Doing as the Apostle Paul Did

10 Reasons Pastors and Missionaries Don’t Follow Paul’s Principles of Church Planting: 

Because of the orderly fashion in which the book of Acts is written, and because of the missions and leadership principles Luke deals with, we may assume he intended Acts to serve as a training manual for pastors and missionaries who were committed to spreading the Gospel. Unfortunately, most Christian leaders don’t accept the Book of Acts as a guide for how to plant and multiply churches. I am convinced that if spiritual leaders spent just half their time doing what Paul did, the world would already have been evangelized several times over. And the churches they planted would have been born with multiplication in their genetic code. 

Why don’t missionaries and pastors follow the principles and practices of Paul? I asked that same question recently of a group of young missionaries in training with All Nations. Here are some of their answers:

1.     Fear of Death

People just don’t want to die like Paul did. Paul’s methods for reaching the unreached and the unchurched are so radical that they guarantee fierce opposition, even persecution and death. 

2.     Intimidation

Most of us don’t think we are a “Paul.” Pastors and missionaries excuse themselves by saying Paul was a “special person with a special anointing.”

3.     Pride

On the other hand, some leaders think they can improve on the way Paul did things, so they don’t take his methods and principles seriously. One missionary said to me rather flippantly, “If Paul were alive today he would change the way he did things.” When I asked him why he thought that way, he didn’t know. He just assumed Paul would learn from our understanding and make changes accordingly. What arrogance!

4.     Unfocused Goals

Many spiritual leaders have unclear goals of what they want to accomplish. Staying busy in ministry can easily take the place of being effective in ministry.  

5.     Unbelief

For some, the challenge to trust the Holy Spirit to break Satan’s strongholds over cities and nations requires steps of faith and obedience they are not willing to take.

6.     Ignorance

Few leaders have taken time to seriously study the church planting methods of Paul. Some even believe Paul had no concern for the poor. They suggest that by planting churches Paul had not thought through the best way to advance the kingdom of God. 

7.     Confused Missiology 

Another reason I see for the church not following Paul’s method of church planting is that people have changed, added to and amended how Paul did missions so much that he now gets blamed for all the slip-shod, unfocused, ineffective activity that is being done in the name of “missions.” This is especially true for short-term missions activities, where so much more could be done if the leaders of these outreaches would apply the principles and practices of the great apostle. It should be pointed out that many of the churches Paul started were established on “short term” outreaches.

8.     Poor Interpretation of Scripture

Some movements and churches have neglected the Pauline methodology because of the misunderstanding about what Jesus meant when he instructed his disciples to “...make disciples of all nations.” There is a grave mistake in the thinking of some that cross cultural missionaries are commissioned by Jesus to reform the social, economic, educational and political structures that exists in nations. “Discipling nations” has thus come to connote transforming a nation rather than spreading the gospel. This approach to missions actually devalues the important ministry God has given to ordinary persons in a local church. Christians are to be salt and light in society, but that is not the calling of the cross-cultural missionary. When cross-cultural missionaries attempt to civilize rather than evangelize, they will colonize.

9.     Inconsistent Application of Paul’s Principles

According to Roland Allen (Missionary Methods: St. Paul’s or Ours?), some people have neglected Paul’s methods because they have “...adopted fragments of St. Paul’s method and have tried to incorporate them into alien systems...” The failure that has resulted from these hybrid methodologies has been used as an excuse to reject the apostle’s methods. To quote Allen again: “For example, people have baptized uninstructed converts and the converts have fallen away; but Paul did not baptize uninstructed converts apart from a system of mutual responsibility that insured their instruction.” Obedience based discipleship based on hearing and obeying the Spirit as He instructs new converts is a much surer way to prepare followers of Jesus for baptism. 

10.  Disrespect For the Apostolic Calling of the Church 

The Pauline approach to missions has lost it’s stature in some circles because some spiritual leaders have borrowed the term “apostle” to reinforce their position of authority or dominance over their followers. Others have wanted recognition or prestige in the Body of Christ. “We are apostles,” they claim, expecting have the same title means they deserve the same respect those early apostles had. Those were men of great courage who opposed the Roman Empire, withstood the fierce persecution of the Jewish leaders, and suffered and sacrificed to spread the gospel all over the world. If so called apostles were truly “sent ones” they would be giving their time and energy to pull down Satan’s strongholds in the 10/40 window, endure stoning and jail sentences, plant scores of churches among the unreached, and spreading the good news of Jesus with courage and passion.  

Massive Fire in Masi - 1500 Shacks Burn Down - 5000 Homeless

It's the largest fire known to us in the history of the Western Cape. 1500 shack homes burned down two nights ago in Masiphumelele, and 5000 people are now homeless. We are sheltering people at Africa House (our church offices and training center). All Nations has been involved from the earliest moments the fire started - one of our leaders suffered smoke inhalation trying to rescue people.  

It is devastating. Most disturbing has been the political chaos and conflicts; elections are coming up in a few days time. 

Would you please help us respond? Please send even a small donation to the All Nations Crisis Relief Fund. We established the fund three years ago to help in disasters, provide crisis relief, and serve the poor we are partnering with in our work. Every cent goes to helping the poor in crisis situations. 

This fire effected 8 "Vulnerable Children" families - child headed households. They lost everything in the fire. There were many more  house church members and friends that have lost their homes. We are focusing on assisting about 40 families that we know personally. Everything was lost for them: clothes, life savings (hidden away in secret places in the shacks - many can't open bank accounts), fridges, beds, blankets - people ran from the inferno with only the clothes on their back, like Joseph and his family of 8. Joseph takes care of maintenance at Africa House. He even lost all of his savings of about R2500 ($350), which is like small fortune for he and his family.

We can send you a specific list of people and their needs if you would like to pray for them or give to specific families. 

Thank you... 

Floyd and Sally 

On Recent Events

I believe the death of Osama bin Laden brings a righteous measure of comfort to the families who lost loved ones on 9/11 because the mastermind who caused so much loss and pain and the face of global terror can no longer spread his evil. There is a place in God's ways for evil to be opposed with just force. But there is no place for American triumphalism. Our nation's need for humility and repentance remains unchanged. Sacrificing our children's lives on the altar of convenience, greed, injustice, pride, and moral perversion are constant reminders of our deep need of God.

Our greatest enemy is not a singular terrorist or Muslims in general, but our own rebellion and separation from God. Our greatest need is not more might or power, but humble dependence on the forgiveness of God for our sins. Our greatest challenge is not more faith in America's greatness, but fearless courage to share the good news of God's mercy revealed in the sacrificial death of Jesus Christ on our behalf.

Judgement, Hell & the Character of God

There is currently a growing debate on the part of some writers and teachers regarding the right of God to judge sin and wickedness with eternal punishment in hell. Hell seems unloving and unjust to some. 

There are several closely related but distinct doctrinal issues involved in this discussion:

- judgment

- hell

- universal salvation

- consummation 

From a personal perspective, I take no joy from the thought of God judging people’s sin. In fact, I am one of those sinners He has judged. He has judged me and found me guilty, and if it were not for the redeeming, forgiving love of Christ made known to me on the cross, I would have no hope of salvation or forgiveness.

Thank goodness that our sins are at the same time judged, and in the same great act of mercy, Jesus takes the punishment He declares all of us deserves. The cross of Christ is both judgment for sin and an offer of forgiveness. I acknowledge the rightness of the judgment and accept the offer of forgiveness. In doing so, I refuse to redefine sin to what suits me or is easy for me. 

I believe we should be very careful about backing away from God’s clear pronouncement of what sin is in the Bible. As selfish, broken people we are in no position to define what is right or wrong. Our track record in the human race does not give us the right to make such judgments.

It is the act of humble penitence that separates us as people, then, not the presence of sin. We are all sinners. All God asks of us is that we acknowledge that we have sinned against Him, that what He declares to be sin we indeed acknowledge as wicked and wrong, and we agree that we deserve punishment for our sin and unbelief.

At stake in this discussion, is our view of God’s nature and character. Does God have a right to declare what sin is, and to punish that sin in whatever way He deems right or good? It seems to me that amongst many “emergent” evangelicals there is a growing sentimentality about how we define love, and a willingness to back away from how the Bible defines punishment for that sin.

I believe God has the right to say what sin is and what punishment it deserves. But far more importantly, it is not about what I believe, but what the Bible teaches. There is no gray area. The Bible is very clear. There is sin, and God judges the sinner, and if the sinner does not come to God in sincere repentance, that person faces stern and horrible judgment. The Bible is emphatic: God is the creator, we are the creatures; He sees all, we see through a glass darkly; He judges us, we cannot judge Him.

There is no conflict between the truth of God and the Love of God. To punish sin is a manifestation of the love of God. True love means God will be loyal to His righteous and holy nature. He will not compromise His righteousness by ignoring the sin of the impenitent. 

This topic deserves a much more in depth consideration, but for now I would like to present some of the New Testament passages on 'judgment' in an attempt to lay a foundation for considering other related topics.

Romans chapters 1-3 is the most developed passage in the New Testament on the final judgment all human beings will face at the end of time. The “question behind the question” about the existence of hell and the eternal fate of the impenitent has to do with God’s judgment of sinners. Paul clearly teaches there is a judgment that we will all face:

• there will be a day of judgment – Rom. 2:5 – God will judge all men according to their works

• there are those who are storing up “wrath for themselves” – Romans 2:5 and 2:16; See also Romans 13:2, 3:6, 1 Corinthians 13:2, 11:32, 4:5, 2 Thessalonians 2:12, 2 Timothy 4:1

• on the day of judgment, the righteous will receive eternal life, and the wicked will receive wrath and fury – Rom. 2:6-10

• people will be judged by the light they have and what they have done with it – Rom. 2:1ff

• all people have the light of nature shining in their conscience by which they should recognize the existence of God and worship him alone – Rom. 1:18ff

• the Jews will be judged by the moral law of God - the 10 commandments - Rom. 2:12 - and those who do not have the law will be judged by the law of God written on their hearts – their conscience – Rom. 2:14-16

• those who believe in Christ will assist God in the judgment of the world, even to the point of judging angels – 1 Cor. 6:2-3

• Paul states that no one can survive the day of judgment based on good works they have done; people will be judged by what they know of God’s revelation in creation and the laws of God He has written on their hearts, not what they don’t know

• Jews have failed to live up to the law and that is the basis of their judgment – Gal. 3:10-12

• the final basis of God's judgment will be the gospel, how people respond to it – Romans 2:16, 2 Thess. 1:8

• salvation means acquittal from the guilt of sin by the favorable decision of the judge of all humankind, God. This decision to forgive people of their sins has been rendered  for believers through the death of Christ – Romans 3:21-26, 10:9-10

• because of God’s merciful justification of those who call upon the name of the Lord Jesus, they shall be saved from wrath on the day of judgment – Romans 10:9-10

• in Romans 1, Paul spells out the basis of judgment of the gentiles and lost people, including those who have never heard the gospel:

• all people have the knowledge of God written on their hearts

• all people have suppressed the law and knowledge of God He has given to them

• all people have gone beyond suppressing the knowledge of God, but have exchanged it and perverted it into lies

• God in His mercy has provided a way of escape for both Jews and Gentiles, and that is salvation through the redeeming love and work of Christ – Romans 3:21-28 

• because of justification by faith in Christ’s death on the cross, we who believe will be saved on the day of judgment – Romans 5:9, 2 Corinthians 5:10

• because of the reality of the terrible day of judgment and because of the love and mercy of God, we are to appeal to people to turn to Jesus and be saved by faith in His death on the cross - 2 Cor. 5:11-12

THE FINAL STATE OF THOSE WHO HAVE NOT COME TO CHRIST 

The Bible teaches the following:

• the impenitent “shall suffer the punishment of eternal destruction and exclusion from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His might”. 2 Thessalonians 1:9, 1 Thessalonians 5:3

• the rebellious and impenitent store up for themselves the judgment of God on the day of wrath when God’s righteous judgment shall be revealed. Romans 2:5, 8, 5:9, 6:23, 1 Thess. 1:10, 5:9

• Paul describes the fate of the impenitent and unsaved as “perishing” (apollumiin the Greek). This “perishing” death is both present - 1 Cor. 1:18, 2 Cor. 2:15, 4:3 - and a future state of eternal doom - Romans 2:2, 2 Thess. 2:10

• this final state of judgment is also called destruction (apoleia in the Greek) – Phil. 3:19, Romans 9:22

• Paul also calls this state of judgment, “death”. “Death” is the penalty of sin - Romans 5:12, 6:16, 23 - This term means death to the body - Romans 8:38, 1 Cor. 3:22 - but death includes much more. Death is the opposite of eternal life - Romans 6:23, 7:10, 8:6, 2Cor. 2:16 - This death is a present spiritual fact - Romans 7:16, Ephesians 2:1 - and a future fate - Romans 1:32, 6:16, 21, 23, 7:5-

• the central idea of this death is exclusion from the presence of God in his consummated, glorious kingdom -2 Thess. 1:9 - and the subsequent loss of the blessings of life that come from the enjoyment of God’s presence by the redeemed

• Paul says this final doom is a fearful condemnation that is the just desert of sin and unbelief. Though Paul doesn’t describe what this doom involves in any detail, Jesus likens it to eternal fire and darkness - Matt. 18:8, 25:41, 8:12, 22:13, 25:30 - The great and terrible reality of this punishment of death is not the formof this destruction, but it’s eternal significance. Here is the heart of this punishment called death: eternal separation from the presence of God in His Kingdom.

• God has done all things possible to bring people to Himself. If they reject His will, His love, His son’s death on the cross, they must face His judgment. In the end God can accept no opposition to His rule and reign. No man or woman can defy His will and abide in His presence. There is no Scripture anywhere in the Bible that even hints at the possibility of salvation from the punishment after death.

• Paul presents the awful reality of eternity not being a quantity of time, but a quality of existence. God’s will is to glorify Himself, that He might be “all in all” or, more descriptively, “everything to every one” (1 Cor. 15:28), for all of time.

THE DOCTRINE OF THE CONSUMMATION OF ALL THINGS

1. The doctrine of “consummation” means that when Christ returns His kingdom will be fully established and the entire creation will be made subject to his rule. Christ will enjoy preeminence – Col. 1:16-20 Phil 2:1-9, 1 Cor. 15:25, Romans 8:19-23 - those who have turned to Christ in this life will enjoy Christ and His redeemed creation in the next life.

2. In the final consummation by Christ, the physical world will be freed from the presence and decaying effect of sin and the curse of evil. Isaiah 11 and 65 present a picture of the world in the future under the rule of the Christ.

3. Some people have seen the final consummation of all things in Christ as a sort of a universal “homecoming” for the unredeemed, a universal salvation of all created beings, both human and angelic. If the verses in Colossians mentioned above are taken out of context of the totality of Pauline teaching, this interpretation can be made to stand. However, the universal acknowledgment of Christ’s Lordship is not synonymous to universal salvation. To be made to bow before the Lord of the universe is not the same to bow willingly before Him as Lord and Savior. To quote George Eldon Ladd, “There is a stern element in Paul’s eschatology that cannot be avoided. There remain recalcitrant wills that must be subdued and which will bow before Christ’s rule, even though unwillingly” (Page 568, A Theology of the New Testament, Eerdmans, 1974, Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA).

* * *

While meditating on these weighty topics and writing these few words, I have experienced no small amount of agony. It is with tears and great burden of heart that I consider the separation of the lost from the joyous presence of Christ for eternity. I realize there is a difference of understanding by others in the Body of Christ to the interpretation of Scripture I have presented here. I do not criticize those who differ from my views, or judge them. But I do appeal to them to realize the terrible consequences if they are wrong. The belief that all people will ultimately be saved and that the punishment of hell is only symbolical or short lived provides a convenient excuse for those who look for reasons not to share the good news. For others, it lightens the load of the burden we carry who believe in a "holy obligation" to make Christ known to the ends of the earth. 

Church Planting Models

Ask different organizations and churches for their model of church planting and you will probably get totally different answers. There is no universally agreed upon list or model of church planting. A lot depends on the target audience and the social, religious and political context – and the history and calling of the founder of the church or movement. God works through people!

There is a difference between a “model” and a “strategy”, and how models and strategies relate to “values”.  People often confuse “models” with “strategies.” A careful study of the life of Jesus and the life of Paul the apostle reveals that they followed well prayed through, Spirit-led strategies. In Luke 4:18, Jesus announced His strategy. It was to “preach, heal, liberate and recover…” His strategy included gathering a small group of disciples, and from them gathering leaders among them that would lead a movement that would take His message to all nations. His ultimate goal was to establish a new covenant people that filled the earth with the glory of God. When Jesus sent His disciples He gave them a strategy, and that was to “go, teach, baptize and make disciples…” A strategy is how we do ministry; a strategy can be led by the Spirit or done in the flesh. Paul’s strategy was to go to key cities, starting with the Jews first, preaching and teaching that Jesus was the messiah, with the goal of reaching the gentiles and establishing churches that would reproduce and multiply.

A model of ministry is the style of doing things, a certain approach or pattern that is followed and taught to others to follow. We can follow a model and understand the values or follow the model and not understand the Biblical values it is based on.  

A few church models popular today:

- Sunday celebration model

- Seeker sensitive model

- Sunday school model

- Recovery group model

- Emerging church model

- Cell church model

- The teaching pastor model

- The church planting movement model

- The revival and prayer model

- The dynamic worship model

To be led by the Holy Spirit does not mean we don’t have a strategy or a well thought through model for how we do things. God leads different people to follow different strategies and models. God uses our minds as the Holy Spirit inspires us to think through the best “way” of doing things for us The way He leads us is what we commonly call a “strategy”, or more often, “God’s leading”. A Spirit led strategy is carefully devised plan of action to achieve a goal. Nehemiah had a strategy for rebuilding the walls, Gideon had a strategy for defeating his enemies, and David had a strategy for fighting Goliath. Jesus had a strategy for reaching the world. Paul had a strategy for reaching the gentiles.

God’s ultimate goal for humanity is revealed in the Bible: He longs for all people to come to the knowledge of the truth and to be saved, and as a result to give glory to God. God’s ultimate goal is the worship of His son Jesus by every tribe and tongue and people. God has different ways of reaching this one great goal; those ways are His strategies, and they are passed on to us in the Bible and by the leading of the Holy Spirit.

God is the God of all knowledge and wisdom. God guides His servants with insight into how to approach various people groups and nations and religious groups bound in darkness. Preaching the good news, advancing the kingdom of God, healing the sick, revealing the secrets of people’s hearts through words of knowledge, making disciples, starting churches – are all strategies God has given the church to reach the ultimate goal of Jesus being worshipped by every tribe and nation. Jesus is the ultimate goal, and strategies are ways He leads us to glorify God by raising up worshippers to Jesus. Different ones of us in the body of Christ are creative in finding new strategies, but we cannot deviate from the “required” strategy God has commanded all of us to obey: to go, to teach, baptize and make disciples, and to  love our neighbor as yourself. We are all commanded to obey the great commandment and the great commission.

God gives new strategies for those who will listen to Him, who are open to learn new ways of doing church. Creative, God-given strategies and models for church planting give us the joy of creating new wineskins and the flexibility needed in responding to the needs of people. We are allowed and encouraged by God to be part of creating of new “wineskins”, new models of church, for the sake of advancing the kingdom and bringing glory to Jesus. New wineskins are new forms of church to reach the lost, they are “new strategies” so to speak. When we listen to the spirit, then create a new wineskin by the leading of the Holy Spirit, we who do so receive great joy, lost people receive great mercy, and God receives great glory!

For your interest as a church leader and church planter, below is one of the strategies Jesus followed in finding and equipping disciples and leaders in His movement, simply called the “crowd, curious, committed” strategy.

The crowds:  Jesus preached, healed, announced the arrival of the long awaited kingdom of God, and did and said things that gave hope to the people that God was in their midst. Jesus spent enough time with large numbers of people to plant the seed of the gospel in great abundance. He saturated whole regions of Palestine with the gospel. Sowing the gospel abundantly to large numbers of people was a strategy.  He did this my ministering to crowds physical needs, by feeding them, healing them, and teaching them. And He invited them to receive more from Him… He invited them to a better way…He intentionally stirred up lots of spiritual curiosity and hunger in the crowds.

The curious:  Jesus spoke to the crowds in order to stir up spiritual hunger in people that were open to change. These were the ones who left the crowds, usually to “get something” from Jesus, or to find out more about Him. They wanted to know more. Like Nicodemus. And the lady who wanted to be healed. And the rich young ruler. And the Samaritan woman. And of course, Peter and John, and Matthias, and Simon the Zealot, and Thomas and others of His disciples. They were amazed and intrigued by Jesus. To those who were spiritually hungry, He always gave invitations to take a further step, usually a step of obedience that would cost them something in order to become part of His disciples. He invited the “curious” to belong before they understood how or what to believe. He gave them opportunities to pursue their spiritual hunger. “Follow me…” Jesus would say. From the thousands in the crowds, Jesus looked for hundreds of curious, hungry people. He was searching for the “person of peace”. To find them, he asked those who were “curious” to take steps of obedience, to do something to show they were sincere, to pay a price to find more. That price involved selling everything they owned, or getting in a boat right then and joining him, or abandoning a funeral for a close family member, or leaving a tax table, or joining Jesus in a meal -  in their own house! Jesus sought to activate the faith of the curious and turn them into committed disciples by asking them to small steps of obedience. The discipleship that Jesus taught and modeled was obedience oriented discovery based discipleship: obey Jesus and you discover more!  

The committed:  The curious were invited to become disciples. The ones who did follow and obey Him join Jesus - these were the disciples we read about in the Bible. They were the ones who obeyed Jesus. They heard Him teach and then they did what He taught.  They were with him constantly. They stayed with Him and He rubbed off on them. They were still often confused and missed the point, but they kept coming back to Jesus.  They were the 12.  And they were also the 72 and probably several hundred more disciples whose names we don’t know.

Note that all three categories of people: the crowds, the curious, and the committed, were referred to as “followers of Jesus” if they showed interest in Jesus. Jesus honored each person where they were on their spiritual journey, while always calling them to more.  When we use the term “follower of Jesus” we mean any person who is sincerely interested in Jesus. Jesus practiced this inclusive approach, while not compromising His standards for being a committed disciple. The threshold was low for following Jesus, but the bar was set high for being a committed disciple of Jesus.

Today as well, we recognize these same three groups of people in every culture and context of life; all three groups are on a journey. We need to both accept people where they are on that journey, and inspire and encourage them to keep moving forward on the journey. We have the privilege of inviting them to take the next steps toward becoming a fully obedient disciple of Jesus who accepts God’s mission for their life.

With the above in mind, let’s consider a few “models” of church planting:

1.      The Parachute Model – A planter and their family move into a new location to start a church from scratch, on their own.  They are dropped into the area alone, without support systems close at hand. The planter has very little connection with or existing support within the new area.   The planter and their family are “pioneering” new territory.   Where there is great risk, there is great reward, but this approach is not for the faint of heart. 

2.      The Mother Church Model – An existing church or church planting organization provides the initial leadership and resources (dollars and/or people) to get a new church started including the selection of the church planter.  Often the church planter is selected from within the existing local church and “planted out” with a group of people to go with them. The mother church has already bought into the vision, values and beliefs of those going out.  The existing relationship allows for a close working relationship between the “mother” and “daughter” churches.   Although the new church is autonomous, the sponsoring church/organization often has significant influence in the new church (including decision making during the pre-launch phase).  Advantages often include increased financial resources and the ability to draw core team/launch team members from the sponsoring church/network.

3.      Collaborative Network / Partnership Model – This is a rapidly growing trend where an organization (or many organizations) committed to church planting work together to plant churches.   These informal alliances are referred to as collaborative or partnership networks.   The participating organizations often share common beliefs and a passion for starting new churches.   Planters often get many of the benefits of the “sponsoring church” model but with increased autonomy in decision making.

4.      Cell Church Model– Small (5-20 people) groups / cells form and multiply via a network of people meeting in homes.  In most cases, the individual cells are connected in a larger congregation that meets together for Sunday celebrations.   This model focuses on personal growth in the cell groups, care and teaching through one-on-one and small group discipleship, and weekly celebration as all the cell groups gather together.   Cell groups are birthed through multiplication, and, sometimes die, only to resurface months or even years later.  This model requires very little funding.

5.      Satellite / Campus / Multi-site Model – An existing church opens new locations.   The idea is for one church to have many meeting locations.   Motives range from reaching more lost people to making more room at an existing location.  The evolving multi-site model is proving important in creating an entrepreneurial spirit of multiplication / replication within existing churches.   It is still to be determined whether this model will spark an increased rate of new salvations and new autonomous churches planted.

6.      Restart / Re-launch Model – An existing struggling church decides to bury the old and plant a fresh new church.   The restart for the old church may or may not be at a new location and may or may not be with the same leadership.   Using the resources of many older stagnant churches are a good way to bring new life to the community being served if there is a willingness on the part of the congregation for major change – which is rare.

7.      Church Split Model – Unfortunately, this model of church planting results from disunity.  As a result, it is the most dangerous form of church planting.   A split typically occurs when competing groups conclude there is less energy required to “split or divorce” than to resolve differences and reconcile.   The underlying factors causing the split often develop over years, only to “explode” in what seems like a spontaneous act.   In many cases, the dysfunctional character traits of the old church carry forward to the new churches, and what is done in reaction to the old is birthed in the new.

8. Man of Peace/Discovery Bible Study Model – We advocate this model in All Nations training courses, not because it is better than other models, but because we have found it is the best model to learn and pass on the values we are called to, and because we believe it best prepares workers with All Nations for a personal discipleship approach to reaching unchurched and unreached people, the neglected peoples we are called to as a church movement in All Nations.  

We encourage our members in All Nations to know the difference between the model we advocate, and the values behind the model. It is far more important to lean the values that simply imitate the model. Some models work better than others in making disciples, and as people go out from us we want them to be fully equipped to be values based and Spirit led. We want them to be able to discover the model that will work best for making disciples and raising up a movement where God calls them.

9. The Market Place Model – Increasingly, market place and government leaders are recognizing that church is not a place to go to, but a people to belong to. Many such leaders are being liberated from the old wineskin of Sunday attendance, and are creating new, fully-church wineskins that are designed for the busy working person. Church for active market place ministers often works best if it is integrated into the place of work and with the people one associates with through the work experience. 

926 Unreached People Groups in Africa!!

We are asking for an inheritance in Africa among the unengaged, unreached people groups of this vast continent of over 1 billion people. Most of the people groups still unreached are Muslim, or tribal groups living in hostile environments. There are reasons they are unreached.

But....

Jesus died for them and longs to receive their worship. If for no other reason than the worthiness of the Lamb, will you consider going?

Start with a small step, an expedition, and see where it leads....

All Nations Zimbabwe Update

The grace of God at work in devastated Zimbabwe! The language is flowery but from a trusted friend who trained in CPx.

Floyd

Dear Brothers and Sisters in the Lord Jesus,

On Monday the 7th of February during my quite time I heard a knock on the door. Swiftly, I sauntered towards the door. I opened it with such curiosity to know who had blessed me with an early visit without making an appointment or just buzzing to apprise me about such an unexpected visit. Standing outside were 2 ladies in their thirties Prudence and Stella not their true names. I invited them in and made some breakfast for the visitors. They were extremely ravenous that they guzzled mugs of tea and gobbled a loaf of bread in less than 3 minutes. Before I asked them to share what made them to come to my house, Prudence dived into the crux of the matter. Bla Munya I got a situation that is bothering me, I am a professional prostitute in this town. I have seen some of my clientele succumbing to the deadly pandemic HIV/AIDS. We buried one two days ago whom I was cohabiting with. I don't want to go back to the pubs and nightclubs any more. I need Jesus to deliver me bla Munya. I have seen you doing bible studies around and many people have found Christ for themselves. I'm enthralled in this diabolic act and I have no joy. I asked my friend to accompany me to your house. Stella too echoed the same sentiments. I was flabbergasted when Stella said she slept with an average of seven men during the day after which she would roam the streets at night. No wonder why one elder from a renowned church came to my place crying. His entire congregation volunteered to go for HIV tests and guess what, 95 % are HIV positive. The pastor and his flock are now pointing fingers at each other. I spent some time with the two night ladies sharing testimonies about how the Lord has transformed their former workmates in the same community. No one is too far gone. The one who brought you here is gracious and compassionate. His arms are wide open to embrace you and change your lives completely. They said yes to Jesus.

Not long after their visit, I went to their so called house to have a bible study with them. On arrival to their house I saw a scantly dressed woman relaxed on a makeshift bed in a single room demarcated by pieces of cloth into various compartments. Men frequent the house day and night, take some time inside and leave. One can be pardoned for thinking that the place houses a barbershop, given the number of men taking turns to go in and out of the dwelling. When Prudence heard that I was standing outside, she uttered on top of her voice “bla Munya give us 2 minutes, we are dressing up” It was around 2 o'clock in the afternoon. Hey ladies we are having a bible study outside, bla Munya is here, she invited them. I was surprised to see a couple ladies and men coming out of the house. What is the time one fellow guy asked. I took a glance at my watch and it was already 20 minutes after the hour 2. 20 minutes past 2 I answered. Oh I must report for duty at 3 o'clock but its now late, he phoned his employers telling them that he was not going to make it. Good. So I had a bible study with all of them and Prudence played a major role. When I told these ladies to desist from evil doings because they are so special in the eyes of God and that they can dignified ladies and gentlemen who live for Christ and make a huge impact in our community . They wear a generous smile, a smile that exposes one or two front teeth. They were shell shocked to hear such a remark, not even their parents had ever said that. The Lord's move in Chinotimba is inevitable and His word is becoming the epitome of our community. Prudunce and Stella are leading bible studies. Those who made a commitment to follow Jesus will be immersed soon.

On the other end, we saw a shebeen turned into a house church. Divas and others who got baptised a few weeks ago, invited their friends for our Sunday morning house church. Last Sunday was our sixth meeting and the number has been escalating. 22 men showed up for the house church . Most of them were intoxicated though and it took a brave man to endure such pungent and malodorous smells. His presence prodded 9 people to Jesus. I'm excited beyond words to see how these guy are committed, each one of them wants to lead. When I shared the vision to these guys they grasped it. I take a lot of joy in discipling them, walking with them, dreaming with them, visioning with them, praying with them going forward. The Lord remembered the folks who had no dreams at all, theirs was just imbibing beer and smoking. Three gentlemen gave us some powerful testimonies on how the Lord has infused peace into their families since the day they made a commitment to follow Jesus. They now see their wives as their partners and not objects. On the other side of a coin a lady who is in her forties gave a testimony that her home is now flooded with joy, Jesus has turned things upside down inside out. Her husband used to beat and scold her every day but the Lord brought that which was missing in their home. You got to see some of the amazing things happening in this our beloved community. The Spirit is moving.

Munashe and the other students are being used in splendiferous ways. They started 5 Discovery Bible Studies at their school . He is now a shining star in the community. God is raising an army. Godfrey, Caleb, Kelly, Charity, Elseworth, Doreen, Perseverance, Masiziba, Mkandla, Bridget, Raphael, Clive, Future and many more are on fire. Keep us in your prayers

Let me at this juncture, say thank you for your unwavering support and your unending supplications for us. We are making it Green again,

Yours,

Munya

All Nations Zimbabw

A Tribute to the "real Floyd McClung"

Sally and I received a phone call this morning, February 18, from my brother in the United States informing us that my dad passed away. We fly to the States in two days time for the funeral. I informed you last night in a previous email that he was near the end of his life, and now we have news that he died at 5 AM (U.S. time) this morning, with my brother at his side.

My dad was my hero. He was a man of prayer, a church planting pioneer many times over, and a pastor's pastor. He planted and pastored local churches for more than 45 years. When he retired the first time (three times he tried to retire!), he and mom joined Sally and me in Amsterdam to serve as pastors to our community of more than 300 staff and volunteers. Pastors all over Holland and the world considered him to be their pastor.

Many men of God sought his counsel and friendship through the years. Many young men turned to him as a mentor and spiritual coach. I cannot remember a morning growing up that I did not wake to the sound of my dad praying in his bedroom or study. He was a man of great humility and wisdom – he often cried openly as he preached the good news of God’s grace.

Dad loved to travel – he ministered many times in Africa. He always had time to listen to the stories of the “little guy”, local pastors and missionaries who sought his counsel.

As I grew older and began to travel and speak and then later, to author books, he loved to tease me that he was “the real Floyd McClung”. I am honored to carry his name and be Floyd McClung Jr.

He was faithful to my mother all his life, and raised me and my brother and sister to love and fear God. All three of us have served as missionaries and ministers of the good news all of our adult lives. We attribute our faith to his faith and perseverance, his tender spirit, and his fear of the Lord.

Dad was 89 years old. He grew up in a poor migrant workers family earning a living by picking cotton, apples, and potatoes during the Great Depression. Their family of nine children didn't know from day to day where the next meal would come from. Dad was saved at the age of 17 in a revival tent meeting in Tulare, California. He was invited to pastor his first church at the age of 23, a "store front" church in Long Beach, California, where I was born.

We will miss him greatly. He told me many times throughout my life that he prayed for me every day of my life. What greater gift could a man have than that? I will miss him dearly, but with God's help, I will carry on his legacy of discipleship and church planting.

Thank you for your prayers for Sally and me as we return to the States to celebrate his life and ministry. Dad fought the good fight, finished his race on this earth, and there is now a crown waiting for him in heaven.

How Do We See The Situation in Egypt?

My friend, Carl Medearis, has addressed the situation in Egypt in this insightful letter. Lots to think about and pray for. Above all things. 

Dear Friend,

Ben Ali of Tunisia steps down. Hosni Mubarak of Egypt steps down. But wait.... Hezbollah take over Lebanon. Hamas gain control of Gaza (old news). The Muslim Brotherhood grows in strength. What do we make of the recent political events in the Middle East – and the ones that will come soon?

I did a radio interview yesterday with NPR and here’s what I said: A helpful, even though simplistic, paradigm to view the Middle Eastern political situation is this – there are pro-Western and pro-Eastern forces in each of these countries. Mubarak was pro-western, but totally corrupt. Fatah (Arafat’s old party) was pro-Western, but totally corrupt. Harriri in Lebanon was pro-Western, but totally corrupt. The Royal family of Saudi is pro-Western, but....you get the idea. So when the people have a say, they will overthrow the governments that are stealing their money and elect a more Islamic and pro-Eastern government. (Pro-Eastern could mean pro Syria or Iran or pro Brotherhood or Hamas).

So you might be wondering why has US foreign policy backed these corrupt governments in the Middle East? One reason with two points: they tend to provide stability! Which does two things – it allows us to extract the black gold we need to live on and the stability decreases the threats to Israel.

The next question would be - What drives US foreign policy in the Middle East? Stability. For our oil and for our friend – Israel. Is that good or bad? I don’t know – it just is. But when the people in these Arab countries have their say, they will likely ignore these US concerns. Hamas, Hezbollah and the Muslim Brotherhood will, in fact, have more say in these countries. And then we will need to think about how to deal with that.

Like me, you are probably NOT a politician. We are simple citizens seeking to follow the way of Jesus in humility and grace. We are citizens of his Kingdom… the Cross, the power of yeast, a pearl hidden in an oyster, buried treasure… The way of the Kingdom is seldom reflected in political overthrows and such. It doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t rejoice for Egyptians – we should. But we can’t be distracted by what’s happening there thinking that it necessarily reflects the Kingdom of God in that land.

Please join with me in praying for the church – the hands and feet of Jesus – in these countries. That they would have power and grace and truth. That the visible we are seeing on our TV’s would translate to the spread of God’s invisible Kingdom.

Thanks for your partnership,

carl

P.S. I will share two stories with you from the National Prayer Breakfast on my blog: www.carlmedearis.com/blog Feel free to share them with others.

Reading the Bible for All It's Worth

I was recently asked by a friend about reading the Bible for all it's worth.  Here is what helps me: I read the Bible according to my learning style and personality: goal oriented, extrovert, tactile... and I love to teach, so I read with that in mind.

I have to have a goal - e.g., I read a Bible book to find out everything I can about it, it's fun for me to see it as a challenge, not too bogged down in details, but enough to really get a handle on it, like reading the gospel of luke, etc.

I need a more specific goal however, so when I read a Bible book, I pose learning questions that apply to my life or the life of those I am leading and discipling...

I need to touch and feel it, so I interact with the bible by note taking, journaling, printing it up and looking at it, etc.

I talk about it right away with those I am discipling so I can pass it on, I remember what I am learning that way - if it has immediate value like that kind of application, I get motivated.

I then apply what I am learning devotionally as I go, which is also very helpful for me....

What is not helpful: just read "devotionally" in a vacuum. I find that boring and going no where. The above approaches turns into devotional reading but I have to have my whole person involved...

Lastly, I read to obey - I constantly am asking myself, what is it that God is saying now to me to obey?

And my final thought, I ask questions of the Lord about life situations, marriage, family, ministry, church, concerns, etc, and I ask God to give me passages to speak into the situation I am presently faced with, and that becomes the word from the Lord I am to obey or to pray for others to obey. I journal this process and it is rich. 

Specific Prayer Brings Specific Answers and Specific Glory to God!

Below is a letter from one of our leaders - I am including it for you to get a feel of what is happening here in our lives and in our work in Cape Town, South Africa. The Lord spoke to me at the beginning of the year to "build my church". I felt the impression that it is a year to establish our "church of simple churches" in greater strength to be an apostolic resource church for movements to Christ to be ignited in Africa, the Middle East and India.

There are 43 small groups of seekers being discipled in what we call D-Groups (or sometimes we call them "discovery Bible studies"). It is from these disciple making groups that new churches are born and leaders are discipled and equipped. For example, I meet with a group of young Malawian leaders each Wednesday night for training from the book of Acts.

Our vision is "Jesus worshipped by all peoples of the earth". And our goals are three fold: making disciples, training leaders who in turn ignite church planting movements to Christ. Notice what is stated in the letter below: specific prayer brings specific answers and specific glory to God... wow, that is a great invitation to pray and worship God. May He receive more glory!

Thanks for your prayers! We believe it is a year of breakthrough!

All Nations Cape Town is buzzing with many exciting developments!

An assessment of our work in the communities of Masipumelele, Red Hill, Ocean View and Bo-Kaap has given us insight into what God has already done and what we are still believing Him for. Many words have been spoken that this is the year of breakthrough, so please stand with us that we will have the breakthrough the Father wants! 

Recently I felt a calling on our Red Hill team to pray more specifically for the breakthroughs that we want to see. I felt that if we pray specifically, we will get specific answers and then God will get specific glory. It be clear that he is the one who answered the prayers! If our prayers are too general and vague, we can't see God's answers that clearly. So because we want Him to get much glory we want to pray specifically for breakthroughs in Red Hill and the other communities.

In total there are now around 43 D-groups all over the 4 communities we are working in. 9 of those are in Red Hill.

A D-group is a group of people who are gathering consistently with us for Bible study, but the majority of the people are not yet baptized believers. We're counting around 12 churches in All Nations church, including the simple churches our long termers are gathering in - such as our team! The way we count a church then is when a group of people love Jesus together, are baptized and enjoy communion together. A healthy church love God together (worship and prayer), love each other (pray for each other, serve each other with spiritual gifts, forgive each other etc.) and join God on his mission to see people come into the kingdom (share the gospel, pray for and reach out to their neighbours and family). We're believing God that our 9 D-groups in Red Hill will become churches by the people being born again and being baptized. Another important factor for healthy church planting is to raise up of local leadership in these groups. This will require leadership training and mentoring.

Please pray with us this year for breakthroughs!

Twelve Years of Running

Below is the story of one Muslim who has come to faith in Jesus. He was discipled to faith by one of our All Nations church planters in a Muslim land. This church planter is a new believer, an African, who is growing as an effective leader and church planter.

12 years of running away from the Lord........

One afternoon while I was sitting in a recreational park in the largest city in this Muslim land, a certain guy stared at me to the point that I was not even comfortable. He asked me if I had studied at his school some years back. My answer was definitely no, because I was never been at his school. I told him that I am live in South Africa. He asked me what I am doing in his country, so I was frank with him and told him that I was doing a religious research on WHY JUDAISM, CHRISTIANITY AND ISLAM believe in all the prophets since creation and when it comes to JESUS they part ways.

He told me that he had done a more similar research and he was convinced that Muhammad was the last prophet from God and he wanted me to believe that. While he was still talking I was asking God why he did not find you when he was searching for the truth. So I knew he had missed God some way, but it was never too late. It was around 6pm, when he was about to go the mosque for prayers.

I said to him with confidence '' I pray that one day you will come back.'' and after I had said this statement he told that actually he met Jesus in a dream some years back. I wanted to ask him more about his dream but that time he was rushing to the mosque for prayer. So we met after 2 days and he told his dream...

Ishmael is a teacher by profession. When he was about 12years old, he met Jesus in a dream fighting his enemies, and he asked Jesus  ''why are you fighting for me because I am unclean''. Jesus told him that He was the one who will make him clean, the following morning after the dream he felt the joy and peace, the sad thing was that there was nobody to interpret his dream, even though he shared with everyone in his family. Ishmael was convinced that Jesus was a Muslim, because of the Islam belief that Jesus was just a prophet not Son of God or a Savior.

When Ishmael was growing up, he wanted to be devoted to God. One day he visited a Sheikh (a religious leader of a mosque) seeking for the interpretation of his dream, but the Sheikh gave him unsatisfactory interpretation. The Sheikh told him that the Christians would love and persuade him to join their religion, but that he must refuse. So Ishmael started advancing in his Islamic studies and became very radical and he was convinced that Muhammad was the prophet of God. As our friendship started growing we became transparent to one another.

Ishmael was staying with his workmate and flat mate named Gerald, the two were always quarrelling. Gerald was drunk a lot and brought girls home. So the two were not getting along.

One evening Ishmael phoned me to meet him. He wanted me to give him some advice regarding the issue between him and Gerald .So I gave him as much as God had given me, from that day Ishmael began trusting me with some part of his life. The following morning Ishmael was sick in bed and he called me to come and visit him at his home. I went to his home and spent more than 6hrs with him, something by my nature I don't like, but I believe it was God who put His special love in me to reveal to Ishmael.

After sometime Ishmael told me how loving and caring I had shown him especially when he was sick. I had to be honest to Ishmael, I told him that by my nature I would not be able to give him the love and care but that it was only Jesus who was changing my heart.

From that day the level of trust was high, He shared some terrible things that had happened in his life. The things he is never proud of, at some point he wanted to commit suicide. Due to Ishmael's protection I will not write some of the things.

Ishmael told me that all his life, he had been searching for peace, but he was not finding it .So I told him bluntly that only Jesus could give him peace. This was very hard for Ishmael to start believing and trusting in Jesus because of all the investment he had done in Islam. At some point I was tempted to push and force things just to see him come to the knowledge of Jesus. At that time things seemed to be still. Then God reminded me that He is the one who draws people to Himself not me. So I left everything in His hands.

It was on Thursday a week before we left the country when Ishmael called me to his office and told me that he had asked God to confirm if Jesus was to be worshipped rather than just a prophet. So he gave God 3 days to confirm it, and God met him in a miraculous way right then! On the following Sunday Ishmael was baptized and he now follows and believe in Jesus Christ as Son of God not just a prophet.

A Warning From The Lord

It's not easy when you receive a warning from the Lord regarding false teaching, but the Lord gave me just that kind of warning recently. I was impressed with Paul's warning to the elders of the church in Ephesus (Acts 20) to guard the flock against wolves in sheep's clothing, and God spoke to me to be on guard against false teaching coming in to our churches. 

There is an abundance of false teaching in Africa (ancestor worship, extreme prosperity teaching, witch doctors, multiple-wives, very domineering authority robbing people of their priesthood, witch doctors in the church, "don't read your Bible" kind of teaching, etc.). Sadly, there is not just false teaching among the African indigenous churches, but there is also a lot of false teaching coming from the West.

To help our African emerging leaders and church members discern truth from lies, we have found it important to put an emphasis on reading the word with a focus on simple obedience, discovering what God is saying in inductive Bible study, then obeying the word as God speaks to one's heart.

By obeying that "one thing" God emphasizes to be obeyed, we see people grow in knowledge of truth and spiritual maturity. We believe and teach that false teaching gains a foot-hold primarily through lack of obedience to the simple and obvious truths of the gospel, particularly as it relates to daily life: how I treat my wife/husband, honesty, sexual purity, taking responsibility for my choices, sharing the gospel, loving one another, forgiving our enemies, rejecting lies about ourselves and God, refusing to submit to witch doctors and elders who practice ancestor worship, etc.

The theme that is growing in my heart for this year for our movement here in Cape Town, and other parts of Africa/Middle East, is to "build the church". To build it on solid Biblical foundations, to equip our leaders with "heaven's resources" to live anointed and Holy Spirit empowered lives, and to train leaders who can build healthy, multiplying churches.

Please pray for us as we enter this year, would you? We are waiting on God this week, fasting, worshipping, seeking fresh power from the Holy Spirit to see breakthroughs in our churches and our work among the poor and the lost, needing discernment and protection from the enemy without and our weaknesses within. We are confident in his grace and power and need your love and prayers.

Thank you.

With gratitude,

Floyd and Sally

P.S. A few days ago I spent two hours discipling three young Malawian leaders about "church planting leadership" from the book of Acts (they are economic refugees here in South Africa). I have been mentoring and coaching them to plant churches back in their own land some day, encouraging them to get a vision to go back to Malawi and plant churches. What a privilege to invest in young men who want to learn! They asked about the need to plant churches even though there are many people back in Malawi who are Christians already - but in name only. They understood the need for right foundations in building God's church. I walked away from our time together thinking that that is why God brought Sally and me to Africa, to invest in teachable, passionate Africans who will give their lives for the gospel!

The Seven Top Joys Church Planters Experience

1. Seeing new believers worship Jesus for the first time!

2. Creating new wineskins that surprise non-Christians with how cool church really is!

3. Pioneering in faith for the impossible, then seeing God do miracles!

4. Being part of a church planting team united in the same values and vision!

5. Raising up new leaders who find their destiny and calling in making Jesus known!

6. Investing in new disciples who are hungry for God!

7. Seeing a movement of reproducing churches born and multiply!

Faith-Full

Submissive. Psalms 78:8 Be not like their fathers, A stubborn and rebellious generation, A generation that did not set its heart aright, And whose spirit was not faithful to God. Steadfast. Psalms 78:37 For their heart was not steadfast with Him, Nor were they faithful

Utterly Truthful. Proverbs 14:5 A faithful witness does not lie, But a false witness will utter lies.

Humble. Proverbs 20:6 Most men will proclaim each his own goodness, But who can find a faithful man?

Truthful Friend. Proverbs 27:6 Faithful are the wounds of a friend, But the kisses of an enemy are deceitful.

Loyal. Micah 7:2 The faithful man has perished from the earth, And there is no one upright among men. They all lie in wait for blood; Every man hunts his brother with a net.

God’s Promises to the Faith-Full:

Blessed. Proverbs 28:20 A faithful man will abound with blessings, But he who hastens to be rich will not go unpunished.

Righteousness. Isaiah 1:26 I will restore your judges as at the first, And your counselors as at the beginning. Afterward you shall be called the city of righteousness, the faithful city.”

Authority. Matthew 24:45 Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his master made ruler over his household, to give them food in due season?

Crown of Life. Revelation 2:10 Do not fear any of those things which you are about to suffer. Indeed, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison, that you may be tested, and you will have tribulation ten days. Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life.

Seven Reasons to Go

Our world is covered in spiritual darkness. Four billion people out of the 6.9 billion on this planet never heard the good news of Jesus, and are separated from Him by spiritual darkness, and even in some cases, deep deception. I have listed the reasons that compel me to go, and why I ask others to do the same, below.

However, these reasons will remain just one more list of things we "ought to do" someday, unless we submit our inner motivations to Jesus. May I request that you join me in thinking for a few moments about our reasons to make Jesus known to others? Would you please ask the Lord to speak to your heart as you read through this list?

The Lamb is Worthy

At the end of time people will gather from every tribe and tongue and nation around the throne of God to honor the Lamb of God, all worshipping in their redeemed cultures. They will gather joyously around the throne of God and celebrate the victory He has won on their behalf. The One who died a shameful death to redeem the peoples of the earth will be the object of honor and praise for all eternity. All of history will be consummated in the praise of the One who gave Himself for us. He died to make us a kingdom of priests. He set us free from religion and fear and superstition so we might freely enter His throne room of grace. Everything is headed for that day. All we do that has meaning will find its fulfillment at that celebration. May it come quickly, Lord Jesus! This is the mission of God, and that is the mission of the church of God. The church's ultimate purpose is not the programs we offer to people or the missionary outreaches we do, or our budgets or faith giving, our missionaries dressed in strange costumes, not even about the lost people or the needs of hurting millions. It is about Jesus, the Lion who became a Lamb, the Redeemer of the all peoples, the Savior of the world. He is our great goal. It is for Him. We go to others so Jesus will receive the just reward of His suffering.

The Lost Are Dying

Most of earth's population will spend eternity separated from God if they do not have a chance to hear the Good News of God's salvation. Eternity is real, and though many people believe theoretically in hell, they don't really believe that a “good God will send people to hell.” May God impress deeply on our hears the terrible reality of man's lostness without a savior. Men and women need forgiveness of sins. There is no other way for that to happen than Jesus. It is by hearing, believing and calling on His name that people are rescued from a certain, eternal, separation from God.

The Poor are Suffering

We can easily become immune to the horrendous suffering of the victims of drought, famine, poverty and injustice. It is only by the grace of God than our hearts can be filled with the compassion of Jesus. The Bible says that when Jesus looked upon the crowds, He had compassion. May we have the same response, whether it be to a neighbor in need, a child's face in a Christian advertisement, or a news broadcast from the Horn of Africa. We know the statistics, we hear and see the faces, may we now become hardened to their plight. There are only two ways to maintain genuine compassion: getting involved with the poor, and maintaining a lifestyle of personal devotion and prayer for the poor.

The Church is Commissioned

Jesus commanded us to go, and go means a change of location. We have been commissioned to go, teach, baptize and make disciples. There are people waiting for us to obey, whether it be the villages of North Africa or the mountains of Tibet. They wait for our obedience. The issue is not whether or not we are called. All are called. All are commissioned. It is a matter of location, of those in the church will join with God in sacrificial obedience. Willing hearts hear His voice. The Lord Jesus said to His disciples, "As the Father sent me, so send I you..."

The Believers Are Perishing

Without a vision greater than the pleasures of our culture and the comforts of life, we will perish. By joining God on mission, we find a vision worth dying for and worth living for. It is not enough to send our money, because money does not have to lay down rights, weep, or give itself. It is not enough to send native workers, because native workers cannot pray, love and disciple in our place. God uses people to reach people. He uses people to encourage faint hearts. If for no other reason, we must go for our sakes. If not, we will surely perish. For the sake of the church we must give our very best, lest we die from lack of sacrifice, from lack of personal involvement. If we will not, we will perish.

The Father is Waiting

The highest motivation for preaching the gospel is not what lost or needy people receive from our efforts, but what God receives from our love for Him. Joining God’s mission is first and foremost about God. He created the nations to seek after Him and find Him (Acts 17:24-26). He brought them into existence so they might find their satisfaction in their Creator (Revelation 4:11). The Father is waiting. He longs for the worship and obedience of His creation. He made the nations. He made them for a purpose. Like the father in the parable of the prodigal son, God is yearning for the peoples of the earth to come home to Him.

The Spirit is Moving

We are living in the time of the greatest revival in the history of the church. There have been times in church history when the Spirit has moved on one continent, and then other times when the Spirit has moved on another continent. What is unusual about this period of history is that the Spirit of God is bringing millions of people to Himself, simultaneously, on every continent. The church is growing mightily in China, Indonesia, India, Korea, Latin America, Africa -literally all over the world. God brought down the Berlin wall, and the communist governments of Eastern Europe, and now His Spirit is tearing down walls of fear and cultural separation that hide Muslims and Hindus and Buddhists from Jesus. It’s God's gracious invitation and the Church’s sacred privilege to participate in this unprecedented move of the Holy Spirit. Who would want to miss out on what our Father is doing on the earth?

God has chosen this time to gather people from all the peoples of the earth in a way He has never done before. It is the will of God for the Church to be part of what Father is doing. The Church is what God is doing; He is raising up a people for Himself from among all the peoples of the earth.

Choose Your Passions - Don't Let Them Choose You

A few years ago I was separated from my wife for eight months. I saw her occasionally during that time, but it was for brief interludes and never alone. Sally was caring for our daughter Misha at the time. Misha who was suffering from a muscular disease called fibro-myalgia. (she is now completely healed!) We had agreed to try anything that had a remote promise of relief for Misha's extreme pain, so Sally took Misha to medical clinics in Florida and California in search of medical help. I really can't complain about the long time of separation compared to what my daughter went through, but it had an effect on me. Especially the loneliness. Toward the end of our time of being apart, a work crew was doing renovation on our kitchen. I woke up in the morning to the sound of hammers and saws and went to bed with the smell of dust and varnish. I responded to all this by staying busy- from early morning until late at night. I hated coming home to an empty house.

This pattern of busyness continued when Sally returned. I stayed busy out of habit. I was hooked on the adrenaline of going, rushing, doing, being needed, and making decisions. Meanwhile, I was drying up inside. I hated the sense of spiritual emptiness it produced, and the superficial relationship I had with the Lord, but I subconsciously justified my condition because of my circumstances.

I learned one sure thing during this time: I could cruise along without spending much time with God. I could make do on grace. Later, I found out how bad the impact was on my spiritual life, but at the time I did not see it taking place. A subtle shift in my passions was going on. I wasn't as deeply concerned about the lost, the great commission, studying the word, and pressing into God to discern His will on the important decisions I was making. My passions were drying up. I was losing my spiritual edge.

The world outside my world seemed further away. I was less interested in loving people when they offended me, and I justified withdrawal from those who I couldn't get along with. I found myself backing away from challenges that previously had been a tremendous source of spiritual motivation to me. I started thinking about my future security more, but in the wrong way. I no longer welcomed the opportunity to lay down my life for Jesus.

In short, my passion for Jesus and the things he is passionate about was withering away. The fire was barely burning in my heart… it was not nearly as bright as it used to be. Deception was setting in. Things that I never accepted in my life until that time were now becoming acceptable. Tragically, I did not see it happening. Until it was almost too late, that is.

After Sally and Misha were home for a few months, I decided I needed a few days away to take stock spiritually. I have done this on a regular basis all my life, so it was not a new venture. I knew I needed to get alone with God, but I didn't how bad things had gotten. Like the wise man said, you don't know how sick you are until you get well.

It was during that time of spiritual inventory that I allowed God to speak to me. I asked Him to convict me of anything that was grieving Him, and He did so. I made a simple decision to start fasting again, something I had not done in a quite a while. I also renewed the discipline of journaling - carrying on a running dialogue with the Lord about the spiritual state of my heart as He saw it. Those two things alone turned me on my ear. literally.

During those times of crying out to God and listening to Him, He began to speak. He led me to focus on my passions, what excited me, what was most important to me, what got me turned on spiritually and emotionally, what I was willing to sacrifice for and life for. Out of the wasteland of spiritual dryness and passionless relationship with Jesus, I became desperate to share his heart. I cried out that he would not just renew me, but that he would reveal to me what He is passionate about.

It was about that time that I received a review copy of a newly published book by Inter Varsity Press. The title intrigued me: Six Dangerous Questions. The book was written by a friend, Paul Borthwick, so I was hooked. I wanted to know what the six dangerous questions were that Paul thought we should ask.

That little book and those six questions hit me between the eyes. (Sorry, I am not going to tell you what the questions are - you are going to have to find a copy and read the book for yourself to find out) Paul introduced the questions by revisiting the importance of having a consistently Christian worldview that actually affects the way we live. I was struck by the thought that it is possible, indeed it is common, to have evangelical beliefs while guided by a Babylonian heart. We can believe one thing with our head and live another way from our heart. Paul stressed the importance of our core values being consistent with our beliefs.

I jumped off from there in my deliberations and asked myself how is it that people develop core values, or passions, that are inconsistent with their beliefs? Borthwick said something that helped me work through this line of thinking. He said that there are three sources for a world view: / life experiences / beliefs / self-interests

Life experiences can certainly influence a person to live inconsistently with their beliefs. For example, if a person does not work through hurtful relationships in the right way, they will withdraw from the one who hurt them, or become bitter. Forgiveness is not optional for a follower of Jesus. And true forgiveness means letting go of the wrong done, to the extent that there is no withdrawal or avoidance going on.

Something I have learned about withdrawal from people is that it cannot be selective in nature. If you withdraw from a person, you have also withdrawn from the Lord. It may not become obvious, especially if we deceive ourselves by spiritualizing our actions, covering it up with pious platitudes, etc. (For example, "I have forgiven them, I just don't want to be around them, that's all." Or, I've done my part, now it's up to them." Or, "God knows my heart.") The point is: if you withdraw from a person, you have put a wall, and that means you are drawing a line and refusing to cross over it. Further, withdrawal is an act of self-preservation of self-protection. To protect oneself is a spiritual direction in life. It is statement about what is most valuable to you: your own life. It means we have made self-protection a higher value than laying down our lives. The two are incompatible. They are opposing goals, two foundational building blocks of opposing world views. To be a Christian is to take up our cross and follow Jesus, to die to self. And if we have died to self, then that death is to be worked out in every dimension and every relationship of our lives.

Life experiences, especially the hurtful kind can lead to inner vows that determine ones passions: a passion to love, forgive and reach out to others no matter the personal cost, or a passionate commitment to protect, preserve and provide for ones own needs and rights. It is these quiet, sometimes subconscious inner vows that make up one's core values and therefore determined the passions of our heart.

It is sad to see a poor girl scheme to marry a rich man, determined never to live in poverty again. Or a hurt Christian focus their life direction around the vow to never get hurt by another over-bearing spiritual leader. Or a workaholic slaving to get ahead in life to prove their worth and significance. These are core values, lived out as passions, sometimes disguised and sometimes defended, but always determining how we live life.

What does all this have to do with choosing your passions? Stick with me while I share another conclusion I came to while on my little retreat. I startled myself one morning when I heard myself say out loud, "You can choose your passions, McClung. You don't have to be a prisoner of your past choices of the value system of America." You can choose your passions? Where did that thought come from, and what does it mean?

It has been a liberating thought, one that has given me the impetus to analyze my passions as best I can and make some radical choices about how I want to live and what I want to live for. At the heart of my relationship with God is a profound sense of freedom to choose. Not that I have the willpower to carry out my choices, or the motivation even to make them for the right reasons, but there is a deep sense of respect in how God treats me. I have experienced it like a divine courtship, a wooing of the Spirit to respond to the love of Jesus.

More than freedom to chose is the awareness of just how different Jesus really is to everything around me. I made a list recently of the core values of Jesus. Then I made a list of the core values of my own culture, the American way of life I was raised to love, cherish and be willing to defend against against any enemy who would dare to take it away from us.

I concluded that Jesus stood for servanthood, sacrifice, dying to rights, humility, purity, and immense goodness and righteousness. Over and against that is what is most important to Americans: life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness, comfort, security, tolerance, personal rights, status, power, wealth and fun. There is more, but that is enough to make the comparison. In making this list I was stunned by how deeply my own self-interests and life experiences had shaped my passions and core values.

I was disappointed to conclude that I was more American than Christian in many of my core values!

While reading Borthwick’s book I was simultaneously studying the gospel of Luke. I was surprised by a statement Jesus made in Luke 24, in which he stated to the disciples, on two occasions actually, that he was going to summarize the whole of the law of Moses, the Psalms and the Prophets for them. His summary was breathtakingly short. In verses 44-47 he says,

"This is what I told you...everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms. Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures. HE told them, 'This is what is written: the Christ will suffer, and rise again on the third day, and repentance and forgiveness will be preached in his name to a;; nations..."

Not only is it very short, but incredibly simple. Jesus says that the whole of the Christian life is about two things really: his death and resurrection and making Him known to all nations of the earth.

I asked myself, “Is that what my life is all about?” Is that the core value that gives impetus and meaning to all the other values that shape my life and passions?

I decided to choose this to be the passion that is above all other passions in mylife, the core of the core, the reason for living my life. I decided that if that is the summary of the whole of the Bible, I was going make it the summary of the whole of my life: Jesus and the nations – all nations.

But that is easier said than done. And that is why I have decided to consciously, deliberately, by his grace, feed those two core passions. I have decided to fast and meditate on them. I choose them every day. Regularly I ask the Lord to reveal anything that is undermining this focus. I have looked long and hard at all other competing passions and I have chosen to kill them off.

I read books about Jesus and the nations. I choose my music, movies, how I spend my time, everything by whether it feeds and focuses those two passions.

I recognized a need for a values conversion in my life, and did something about it. I am focused on becoming a man who lives to make God happy, not vice versa. I have taken a good look at unbiblical American cultural values (because I am an American and my country of birth has had the greatest impact on my core values), and have decided to turn away from any and all values that kept me from my new found passions. Why? Because they are the good-life values that eat away at the Christ-life. They are passion robbers. They appeal to my flesh. They feed what is selfish and self-preserving in me. They are opposed to the cross-life, the life of the disciple of Jesus.

I have taken a good look at Jesus and how he lived his life and decided that is the way for me. If I want something more than Jesus, then what is it? And if I want something less than Jesus, why is it?

I have read and re-read the gospel of Luke and the book of Acts and decided to live like Jesus and the disciples. Pure and simple. Jesus is enough. I want to do church like they did it. Get rid of the complications and additions and excuses. Just do it like Jesus and like Paul.

That is what I have chose, the passions I have decided to live by. I invite you to do the same. Let’s do together what no other generation has ever done. Let’s finish the task given to us by Jesus. Let’s make disciples of all nations: every tribe, tongue, nation and people. Let’s infiltrates and influence every vocation and every village on the planet.

Jesus deserves nothing less than our all.

Three African Mighty Men of God

These three young men are some of my newest hero's. They left two days ago from Cape Town on a faith journey to a distant African land to be and to bring good news to Muslims. If you think of Paul the apostle returning to visit the new churches that he started, then you have an idea what these 'mighty men of God' are up to. Two small, simple communities of new followers of Jesus came into being a few months ago. Now these men are going back to encouraged their new brothers in Christ. This expedition into Africa is their initiative, their faith and their planning and courage. They are putting the first ten verses of Luke 10 into practice.

They are being guided by the IntoAfrica team of All Nations, but they are ones who heard from God and are stepping out to obey Him.

Please pray for Valentine, Abel and Moses. They are being joined in a few days by Lucas and George. They are the fruit of our efforts here in Cape Town. Not us alone of course, but we can point to them as men we have been privileged to help train and impact for Jesus. Others have also made deposits in their lives... but isn't that the way it should be!?

Thank you for your prayers and your partnership.

With gratitude,

Floyd and Sally

Make friends. Have fun. Change lives! TDJ!

If you are between the ages of 17-30, check out Ten Days for Jesus! It's coming up soon - write today if you are interested! The dates are Dec. 4th to 16th.

What is Ten Days for Jesus? It's a movement which begun as an annual event based on the story of Christmas. It is hosted by All Nations every December in Cape Town  Young adults and students from all over the world commit Ten Days of their December holidays for Jesus.

What are the requirements? Complete an application to register your participation. Be at the venue on December 4th (till 16th). A participation fee of R1800 to cover food, accommodation and outreach costs. This does not include transport to and from the event.

Why do Ten Days for Jesus? To go to the best party in town - a Jesus party! It's His birthday!

So what happens during Ten Days?  Each participant is part of a small team. For orientation & team building on the first day, teams are sent on a challenge, an adventure race. Last year's included assembling a raft and competing to paddle across a small lake. The year before it was the "Table Mountain" challenge. This year we have something special planned, including tent camping on a beautiful Cape Town beach! From then on it is passionate worship, connecting hearts, serving the poor, and trusting Jesus to show up in big ways! I will be teaching, God will be worshipped, and there will be lots of great food and fun!  

Who comes to Ten Days for Jesus? Each year students come from all over Southern Africa, and sometimes from as far away as Germany, France and the USA.

For more information write to info@all-nations.co.za

See you there!

Floyd

Simple But Not Cheap

I believe being a disciple of Jesus is liberating. Not the cheap, easy kind of discipleship that offers lots of blessing with no sacrifice or accountability. I'm speaking about the simple-but-deep, lay-down-your-life kind of discipleship. Such discipleship is not for those who want to follow the latest spiritual fad, chase the newest/hottest experience being promoted on Christian radio and TV, nor am I speaking about find a quick, no-sacrfice solution to all our problems. Simple Jesus-style discipleship is for those who want genuine passion with depth in their walk with Jesus. Sally and I believe in that depth is found in the simplicity of a life lived 100% for Christ. Many Christian leaders have traded that simplicity and depth for hype, formulaic type programs, even selling the gospel for a donation. That is not what we see in Jesus as we read about Him in the gospels, nor is it what motivated the early believers, or Paul the apostle:

Acts 2:46 "So continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart..."

2Corinthians 1:12 "For our boasting is this: the testimony of our conscience that we conducted ourselves in the world in simplicity and godly sincerity, not with fleshly wisdom but by the grace of God, and more abundantly toward you..."

2Corinthians 11:3 "But I fear, lest somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your minds may be corrupted away from the simplicity that is in Christ."

Loving Jesus, loving the lost, and loving each other. Simple, but deep. You can experience these truths quite quickly in one way, but spend a lifetime exploring them in great depth if you choose to.

The loss of simplicity in a complex, busy, hectic world is one of the major reasons why our lives lose meaning and purpose, why our walk with Jesus grows stale. Sadly, many church leaders imitate the consumer, "order one today for this low price" by offering everything for nothing. Maybe they they believe they have to compete with other churches, or "make something happen" to attract a crowd. In doing so, they lose genuine passion and their integrity. It is easy to get diverted and distracted from the simple beauty of a growing, contagious, deep, sometimes mysterious, but always compelling and costly relationship with Jesus.

Sally and I believe, with all our hearts, that if we follow Jesus, if we embrace true discipleship, we will grow deeper in Christ and experience Damascus Road kinds of God-encounters with God, personally and in our ministry.

We know God changes people, but we know as well that there is a price to pay. The price for Paul was to humble himself before God, turn from his sinful ways, and acknowledge how wrong he had been. If we want what Paul had, we will have to pay the price Paul paid.

We are seeing and experiencing these type of God encounters regularly here in Cape Town. Let me share about such encounter, told by one of the members of All Nations, Allison:

Gangsters love their guns. So when one of their guns is gone, they will do anything to get it back. So what’s a gangsters’ girlfriend to do if her notorious gangster boyfriend and a rival gangster are fighting over a gun? A good girlfriend will take the gun, run, and hide it ... even if she’s seven months pregnant and has a three-year-old at her side.

This was Jackie’s life before Christ. A life of drugs, sneaking drugs into prison, gangs, stabbings, fights, tattoos, running from the police, guns, and murder.

... I started a friendship with Jackie after her second child was born. Although Jackie was one tough cookie, I continued to visit her and her baby ... even though Jackie and I couldn’t have been more different, we developed an awesome friendship based on some pretty deep heart-to-heart chats. Chats about boyfriends, drugs, father wounds, past abuse, her baby’s daddy, dreams for the future, her boys, and her new life in Christ. I watched Jackie bloom into a beautiful flower. I literally watched this rough tomboy turn into a caring, young, feminine mother. I am so proud of her and the choices she is now making.

Jackie no longer does drugs, she no longer looks to men to provide for her, and she broke up with her deadbeat gangster boyfriend. Jackie is now a follower of Christ ... Aside from leading Bible studies out of her home, she visits young pregnant girls and educates young moms on infant care, all while raising her own two boys. She is living out Proverbs 3:5, “Trust in the Lord with all of your heart...”