Category: JDMC

Partying with an evangelist

Think of an evangelist as first and foremost a ‘people person’. They get their energy from being in the crowd. They love to talk, they smile and laugh a lot, they’re fun to be around, they tend to be party people.

A street party (Wikimedia)

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A street party (Wikimedia) -Click images to enlarge

When apostles and prophets have done their stuff it’s high time for evangelists to join in. I don’t want to push the idea of a sequence too far; ideally we should be aiming for a situation where all the APEST gifts are operating simultaneously and abundantly, all at the same time. I’ve been using the analogy of building a house where apostles lay foundations and prophets make sure the structure is straight and true, but it should be very clear from Paul’s letters to the Corinthian church that all of the gifts need to work continuously. Unlike a house, when foundations are laid once and the stonework is raised once, for church to function as Jesus intended these are ongoing requirements. It’s not just urgent repair work as in Corinth, but it’s a living process of constant adjustment and calibration.

Following the apostle and prophet articles, the focus this time is on the gift of an evangelist – what it looks like, how it arises, how it affects a person who is expressing it, and how the rest of us can relate to it, support it, and, as an expression of church, benefit from it. Next time we’ll examine the gift of a shepherd in much the same way.

No room for wriggling

We all have this gift to some degree. You cannot be like Jesus without having some level of evangelist about you, so you can’t wriggle out of it completely. Jesus is the origin and source of all the gifts we’re discussing. If you believe him and follow him then Christ is in you. And if the perfect evangelist is in you then you are going to reflect that at some level. You may or may not be evangelical, but you will most certainly be somewhat evangelistic in character and nature.

We need to know how to recognise an evangelist, and that’s really not too difficult, but before I consider that I’d like to clear up a common misconception that can cause some confusion. There’s a (mistaken) understanding among many Christians that evangelists go out and convert people from whatever they currently believe. But that’s not quite right. It’s apostles who are called to go out and start new churches, very much following in Paul’s footsteps. But evangelists have a slightly different role. The Greek word is euangelion (εὐαγγέλιον). It’s a word of two parts εὐ which means ‘good’ hence a eulogy is a good word, and αγγέλιον or angelion meaning ‘messenger’, we get our words ‘angel’ and ‘angelic’ from this same Greek origin. So an evangelist is a ‘bringer of good news’, not only in the narrow sense of someone who preaches the good news but more in the sense that an evangelist is someone who is good news.

Think of an evangelist as first and foremost a ‘people person’. They get their energy from being in the crowd. They love to talk, they smile and laugh a lot, they’re fun to be around, they tend to be party people. Hence this article’s title Partying with an evangelist. Evangelists draw people in – ‘Come and have a drink with us.’Have you tried this amazing dessert?’ ‘Fantastic dog, what breed is it?’ ‘You’re looking really happy, it’s so good to see that’. They like to tell stories and will probably have everyone in stitches, and if you have a story they will want to hear it and will find comfortable ways to draw it out if they can. People gather around evangelists in a very natural way, and before long an evangelist will be telling them about things Jesus did in their lives, or asking them if they’ve ever met him in a meaningful way themselves.

An undemanding and comfortable gift

Where the gift of evangelist is operating, you’ll find a group of people who are both engaging and engaged. That’s why it’s such an important gift for joy, balance, and growth of the church (ekklesia) the called-out community of Jesus in a place. If we could only grasp and use this gift more fully, church would be the popular, local place for everyone to gather (not just believers). As always, Jesus has all of the gifts in a fullness we can never completely express. In part, that’s why the crowds followed him everywhere he went in Judea and Galilee – he was and remains really, really Good News! But I think I’ll leave Jesus as the fullest expression of the APEST gifts for a later article after we’ve worked through shepherd and teacher.

For now it’s enough to grasp that evangelists are about good news, not only in the message they bring but also in who they are (remember, who you are is far more fundamental than what you do).

On the more serious side

But there’s more to be said about the gift of evangelist. This gift to the body is not just about fun and being attractive and welcoming. Evangelistic people have a heart to welcome people, but they know the welcome should have the purpose of bringing people into Christ’s presence. They are passionate about this goal, but they also know they must bridge the huge gap that exists between ekklesia and the prevailing culture of the society beyond (and often it seems beyond the reach of) the church. But they also know that their particular gift can reach across that divide far more easily than the rest of us might think. Because the first step in reaching a person is to become a trusted friend.

The evangelist is propelled forward by a desire to see people come to know and trust Jesus and every opportunity to communicate the truth spurs them on. The evangelist may become impatient with slow processes and tend to be stronger at drawing in new believers than they are at discipling or teaching, those processes are not where their strengths lie.

In conclusion

One of the take-home messages from this article on the gift of evangelist is that we need to lighten up in church life and activity. We need a reputation of being the best and most sought after place and community in town! If this is not the way of things you may be lacking the gift of one or more evangelists. They’re there among you, but perhaps they’re regarded as lightweights, not learned enough, not Bible scholars or great preachers, not serious. Yet one of the reasons ordinary people avoid church is that it seems to be far too serious, dull, boring, a place for serious, dull, boring people. If this is how people see your church (or your small group), maybe you need to find the evangelists and apologise for suppressing them. Instead, invite them to lead a meeting or two, ask them to show you how you, too, could lighten up a bit. And if visitors are among you, for whatever reason, give the evangelists a bit of freedom.

This may not be the easiest of messages to hear, particularly because it is so rarely expressed or understood. Church was never meant to be a dull, hushed and deadly serious endeavour. Party food smells a great deal better and more exciting than the polish on Victorian church pews!

See also:

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You might also like:

JDMC study guide
Groups and group size
Jargon and the Holy Spirit

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If you enjoyed this or found it useful, please like, comment, and share below. (If you don’t see those links, click the article’s title above the main photo and they will appear.) Send a link to friends who might enjoy the article or benefit from it – Thanks! My material is free to reuse (see conditions), but a coffee is always welcome and encourages me to write more often!

See and hear with a prophet

Gratitude demands taking hold of whatever is being offered, unwrapping it, and finding out what it is for and how it works. It also involves actually trying it out, taking it for test runs, expressing it, seeing how others react to it.

An empty property

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An empty property (Click images to enlarge)

We considered the gift of an apostle last time, so now we’ll look at the gift of a prophet. And let’s be clear, once again I’m not writing about an individual person here, we’re going to focus on the gift itself – what it looks like, how it arises, how it affects a person who is expressing it, and how the rest of us can relate to it, support it, and, as an expression of church, benefit from it. Next time we’ll take a look at the gift of evangelist in the same way.

Making it real

As with each of the service gifts, let’s begin by reminding ourselves that we all have this gift to some degree. You cannot be like Jesus without having some level of the prophetic. Some will have a high level of this gift, some may have it at a relatively minor level. And in all of us it will exist alongside various mixtures of the other four APEST gifts. But whatever the level – low, medium or high – the source remains the same, it always springs from the nature and heart of Christ himself. He provides all of the gifts as he thinks fit. Make this real for yourself, personally. Jesus has carefully chosen and bestowed these five gifts on you in whatever proportions will enable you to play your part in his ekklesia, his called and appointed community. He is special, but he has made you special too; whatever happens in your life, never forget that.

Remember that a gift requires activity from both the giver and the receiver. A gift that is offered but not taken is no gift at all; it never fulfils it’s purpose. Gratitude demands taking hold of whatever is being offered, unwrapping it, and finding out what it is for and how it works. It also involves actually trying it out, taking it for test runs, expressing it, seeing how others react to it. And to properly receive it you should also hug the giver, tell them how much you love their thoughtful gift and tell them how much you love them, the giver, too. That’s not a big ask when Jesus is the giver!

Seeing and hearing are words we focus on when we think of the gift of a prophet. But these words can easily mislead us as they have to do with eyes and ears whereas the prophetic gift is much more to do with spiritual awareness. Because of this it might help to think in terms of prophets communicating Papa’s thoughts and nature to anyone who will listen. Sometimes that’s about Father’s character, sometimes it’s about his heart or his will, or his purpose. It might sometimes involve a message from him to the church, to a particular person, or to the world in general. Prophecy tends to be declaratory. Because they are in touch with the heart of the Father, prophets are often very sensitive to wrong attitudes; things that he hates will be things the prophet also detests.

A demanding and uncomfortable gift

Prophets are highly sensitive to and outspoken about unjust behaviour, unjust words, unkindness and untruthfulness. They always point up to the Father too, to his character and nature and presence. They declare peace and long to see brothers and sisters living in peace. They want all people to be at peace with the Father in heaven and with one another. Prophets can make people feel uncomfortable, too much truth can be hard to assimilate and difficult to deal with. A prophetic person may seem to be over-demanding, pointing church towards Jesus too firmly, insisting on change right now. A half-hearted prophet is a contradiction in terms, they want to see change and they want it right away, not tomorrow or next week! So where a prophet is at work, and the hearers pay attention, people should be growing more Christlike in their thoughts and actions towards one another, towards Father, and towards the world. And because Jesus is sacrificial in nature, a growing willingness to be sacrificial will grow in and among the community that is church as well.

We should also think about how the gift of prophet fits with the gift of apostle that we considered before. First apostle, then prophet, wrote Paul. We saw previously that Apostle comes first, not in importance but in sequence, so in what sense does the gift of prophet come next? Well, if an apostle has been at work there will be an excellent foundation laid upon which church may be built. And the prophetic gift helps us build straight and true; standing firmly on the foundation already laid. In the early days of church construction it would be easy to come unstuck, a lot of people might be doing the best they can but without the ability to distinguish between what seems good (but might be unhelpful) and what is truly in line with Father’s vision and purpose. Having a prophet or two acting like plumblines and right-angled set-squares reveals where a wall is not quite vertical or a corner not at ninety degrees. And these details will matter as the structure grows in height and complexity, so prophets do indeed come after apostles though both are of equal (though different) importance and value.

Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it. And God has placed in the church first of all apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healing, of helping, of guidance, and of different kinds of tongues.  Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles? Do all have gifts of healing? Do all speak in tongues? Do all interpret?(1 Corinthians 12:27-30)

Notice that the quote from 1 Corinthians above is different from the list in Ephesians 4 that we looked at in the post on apostles. There’s a reason for that and we’ll investigate it later, but the first two items in the list are the same. Apostles first, then prophets. The paragraph below is copied from the previous part of this series. It bears repeating because it is so important.

Our mistake is to think that these are special roles that most of us are not called to. But the truth is subtly different. All of us have all five of these gifts, but to varying degrees. I might be strong in one and you might be strong in another. Most of us are reasonably strong in one or two, few of us are strong in all five. So what does that imply for his locally gathered people, the ekklesia (church) in a particular place. It implies that any gathered group of believers will have all five of the gifts in differing amounts – we will lack nothing! But it’s the togetherness in the church that ensures we lack nothing. We all need to do our bit.

So let’s get on with the process

Think again about the process of building a house, and how all the building skills and trades are required for success. We need apostles, prophets, evangelists, shepherds, and teachers to build a local expression of church. And all are present wherever people are meeting regularly with Jesus and hearing his call to go and make disciples, baptise them, and teach them to do everything that’s needed for the next generation. All five are present, but sometimes they are not active. And that’s usually because we don’t provide room for them.

Remember that ‘Church’ on Sunday and ‘Small group’ on another day are both fully ekklesia, they are both communities of people called out and following Jesus. All five of these gifts of service should be fully present and working every day in every size of community. If they are not, something is seriously wrong and we need to rethink our paradigms and change our approach. We are all required to carry out Jesus’ orders in the great commission and we will need all five gifts to be active in order to fully hear that commission, let alone carry it out.

If I’m not expressing something of all these gifts, and if I’m not hearing and seeing them all in others, regularly and often, then I’m either in a deficient environment or I’m not paying proper attention. I need to examine and change either my position or my activity (or both). Assuming apostles and prophets are being heard we now have a straight and true structure of living stones standing firmly and safely on a foundation called Jesus the Messiah. It’s ready for use, it’s fit for purpose, but it’s empty inside. In other words it’s fit and ready for the gift of an evangelist, the third in Paul’s list of the five gifts of service. (Eph 4:11-13)

Why are Paul’s two lists of gifts different?

I mentioned earlier that we’d investigate this puzzle. Since apostle and prophet are the first two in both lists, it hasn’t begun to matter yet, but soon it will. It will help to read Ephesians 4 in its entirety to remind yourself of the context in which Paul mentions these five gifts of service.

Evangelist is next in Paul’s list because the empty structure needs to be filled with people. Paul’s list in 1 Corinthians is about the community after it’s been filled with people, it’s more about the gifts needed to keep things on track, an important list for an ekklesia that seems to have been in danger of derailment followed by a serious crash. Paul compiles a different list because there’s a different need, these are gifts for keeping things going and correcting errors. These people needed the apostolic and the prophetic to straighten and strengthen the existing structure. Then they need teaching, they need a bit of a miracle and they need healing and helping and guidance. Paul wrote his letter to them to provide these very things, but he knows that all the resources needed are right there in the spiritual gifts of the Corinthians themselves too, if only they will stop squabbling and pay proper attention to one another.

Perhaps this is why Paul doesn’t mention the gift of evangelist in the Corinthian list. The ekklesia in Corinth doesn’t need filling with more new believers, it needs straightening out first and it needs recalibrating. It never hurts to ask ourselves the same questions, does our church or our small group need straightening out and/or recalibrating?

A new house

The photo at the top of this article shows an empty house, here it is again. This is a second-hand house as it happens, not a newly built structure. But that doesn’t matter, you don’t need a brand new build to feel the excitement and hope of moving into a new place and converting it to a home where the family can live and love, work and play, eat and drink, and invite visitors.

See also:

I have struggled to find much that I can recommend on the gift of prophet in the church today, there is certainly a good deal of nonsense out there. So instead of some links, here’s a video of Alan Hirsch speaking about the fivefold APEST gifts (including the prophetic gift). Have a listen, see what you think. It’s short, less than five minutes.

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You might also like:

The city on the hill
JDMC study guide
Jargon and the Holy Spirit

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The apostolic gift

Is Jesus apostolic? You bet he is! Did he lay foundations? He laid himself as the one true Foundation by dying for us. Was he sent? He was sent by the Father and was fully obedient in coming into our world.

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These single point extracts are intended to spark fresh thinking individually or in group discussions of up to ten people – (Christian Unions, church home groups, house churches for example).

JDMC extract – 3

House Foundations
Click pics to enlarge (Image from BuildIt

Remember that this gift is foundational; read Acts 1:1-4. We can think of the

apostolic as a sending gift, an apostle is an emissary or, indeed, a missionary. People with a large measure of the apostolic gift tend to get things started and then move on to repeat the process again somewhere else; this is what Paul did, over and over again. He also returned from time to time to make sure things stayed on track; when he couldn’t be there in person he wrote letters for the same purpose.

Apostolic people prepare the ground for the prophetic gift to work. They also stir others up to do apostolic things. And they are always concerned about right foundations and right direction. Don’t think of this gift as more important than the others, it is usually first in sequence but if you are apostolic you are a servant in the church.

And don’t think in terms of ‘an apostle’, but rather recognise that we all have a measure of this gift, every follower of Jesus is apostolic to a degree. We need apostolic people around us to remind us constantly that Jesus is the only foundation and that he commands us to go out to the people around us. Apostolic people get troubled and upset if they see people veering away from the truth set out by Jesus and taking control of church life. They know that church life should never be controlled by people, but by the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Christ.

And is Jesus apostolic? You bet he is! Did he lay foundations? He laid himself as the one true Foundation by dying for us. Was he sent? He was sent by the Father and was fully obedient in coming into our world. Did he get things started? He is the Beginning, he is the Way, he is the Truth. It’s through him that everything started. Perhaps the most apostolic words in the New Testament are Matthew 28:18-20.

Discuss

We are all emissaries for Jesus. Is there a difference between reaching
people with the good news, and being apostolic? If so, can you identify this
difference? Discuss or consider carefully.

Based on JDMC page 41.

See also:

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If you enjoyed this or found it useful, please like, comment, and share below. (If you don’t see those links, click the article’s title above the main photo and they will appear.) Send a link to friends who might enjoy the article or benefit from it – Thanks! My material is free to reuse (see conditions), but a coffee is always welcome and encourages me to write more often!

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We are all priests

Doing it Jesus’ Way

It’s completely astounding that the Almighty Creator of the universe lived as a man among the village folk of Galilee for thirty years as a carpenter – and nobody noticed!

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These single point extracts are intended to spark fresh thinking individually or in group discussions of up to ten people – (Christian Unions, church home groups, house churches for example).

JDMC extract – 2

Be wary of reforming people, persuading them to wear different clothes, eat different food or change their customs, culture and language. This won’t reveal Christ to them. If you claim to represent Jesus, they will assume that he is like you. Jesus came to live among the ordinary people of Judaea and Galilee and he expects us to live among the people around us and identify with them just as he did; this demands that we go deep, something Paul understood and practised (1 Corinthians 9:19–23). Jesus shows us how to do it, he ate with Pharisees and tax collectors. He was fully present. He came as a servant and he shared the good news. It’s completely astounding that the Almighty Creator of the universe lived as a man among the village folk of Galilee for thirty years as a carpenter – and nobody noticed! That shows us how deeply he involved himself in the local culture, he became invisible.

Jesus is our example for going out and going deep. These two activities work together so that the gospel (good news) and the church (the gospel people) become firmly embedded in the local community. Rapid expansion is not going to happen any other way. We need to understand that knowing Jesus more deeply will lead us into both going out (Luke 10:1-4) and going deep (Luke 10:5-7). That will affect what church looks like in the place where we live. If we let him, Jesus will take us first into mission and then into new church life shaped as he wants it to be. And this will be different depending on whether we live in France or Fiji, inner city or village, or among the poor or rich.

Discuss

Will you identify with people as you find them, or will you bring your own culture with you as if that, too, is part of the good news? Jesus came in weakness, he came to give up his life. Talk about what that might mean for you as you follow him.

Taken from JDMC page 21.

See also:

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If you enjoyed this or found it useful, please like, comment, and share below. (If you don’t see those links, click the article’s title above the main photo and they will appear.) Send a link to friends who might enjoy the article or benefit from it – Thanks! My material is free to reuse (see conditions), but a coffee is always welcome and encourages me to write more often!

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The art of persuasion

A living organism-2

You will need good character, deep relationships, respect for others and appreciation for what they are and do. Do whatever you can to help others succeed in mission.

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This article is an updated extract from my short book, Jesus, Disciple, Mission, Church (JDMC). The bite-sized piece below is roughly two percent of the book. This is the first part of the fifth forgotten way.

Connect and communicate

Churches on mission usually connect with one another to form networks. Read Acts and the New Testament letters and you will see this everywhere, for example Acts 11:20-23, 21:3-4, 1 Corinthians 16:19-20. These networks may be formal or very informal, but where there is no network, encourage people to talk and swap ideas. Adapt what others have done rather than developing it again from scratch, and work together, especially for training. Host workshops, share books, DVDs and digital resources, go on retreats with other groups, share meals, share bread and wine together.

Don’t keep things to yourself (Colossians 4:16). Let others learn from your mistakes and tell them about successes. Share newsletters and calendars. Set aside time in meetings for people to share, use email and the web to send out materials and stories. Promote good books, provide lists of email addresses, perhaps set up a social network group.

Try to dream and plan with other groups. People with strong APEST gifts will wake everyone up and get them dreaming, thinking and planning. Ask questions like, “What is Jesus preparing for us?”, “Where is Papa already at work in the community?”, “What does good news look like for the people around us?” Make alliances.

You will need good character, deep relationships, respect for others and appreciation for what they are and do. Do whatever you can to help others succeed in mission. Identify the essential issues and choose to understand more than to be understood. Be willing to listen.

Discuss or consider – What have you already done as a group that you could share more widely? Even very early in your shared lives there will be good things to offer others; make a list of them. Can you think of other people or groups that would benefit from hearing some of your stories? How will you
contact them? Don’t just talk about this, but begin doing it.

Sneeze the gospel

The gospel will spread easily and widely if the conditions are right, just as it did in the first few centuries in the Roman world and beyond (Acts 2:36-41). Part of our task as Jesus’ followers is to match the message to the society and culture we are part of. Read Acts together and list the ways the early church did this.

Simple, deep, meaningful messages work best; “Jesus is Lord” is a really great example because it captures a central and essential truth in just three words. The message and the people who carry it need to be very easily and quickly transferable. Distil the essence of the gospel and make church as simple and reproducible you can. At the very least, avoid unnecessary complications in both the message and the messengers.

Experiment right away without waiting until you have a perfect approach, but learn from your mistakes. Look for new ideas, new people and shared learning. Value and celebrate anyone who pioneers new ways of thinking about mission and church life. Let new believers develop their own forms of church as you pass on the basics about gospel and community. Use the passions, gifts and lifestyles you find in groups of people.

The gospel should be really simple to catch and very infectious. But progress may seem slow so you will need to be quite persistent and very, very patient. Pray often and with great hope and expectation; think carefully and sympathetically about the host community but keep church as simple as you can, small and really easy for others to copy. Pray especially for more workers to gather in the harvest (Luke 10:2).

Discuss or consider – You are already far enough along to begin spreading the good news far and wide. I’m telling you – you are! Talk about how this process is going. Think together about better ways to work in the future. Can you simplify things? Pray for specific people you know who need to hear and see the truth. How will you demonstrate Jesus to them?

Facilitating growth and change

Think deeply and talk together about what you are doing; pray about how you might reach those around you (Ephesians 6:18-20). Ask the Holy Spirit to speak to you and guide you (as he did Peter in Acts 10:9-23). Consider re-reading this part of JDMC later and revising your approach as necessary.

Do your best to be practical but try to understand the underlying reasons for what you are doing. Bounce ideas off one another and keep thinking about how living things grow and reproduce – that is how church will grow and reproduce too. Something big can grow from the tiniest seed. Try to work out where you are weak and where you are strong. The objective is to keep moving forwards and trying new things. Think in terms of new ways and old ways, going forward but also reflecting on where you have come from, focussing on Jesus but not for one moment forgetting the people living all around you. Remember the seeds but don’t forget the tree, remember the tree but don’t forget the forest!

Discuss or consider – You decide to plant a daffodil in your garden. Would it be better to buy a plastic flower for immediate effect, or plant a bulb, water it, keep the weeds away, and wait for it to grow? How many daffodils will you have in ten years time? Did you make them grow?

More sections of JDMC

Introduction – JDMC, what does it contain? – Using JDMC – how to approach it

Working together in six ways – Intro and Way 1 – Ways 2, 3 and 4 – Ways 5 and 6, six ways

Way One, Jesus at the centre – Jesus at centre 1 – Jesus at centre 2 – Jesus at centre 3

Way Two, Becoming disciples – Disciples 1 – Disciples 2 – Disciples 3

Way Three, Outward and integrated – OutAndInt1, OutAndInt2

Way Four, Gifts for building – GiftsForBuilding1, GiftsForBuilding2

Way Five, A living organism – LivingOrg1, LivingOrg2

More sections will appear here…

The work of the Spirit – Intro – Jesus, disciples, outward – Gifts, living, community, help

Other church leaders – Intro, bishops, elders – Deacons, pastors, priests

Last words – The end can also be the beginning

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Read the book

This was extracted from Jesus, Disciple, Mission, Church (JDMC), pages 17 and 18. Download the whole thing or read it online – GetJDMC.scilla.org.uk

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If you enjoyed this or found it useful, please like, comment, and share below. (If you don’t see those links, click the article’s title above the main photo and they will appear.) Send a link to friends who might enjoy the article or benefit from it – Thanks! My material is free to reuse (see conditions), but a coffee is always welcome and encourages me to write more often!

A living organism-1

Encourage passion and ownership by telling great stories; invite people to act with boldness and ‘have a go’; involve everyone in planning.

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This article is an updated extract from my short book, Jesus, Disciple, Mission, Church (JDMC). The bite-sized piece below is roughly two percent of the book. This is the first part of the fifth forgotten way.

Introduction

The New Testament likens the church and the kingdom of heaven to various other things. These include the human body (1 Corinthians 12:27), farmers’ fields (1 Corinthians 3:9), the effect of yeast (Matthew 13:33), seeds (1 Corinthians 3:6) and trees (Luke 13:18-19). These are great illustrations because church actually does behave quite like a living thing. Church is alive! It is Christ’s body. Of course, church and kingdom are two different things; church is part of the King’s domain, though by no means all of it. But both are alive.

Think about it. The church grows, reproduces and responds to the world around it. It develops and matures; it spreads like seeds or a virus. The good news about Jesus spreads from one receptive person to the next as we talk about it and especially as we live it out. You can see all of this at work in the book of Acts. Some of the most astonishing Jesus movements have had loose network structures and have spread widely and rapidly. Think in terms of a forest or a city of people; each tree or citizen is like a local church while a movement is a network like a forest or city.

Jesus said, ‘I will build my church and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it’ (Matthew 16:18). So what sort of environment has he provided in which this building (or growing) will take place? History shows that whenever there has been major growth in mission there has always been apostolic leadership at work.

It’s very important to encourage real life in church; we need to get the structure right for that and we will have to help the lifelike processes of growing and reproducing come to the fore. To do this, we must avoid too much organisation and control, things we tend to like because they make us feel useful and safe. But we shouldn’t be in control – Jesus should!

Discuss or consider – Talk about the structure and management of what you do. Are there things you need to change? Are there things you should stop doing How might you free people up and encourage more natural processes to take over.

Keep moving on

Think and talk about church as a movement. Aim to plant movements, not churches. Pay attention to stories of great movements past and present, read books about them, get excited about the possibilities.

Begin consciously behaving as a movement. Be fluid and adaptable, ready to take risks, build in lifelike structures, aim to multiply, dream and experiment, look into ways of changing from what you are to what you need to become. Remember that movements are networks; find as many ways as you can of connecting people really widely.

Discuss or consider – What might prevent you from moving forward? Talk about the way you think, your expectations and your goals. Are these as flexible as they need to be? When change becomes necessary, what forces might stand in the way? What is the difference between a movement and a church?

Structure for life

Change or remove anything and everything that stifles real life; good structures are very simple and easy to copy. Think about gardening rather than engineering because gardening involves living things. What is the easiest way to make a city? What is the easiest way to make a forest?

Remember that living things grow by themselves according to the life code (DNA) that is within them. An oak tree cannot produce grains of wheat and an acorn can never grow into a cabbage. In the same way, it’s impossible for the church to produce seeds of injustice and someone who continues to follow Jesus can never grow into a thief. Each grows according to its type. Jesus said we’d be known by the fruit we produce, either good or bad. Aim to produce plentiful, good fruit! (Matthew 7:15-20).

In other words, you don’t need to make the church grow. You can’t! All you can do is help the process start and provide the right conditions. Take good seed, bury it to the right depth in well tilled and manured ground, make sure it has enough water, keep away weeds and pests and your job is done. There will be a good harvest, but it might take a little time and patience.

Make sure leaders give power away, not hold onto it as the world tends to do; leaders should see themselves as servants (Matthew 20:25-28). Encourage every part of your group to think for itself, and give everyone the opportunity to use their gifts and interests freely and fully. What did Paul write about the body of Christ? (Ephesians 4:11-13) Encourage passion and ownership by telling great stories; invite people to act with boldness and ‘have a go’; involve everyone in planning. Celebrate every success; rethink and retry after every failure. Learn from every mistake and look for the positive aspects; never give up.

Share information as widely and openly as possible. Get apostles, prophets, evangelists, shepherds and teachers to explain what they do to everyone. Share any problems and talk about them; if possible become part of a wider network; welcome change whenever it’s needed. Don’t try to turn chaos into order but instead see if you can find meaning in the chaos. You may need to change your point of view or encourage others to say what they think.

It’s best to structure things around the passion, energy and life that you see in people. Everyone is a potential power house in their own, unique way so encourage them to be more active, not less. Don’t build ‘windbreaks’ that slow the wind down, instead build ‘windmills’ that harness its energy. Remove obstructions to active life and, when that is not possible, find alternative pathways to get around them. Build mission and church around people’s interests, and choose meeting times to avoid clashing with social gatherings in the wider community. Let go when something is no longer useful, support new ideas and fresh energy whenever they appear in the group.

Shared beliefs and purposes are great at holding networks together. So form common values, beliefs and practices and help newcomers to understand them. Find simple, clear, memorable ways to talk about them. Share the stories of the group’s origins often and in as many ways as possible. Encourage one another and tell people why you value them.

Discuss or consider – Spend some time right now to dig out the stories of how your group got started. Write these stories down; perhaps someone will
volunteer to collect them in a notebook or folder or post them to a blog.
Also, talk about the ideas in this section. How many of them are you already doing? List examples. Where do you need to do better?

More sections of JDMC

Introduction – JDMC, what does it contain? – Using JDMC – how to approach it

Working together in six ways – Intro and Way 1 – Ways 2, 3 and 4 – Ways 5 and 6, six ways

Way One, Jesus at the centre – Jesus at centre 1 – Jesus at centre 2 – Jesus at centre 3

Way Two, Becoming disciples – Disciples 1 – Disciples 2 – Disciples 3

Way Three, Outward and integrated – OutAndInt1, OutAndInt2

Way Four, Gifts for building – GiftsForBuilding1, GiftsForBuilding2

Way Five, A living organism – LivingOrg1, LivingOrg2

More sections will appear here…

The work of the Spirit – Intro – Jesus, disciples, outward – Gifts, living, community, help

Other church leaders – Intro, bishops, elders – Deacons, pastors, priests

Last words – The end can also be the beginning

< Previous | Index | Next >

Read the book

This was extracted from Jesus, Disciple, Mission, Church (JDMC), pages 17 and 18. Download the whole thing or read it online – GetJDMC.scilla.org.uk

Useful? Interesting?

If you enjoyed this or found it useful, please like, comment, and share below. (If you don’t see those links, click the article’s title above the main photo and they will appear.) Send a link to friends who might enjoy the article or benefit from it – Thanks! My material is free to reuse (see conditions), but a coffee is always welcome and encourages me to write more often!

Gifts for building-2

Talk together about the gifts you see in one another, give one another feedback; most people are strong in one or more gifts.

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This article is an updated extract from my short book, Jesus, Disciple, Mission, Church (JDMC). The bite-sized piece below is roughly two percent of the book. This is the second part of the fourth forgotten way.

B – Activating the forgotten ways (continued)

2 – Encouraging one another
As you go out to reach the world together, put time aside to think and pray about what you are doing. Ask one another questions about how things are going. A weekend retreat now and then will help with this sort of planning and remembering. Don’t slip back from mission and become inward-focussed; it happens all too easily.

Reawaken one another to the gospel, are you drifting away from your first calling as mission-minded people? Avoid becoming lukewarm (Revelation 3:14-22), be wary of busyness and make mission an essential part of life. Mission-focussed prayer helps the six elements work together as they should, so keep mission at the heart of your prayer together. This will help everyone remember that Father stirs up mission and is involved in it. Jesus said we should pray for more workers in the harvest (Luke 10:1-4). Consider prayer walking areas where you’re connecting with people.

Jesus said, ‘I will build my church and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it’ (Matthew 16:18). So what sort of environment has he provided in which this building (or growing) will take place? History shows that whenever there has been major growth in mission there has always been apostolic leadership at work.

Discuss – How are you doing in these areas? Talk together about successes
and failures, ways you might do more or improve your focus. Pray  about it.

C – Identifying purpose

There will be a reason that your group exists, it is likely to be something to do with a shared passion which has been implanted in you by the Spirit for a specific purpose. Read Isaiah 55, and especially verse 11. Find out what you are passionate about, Papa will reveal it to you, and he will walk in it with you as well. Is it a particular function (such as helping the poor, feeding the hungry, or reaching the lonely)? Is it to reach out to a specific area or people group? Whatever it may be, talk about it, pray about it, and ask one another significant questions. Apostolic leadership will help this process.

It takes patience and commitment to discover purpose. Pray regularly, reflect and work together, ask outsiders who are familiar with what you do. Here are some useful questions… Why did the Lord create the group? What was the original dream? How has the group been used? What does the group do best?

Discuss or consider – What is your purpose? If you don’t yet know, agree to spend some time investigating.

D – Growing the gifts

Read and watch material that helps you develop an understanding of the five service gifts – they’re often called ministry gifts (Ephesians 4:11-12). Check out the JDMC section on The APEST gifts as a starting point. Talk together about the gifts you see in one another, give one another feedback; most people are strong in one or more gifts. Recognise that these gifts are not limited to experts, but are distributed throughout the body. If any of the gifts is significantly absent in your group, ask Jesus to bring the right people to join you. There’s no room here to examine all the service gifts in depth, but make time to understand them early.

Use the do it and consider it approach mentioned earlier. Provide books, DVDs and articles and encourage people to go to conferences and workshops. Find suitable networks. Explore ‘For more information’ at the end of this part of JDMC and use the material.

Be careful not to control anyone (Matthew 20:25-28), there’s no need for it and it undermines the life that Father has poured into the group. Instead, just inspire people and let them do what they do best. People don’t have power because it’s been granted by a leader but because it’s been granted by Jesus (Acts 1:8). Look for passion, ask questions, encourage experimentation. Free up time for all this, don’t over-programme, and aim to get the group dreaming.

Discuss or consider – Delegate five people from your group (or five small teams of people) to find out more about the five service gifts. One person or team to investigate one gift. Agree a time to report back, perhaps a week or two.

E – Sparking connections

Apostolic people link others together for positive action (Acts 11:19-30). Encourage them! They are starters, full of ideas, and inspire others. As catalysts, they get people talking and connect those with similar passions. They intuitively keep track of people and relationships. Sometimes they even network networks. If that sounds strange, just think of the internet. It’s called the internet because it networks company, government, and other networks. Apostles sometimes work at that sort of scale – Paul did.

People with an apostolic gift are widely connected and love to put the people they know in touch with one another. Sometimes the results are startling and unpredictable (in a good way). Movements really need people who can do this, it makes it far easier for good ideas to be shared widely and rapidly. A well-connected movement is an agile movement. Not everyone who sparks connections is apostolic, but all apostles are good at this.

scuss – Do you know anyone with this ability to connect people and
build networks? Could you do this too? Like all the gifts of service, this is
part of the church DNA that is in all of us to some degre

Discuss or consider – Do you know anyone with this ability to connect people and build networks? Could you do this too? Like all the gifts of service, this is part of the church DNA that is in all of us to some degree.

Develop and encourage each other

Bounce ideas off one another and keep thinking about the gifts of service. Try to work out where each of you is strongest and encourage any strengths (2 Corinthians 13:11). Tell one another, ‘I noticed you come alongside Steve when he was struggling. It seems to me you have some of the instincts of a shepherd. Well done!’, or, ‘I’m glad you reminded us to pray earlier, we needed to hear that.’ And above all, look for and encourage everyone who shows signs of going out to actively press forward with new things, laying foundations, making a fresh start, stirring people up, drawing out dormant gifts.

More sections of JDMC

Introduction – JDMC, what does it contain? – Using JDMC – how to approach it

Working together in six ways – Intro and Way 1 – Ways 2, 3 and 4 – Ways 5 and 6, six ways

Way One, Jesus at the centre – Jesus at centre 1 – Jesus at centre 2 – Jesus at centre 3

Way Two, Becoming disciples – Disciples 1 – Disciples 2 – Disciples 3

Way Three, Outward and integrated – OutAndInt1, OutAndInt2

Way Four, Gifts for building – GiftsForBuilding1, GiftsForBuilding2

Way Five, A living organism – LivingOrg1, LivingOrg2

More sections will appear here…

The work of the Spirit – Intro – Jesus, disciples, outward – Gifts, living, community, help

Other church leaders – Intro, bishops, elders – Deacons, pastors, priests

Last words – The end can also be the beginning

< Previous | Index | Next >

Read the book

This was extracted from Jesus, Disciple, Mission, Church (JDMC), pages 17 and 18. Download the whole thing or read it online – GetJDMC.scilla.org.uk

Useful? Interesting?

If you enjoyed this or found it useful, please like, comment, and share below. (If you don’t see those links, click the article’s title above the main photo and they will appear.) Send a link to friends who might enjoy the article or benefit from it – Thanks! My material is free to reuse (see conditions), but a coffee is always welcome and encourages me to write more often!

Gifts for building-1

By watching Jesus at work we see what the Father is like. And by watching us at work people will see what Jesus is like. Now go and turn that theory into practice.

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This article is an updated extract from my short book, Jesus, Disciple, Mission, Church (JDMC). The bite-sized piece below is roughly two percent of the book. This makes a start on the fourth forgotten way.

Everything that happens in life depends on its surroundings, and that can have a big impact. Any gardener will tell you that some plants need plenty of sun and a freely draining soil, others need moist and shady conditions, and yet others only grow in acid soils. And of course almost nothing grows in a desert.

Jesus said, ‘I will build my church and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it’ (Matthew 16:18). So what sort of environment has he provided in which this building (or growing) will take place? History shows that whenever there has been major growth in mission there has always been apostolic leadership at work.

Discuss or consider – What do you think an apostle is? What does an apostle do? Don’t worry if you are vague about the work of apostles; church in the West has had little to say about them for a very long time.

Gifts of service

People with an apostolic gift draw the church back to its essential task, guiding it into reaching and changing the world. This work of mission has been forgotten again and again throughout church history. Not only that, apostles stir us up into developing our own gifts and callings.

These people care for the gospel and remind us of its eternal purpose. They pioneer new forms of mission and church, they take care that all six forgotten ways are present and active. They keep things on track, and they offer a nurturing home where other essential gifts can work to good effect. In the list below, each gift produces a suitable environment for the next one.

Work of an Apostle > Work of a Prophet > Work of an Evangelist > Work of
a Shepherd > Work of a Teacher – (APEST).

These are all gifts of service; the purpose of the gifts is for the building up of the church so that we can all become mature (Ephesians 4:11-16). Throughout the long history of the Western church, the apostolic and some other service gifts have been overlooked and only those of pastor (shepherd) and teacher have been widely used. The results have been ineffective and short on impact. There is no space in this section to detail the other gifts, but they’re all covered in Part 9, The APEST gifts.

We’ll look at the five main activities of apostles (A – pioneering mission, B – activating the forgotten ways, C – identifying purpose, D – growing the gifts, and E – making connections). See if you can spot people like this in your own group; they’re almost certainly there. Help them to become active, value them, encourage them. And why not try for yourself? Anyone can do apostolic things at some level, but people with an apostolic gift will revel in them and excel.

Great places to look for inspiring examples are Acts and the New Testament letters. Paul is a wonderful example of the gift of apostle. Read Journeys to Significance for more about Paul. And don’t forget that Jesus reveals in himself all of the gifts from apostle right through to teacher, so look for powerful examples in the gospels too.

Discuss or consider – Can you find at least one or two examples of of each of the five apostolic activities in the New Testament? If you’re stuck, come back to the question after completing the rest of this part of JDMC.

A – Pioneering mission

Releasing new communities is a healthy thing to do, so always have new projects on the go. Dream, pray, form teams, and make a start (Luke 9:1-6). Apostolic stimulation and guidance are needed for this to happen, and it can’t be rushed. Close supervision and micromanagement are very unhelpful.

Try lots of new ideas even if they seem risky: see failure as a chance to learn. It’s useful to think about Christianity as always pioneering things; there are plenty of biblical examples of this; find them and study them. Make and cheer on some heroes (people who will go out and try new things). See how quickly Paul seized an opportunity in Athens (Acts 17:16-34).

Implant the idea of mission in the heart of the community. Tell stories about the early church and the church in China. Suggest everyone reads books like The Starfish and the Spider. Get everyone to consider how to make church simple and reproducible.

Map out the process needed and get people to work through it. Often, the map will emerge later and can be written down when it’s clear.

Discuss or consider – Are you at a stage where you can begin to spawn off new communities? Even if you are a very new group yourselves, you can dream about it, pray about it and talk about it. If you’ve been together for more than a year, ask yourselves, ‘What is holding us back?’

B – Activating the forgotten ways

1 – Thinking it through – This is all about a culture and a way of life. Encourage people to work through JDMC and read The Forgotten Ways; help them understand the ideas they contain. It may not be clear to people at first; parts of it have been forgotten for a long time and are not part of normal church life in the West. Clarify thinking about the entire system, not just the six parts individually. Active mission helps us live out Jesus’ calling. Apostolic people will help a group absorb these ideas by explaining their value and guiding their development.

As a group, think about Father’s work in redeeming his creation through the Son (Revelation 21:5). Read and explore the Bible on this, go to conferences together, listen to recorded teaching, share books and articles about going out and going deep. Retelling stories of success is an inspiring thing to do. It will help you see how you’ve been used, remind you of your calling and make the future clearer. Write down your most exciting stories, ask people for memories, keep photos and make slide shows, interview people and collect the stories in a book.

Here’s the theory – by watching Jesus at work we see what the Father is like. And by watching us at work people will see what Jesus is like. Now go and turn that theory into practice. Demonstrate Jesus’ love and grace to the people around you. To do it you will need to live a life that’s deeply integrated in the local culture.

Discuss or consider – Even if you are a new group, it’s likely you have at least a few stories to tell. Re-share them and write them down now, before they are forgotten. They’ll be useful later!

See also:
More sections of JDMC

Introduction – JDMC, what does it contain? – Using JDMC – how to approach it

Working together in six ways – Intro and Way 1 – Ways 2, 3 and 4 – Ways 5 and 6, six ways

Way One, Jesus at the centre – Jesus at centre 1 – Jesus at centre 2 – Jesus at centre 3

Way Two, Becoming disciples – Disciples 1 – Disciples 2 – Disciples 3

Way Three, Outward and integrated – OutAndInt1, OutAndInt2

Way Four, Gifts for building – GiftsForBuilding1, GiftsForBuilding2

Way Five, A living organism – LivingOrg1, LivingOrg2

More sections will appear here…

The work of the Spirit – Intro – Jesus, disciples, outward – Gifts, living, community, help

Other church leaders – Intro, bishops, elders – Deacons, pastors, priests

Last words – The end can also be the beginning

< Previous | Index | Next >

Read the book

This was extracted from Jesus, Disciple, Mission, Church (JDMC), pages 17 and 18. Download the whole thing or read it online – GetJDMC.scilla.org.uk

Useful? Interesting?

If you enjoyed this or found it useful, please like, comment, and share below. (If you don’t see those links, click the article’s title above the main photo and they will appear.) Send a link to friends who might enjoy the article or benefit from it – Thanks! My material is free to reuse (see conditions), but a coffee is always welcome and encourages me to write more often!

Outward and integrated-2

By watching Jesus at work we see what the Father is like. And by watching us at work people will see what Jesus is like. Now go and turn that theory into practice.

< Previous | Index | Next >

This article is an updated extract from my short book, Jesus, Disciple, Mission, Church (JDMC). The bite-sized piece below is roughly two percent of the book. This completes the third forgotten way.

Deeply integrated

Become significant in the lives of other people; make the time and commitment for it to happen. Your local culture is an asset, use it to the full; be involved in significant events like weddings, funerals, and parties (John 2:1-10). Develop conversational skills, interact like Jesus did, follow up with people, and build a network of friendships (John 4:5-26). But don’t spread yourself too thinly; devote most of your time to relatively few people so you can get to know them well. Take part in local projects and groups, community gardens, fundraising for a school, helping at a care home, joining a walking group or anything like that.

Discuss or consider – See how many ideas you can list that involve local activities. Choose one or two of them and consider how you could make a start

Tell the story

It’s essential to share the story of the good news with people. This means noticing opportunities as they arise in conversation, loving people deeply, finding out how the Lord has already touched them, and focussing on Jesus. Remember that Father is already at work in people’s lives; try to find out how, listen well, and ask probing questions (Jesus did).

Storytelling is a great tool. Tell some of the stories that Jesus told (the parables) and use your own words to share the things he did and the conversations he had. But don’t forget to tell the stories of Jesus’ work in your own life and those of others you know. People engage with stories and often identify with them and become emotionally involved. As an example, Luke 7:36-50 is a great story to tell to anyone who wants to come closer to Jesus. Build your own collection of favourite stories, learn them well and tell them in your own words when people need to hear them.

Live the life!

We must not only speak the good news, we must live it out too. People will notice straight away if what we say and what we do don’t match. As in everything, just look to Jesus for some examples. He loved life and he loved people (John 11:1-3), he ate and drank with them (Luke 15:1-2), partied with them (John 2:1-11), and demonstrated the love, welcome and joy that is in the Father’s heart. He said, ‘I only do what I see the Father do’.

Here’s the theory – by watching Jesus at work we see what the Father is like. And by watching us at work people will see what Jesus is like. Now go and turn that theory into practice. Demonstrate Jesus’ love and grace to the people around you. To do it you will need to live a life that’s deeply integrated in the local culture.

Holy does not mean distant or stuffy. Jesus is holy and we must follow him into the energy and joy of living as he did. Be light and salt; make people’s lives brighter and better flavoured. Be kind, be thoughtful, love much; maybe there are ways you can turn water into wine (at least figuratively). Eat with people often. Sharing reveals Father’s welcoming nature. Invite the poor and lonely, become known for the best parties in your area.

Discuss or consider – Think about the many ways you could show people that you love them. What about the difficult people who sometimes seem hard to love? How will you behave towards people like that? List some ways to bless and encourage the people you know.

A new faith community

Expect a new faith community to gradually develop as you continue to go deep. Let it grow in its own way; don’t try to mould it into what you have done before; let the community own it. And don’t try to draw people out of their natural culture. Don’t just identify with local people but allow yourself to become one of them. Try to understand which aspects of the community support the gospel and what gets in the way. Focus on ways of rescuing the culture and guiding it towards Father’s purpose for it.

Mission can and should continue from this new community. Send small groups out again to carry the gospel into further new contexts.

Discuss or consider – How will you avoid the temptation to mould new faith communities of your own experience and style of church life? What did Jesus mean when he said, ‘On this rock I will build my church’? (Matthew 16:18) Hint: He didn’t mean he would base it on Peter. What is the basis of church? (check verses 15-17) Who does the building

Probe and challenge

Jesus challenged commonly held views in his own, Jewish, culture. The Samaritans were strongly disliked by Jews – unholy and to be avoided. Jesus came into Jewish culture and lived amongst the people who held these views, but he challenged them. He told the story of the good Samaritan. He had a shocking conversation with a Samaritan woman at the well outside her village; the disciples were quite surprised but afraid to ask him about it (John 4:27). He healed a group of lepers; one of them was a Samaritan. Read what happened next in Luke 17:11-19.

We, too, should sometimes challenge the accepted norms of the local culture. Where there are thought patterns or customs that are strongly against the underlying principles Jesus taught, we can and should find ways to call people to change. But be very careful, where there is no conflict with the way of Jesus we are not justified in calling for change. Victorian missionaries sometimes made this mistake by assuming they should bring their entire culture as part of the good news.

Discuss or consider – Think about missionaries in Africa in the nineteenth century. Which of the following things needed to change and which did not? – Clothing, education, head hunting, nose piercing, body paint, farming, medicine, cursing enemies? How can you avoid making similar mistakes?

Keep on going

It would be a pity to work through this part of the guide and then move on as if nothing had changed. See the material as an opportunity to live life differently in the future. Keep changing, keep moving forward, return to this part of the guide again to check on progress. What has changed in your lives since the last time, what still needs to change?

It’s always possible to go out and deep more than before; so don’t stand still, keep learning and experimenting with new ways of reaching out. Go deeper and deeper into the community and culture you are trying to reach. Remember Jesus’ great command to ‘Go and make disciples of every nation’ (Matthew 28:18-20).

Discuss or consider – What are the main discoveries you made as you worked through this chapter? What will you do differently in future?

More sections of JDMC

Introduction – JDMC, what does it contain? – Using JDMC – how to approach it

Working together in six ways – Intro and Way 1 – Ways 2, 3 and 4 – Ways 5 and 6, six ways

Way One, Jesus at the centre – Jesus at centre 1 – Jesus at centre 2 – Jesus at centre 3

Way Two, Becoming disciples – Disciples 1 – Disciples 2 – Disciples 3

Way Three, Outward and integrated – OutAndInt1, OutAndInt2

Way Four, Gifts for building – GiftsForBuilding1, GiftsForBuilding2

Way Five, A living organism – LivingOrg1, LivingOrg2

More sections will appear here…

The work of the Spirit – Intro – Jesus, disciples, outward – Gifts, living, community, help

Other church leaders – Intro, bishops, elders – Deacons, pastors, priests

Last words – The end can also be the beginning

< Previous | Index | Next >

Read the book

This was extracted from Jesus, Disciple, Mission, Church (JDMC), pages 17 and 18. Download the whole thing or read it online – GetJDMC.scilla.org.uk

Useful? Interesting?

If you enjoyed this or found it useful, please like, comment, and share below. (If you don’t see those links, click the article’s title above the main photo and they will appear.) Send a link to friends who might enjoy the article or benefit from it – Thanks! My material is free to reuse (see conditions), but a coffee is always welcome and encourages me to write more often!

Outward and integrated-1

If we let him, Jesus will take us first into mission and then into new church life, shaped as he wants it to be. And this will be different depending on whether we live in France or Fiji, inner city or village, or among the poor or rich.

< Previous | Index | Next >

This article is an updated extract from my short book, Jesus, Disciple, Mission, Church (JDMC). The bite-sized piece below is roughly two percent of the book. This time we make a start on the third forgotten way.

Once we are growing as apprentices (disciples), we will quickly realize that there are other steps to be taken. We are not only to be apprentices, we’re also to make more apprentices. On the one hand this is about being mission minded (Matthew 28:19), a people who are always going out into the world. On the other hand it’s about being embedded in the culture around us, a people who are deeply involved (1 Corinthians 9:19-23).

Mission is far more than just a church activity because it’s based on Father’s constant intention to mend and restore creation. We often try to attract or even cajole the world into coming to what we are doing, but Father sends us out. Drawing people in separates them from their culture and friends; to catch lots of fish we must put out to sea where the fish live, not just sit on the pier with a rod and line trying to hook them onto dry land.

Get stuck right in with the business of making disciples and growing in discipleship. (Acts 14:21-22) Don’t wait. Be active right from the start. Then reflect together, pray together and celebrate what Jesus is doing amongst you and around you. What went well? What might have been done better? What can you learn?

Discuss – Think about how you might share in a culture in order to reach
the people there. How fully present will you be among the people you want
to reach? Do you know who they are yet?

Doing it Jesus’ way

Be wary of reforming people, persuading them to wear different clothes, eat different food or change their customs, culture and language. This won’t reveal Christ to them! If you claim to represent Jesus, they will assume that he is like you. Jesus came to live among the ordinary people of Judea and Galilee and he expects us to live among the people around us and identify with them; this demands that we go deep, something Paul understood and practised (1 Corinthians 9:19–23). Jesus shows us how to do it, he ate with Pharisees and tax collectors. He was fully present. He came as a servant and he shared the good news. It’s completely astounding that the Almighty Creator of the universe lived as a man among the village folk of Galilee for thirty years – and nobody noticed! That shows us how deeply he involved himself in the local culture, he became invisible.

Jesus is our example for going out and going deep. These two activities work together so that the gospel (good news) and the church (the gospel people) become firmly embedded in the local community. Rapid expansion is not going to happen any other way. We need to understand that knowing Jesus more deeply will lead us into both going out (Luke 10:1-4) and going deep (Luke 10:5-7). That will affect what church looks like in the place where we live. If we let him, Jesus will take us first into mission and then into new church life, shaped as he wants it to be. And this will be different depending on whether we live in France or Fiji, inner city or village, or among the poor or rich.

Discuss or consider – Will you identify with people as you find them, or will you bring your own culture with you as if that, too, is part of the good news? Jesus came in weakness, he came to give up his life. Talk about what that might mean for you as you follow him.

Getting out there

Getting close to the people we want to connect with is something we can plan for. Living in the locality is a good start. Find out where people gather and go there regularly (Acts 16:13-16, Acts 17:17), if possible go in pairs or small groups. Cafes, sports clubs, pubs, the market place and local parks are all good places to choose. Use these places for your planning meetings and discussions. Walk your dog regularly and get to know the people you meet on the way, take books and study material to the library or a local cafe and read there. Join local clubs and societies that interest you. The more often you are in the same place at the same time the more likely you are to meet the same people and get to know them.

You will need to make space for this in a busy life. Good relationships grow informally over time so be available for that to happen. Stay longer to talk; be willing to go somewhere else when a friend needs help. Make time at weekends when most people relax; simplify and streamline your life to make this possible. reduce the time you spend planning and meeting as a group or church so that you can be more available in the local community.

Be creative and try as many new ideas as you can. A good way to start random conversations with people is to offer them something they don’t expect. Take a container of cupcakes to give away, or hot soup in the winter. Ask people to choose their favourite photo from a folder and then give it to them to take home. You’ll be surprised how open people can be when you do things like this. As you read the gospels, notice how Jesus engaged people.

Ask yourselves questions such as – Where do people gather? Where do they find meaning and identity? Where is the Lord already working? How can I join in? What does good news look like to these people? Think about the groups of people you are being called to reach. Make friends with local influencers and leaders, people who are spiritually open and have good reputations. Again, in the gospels, notice where Jesus went and who he talked with.

Discuss or consider – Talk about some ways you might go out taking love and good news with you. What groups of people do you think you might reach? Think of things that will work among those people. What would be good news for them? Write down these ideas so you can refer back to them later. Take time to pray about it before moving on with the next section.

See also:

Discipleship – Dave Gibbons, Verge

More sections of JDMC

Introduction – JDMC, what does it contain? – Using JDMC – how to approach it

Working together in six ways – Intro and Way 1 – Ways 2, 3 and 4 – Ways 5 and 6, six ways

Way One, Jesus at the centre – Jesus at centre 1 – Jesus at centre 2 – Jesus at centre 3

Way Two, Becoming disciples – Disciples 1 – Disciples 2 – Disciples 3

Way Three, Outward and integrated – OutAndInt1, OutAndInt2

Way Four, Gifts for building – GiftsForBuilding1, GiftsForBuilding2

Way Five, A living organism – LivingOrg1, LivingOrg2

More sections will appear here…

The work of the Spirit – Intro – Jesus, disciples, outward – Gifts, living, community, help

Other church leaders – Intro, bishops, elders – Deacons, pastors, priests

Last words – The end can also be the beginning

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This was extracted from Jesus, Disciple, Mission, Church (JDMC), pages 21 and 22. Download the whole thing or read it online – GetJDMC.scilla.org.uk

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