Pray
Pray fervently with God's heart for the people you are reaching out to. Pray to meet people by “divine appointments.” Pray until you can weep over people. Pray fervently. Fast and pray. Walk and pray. Ask God to let you see what He sees and feel what He feels.
It is in the place of prayer that God will reveal the unfulfilled purposes and broken covenants for the people you are reaching. Pray for a man or woman of peace to open the door the hearts and minds of people you are reaching. Pray for understanding and love of the culture. Pray for the word of the Lord to guide you and give you specific strategies to make disciples, train leaders and plant a church planting movement.
Meet
Meet people where they are. Hang out with those who don't know Jesus. Get outside the Christian bubble. Resist the temptation and emotional need to focus on teams issues that absorb your time and energy. As you pray, trust God to give you strategies for meeting people. Begin to build a network of relationships, what the Bible calls an “oikos” (literally a household). This network is the beginning of your future church plant. This network of relationships will become the future support system for those who accept Christ if they are disenfranchised by their family and friends. Build this network in faith that it will become a church for God in that place.
Meet the “felt needs” of people. That may be done by being a friend, listening, enjoying a similar recreation, teaching English, starting a medical clinic, launching a community development project, or starting a business that employs people. Discern the felt needs of people through prayer and asking questions. Allow local leaders to be “in control” of the process of determining their needs and the best way to meet those needs. Serve the people you are called to reach. Be careful not to impose your discernment of their needs and the best way to meet those needs on people. Let them tell you their felt needs and how they would like you to help meet those needs.
Make
Make disciples. Invest in people's lives. Don't wait for them to pray a prayer to accept Jesus or say they want to follow Jesus to invest in them as people. Disciple making is another way of describing evangelism, and of building meaningful relationships. As you build those relationships, seek to discern what God has in His heart for each person.
Jesus commanded us to make disciples. Disciple making is about introducing people to Jesus in such a way that they get to know Him personally, and then learn to love and obey Him. When it's the right time, teach people the seven commands of Jesus:
- Repent and believe
- Be baptized
- Forgive
- Give
- Pray
- Gather with others
- Make disciples of all nations
Do not hesitate to tell new believers the cost of following Jesus. Emphasize the privilege of going to other nations so God's mission is part of their spiritual DNA.
Gather
Gather those you meet who are spiritually open with other seekers for fun, hanging out, enjoying common interests, prayer, and study of God's word. Focus on the words and stories of Jesus. Don't wait for them to say they want to become a follower of Jesus to gather people into a community of friends. Gathering around a meal with others is one of the best ways to build community. Jesus said that where two or three gather in His name, He is with them. This is “church” in it's simplest, most essential form. Nothing more is needed to “be church.” There is more that can be done to contribute to growing a healthy, vibrant church (see Acts 2:42-47), but gathering people together is the beginning of planting that church.
Multiply
Plan for growth. From the beginning, train new believers to take responsibility for your meetings and outreaches. Stay in the background as much as possible to encourage others to grow and exercise their spiritual gifts. As soon as you reach 15-20 people, multiply. Start a new gathering. Give those you have been investing in assignments that will help you discern their giftings, strengths, and weaknesses. Build the community from the beginning, just like Paul did, by facilitating the development of indigenous leadership.
Obviously, the challenges of incarnational mission are more complex than represented here. But the greatest challenge of mission is to stay simple and focused in all our efforts. Mission that results in lasting impact is mission that focuses on changed lives, one person and one community at a time. We should dream big, but we must build small. And that means perseverance, courage, sacrifice and staying on task until God's Kingdom comes and His will is done.
All Nations
http://www.allnations.us
ReplyDeleteAll of these steps are not easy but workable and attainable by God's help. I'll follow these steps, inform you, thank you.
how do I cite this page for a paper?
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