Why Church Planting Movements Don't Happen in Christianized Lands - So Far
posted on
May 07, 2009
in
Articles
–
Print this post
Hello,
There are massive movements taking place all over the wold right now. North Africa. Iran. India. China. Africa. Millions of new believers are coming to Jesus. Five million among the Bojpuri in India is just one example. Believers are suffering for their faith and the church is being born in unimaginable sacrifice.
Why are we seeing the same results in the Christianized West? Three reasons:
Recently, I wrote to a young church planter in the making in the Unite States. He was worried about finding a church or a team to work with. Here is the advise I gave him: "i would love to stay connected to you guys. it is going to take some pioneering and persevering for you to start simple churches with others there where you are. best bet is go door to door in a poor neighborhood until you find a person of peace and then if their family or network is open, start a jesus bible study with them. don't call it church, just study the world. two qualifications: the person of peace has to be open and their network (oikos) has to be open to doing regualr bibles studies. get them to the word, teach them simple bible study and watch god speak to them!!!
We have been learning how to do that with "discovery" bible study approach in cape town... very simple. based on belief that god is drawing people to jesus by the spirit, that he will teach people through the word if they study it together, and group discovery is much more powerful than individual study because you are imparting the DNA of a future simple church while it is still a study. for example, everyone participates. the bible is the focus. there is accountability to what each other to obey what they are reading. it is focused on non-believers studying the word together.
There are three steps to doing the discovery bible study method:
Lead the bible study 2 times. then turn it over to someone in the group to lead. You model it first two times, then in the following bibles studies you sit on the outside of the bible study circle and watch as new leader leads the same process of discovery. doesn't have to be a christian to lead it, preferably not in fact.
This is the MAWL method of caoching: model, assist, watch, leave
You are a commando bro. you are an army guy. you can do this! it is will take pioneering leg work, sweat, tears, loneliness and lots and lots of prayer, then more prayer, but practice luke 10. go to the poor and the loverlooked and you will find them!! look for the person of peace, the person is open and has a network of friends he or she can gather.
About wanting a team to work with you: don't look for them among the sheep but among the wolves (luke 10:3). this is why jesus said to his disciples to pray for laborers from the harvest. he didn't want the new believers to be tainted by religious people. find your team amongst the unsaved. maybe go door to door and say you want to start a bible study for people who are not church attenders but who want to look at jesus again. shake the dust off your feet from those who are not HUNGRY! do bible study in their home, with non-believers. it must be open seekers, not cynical or highly christianized (they have too many non-biblical preconceptions)."
I am passionate about seeing disciples made who gather and reproduce themselves in others. May God empower us to see massive numbers of new believers, but much more important, to see transformed individuals, families and communities.
May God empower believers in Christianized lands to find new wineskins to hold the wine of millions of new believers.
Floyd McClung
All Nations
'Cape Town
There are massive movements taking place all over the wold right now. North Africa. Iran. India. China. Africa. Millions of new believers are coming to Jesus. Five million among the Bojpuri in India is just one example. Believers are suffering for their faith and the church is being born in unimaginable sacrifice.
Why are we seeing the same results in the Christianized West? Three reasons:
- Lack of obedience to the word: One example: followers of Jesus don't pursue finding the person of peace, finding one who's oikos is open, then making disciples among them, as Jesus instructed in Luke 10
- Traditional ways of doing church encourage a "watch the main man on sunday" mentality instead of every believer getting out and making disciples through a lifestyle of obedience.
- A lack of willingness to suffer and sacrifice. It takes sacrifice to plant churches and Western believers don't believe in sacrifice.
Recently, I wrote to a young church planter in the making in the Unite States. He was worried about finding a church or a team to work with. Here is the advise I gave him: "i would love to stay connected to you guys. it is going to take some pioneering and persevering for you to start simple churches with others there where you are. best bet is go door to door in a poor neighborhood until you find a person of peace and then if their family or network is open, start a jesus bible study with them. don't call it church, just study the world. two qualifications: the person of peace has to be open and their network (oikos) has to be open to doing regualr bibles studies. get them to the word, teach them simple bible study and watch god speak to them!!!
We have been learning how to do that with "discovery" bible study approach in cape town... very simple. based on belief that god is drawing people to jesus by the spirit, that he will teach people through the word if they study it together, and group discovery is much more powerful than individual study because you are imparting the DNA of a future simple church while it is still a study. for example, everyone participates. the bible is the focus. there is accountability to what each other to obey what they are reading. it is focused on non-believers studying the word together.
There are three steps to doing the discovery bible study method:
- choose a passage that is short about obedience, hearing holy spirit, jesus, etc. ask people to write it down from their translation.
- ask them to write it down in their own words
- ask them to read it and write down things they hear god saying to them that apply to their lives that they should do in the next week
Lead the bible study 2 times. then turn it over to someone in the group to lead. You model it first two times, then in the following bibles studies you sit on the outside of the bible study circle and watch as new leader leads the same process of discovery. doesn't have to be a christian to lead it, preferably not in fact.
This is the MAWL method of caoching: model, assist, watch, leave
You are a commando bro. you are an army guy. you can do this! it is will take pioneering leg work, sweat, tears, loneliness and lots and lots of prayer, then more prayer, but practice luke 10. go to the poor and the loverlooked and you will find them!! look for the person of peace, the person is open and has a network of friends he or she can gather.
About wanting a team to work with you: don't look for them among the sheep but among the wolves (luke 10:3). this is why jesus said to his disciples to pray for laborers from the harvest. he didn't want the new believers to be tainted by religious people. find your team amongst the unsaved. maybe go door to door and say you want to start a bible study for people who are not church attenders but who want to look at jesus again. shake the dust off your feet from those who are not HUNGRY! do bible study in their home, with non-believers. it must be open seekers, not cynical or highly christianized (they have too many non-biblical preconceptions)."
I am passionate about seeing disciples made who gather and reproduce themselves in others. May God empower us to see massive numbers of new believers, but much more important, to see transformed individuals, families and communities.
May God empower believers in Christianized lands to find new wineskins to hold the wine of millions of new believers.
Floyd McClung
All Nations
'Cape Town
10 Comments
From Nomads
Great insight
My prayer is that if a few yeasr you will have to change the title because there will be many such movemnets spreading through out the Western world
Brilliant. Thank you Floyd. The simplicity of the method is excellent. Can you explain a little more about oikos. God bless.
Dear Floyd,
I read your article, "Why Church...So Far" this week. Tonight I started applying what you shared in our house church here in Harbin, China. What you shared is so powerful and simple. I think the Lord is going to use it to be VERY significant in the development of a church planting movement in this unreached area of northern China. We started our house church about 7 months ago. We have around 20 people coming, half of whom are not saved. Tonight was a powerful meeting as we discussed John 1:1-14 and focused on v. 12. Awesome. Thanks for your article and may the Lord continue to use you to spread the knowledge of His glory!
Blessings,
Mark Baxter
Floyd and Sally,
I met Floyd when he came to Peterhead Living Waters CC earlier this year.
I've been enjoying your emails since we signed up for them then, but this one is speaking directly to us.
The church is planning to plant in a nearby village and only at the last meeting of our small group which we lead, John Buchan gave us his blessing to progress.
Over the years God has spoken to me about church plants and what He has said is just what you talk about.
I know that we need to get into even more prayer than we have been doing, but I see this email as a Confirmation and answer to previous prayer.
Thank you both so much.
Love & Blessings,
Jim & Edith McLaren
Hey... (I think you mean "Why are we _not_ seeing the same results in...")
Wonderful post! Convicting me, as a Westernized Christian. Thank you. I suppose it is fear, and lack of trust that prevents me from living this way. Thanks for inspiring me (again) and pointing me back to the Word.
Thanks for the sound advice.
Regarding a typo:
I presume you mean "study the word" and not "study the world"!
thank you for the valueable information regarding the planting of a simple church/Bible study group!
may even the people of the West grasp the joy of sharing Jesus day to day in the time to come!
praise God for the work All Nations does in our country and worldwide!
GREAT STUFF FLOYD..
In Christianized lands, we try too hard to have our own gifts and calling realized instead of offering ourselves to implement the simplistic (simple church)....step in, step out, WATCH God. "Why are we doing what we are doing and who are we doing it for"? A question that I ask myself often and pray I answer it correctly. Blessings to you and Sally.
Thanks Floyd,
This summer I am going to speak to several young leaders in NE India on growing with the Lord and I will encourage them to think differently about the way way we do church. I think many middle class Indians have bought into the western churches model and have become all too comfortable with their churches (as I have) and this is an important message.
Continue teaching this good message.
Jonathan Abraham
Hey Floyd. This is interesting. I'd like to try this, but I'm scared.
Also, I don't understand how you have non-Christians leading a bible study, or even how you have non-christians that are actually interested in bible study, or what nonChristians would even be interested in obeying the stuff they read in the bible, or even open to reading the bible?
do you think this is more a non-western thing - being interested and open to reading from the bible and possibly studying it and listening to it, even obeying it!? Can this work in the West?
If not, will ANYTHING work in the West? If not, should I leave the West and join you?