at all levels of leadership is mandatory, and trying to engender discussion rather than mandates has been our goal. Some feel that we are moving away from GEM’s historical roots of seminary training. Our founder, Bob Evans, started GEM with a view toward training and equipping Europeans to plant churches and advance the cause of Christ throughout Europe. This vision is the same for us today. Some believe that leadership is saying that there is only one method of reaching people for Christ and fulfilling our Vision/Mission. While we have sought to embrace multiple methodologies and partnerships, this belief persists. We are working hard to help our GEM family work through this corporate and personal pain.

As we look back on these four years of transition, we have learned a great deal that can be commended to others who are seeking to implement change with a vision for the future.  As we are people of courage we can lean hard on God’s promises and hold on to the vision He has given us. As we are growing personally and spiritually we will love people and let them know it, take chances on people, and not settle for mediocrity. We must always encourage and be open to giving and receiving feedback from colleagues throughout our organizations.  We must always look to the future and most importantly live and lead with a sense of urgency about the advancement of God’s Kingdom. We must constantly retool in light of what Europe’s immigrant future demands and engage in radical obedience by leaning into God’s promises. The kingdom of darkness is alive and well, but cannot stand before God’s people and the power of His strong right hand.

Perhaps in reading this article you feel a sense that God is calling you to something bigger than what you are engaged in today. As I stood on a beach in Tunisia in 2000, where St. Augustine used to preach, I was convicted by God that, for the first time in my life, as I considered working among Muslims in North Africa, I was being called to a task that only He could accomplish. This did not depend on me, my life experiences, or my gifting. For the work to be done, God had to do it. That’s exactly where all of us should want to be as we consider this incredible adventure of following God’s plan for our lives. May we honor Him by taking leaps of faith and seeing God direct and move as only He can.

About The Author

Henry L. Deneen has served as President of Greater Europe Mission since September 1, 2007. Henry has experience as a trial attorney, Municipal Judge, and Chief Legal Counsel for Governor David M. Beasley, South Carolina. In more recent years, he lived with his wife and four children in France to focus more intently on a closed country in North Africa as a strategy leader. He is now based in Colorado Springs. Go to http://www.gemission.org to learn more about their new emphasis on Discipleship Multiplication Training and how you can be involved.

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Other

And a Little Child Shall Lead Them

One Family's Journey on Mission in Europe

by Daniel Rhys

If your family is anything like ours, your calendar is probably stuffed with kid events: camps, clubs, sports, and church, all of which compete for your children’s time and attention, as well as your own. In our home, we battled against the “hurry sickness” that seems to engulf our culture, but despite our best efforts, we still find ourselves living very scheduled lives. Within this well-meaning framework it dawned on us that we were scheduling more than just our children’s social calendar. We were scheduling their Christianity! Sunday School, family devotions, and bedtime prayers were all starting to feel like calendar items to check off rather than true moments with a Holy God. You know, going through the motions, doing it because it’s there.

We pray for our kids to grow to be devoted disciples of Jesus, ready and willing to forsake all else for his call. Slowly an unexpected answer from God began to emerge from the cultural fog that had engulfed us, “How can you expect to teach your children to be something you are not? You need less talking and more showing!”

Just as this realization was sinking in, I received a call from an old friend and spiritual mentor. He told me he’d joined forces with Greater Europe Mission to reach the growing numbers of Muslims in Europe with the gospel. He explained his plan to place church-based teams in major cities across Europe. A group of interns would join each team, spending the first summer ransacking the city, discovering where Muslims lived, worked, and hung out. During this time, groups would come in for a week to ten days to visit and pray through those areas, chatting about Jesus with anyone who was willing.

I was all encouraged, telling him it was a great plan, until he finished the conversation by saying, “And I want you to bring your family to France next summer for ten weeks to work with Muslims in our pilot city.” I quickly responded with my pat Christian answer, “Well, I will definitely pray about that.” As I hung up the phone I vowed to never take my precious family to France for ten weeks to reach out to Muslims! I am beginning to learn to never say, “never.” God soon reminded me of our prayer for our children and His response, “How will your children ever learn to trust me if you won’t demonstrate to them how you trust me?” Fear soon gave way to determination and then resolve.

Along the way, well-meaning friends and family told us it was crazy and that we could lose our kids. We knew, however, that there are a lot of ways to lose your children. The one we feared more than all others was losing them to our own culture.

The next summer found our little family in a city in northern France. I wish I could tell you that we arrived there completely prepared for what was to come. Sadly, the truth was far from this. We quickly encountered places that frankly scared us. Paul’s Ephesians 6.12 declaration that we battle against powerful, dark spiritual forces of evil came to life right in front of us. We were pushed to pray with a desperation we rarely experienced in our life at home where we have ample resources and know-how to deal with most situations. Our children, Virginia, seven, and Samuel, six, not only got to see us cry out to God, they also participated with us.

Early in the summer, the Lord led us to a small park where Algerian immigrants hung out. They gathered in small or large groups, many of them selling drugs to earn money. We visited the park regularly and I tried everything I could think of to break through the barriers and connect with these men. After three completely unsuccessful weeks, I turned my eyes heavenward and told God I was out of ideas. I said I’d come to the park every day and pray for these men, but if he wanted anything else to happen, he was going to have to do it. God in his goodness and grace seemed to say, “Ok. Now that you understand our roles, let’s get started.”

Five minutes later a police van careened up the center sidewalk of the park. It screeched to a halt and gun-wielding officers poured out. As if a bomb had dropped on the park, dealers began running in every direction. Confused and surprised, I looked around and noticed that the groups were now gone, leaving lone individuals in a few places. Wow, I had just finished asking God to do this! He opened the door for us and now our job was to step through.

I walked over and sat next to a man. He couldn’t speak English, but I soon learned his name was Habib. He came through Spain on his way to France and spoke Spanish. Hearing “Spanish,” my son ran over and preceded to go through every Spanish word he had learned in kindergarten the year before. As Samuel spoke, I could see Habib’s eyes soften and grow warmer.

When we arrived the next day, I saw Habib standing in his normal group and gave him a smile and a nod. Suddenly, Samuel broke from our group and made a beeline for Habib with arms stretched out wide. Habib bent down and received a hug that seemed to melt his heart. We were now “in.” Habib introduced us to his friend Karim. Karim spoke a fair amount of English and listened to my testimony. He wanted to understand more so he took me to Mohammed, who owned a small snack shop on the edge of the park. Mohammed spoke perfect English and we were soon spending hours together talking about Jesus.

I didn’t know it at the time, but every drug dealer in the park would come into Mohammed’s snack shop to get drinks during the day. Before long we knew everyone in the park. And by the time we left France, we couldn’t walk through the park without men coming to us to talk and asking us for prayer.

God grew our faith in ways I couldn’t have guessed. He also showed us that our children were not just along to learn. They were there to be used by God to open doors and build bridges to the hearts of many. Their faith began to blossom as Jesus went from an academic pursuit to being the living creator of the universe who heard them when they prayed and then answered their prayers in so many ways.

This past summer we joined GEM in launching a new work in Athens, Greece. Once again we found ourselves in a position where if God didn’t come through, nothing would happen. And once again, we learned we serve a mighty God who delights in using the weak to accomplish the amazing.

As he led us through the city from place to place, each time checking to see if we were still listening to him, God opened one door at a time for us. Virginia, now eight, was our prayer warrior. Her perception of what needed to be prayed over was simply a work of the Spirit. Samuel, now seven, had his spiritual radar going at all times. We finally came to a park in northern Athens. I must be honest, I wasn’t “feeling it” in this park. For some reason I was unable to speak with any of the African immigrants and refugees we encountered there. In my humiliated defeat I had begun to lead my weary band out of the park, when a tug at my sleeve brought me to a halt. Samuel looked up at me and announced that Jesus just told him that this was the park where we were to work for the summer.

This bold pronouncement sparked into motion a series of events that I still look back on in disbelief. Immediately after Samuel’s statement, Georgia began to converse with a young man from the Ivory Coast. They had a great chat and we agreed to meet again the next day. We were excited for the opportunity, but I knew we would have language trouble. This man spoke French and ten words of English. We speak English and ten words of French. What would happen?

The next day, while waiting for him to arrive in the park, Samuel struck up a conversation with a man from the Congo, who spoke both English and French. You probably can see where this is going. God placed that man in the park on that day so he and our family together could see God work. It turned out that our new friend was also a follower of Jesus. He became our partner in the park, translating everything we said into French. He helped us in many conversations with many interested Muslims and continues to be a leader there today! We sowed seed, left the growing to God, and watched as he did amazing things. People gave their lives to Jesus, several were baptized in the Aegean Sea, and a church was born. The gospel continues to move forward there at the time of this writing.

As I look back on the wonderful things God did in our midst these past two summers, I realize a couple of things were at work. One, Georgia and I resolved to walk the road down which God was leading us and that we would do so with our kids. Sometimes this was against implied and explicit resistance from family and friends. And frankly, sometimes against strong resistance in our own minds. Looking back we are so glad we walked it. There is also the issue of letting our kids do more than observe and learn. We treated them, and our team mates treated them, like part of the tribe, as participants to whom and through whom God was able to speak. There were times when we would have turned and walked home, but they led us forward. And in doing so, they led forward the kingdom of God.

Let me encourage you to embrace the opportunities that God is placing in front of you. As you faithfully step through that open door please remember to take your children with you. We need them out there!

Seven Types of Internationals Who Live Among Us

by Neal Pirolo, Director of Emmaus Road International

More people travel internationally today than ever before. Political, economic, educational, social and religious factors have led to unprecedented movements of people. Most of us can expect to be exposed to newcomers in increasing ways. I want to invite you to open your eyes to seven specific types of internationals in our midst.

International Students

At any given time, there are over one million international students from 181 countries studying in the United States. Let’s do what we can so that none of them return home without visiting a Christian American home.

Refugees

Fleeing war, famine and deprivation, refugees gratefully accept entry to the U.S. and living support for six months. After that, churches are often their lifeline to jobs, housing and social services.

International Business People

International business people, already in places of leadership in their own countries, visit the U.S. briefly for economic reasons. U.S. Christians have unique opportunities to speak into their lives.

International Visitors

With the sagging U.S. dollar, America has become a bit of a bargain for international visitors. The window is open briefly, but what a chance to welcome them to the U.S., change perceptions of Americans, and perhaps invite them to think of Jesus in new ways.

Settled Ethnic Communities

As foreigners gain formal residence in the U.S., they begin to gather in communities of similar background. They build businesses, educate their children and contribute to their communities. Visit these areas, eat the food, and delight in the greatness of the God who created such diversity.

Illegal Aliens

Likely more than ten million people live in the U.S. sans documents. Among many tricky issues associated with this, observant believers find ample opportunity for the Gospel.

Missionary Kids

If they followed a traditional path of four years of service and one year of furlough, children of career missionaries may return to college and life in the U.S. having lived in their now home culture for no more than three years. They may appear to be Americans on the outside, but look closer and be amazed at the cultural stew bubbling inside them. They need mentoring as internationals in our midst.

The frontiers of world evangelization are not only in Tibet, Saudi Arabia, Mongolia and China. The frontiers of unreached people groups are also in Boston, New York, Chicago, San Diego and ______________________! (Insert the name of your town.) God has brought the internationals of the world to the doorstep of every church in America. Let’s do world missions at home.

________________

Neal Pirolo is the author of Serving as Senders. His new book, Internationals Who Live Among Us; World Missions At Home, is slated to be available in May 2013. Browse to www.eri.org for details.

About The Author

Daniel Rhys has spent the last 18 years building an e-Learning business of which he is a managing partner. In 2006, he created Christ-based online abstinence training to address the HIV epidemic in Africa. In 2011, Daniel moved his family to France for three months to share Christ with the Muslim population. The next year again saw the Rhys family on the move as they spent the summer sharing Christ and planting churches among the immigrants in Greece.

Contact the author at DanTRhys@gmail.com

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Feature

The Boy Who Would Not Die

The Remarkable Testimony of One Lost Boy

by Gary and Louise Short

David’s Early Journey

With gunfire cracking around him, David ran as fast as his nine-year-old legs would carry him. He was sure a soldier was right behind him, about to grab his shoulder, but was afraid to look back. He just kept running until his legs would no longer move. Hiding in the bushes, his heart pounded so loudly he feared a soldier would hear it and shoot him like he had seen them do to others. The raid had happened so quickly it seemed that no one else in his family had made it out of the village alive. David was all alone.

He soon banded together with several other “lost boys” and began an epic odyssey. They left their war-ravaged village, Bor, and walked all the way to Ethiopia. Wild animals followed along picking off the ones who fell behind. Officials promptly turned the boys out of Ethiopia and they ended up in Kenya. From there David was transferred to a refugee camp in southern Sudan near the Ugandan border. Though over 100 miles south of his village, the camp was filled with people from his home area.

David’s tribe, the Dinka, suffered so much during the war. Traditionally nomadic cattle herders, many lost their entire herds to the war. Hundreds of thousands were displaced from their home areas or killed.  It is fair to say that they were probably the backbone of the fighting force during the war and lost the most. Counting Dinkas and all others, it is estimated that four million Sudanese became displaced refugees and two million perished.

The Internally Displaced Persons camp in which David ended up had over 28,000 residents and was one of four in that area.

While at this camp, David was sent to a nearby training base for the Sudan Peoples’ Liberation Army (the rebel army of the largely Christian southern part of Sudan, now the country of South Sudan). He became one of thousands of boy soldiers helping to fight the war against the radical Islamic government of the North.

The Road Takes a Turn Toward Hope

We first saw David in 1998 when we initially visited Southern Sudan to conduct an “encouragement conference” for church leaders from all denominations. The civil war continued to rage, the rebel forces, the Sudan Peoples’ Liberation Army, were not doing well, and things looked bleak. Evidence of war surrounded us: from residue of recent battle, to vehicles destroyed by land mines, to our need at one point to quickly hide our Land Cruiser under a mango tree to evade the bomber flying overhead looking for targets of opportunity to terrorize the civilian population.

As different members of our group spoke, we kept noticing this tall young Dinka man sitting in the back, looking very bored and completely disinterested. Unfortunately, no one seemed to get the opportunity to engage him. However, when we returned less than a year later, the young man had a completely different attitude. He was enthusiastic and involved. He even wanted to interpret for us. We agreed, “We have to find out why this young guy is so different now.”

It turns out when we first saw David, he wasn’t bored. He was extremely ill with a parasite that would kill him if he didn’t get medical treatment. However no medicine was available in Sudan. Someone suggested he go to Uganda to obtain the needed care but, in his mind, they might as well have told him to go to America or the moon. David decided his only hope was to turn to God. So during that first conference he asked someone to pray for his sickness, and was healed! At the same meeting David also realized his need for salvation and surrendered his life to Christ. Like most Dinka, David stands extremely tall and lean. He had gained the harsh appearance of a military man, but now his smile was radiant as he expressed his newfound joy.

David was the first to follow Jesus through the influence of our ministry at his Internally Displaced People camp. God connected our hearts and he became a spiritual son to us.

When we met David he was around 20 years old and had already lived a full life! We excitedly watched and built into his spiritual and emotional growth for the next few years. David enrolled in a special program at the Kajo Keji Teachers Training College for those learning English. David also attended special discipleship and ministry intensives we held three times a year during school breaks. Following this, we helped David complete a two-year Bible college in Uganda. After Bible college, he gained practical experience serving as part of our ministry team, helping in the crusade ministry, preaching, interpreting, and visiting other tribes testifying of the transforming power of the Gospel. He preached in evangelistic outreaches, school assemblies and the new local church plants.

After the signing of the Peace Accords in 2005, David, like many other Sudanese, felt drawn back to his home area. As he contemplated plans, David received word that some of his family actually survived the raid on his village so many years before. He needed no more motivation to go home. He returned to Bor to discover his mother, father and sister had survived the attack. He was not an orphan after all! God gave him back his parents and soon gave him a beautiful young wife. They are now the parents of a lovely baby daughter.

David continues to represent our ministry in Bor. Now a headmaster at a local school, he has the freedom to travel from school to school presenting the gospel. In the last couple of years, he led over 1,500 students to Christ. David has served as a peace representative from his state to national conferences, quite a change from the hostile young man he used to be. His fearlessness has allowed him to minister to soldiers, students, and many different tribes. He now has a vision to plant churches in his city of Bor.

Five Things Evangelicals Need to Know About American Muslims

by Bob Roberts, Senior Pastor at Northwoods Church, north of Dallas/Ft. Worth. He blogs at www.glocal.net

Sometimes we don’t love some people because of our erroneous beliefs. Let me tell you some things about most Muslims that most Christians don’t know.

1. You can’t be a good Muslim without believing in Jesus. Muslims believe in Jesus’s virgin birth—but not from the Father of God. They believe in his miracles. They believe in his perfection. They believe in his unique place. They do not believe as I do that he was God in flesh and part of the Trinity. The Muslims I know love to talk about Jesus, if you open up the conversation.

2. Most Muslims in the US are here because they want the freedoms we have. If they wanted Islamic law and culture, they would be in Islamic nations globally. If you ask them, they’ll tell you that. Most Muslims I know would fear the US becoming an Islamic nation. Money was not the only reason or even primary reason many came.

3. Most Muslims fear Islamic terrorists as much as Anglo Christians do. That’s why some are here. The majority of violence perpetrated in the name of God in the world is Muslim on Muslim. Yes, some Muslims commit terrorist acts against non-Muslims, but they by far kill their own people more than others.

4. Most Muslims want a relationship with Christians and others, but they are afraid to reach out. They are the minority. It’s up to the majority to reach out and build relationships. Our church practices many ways of reaching out to others of different faiths. Many who come to America value relationship and friendship far more than Americans do. Those friendships have the potential of going very deeply for those who are not afraid.

5. God has a special plan for Muslims. How can I say that? There are 1.5 billion of them in the world. He loves them. They matter to God. God always moves in the masses. You cannot ignore that many people. God created all people. He has a plan for them just as he has for other nations and peoples. I pray daily that God be glorified and Jesus exalted among all peoples and nations, Muslims included.

About The Author

Gary and Louise Short have a passion for people in crisis. She worked with the African Children’s Choir for over 20 years. Her last years with them she oversaw their ministry in South Sudan. Gary has pastored in the States for years and worked with African leaders in West and East Africa for many years. Louise co-leads with her husband Gary, Hope and Grace International in the new Republic of South Sudan, and has seen over 130,000 come to Christ since the Peace Accords. Starting to help war-torn Sudan since 1993 with various relief and development projects, their ministry now also involves evangelism and church planting. For more info go to www.hopeandgrace.org

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Feature

International Church Reaches “The Nations” Through Refugee Ministry

by Susie Rain

The white gunnysack keeps slipping out of my hands. It didn’t feel this heavy when we started walking 20 minutes ago, but now my arms feel like wet noodles in this Bangkok heat and humidity.

Calvary Baptist Church volunteer Kim Amihan grabs the bag from me and lets out a grunt at the weight. I swear we are carrying 70 pounds of rice but it’s really just ten, plus spices from South Asia, cookies, canned meat and an odd assortment of extras from the church’s “world hunger food closet.”

We are taking it to a refugee family, but are lost on the backstreets of Bangkok. We definitely look out of place in this Thai neighborhood: a Filipino, a Brit and two Americans looking for South Asians. International Mission Board missionary Carrie Chappell finally spies a smiling William Younus waving at us. He quickly invites us out of the scorching sun and into the oven he calls home.

Two teenage boys pour us glasses of cool water while their preteen brother confiscates extra stools from the neighbors. The four of us sit shoulder-to-shoulder in the open floor space of this tiny concrete room. The boys and their parents squeeze onto the only other available spot, on top of the lone bed crammed into one corner.

This roomis no bigger than a child’s bedroom in most American homes, yet a family of five lives here. Even so, it isn’t quite what you expect when you think of refugee life.

Urban Refugees

The iconic image of refugees is row upon row of white tents in a sprawling emergency camp, not a dingy apartment in a mega-city. But the reality is only one-third of the world’s 15.4 million refugees live in camps. Like most of the world’s population, refugees have steadily moved into cities and towns. Urban refugees are among the fastest-growing population segment globally.

Thousands of people like the Younuses live in Bangkok, where the United Nations refugee agency, UNHCR, has an office. They estimate that 90 people seek asylum each month in Thailand, fleeing from some sort of persecution or war.

Younus lifts his chin to show us a shiny scar from a knife wound. His 12-year-old son peels back his shirtsleeve to reveal a scar from a bullet. They were threatened for being Catholic. The family fled to Bangkok in the hopes of not only safety, but a better future. What they didn’t know was that urban refugees often face dangers and hardships those in the traditional camps never experience.

The South Asian men explain they knew it would be difficult to leave everything behind—the family business, their home, dishes, clothes, friends and family—but no one warned them about the isolation, depression, fear and hunger that most suffer when seeking asylum, especially outside of the large refugee camps.

In an urban environment, the UNHCR cannot always provide services, protection or support as easily as it can in a camp. Filling this gap is the reason our group is traipsing around Bangkok carrying a gunnysack of food. Chappell explains that asylum seekers are not allowed to work or earn money. Once the UN has granted them refugee status, they receive a small stipend for rent until they leave for their new host country or are repatriated to their old one.

Navigating through the UN paperwork can take years. In the meantime, families like the Younuses struggle to survive. For the first time in their lives, these doctors, bankers, accountants and business owners turn to begging to feed their families.

“Jesus is so compassionate that we want to share His compassion with others,” Chappell explains. “This often starts with a bag of food and a listening ear. They just want someone to talk to...someone to share their stories with. They want to know that someone cares about them.”

Calvary Baptist Church realized the urban refugees’ needs were an opportunity to minister to “the nations” in their own backyard.

With the help of Southern Baptist World Hunger Funds, the church established a food closet supplied with a few comfort foods from various countries. Volunteers from the congregation distribute the food during their spare time.

“We decided early on that we didn’t want to have the refugees come and stand in a distribution line. We wanted to really connect one-on-one,” Chappell says. “We want to have personal contact and meet each family in their home like this.”

I can see love and concern in Chappell and Amihan’s faces and hear it in their laughter. The two sit in easy companionship with this refugee family. By the smiles, Chappell knows they are excited to have visitors. Finally, someone cares enough to listen to their story.

‘That’s how I met Jesus’

Thailand is one of the few countries that does not honor the international human rights law protecting those who flee persecution and seek asylum outside of traditional camps. Instead, urban refugees are considered illegal immigrants.

Younus says his family is in constant fear of being arrested, so they stay in the small cement-block room they rent. They are lonely and depressed.

Chappell nods her head in understanding. Providing social interaction is one reason church members visit refugees’ homes. She invites them to church, mentioning several families attend a small church in their language. They would love to add another family from home.

I try to hide my smile at Chappell’s understatement. The international church has many small groups studying the Bible and offering each other support in language groups from Africa, South Asia, and Southeast Asia. Some of the small group leaders are trained pastors who are also refugees.

When it’s time for us to go, no one wants the visit to end. Our new friends walk with us to the main road and promise to drop by Calvary on Sunday.

Back at the church, we meet a group of refugees sweeping the parking lot and raking leaves. They do this every week as a way to say thank you and serve the Lord. A 19-year-old who was baptized a few weeks ago asks if we have just come back from visiting.

I give a tired nod and his smile grows wide.

“Someone came to our house,” he says. “That’s how I met Jesus.”

He goes back to work, humming a worship song.

This is the same story I hear repeatedly from the refugees: “Someone came to my home and shared Jesus’ love.” For believers, Calvary’s ministry provides a safe place to worship their Savior. For those who have never heard, Calvary introduces them to the gospel.

Just thinking about this makes me want to load up a gunnysack with food and visit another family.

About The Author

Susie Rain lives in Southeast Asia after serving 10 years in Africa. She has traveled to more than 140 countries writing about God’s work among His people. You may follow Susie on Facebook at susierainreporter@facebook.com

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Feature

Reaching the Nations in Your Community

by Dave Imboden and Brian Considine

From Gujarati Hindus residing in Jersey City, to Lao Buddhists of Portland, Oregon, to Kurds in Nashville, Tennessee—God is bringing the nations into U.S. communities large and small, and the Mission America Coalition (MAC) is responding. Following last year’s annual conference in Orlando, MAC leaders understood a strategic focus was needed to respond to the growing population of diaspora peoples coming here. Globalization, urbanization and migration have changed the complexity of reaching cities and communities for Christ, making cross-cultural mission not just a foreign mission practice any longer.

The difference between recent immigrants and previous generations is that many are from “unreached” places of our world. The Joshua Project (www.joshuaproject.net) lists over 160 ethnolinguistic people groups considered “Least-Reached” who now call the U.S. home. This includes 568,000 Iraqis, 111,000 Palestinians, 135,000 Bengali, 175,000 Thai (Central) and 331,000 Persians among the largest groups. Many of these people are from nations “closed” to the gospel, such as Iran, Pakistan, and other countries of the “10/40 Window.” MAC, along with a growing number of ministries and churches, are asking: Who are these peoples? Where are they located? What role do church leaders and mission mobilizers play? And, how do we reach them for Christ?

Mobilizing Researchers

Missiologist and pastor, J.D. Payne points out that, “one of the greatest ironies in missions today is the fact that although we have a good understanding of the evangelical status of many of the world’s peoples in other nations, for the most part, we are ignorant regarding the evangelical status of the peoples of the world living in our backyards.” We simply don’t have good data at the city level to answer the questions regarding the diaspora. What we do have is often dated and the 2010 census did not ask the questions we need answered. For that reason MAC has been encouraging its CityReaching ministries (www.cityreaching.com) to join the movement and help equip churches to discover and love their diaspora neighbors to Christ, including an online step-by-step research and outreach tutorial found at: www.mac-global.net/blessing

The Perspectives Connection

Because research is often time consuming and costly, MAC is looking to new partners such as Perspectives on the World Christian Movement. Annually, thousands of Perspectives students complete an Unreached People Group project, which provides an excellent exercise for thinking about how to reach Unreached People Groups. While personally reaching out to diaspora peoples in a suburb of Philadelphia, Sue Patt, Northeast Regional Director for Perspectives, has long encouraged Perspectives students to think about doing their research on local diaspora peoples and to build lasting relationships with them. Similarly, Brian Considine, MAC CityReacher and Dallas Area Mobilizer for Perspectives, recently launched “Ethnic Embrace Lab” to challenge Perspectives students to discover unreached peoples in the Dallas area and to see how reaching them opens doors for the gospel back in their homelands. Examples like these are a huge part of why MAC is casting a vision for City/Community networks to partner together with Perspectives coordinators where there are diaspora populations.

Denominational & Agency Connections

MAC is also growing in collaborative relationships with other diaspora-focused ministries, such as the Ethnic America Network, The Southern Baptist’s IMB & NAMB, Christ for All Peoples, and Global Gates. If you are part of a national or local diaspora ministry and would like to explore how we can work better together, please contact: dave@missionamerica.org or brian.j.considine@gmail.com

Prayer—Care—Share

The Mission America Coalition has long championed a Prayer-Care-Share lifestyle and embracing the diaspora represents a new opportunity to live this out. MAC is using the PCS framework to serve the Church through three new initiatives:

Prayer—Ethnic Embrace USA—a 40 Day Prayer Journey is a project of MAC’s in partnership with the Ethnic America Network identifying 40 People Groups (population over 50,000) in the U.S. Ethnic Embrace USA is more than a prayer guide however—it is journey through the story of God’s mission for the nations. Ethnic Embrace USA is a resource designed to inspire people to live “on mission” in their communities. For more information visit www.ethnicembraceusa.net

Care—Love 2020 is another MAC initiative calling the church to love as we have been loved. Chairman Paul Cedar says of Love 2020, “First, we should love others enough to pray for them, especially that they would become followers of Jesus. Second, we should love them in action in every possible way at every possible time. Third, we can share the good news of Jesus in loving and appropriate ways.” While Love 2020 is broader than a diaspora focus, caring for our international neighbors demonstrates the love of God in Christ to those who need to know. For more information visit: www.love2020.com

Share—MAC’s CityReaching diaspora Initiative is a new learning community launched in June 2012 to bring cities together to share their stories of victory and challenge in reaching the Diaspora. Within the community, practitioners share best-practices of ministry for the benefit of workers in other cities. Bi-monthly conference calls involve over 100 leaders. For more information visit www.CityReaching.org

Past, Present & Future

Since 1994, MAC CityReaching has been seeking to edify and encourage coalition partners by sensitively highlighting what God is doing in cities across the nation. Beginning this year, those stories have begun to include a consistent diaspora focus. With God’s help we look forward to sharing stories from Houston, Minneapolis, Nashville, Los Angeles, New York, Chicago and every city with a growing network of churches and ministries with a heart for blessing diaspora peoples. If you are part of a citywide network, are you ready to collaborate in this endeavor?

About The Author

Dave serves as a National Facilitator with the Mission America Coalition’s Global Connections team.

Brian concurrently serves as Texas Facilitator for MAC CityReaching and as Area Mobilizer for Perspectives in Dallas/ Ft. Worth. He more recently founded the DFW Diaspora Alliance.

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Other

Small Groups That Have the DNA of a Disciple-Making Movement

by Paul Watson

A Group Exercise

David Watson put an image up on the screen. “I want you to take a look at this image.” After a few seconds, he blanked the screen. “Now, describe the image.”

People called out various things they remembered. David allowed them to continue, just until they started repeating things that others said already. He put the picture back on the screen. “Could any one of you remember everything in this image?” A collective, “No” swept through the audience. “Yet, together, you manage to remember most of the details in this painting. Now that you’ve heard everyone list what they remembered, I’ll bet that you remember more of the image than you did before we talked about it.”

David looked around the room, “Group memory is better than individual memory. And, as groups recall what they remember, their collective memory becomes the memory of the individual. This is one of the many reasons groups, and the group process, are essential to starting discipleship movements.”

Benefits of Groups

Groups, and the group process, are a strategic element of our strategy to plant the gospel all over the world. When I say “strategic element” I mean, “our strategy would fail miserably if groups, and the group process, were not part of it.” Underestimating the power of groups, and the importance of group process, is one of the biggest mistakes a gospel planter can make.

There are several reasons groups are so powerful:

Groups remember more than individuals. As David demonstrated with his picture exercise, a group of people can remember more, and more accurately, than an individual. As groups recall things together, group memory becomes the memory of each individual in the group.

Groups learn faster than individuals. Groups require less repetition of facts and principles before they can recall them collectively. As we’ve said before, the group recollection process causes group memory to become individual memory. Consequently, the learning process is greatly accelerated in groups when you allow the group process to happen.

Groups replicate faster than individuals. Because groups remember more and learn faster, individuals within a group rapidly reach a point at which they can pass on what they know to others. Since that individual was discipled within the group process, they naturally use the same process to disciple new groups: within their own “silo” or in a “neighboring silo.”

As more people join a space (like a city, university, Twitter and Facebook), like-minded people gather and naturally form groups within that space that eventually become large enough to be obvious to outsiders. These segments have distinctive boundaries, but are open to input and output. These segments are often called “silos.” Think of these silos as the collection of communities within a city.

Groups replicate more often than individuals. Since members of a properly led group get to a point of replication very quickly, they can replicate more often. They know how to plant what they know into groups within their silo, or in neighboring silos, so individual group members replicate themselves within other groups. This allows group members to replicate with more people than if they focused on individuals.

Groups are a protection against bad leadership and heresy. When the authority of Scripture and the Holy Spirit is part of group DNA and group process, groups can protect themselves against bad leadership. Groups that measure what leaders say against Scripture can easily stop the actions of leaders who try to implement extra-biblical, or even un-biblical, policies and procedures. Consequently, the effects of bad leadership are reduced, bad leaders are removed, and heresy is avoided.

Groups self-correct. This is the reason well-discipled groups protect against bad leadership and heresy. Group members understand the Scripture they read and correct each other when someone introduces an interpretation or application of Scripture that isn’t apparent in the passage.

Groups keep individuals accountable. If you plant the gospel in established silos and groups, group members see each other enough to hold each other accountable. If a group member disobeys Scripture, the group can become aware of their disobedience rather quickly. Properly discipled groups address this disobedience and help in the repentance and restoration of their disobedient member.

Discipling Groups

When you engage existing groups within silos, you reduce many cultural barriers that slow down (or stop) the group process. Families have existing authority structures. Well-established affinity groups already have leaders and followers. That being said, groups still need to be discipled. In other words, they need to be taught how to study the Bible together, how to discover what God says through His Word, how to change their lives to obey God’s Word, and how to share Bible passages with friends and family. Groups don’t do these things naturally; they have to be discipled into them so that they become as natural as breathing.

Use existing groupings. I’ve already discussed, at length, the benefits of engaging existing groupings within their silos rather than starting groups that are a composite of people from different silos.

Establish DNA early. Groups establish the habits and DNA for meetings very quickly—by the third or fourth meeting. Groups are very resistant to change once they’ve established their pattern for meeting. Consequently, group DNA must be established during your first meeting with the group.

Establish DNA though action. You cannot tell people what DNA they need to have. You have to get them to do things, or think about things in a way, that leads them to build habits. These habits become DNA. If you establish DNA well—through action, not instruction—then groups will replicate that DNA naturally within their silos and in overlapping silos. We will talk about this more in the Group Process section.

Establish DNA through repetition. Group DNA is the product of what you do, and do often. You cannot do something once or twice and expect it to become DNA.Let’s see what this looks like.

What DNA do you need for groups that multiply?

In December of 2009, David Watson and I traveled to Honduras. A missionary attended a few of our trainings and worked hard to implement them in Honduras. But after a year of trying, this missionary was about to declare that Disciple-Making Movement methodologies wouldn’t work in Honduras. After a week with his team—almost all Hondurans—we realized that the missionary adapted the Discovery Bible Study meeting. Consequently, groups they started left out several elements of the study—important DNA elements for multiplication—and were not replicating.

Several members of the missionary’s team did not want to make the necessary changes. He lost all but six members of his team. We also told the missionary that his team members needed to work in pairs, instead of going to villages individually. Instead of 14 individuals traveling to 14 places, this missionary now had three teams of two. They could only work in three areas at a time. The missionary thought we were crazy, but he and his remaining team members were thoroughly committed to the process.

In the year after that trip, they started 300 Discovery Bible Study groups. Many were third generation groups—a group that started a group that started a group (third generation).

There is a minimum DNA required for groups to replicate past the first generation. Let’s take a look at each element.

PRAYER.

Just as prayer is an essential element of movements, prayer is also a critical element of groups. From the first meeting, we embed prayer in the group process. Remember, we never ask lost people to bow their heads and pray. We don’t explain what prayer is. We don’t have a lecture about this being an important part of group DNA. Instead, we introduce a simple question, “What are you thankful for today?” Each person in the group shares. Later, after they choose to follow Christ, we say, “You remember how we open each meeting with the question, “What are you thankful for?” Now, as followers of Christ, we talk with God the same way. Let’s tell Him what we are thankful for?”

Intercession.

All intercession is prayer, but not all prayer is intercession. That is why we separated intercession and prayer as parts of the DNA of groups that replicate. Intercession involves sharing personal concerns and stresses as well as the concerns and stresses of others. A simple question, “What things have stressed you out this week?” introduces this DNA element to groups of lost people. Again, each person shares. After the group becomes a baptized group of believers we say, “In the same way that you shared things that stressed you out with each other, now you can share those same things with God. Let’s do that now.”

Ministry.

David Watson defines ministry as, “God using His people to answer the prayers of the lost and of the saved.” As any group—lost or saved—shares needs, there is going to be a group desire to make a difference. All the group needs is a little nudge. Ask the question, “As we shared things that stressed us out, is there any way we could help each other during the coming week?” Follow it up with, “Do you know anyone in your community that needs our help?” Embed this DNA from the beginning and you won’t have to worry about motivating the group to transform their community when they become Christian.

Evangelism/Replication.

Did you know that lost people can evangelize? Well, they can if you keep it simple enough. Evangelism, at its core, is sharing the gospel with someone else. When working with lost people, they don’t know the whole gospel. That is totally ok. We just want them to share the story they just heard with someone who wasn’t in the group. We get them to think this way with a simple question, “Who do you know that needs to hear this story this week?”

If that person is interested, rather than bringing them into the existing group, we have the first lost person start a group with them, their friends, and their family. So the first lost person experiences the study in their original group and then replicates the same study in the group they started with their friend.

We have had groups that started four other groups before the first group ever became a group of baptized believers. Within a few weeks after the first group was baptized, the other groups came to a place where they chose to follow Christ and were baptized as well.

I know this sounds crazy. Stick with me and some of the questions I know you have right now will be answered in a bit.

Obedience.

Like I said before, obedience is a critical element of Disciple-Making Movements. Obedience has to be present even at the small group level, even with groups of lost people. Now, we don’t look at groups of lost people, shake our finger, and say, “You must obey this passage.” Instead, we ask, “If you believed this passage is from God, what would you have to change in your life?” Remember, they don’t believe in God yet, so “if” is totally acceptable.

When they choose to follow Christ, you adjust the question, very slightly, “Since you believe this is from God, what are you going to change in your life?” Because they’ve asked this question all along, new believers don’t struggle with the idea that they need to obey God’s Word; that God’s Word requires something of them; that God’s Word requires them to change.

Accountability.

Building accountability into the group DNA starts in the second meeting. Look at the group and ask, “You guys said that you were going to help (fill in the blank) this week. How did it go?” Also ask, “Several of you identified things that needed to change in your life. Did you make those changes? How did it go?” If they didn’t do anything, encourage them to give it a try this time and be ready to share what happened the next time you get together. Emphasize that it is important for the group to celebrate everyone’s accomplishments.

Initially, this will surprise everyone. They won’t expect it. The second meeting, however, several will be ready. After the third meeting, everyone will know what is coming and will be prepared. Obviously, this practice continues after everyone is baptized.

Worship.

You can’t ask lost people to worship a God they don’t believe in. You shouldn’t force them to lie by singing songs they don’t believe. But, that being said, planting the seeds of worship into the group DNA is possible.

When they talk about things they are thankful for, it will become worship. When they talk about the changes they made in their lives as they respond to Scripture, it will become worship. When they celebrate the difference they made in their community, it will become worship.

Worship songs are not the heart of worship any more than a flower is the same as its seed. Worship is the product of a relationship with God. Singing praise songs is one expression of the joy our relationship with God brings.

Yes, eventually they will sing praises. The DNA for worship, however, is embedded long before they start to sing.

Scripture.

Scripture is central to the meeting. The group reads Scripture, discusses Scripture, practices recalling Scripture with each other, and is encouraged to obey Scripture. Scripture does not take second chair to any teacher. Scripture is the teacher. We’ll discuss this more in the next Group DNA element.

Discovery.

When working with lost people, we have to avoid falling into the role of explaining Scripture. If we do, we become the authority rather than allowing Scripture to be the authority. If we are the authority, replication is limited by our leadership capacity and the time we have to teach every group. Consequently, shifting from Scripture being the authority to the teacher being the authority, will keep groups from replicating like they should.

This is a hard shift to make. We love teaching. It makes us feel good. We know the answers and want to share that knowledge with others. But, if we want to disciple people who look to Scripture and the Holy Spirit for answers to their questions, we can’t be the answer-person. We have to help them discover what God says to them in His Word.

To reinforce this idea, we call the outsiders who start groups “facilitators.” They facilitate discovery rather than teach. Their job is to ask questions that get lost people to examine Scripture. After they read a passage, they ask, “What does this passage say about God?” and, “What does this passage tell us about humanity (or mankind)?” and, “If you believed this was from God, what would you have to change about the way you live?”

The discovery process is essential to replication. If groups do not learn to go to Scripture and rely on the Holy Spirit to answer their questions, they will not grow like they should and they will not replicate much, if at all.

Group-Correction.

A vast majority of our group leaders and church leaders have no institutional biblical training. When people hear this, they ask, “What about heresy? How do you keep your groups from going crazy?” This is a great question. As leaders, we should ask this question.

First of all, all groups have the tendency to be heretical in the beginning. They don’t know everything about God’s Word. They are in a process of discovering God which moves them from disobedience to obedience, but it is impossible for them to know everything from the beginning. As the group reads more together, as they discover more about how God wants them to relate to them, they become less heretical. That is part of discipleship.

If we see them going too far away from Scripture, we’ll immediately introduce a new passage and lead them through a Discovery Bible Study on that passage. (Notice that I didn’t say “teach” or “correct.” The Holy Spirit will use Scripture to correct their behavior. They just need to be directed to the right passage.) After they go through the additional study, they recognize what they need to do. More importantly, they actually do it.

Secondly, we need to realize that heresy usually begins with a highly charismatic (I’m referring to charisma, not the denomination!) leader, with some education, who teaches the group what the Bible says and what they must do to obey it. In this case, groups accept what the leader says and never examine it in the context of Scripture.

We teach groups to read the passage and examine how each group member responds to the passage. Groups are taught to ask a simple question, “Where do you see that in this passage?” When someone makes a weird obedience statement, the group asks this question. When someone adds in a detail when they retell the passage, the group asks this question. This question forces all group members to focus on the passage at hand and explain their insights and obedience.

The facilitator models group-correction. They also model focusing on the passage at hand.

Priesthood of the Believer.

New Believers and Not-Yet Believers need to realize there are no intermediaries standing between them and Christ. We have to embed DNA that removes the barriers and perceived intermediaries. That is why Scripture must be central. That is why outsiders facilitate rather than teach. That is why the group is taught to self-correct based on what Scripture says.

Yes, leaders will emerge. They have to emerge. It is natural. But leadership is identified by functions that define a role. Leaders are not a different class of spiritual or a special status. If anything, leaders are held to a higher level of accountability, but their accountability doesn’t give them special status.

If the DNA for the Priesthood of Believers is not present, you will never have a church. The discipleship process must establish this DNA.

By using these essential practices in group meetings we have seen non-believers become obedient disciples of Jesus that go on to make more disciples and start new groups that become churches.

About The Author

Paul Watson is the city director for Portland, Oregon outreach of City Team, a ministry dedicated to developing Discipleship Multiplication Movements in the U.S. and around the world. You may learn more by going to www.cityteam.org.

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Generational Mapping

Tracking Elements of Church Formation Within CPM's

by Nathan Shank

Beginning in 2006 my wife and I had a genuine problem on our hands. Churches were multiplying! All that we had studied, prayed for and discovered in Scripture suddenly seemed to erupt before our eyes in the form of new churches being birthed in every direction. The challenge of measuring, coaching and determining next steps within an emerging movement created a new set of questions. Over the past few years our pursuit has created greater dependence on Scripture for models. We have found direction and fellowship with the tasks laid before the first Apostles and Paul.

What would you do with 3,000 baptisms in a day? To what degree were the Apostles responsible before the Lord for the fledgling churches scattered across Jerusalem within the weeks that followed? How did Paul sleep at night, when the need for leadership devlopment and church formation outgrew his calendar? (2 Cor. 11:28). A generation later how would Peter determine the necessary content of a letter addressed to churches scattered across Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia?

Clearly church growth, when genuine, must be credited to the investment of the Holy Spirit. But for the first time in our ministry the reality of multiplication brought the questions of ongoing responsibility in an emerging Church-Planting Movement (CPM) into our lap. Did we see 3,000 in a day? No, but within two years the networks we were coaching were reporting a sustained average of 46 baptisms a day. These newly baptized believers were being formed into an average of eight new congregations daily. The question haunted us, “How will we ensure elements of church health on the edge of these emerging movements?” We knew the discipleship chains that had multiplied new believers would be the key to multiplying elements and leaders for church health as well.

Getting started

Into this scenario stepped a man named Jeff Sundell. Jeff had seen movements in the past. He had become a student of CPM’s firsthand in the Asian context. As we sat with local church planters, Jeff began to discuss and draw out what would become a revolutionary tool in our pursuit of healthy churches in the midst of movements.

Sitting with the first of a string of national church planters who collectively reported nearly 60 new church starts, Jeff began by asking for a list of the churches this man had personally planted. Six were listed as the evangelistic work of this church planter. In response Jeff drew six circles across the top of a piece of chart paper and labeled these six, ‘1st generation churches.’ After asking for the names of local leaders, locations and approximate dates for the start of these congregations, Jeff asked who, if anyone, within those groups, had been trained and faithful to start further groups. Our partner pointed to the third circle and mentioned the name of the local leader who had also been planting other churches. As it turned out, this brother had planted five churches independent of the original church planter. At this point Jeff’s drawing resembled the chart below.

The process was continued until 52 of the churches reported had been accounted for on generational charts. As Jeff led us, that day, we interviewed leaders of new churches stretching across four generations. The report of 60 churches was actually a living example of 2nd Timothy 2:2 within the multiplication of this network.

Generational growth is multiplication. Generational multiplication is the standard by which CPM’s are defined. We quickly learned as churches begin to multiply in new generations the church planter’s calendar does not multiply at the same rate. As churches multiply, visiting each new congregation becomes impossible for the original church planter. The church planter has become a CPM catalyst. At the same time the perceived responsibility for healthy DNA across these generations becomes increasingly difficult to track.

In an attempt to remedy this new ‘glorious problem’ we began to incorporate our studies on church formation within the generational mapping tool. Using the common elements from Acts 2 as markers for elements of health the generational chart quickly took on a diagnostic function. The Acts 2 markers helped us recognize areas of weakness or concern across entire movements of church planting.

The Acts 2 study – Discovering Elements of Church Health

Taking time with your network of church planters to return to the basic, non-negotiable elements of healthy church is an invaluable exercise. Tracking these elements and their development within a training for trainers (T4T) format are your next steps.

Over the years we have studied this passage with thousands of first generation believers. Answers will include some variety in traditional settings. We have found however, the following elements emerge every time we conduct the study.

In Acts 2, healthy churches had the following characteristics. We represent each with a symbol for the purpose of the mapping exercise.

Recognized local leaders —

The habit of giving — $$

Lord’s Supper as Fellowship and Worship —  — we typically map this item only when authority for its provision exists within the church.

Baptism authority practiced locally —  — we typically map this item only when authority for giving baptism exists within the church.

We also saw that certain functions of the church were more difficult to measure than simple yes or no questions. For example Acts 2 churches were clearly loving others, yet measuring this across movements of church planting proved difficult. For this reason we began to track training which demanded obedience in these areas with exposure to right motives and models. While we cannot control motives, we can ensure exposure to biblical practices necessary for such healthy function.

For the sake of our discussion here we will demonstrate the tracking of three training tools.

Sharing the Gospel —  The bridge illustration for training new believers to share

Beginning discipleship —  We happen to use “The Seven Commands of Christ” by George Patterson as our content

Church formation —  We use “The Handy Guide for Healthy Churches” by David Garrison as our content

More recently we were served by the contribution of Steve Smith in the expression of church identity. While the most productive church planters we have worked with carry the intention of “church” with them into each evangelistic encounter, it is clear not all gatherings carry an internal church identity. For this reason we have begun to distinguish between “houses of peace” (fellowships) and established churches. Beyond church function the transition to church is a self-awareness of identity and vested authority for the practice of ordinances commanded by our Lord.

When a church planter reports the birth of a new group not yet aware of its identity as church, or not committed to being church it is added to a generational map with a dotted line as seen below.

As elements of church health are introduced, modeled and commanded from Scripture the new group grows in self-awareness. Our coaching of church planters during this phase is highly intentional as the T4T (training for trainers) process focuses on accountability and elements of obedience from the Acts 2 list. Over a period of weeks or months the new group is led to function as church.

We have found the identity of church often solidified around the recognition of local leadership. Recognition and intentionality are indispensible in the development of healthy churches. The recognition of local leaders based on Titus 1 and 1 Timothy 3 character is often tied to authority and stewardship of the ordinances. It is important these authorities are vested in the local church as their function for unity, renewal and discipline are essential to developing church health across all contexts. Therefore we empower from within this new church to lead. Consider our goal in church planting, a healthy autonomous church as seen below.

Reproducing Generational Charts

First Generation Church – these are churches started by the original church planter or in some circumstances approached for training by a church planting trainer. Ask trainees for locations, dates and the names of local leaders or hosts in groups they have begun. List them across the top of the page.

Second Generation Churches – these are churches started by members of first generation churches independent of the original church planter. The individuals responsible for these church starts are typically the “Timothy” type disciples of the original church planter providing spiritual “grandchildren” as the network begins to multiply for the first time.

Third Generation and beyond – these generations follow the same pattern as each generation is encouraged to take up responsibility to target its own fields. Typically rapid growth to the fourth generation (G4 movement) is a measure of church planting movements. By the time these generations emerge the need for such mapping becomes obvious.

Over time generational charts grow. Here is an example of a generational chart that has matured to third generation. Intentional implementation of Acts 2 elements leads toward reproduction. Remember, every CPM begins with just a handful of churches committed to obedience. Given time and intentionality multiplication of healthy churches is possible.

This sample was submitted by Mr. Tracy Guppy.

Once all existing churches have been mapped on the chart the elements of church health discovered in Acts chapter 2 can be tracked across the generations on the chart. As you track the Acts 2 elements, you will discover trends and deficiencies you need to address in your pastoral or ongoing church formation training. Generational mapping will reveal the “mess” multiplication creates. Remember, recognizing the mess leads to next steps for intentional coaching and encouragement as new believers “devote themselves to the Apostles’ teaching” (Acts 2:42).

Uses of the Generational Map

1) Vision for multiplication

By mapping generations a paradigm capable of reaching an entire population comes into view. There are many effective church planters in the Kingdom. Their efforts and abilities serve as models, but will not finish the task. First generation church starts represent addition, not multiplication. No matter the gifting or ability of the first generation planter his efforts add new believers and church starts. We have never seen an example of this saturation approach keep up with population growth.

Growth across the page is addition. Growth in generations down the page is multiplication.

Spiritual grandchildren and great grandchildren within 3rd and 4th generation church starts represent multiplication. Capturing vision for such multiplication is an effective application of the generational chart.

2) Tracking Church Health

Generational charts have helped us maintain a focus on healthy churches in the midst of CPM. Lists of baptisms or new groups are not the only measure of success. We need a means for identifying and celebrating advances in healthy church function. Remember, the elements themselves do not create health. Rather the disciplined practice of obedience creates the venue for renewal leading toward health.

3) Provides a script for “T4T” discipleship chains

The chart is a tool for diagnostics as often entire streams lack certain elements. To be sure, elements of health do not skip generations. What is lacking in the parent will not spontaneously occur in the offspring. Content for practice, application and accountability are scripted in this manner. Within minutes plans are tailored to address elements that may have been neglected. In this way our “T4T” becomes more efficient.

About The Author

Nathan Shank has been living and working in South Asia since 2000. He and his wife have dedicated themselves to the multiplication of God’s kingdom through church planting. Nathan and his team are currently tracking more than 50 networks of church planting with fourth generation churches. He is a regular contributor to David Garrison’s www.churchplantingmovements.com and Steve Addison’s www.movements.net

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Affinity Blocs

Arab & Jewish Peoples

by Darrell Dorr

In this issue of Mission Frontiers we continue a new series of articles, providing updates on least-reached People Clusters. Building on the work of Patrick Johnstone and Joshua Project, we estimate that more than 80% of the world’s unreached peoples are found in 117 least-reached People Clusters, with these 117 clusters grouped into 12 Affinity Blocs. The paradigm of Affinity Blocs and People Clusters is an attempt to build upon the strategic connections within and between peoples, not only in their homelands but also their diaspora populations.

In November 2012 the spotlight falls on the peoples of the Arab world, with emphasis this month on the Church’s response to the “Arab Spring.” In December 2012 the spotlight shifts to Jewish peoples, including an update on outreach to Jews in Latin America. MF readers can learn more about the Arab and Jewish Affinity Blocs at www.joshuaproject.net.

Our hope is that this new series will enable Mission Frontiers readers to better understand least-reached People Clusters and to discover new ways to faithfully represent Christ among them. We welcome your comments and questions so that we might learn and grow together.

– Darrell Dorr, Contributing Editor

Spotlight for November 2012

Arab Peoples

With emphasis on the Church’s response to the ‘Arab Spring’

The phenomenon that has been labeled the “Arab Spring” is known today through its diverse incarnations in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, Yemen, Bahrain and Syria. It looks different in each country and is in each place at a different stage. But in each of these places the phenomenon should be viewed as ongoing, whether the emerging parties are at the stage of constitutional rewriting, elections or involved in ongoing warfare.

The label “Arab Spring” emerged early, clearly reflecting an optimistic interpretation of the movement as the beginning of something new. After more than 18 months, however, things don’t look as bright as it was initially thought they might be. In Syria, things look particularly bleak at this point, with both parties in the conflict now heavily armed, and with heavy casualties resulting from intense battles in Aleppo and Damascus as I write. Furthermore, the western media seem finally to be acknowledging that human rights abuses are being perpetrated by “opposition” groups, as well as by the Assad regime, as a recent BBC report reveals.1

Interpretations of the “Arab Spring” by analysts and intellectuals can be rather polarized, but the conspiracy theory has been a favorite interpretive lens on either side. You have those, like Tariq Ramadan, who interpret the phenomenon as a well-planned conspiracy of the West, designed to create a new reality in the Middle East that would serve western agendas better. “From 2004,” Ramadan assures us, “activists and bloggers from Egypt, Tunisia, and elsewhere in North Africa received non-violent training, supported financially by the United States State Department.” And the alleged purpose of these trainings? “[T]he US and Europe were forced to review their strategies as they were facing aging dictatorial regimes that were turning eastwards as well as a growing influence of states like China, India, South Africa, Russia and Turkey in the region.” Ramadan makes all of these affirmations, all-the-while exhorting us not to be “…naïve or conspiratorial.” He sums up his position: “I totally oppose this idealistic appraisal of a movement that was born from nothing or young people who simply rose up.”2

At the other end of the conspiracy spectrum is a position like that of Patrick Sookhdeo, who interprets the “Arab Spring” phenomenon as a conspiracy of the East, driven by an Islamist agenda, funded by Saudi money and further enabled by Qatar through its influential TV channel al-Jazeera. He sees behind the movement a sinister Islamist machination, driven by an apocalyptic eschatological agenda with detailed scenarios about the demise of Israel.3

Both men may be on to something. Certainly both Eastern and Western powers have been feverishly laboring at capturing the agenda of the Arab revolutions with various degrees of success. But should our predictions of the outcomes of an uprising drive our choice of allegiance? Can I, as a Christian, support a dictatorial regime, simply because I fear the negative consequences that might derive from an Islamist government on my Christian community? I would assert that the Church’s stance at such an important juncture should not derive from fear of a future that we cannot possibly know for sure. Conversely, our hope, as Christians, is in no way sustained by the winds of political change. Besides the fact that there is no cause to believe that the Church would be better off, say, in Syria, following an eventual fall of the current Syrian regime, we are not called, in any case, to be foretellers of the future. The Church does far better when it stays away from taking political sides and concerns itself instead with the humanitarian needs that emerge from political crises, regardless of the religious or political affiliation of those in need. We are called to do what’s right today, and leave the aftermath scenarios to God.

The trouble with a conspiracy-theory type of interpretation of political events is that it can lead us to the justification of violent repression. Hence, we might find ourselves at once denouncing massacres perpetrated in Syria, yet remaining silent on the violent repression of opposition voices in Bahrain, and vice versa, simply because the rebels in one location are more aligned with our own political positions than those in another location. Instead, the Church ought to adopt a moral stance that is driven by a concern for the protection and preservation of human life, whoever that life may belong to. We condemn violence wherever it is found and whoever is its author, and we applaud those who seek peace wherever they are found and whoever they are.

Secondly, while we cannot predict the outcome of a phenomenon like the “Arab Spring,” I believe we ought to value the opportunity to move beyond the era of oppressive dictatorships, whether these dictatorships sustained a status quo that suited us or not. Again, rather than being driven by fear, the Church’s stance needs to be values-driven, affirming and seizing the opportunity and possibility of increased freedom and human dignity. In doing so, however, we ought to avoid being driven by utopian expectations of an idealized future. Power will continue to corrupt those who attain it, and oppressed peoples will not suddenly emerge as mature, human-rights-affirming citizens. After decades of living under paternalistic regimes, the best we can expect is a good few decades of turbulent “adolescence.”

And thirdly, since we are not called to be fortune-tellers, it is true that we cannot justify the maintenance of an oppressive dictatorship out of fear of what might come after. But neither should we become intoxicated with the promise of sudden “democratic” change. This kind of change is unlikely to come suddenly and it should not, therefore, draw us into taking political sides in violent and bloody conflicts. The Church’s stance towards the “Arab Spring” phenomenon ought to be non-utilitarian.

This three-pronged, non-utilitarian positioning with respect to the “Arab Spring” is driven by a sense of humility in the face of tortuous and complex politics, and by a conviction, together with the Psalmist, that “no one on earth—from east or west, or even from the wilderness—can raise another person up. It is God alone who judges; he decides who will rise and who will fall.”4  And so, trusting the future into God’s hands, we can humbly apply ourselves to doing what’s right today, avoiding political partisanship as best we can, and laboring for the sustenance of human life.

Spotlight for December 2012

Jewish Peoples

With emphasis on Jews in Latin America

More than 80% of the world’s Jews live in Israel and the United States, yet more than 50 Jewish peoples can be found in other countries, including sizable Jewish populations in Argentina, Brazil and Mexico. As these photos illustrate, Jewish Voice Ministries International has made extensive use of festivals of Jewish music and dance for outreach in major cities in Latin America, finding good spiritual receptivity and prompting public decisions to follow Yeshua the Messiah.

To learn more about Jewish peoples and ministries to them, check out the following links (with thanks to Bill Bjoraker of Operation Ezekiel for his recommendations):

The Economist: www.economist.com/node/21559464

Centropa: www.centropa.org/?nID=

Joshua Project: http://ow.ly/edTiT

Lausanne Committee:www.lausanne.org/docs/2004forum/LOP60_IG31.pdf

Chosen People Ministries: www.chosenpeople.com/main/

The King’s University:http://thekingsjewishvoice.org

Jews for Jesus: www.jewsforjesus.org

New Covenant Forum: www.newcovenantforum.org

Jewish Voice Ministries:http://jvmi.org

Life in Messiah:www.lifeinmessiah.org

About The Author

Darrell Dorr

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Further Reflections

Further Reflections

Relationships Also Matter

by Greg H. Parsons

Just the other day I heard a panel discussing a couple of “hot” topics in missiology at the North American Mission Leaders Conference, sponsored by Missio Nexus. As they were ending, Steve Moore—who heads this mission network (www.missionexus.org)—told a story about a call he had received from a very concerned missionary. “Joe,” I’ll call him, asked Steve to sanction a particular organization because of things specific global workers were teaching on a certain field. Steve asked him if he had talked with these brothers to be sure he understood the issue(s) and had tried to work it out. Joe said no. Steve told him that he would be glad to connect him with them, so he contacted the agency and forwarded the contact information to both Joe and the field workers.

A few weeks later Joe called again. He had not talked with the workers still, so Steve told him he would not take any action until he did. Joe said he didn’t need to because he had confirmed his suspicions by talking with other people he trusted. Joe called again a month or two later and still had not talked to the field workers. Steve told him that he would not take his call again until he did so, and has refused one more call from Joe.

That may sound unloving or uncaring but it was biblical. As I heard the story, I was impressed again of the importance to follow clear teaching of God’s Word. Here are a few of the core principles that come to mind:

1. FORGIVENESS is required, no matter what:

Matthew 18:22 Jesus answered Peter’s question about how many times we should forgive: “Not seven times, I tell you, but seventy-seven times!” (Unlimited.) And, later in the same section, the consequences of not forgiving (v. 35), “So also my heavenly Father will do to you, if each of you does not forgive your brother from your heart.”

In fact, Jesus seems to say that, at some level, the effectiveness of our prayers and our own forgiveness is predicated upon our forgiving in Mark 11:25, “Whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive him, so that your Father in heaven will also forgive you your sins.”

Colossians 3:13 “…bearing with one another and forgiving one another, if someone happens to have a complaint against anyone else.”

2. JUDGING is God’s job, not ours:

Matthew 7:1-2 “Do not judge so that you will not be judged. For by the standard you judge you will be judged, and the measure you use will be the measure you receive.”

3. When we sin, ALWAYS, FIRST: GO to our brother:

a. Our sin against a brother:

Matthew 5:23-24, “So then, if you bring your gift to the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to your brother and then come and present your gift.”

b. Our brother in sin:

If “Joe” in our story above, wanted to pursue this biblically, he would go to the brother(s) in question, in a process of Matthew 18:15-18. Summarized: go directly to the brother or sister, if it is not resolved and they will not listen, take another with you, if they will not listen or repent, take it to the church. Then you treat him like a non-believer (whom we still love and seek to restore).

4. False Teaching is CLEAR in the NT, other issues are not to divide us:

In 2 Timothy 2, right after Paul described the clear false teaching that the resurrection has already happened (v. 2:18), he warns Timothy to be careful what we argue about: “But reject foolish and ignorant controversies, because you know they breed infighting. And the Lord’s slave must not engage in heated disputes but be kind toward all, an apt teacher, patient, correcting opponents with gentleness. Perhaps God will grant them repentance and then knowledge of the truth and they will come to their senses and escape the devil’s trap where they are held captive to do his will.” (2 Tim. 2:23-26)

All too often, we can prioritize a less clear teaching over these very clear biblical truths. How we treat one another is talked about far more often than some treasured theologies. That doesn’t make the theology wrong, but it must guide the way we deal with differences.

To study this further: search for passages in the NT epistles that include “one another” and post your thoughts in the comments below.

About The Author

Greg H. Parsons

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