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- The old high school friend who no longer goes to church regularly.
- The young millennial whom you’ve never see go to church.
- The Muslim doctor who takes care of your father’s kidney issues.
- The new immigrant from Nepal who doesn’t yet speak English.
These are the types of people who you probably know. One of the challenges of sharing the gospel and making disciples is that the people who the Lord brings into our lives are from vastly different backgrounds. These differences create a need for discernment and understanding as we build relationship and communicate with each of them.
A conversation that goes well with one might implode into tension with another. It is these differences that create vastly different kinds and degrees of challenge for communicating the truth of the Gospel.
There are always barriers between us and the people we wish to reach. Those barriers could be simple or complex. Culture, language, worldview, religious background, and personal experiences are all part of the mix of barriers that can challenge our ability to share the gospel.
Missiologist Ralph Winter created a tool that helps describe these difference. It’s not a diagnostic tool to use on our friends or the new immigrant down the street but it does help us understand why our invitation to come to our church may be falling on deaf ears.
The tool is called the E-Scale. In Winter’s own words:
“The E-Scale helps compare the cultural distances that Christians need to move in order to communicate the gospel with others. E0 refers to evangelism of church-going Christians. E1 extends to the very same culture through one barrier, that of “church culture.” E2 evangelism presses into a close, but still different, culture. E3 evangelism pushes to very different cultures.” (read the original article here)
E0 - The people who are within the church walls. They may be backslidden and asleep but they are in church on a somewhat regular basis. They may be there because mom and dad drag them there each week. Regardless, they have a basic understanding of church culture and church language and have a mostly Christian worldview.
E1 - Those who have not ever entered the church but are part of the greater culture of the community or country where the church resides. These are the people who you work with and live by. They grew up watching the things you watched on TV, eating the foods you eat, reading the books in school that you read. They just don’t go to church and outside of an occasional funeral or wedding, never have. Church culture is mostly foreign to them.
E2 - Those who come from similar but different cultures. While there are some cultural similarities, significant barriers begin to emerge. They may speak another language. They may have grown up with significant worldview differences. They may be from a different religion. Church culture is foreign to them.
E3 - Those who come from cultures that are almost completely different. Where someone who is E2 may have one or two barriers, E3 represents the people where barriers are found in every major area of life: language, culture, worldview, religious background, etc. Church culture is utterly foreign to them and may be offensive.
It must be noted that this is not a grading scale to be used in an us versus them them sort of way. It is a tool for anyone who wants to go and make disciples. An atheist from New York would be an E1 for me but would probably be an E3 for a missionary from China.
It must also be noted that our E0 church culture is not what we should be trying to invite people into. We should invite them into a relationship with Jesus and then help them to form their own church culture, appropriate for their language and cultural realities.
If the E-Scale does anything for you, I hope it will help you see why inviting your friends to come to your church is not necessarily the best evangelistic method. Most people outside your church doors aren’t going to come to church.
Author and missiologist J.D. Payne recently said, “The Spirit can do anything. But unless another awakening occurs, I believe 25% is close to the maximum amount of the United States population that will be reached by our longstanding pastoral approaches to engagement.”
The default of the last few decades in the North American church has been the invite.
“Wanna come visit my church?”
God can and will use this. We all know someone who came for a visit and met Jesus.
But a far greater number of people won’t come. And they aren’t rejecting Jesus. They’re rejecting an idea they have about what church is - an idea that may or may not be based in reality because for most, they’ve never been in a church.
Traditional approaches to outreach and disciple making become increasingly less helpful as the people with whom we are trying to use them have no church background.
We need a new approach. And really we need to go back to an old approach, the original approach of Jesus.
Go.
Go and make disciples.
Go into your neighbor's home.
Go to the Muslim owned store down the street.
Go and ask questions and learn about their story, their language and their culture.
Go and pray and ask the Lord to prepare you to share his truth with the people you meet out in the harvest.
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He also said, “This is what the kingdom of God is like. A man scatters seed on the ground. Night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up, the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how. All by itself the soil produces grain—first the stalk, then the head, then the full kernel in the head. As soon as the grain is ripe, he puts the sickle to it, because the harvest has come.”
- Mark 4:26-29
Throughout the gospels, Jesus presents principles for ministry through parables. These principles are then modeled by Jesus and applied in his assignments for the disciples. This particular parable includes a number of important principles for discipleship and has been an influential part of shaping the Everywhere to Everywhere training weekend event. Nathan and Kari Shank, long term workers and movement catalysts in India, have unpacked the parable of the growing seed in their training manual Four Fields of Kingdom Growth.
[Download the manual for free HERE]
The Five Parts of the Four Fields
In Four Fields of Kingdom Growth, Shank points out that in the parable of the growing seed there are four contexts or fields. There is also a fifth element that is important in every movement of God. He offers a key question for each that focus both our kingdom work strategy and our training of new believers.
[Download the manual for free HERE]
The Five Parts of the Four Fields
In Four Fields of Kingdom Growth, Shank points out that in the parable of the growing seed there are four contexts or fields. There is also a fifth element that is important in every movement of God. He offers a key question for each that focus both our kingdom work strategy and our training of new believers.
Field #1 - The Empty Field - The farmer enters an empty field.
Key Question: How do I identify and enter a new field?
Field #2 - The Seeded Field - The farmer scatters seed on the ground.
Key Question: What do I say to share the gospel?
Field #3 - The Field of New Life - The farmer is there to observe and tend to the growing crop.
Key Question: How do I make disciples who are able to make disciples?
Field #4 - The Harvested Field - Eventually a season of harvest comes and the farmer is there to cut and bundle the harvest.
Key Question: How do I form a new believers into groups or churches?
Leader Multiplication - Generational Multiplication Potential - Out of the harvest comes both fruit for this year and seed for the coming growing season.
Key Question: How do I develop and multiply a movement leaders who are raising up leaders?
Jesus says that this is what the kingdom of God is like. It seems then that the parable of the growing seed could be a helpful framework around which to build a life of discipleship and ministry. It is the framework that has shaped much of the training we do at Everywhere to Everywhere events across the Midwest. And within it are principles that have been observed in every movement of kingdom expansion throughout history.
Every disciple of Jesus should be trained and able to identify and understand how to enter the fields of lostness in their context, whether that be a Muslim village in Central Asia or their suburban neighborhood in Denver or Wichita.
Every disciple of Jesus should be trained and able to proclaim the good news of the gospel with anyone, anywhere and anytime.
Every disciple of Jesus should be trained and able to disciple new believers into a mature, healthy and growing relationship with Jesus and into the lifestyle of disciple making.
And every disciple of Jesus should be trained and able to gather believers together as the body of Christ.
The final element, leadership multiplication, is an important part of healthy discipleship and kingdom growth. The Apostle Paul always had two to three disciples with him who he was training up and releasing into ministry.
Without the multiplication of leadership, the making of disciples will always come to a bottleneck. But as young disciples take what they have learned and pass it on to other disciples who will pass it on to others (2 Timothy 2:2), the kingdom will expand, our churches will grow and great commission discipleship will be a reality.
This is exactly what we see in this parable, in the workings of Jesus and in the unfolding story of the the growth of the early church in the book of Acts. This is what we see in the the great movements of kingdom expansion throughout history. And this is what we see happening in the kingdom movements spreading across countries all around the world today.
Key Question: How do I form a new believers into groups or churches?
Leader Multiplication - Generational Multiplication Potential - Out of the harvest comes both fruit for this year and seed for the coming growing season.
Key Question: How do I develop and multiply a movement leaders who are raising up leaders?
Jesus says that this is what the kingdom of God is like. It seems then that the parable of the growing seed could be a helpful framework around which to build a life of discipleship and ministry. It is the framework that has shaped much of the training we do at Everywhere to Everywhere events across the Midwest. And within it are principles that have been observed in every movement of kingdom expansion throughout history.
Every disciple of Jesus should be trained and able to identify and understand how to enter the fields of lostness in their context, whether that be a Muslim village in Central Asia or their suburban neighborhood in Denver or Wichita.
Every disciple of Jesus should be trained and able to proclaim the good news of the gospel with anyone, anywhere and anytime.
Every disciple of Jesus should be trained and able to disciple new believers into a mature, healthy and growing relationship with Jesus and into the lifestyle of disciple making.
And every disciple of Jesus should be trained and able to gather believers together as the body of Christ.
The final element, leadership multiplication, is an important part of healthy discipleship and kingdom growth. The Apostle Paul always had two to three disciples with him who he was training up and releasing into ministry.
Without the multiplication of leadership, the making of disciples will always come to a bottleneck. But as young disciples take what they have learned and pass it on to other disciples who will pass it on to others (2 Timothy 2:2), the kingdom will expand, our churches will grow and great commission discipleship will be a reality.
This is exactly what we see in this parable, in the workings of Jesus and in the unfolding story of the the growth of the early church in the book of Acts. This is what we see in the the great movements of kingdom expansion throughout history. And this is what we see happening in the kingdom movements spreading across countries all around the world today.
The Kingdom parables serve as a framework for understanding Jesus’ kingdom agenda across the gospel accounts. Jesus’ kingdom agenda serves as a working job description for both his disciples and our lives and ministries.”
-- Nathan Shank
The four fields framework also creates a helpful rubric against which we can assess our own discipleship journey. It is a bit of a diagnostic tool which can help us see the places where we need more discipleship and training so that we can become the kind of kingdom agents that Jesus has called us to be.
Just as he was sent, he is sending us into a lost and broken world to be his ambassadors (2 Cor. 5:20) and witnesses (Acts 1:8).
Your Assignment
Work through the following questions to help you understand where you might need additional training in order to step into your role as an ambassador and witness.
If you answered “no” to any of these questions or just felt unsure of whether you understand what or how to step into these kingdom assignments, find your pastor or a trusted mentor and ask them to help you get equipped.
Check out the great training opportunities at the No Place Left website.
However you respond, do something!
Amidst this need to learn to do the work of the kingdom, we must remember that applying the principles of this parable to the ministry of making disciples and planting churches demands dependency on the Holy Spirit.
It is the work of the Holy Spirit - the unknown doer in the parable - that causes the seed to sprout and to grow.
As Christ’s disciples, there is a path laid out in the parable for how we can join in the work of the Spirit, but it is the Spirit that brings the growth. This was the understanding of Paul, who in 1 Corinthians 3:6 says, “I planted, Apollos watered but it was God who made it grow.”
There are things that Paul and Apollos need to do and to train others to do, but spiritual fruit is always because of the power of God.
My hope is that this parable will help you discover some of the places where you need more training or encouragement to become those who go and make disciples.
Just as he was sent, he is sending us into a lost and broken world to be his ambassadors (2 Cor. 5:20) and witnesses (Acts 1:8).
Your Assignment
Work through the following questions to help you understand where you might need additional training in order to step into your role as an ambassador and witness.
- Are you able to see lostness in the different contexts of your life?
- Do you regularly enter those fields of lostness and make relational connections?
- Are you confident you can share the gospel in those contexts? Do you know what to say and how to transition to gospel conversations?
- When you lead someone to Christ, are you also able to disciple them into the foundations of the Christian faith and a life of being a disciple of Jesus? Do you have a discipleship plan that you could work through with a new believer?
- When you lead people to Christ, are you equipped and able to gather them together as the body of Christ?
- Are you able to identify “Timothys” in your context to train up and release into ministry?
If you answered “no” to any of these questions or just felt unsure of whether you understand what or how to step into these kingdom assignments, find your pastor or a trusted mentor and ask them to help you get equipped.
Check out the great training opportunities at the No Place Left website.
However you respond, do something!
Amidst this need to learn to do the work of the kingdom, we must remember that applying the principles of this parable to the ministry of making disciples and planting churches demands dependency on the Holy Spirit.
It is the work of the Holy Spirit - the unknown doer in the parable - that causes the seed to sprout and to grow.
As Christ’s disciples, there is a path laid out in the parable for how we can join in the work of the Spirit, but it is the Spirit that brings the growth. This was the understanding of Paul, who in 1 Corinthians 3:6 says, “I planted, Apollos watered but it was God who made it grow.”
There are things that Paul and Apollos need to do and to train others to do, but spiritual fruit is always because of the power of God.
My hope is that this parable will help you discover some of the places where you need more training or encouragement to become those who go and make disciples.
Did you find this article helpful? Share it with a friend.
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In John 4, Jesus and his disciples were walking toward Galilee and were passing through Samaria. Tired from the journey, Jesus sat down by a well while his disciples scooted off to a nearby town to pick up some food. A Samaritan woman came to the well to draw water and Jesus spoke to her saying, “Will you give me a drink?”
There is all kinds of background and context to this exchange but in the course of the conversation between Jesus and this woman, she comes to realize that Jesus is someone very special, the long awaited Messiah.
Once she realizes this, she leaves her water jug where it is, hurries back to her town and says to the people there, “Come, see a man who told me everything I did. Could he be the Messiah?”
And the people respond. They come out to the well to meet Jesus for themselves where they eventually are lead to say, “We no longer believe just because of what you said; now we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this man really is the Savior of the world.”
Making disciples begins with telling others about the good news of Jesus; the gospel. As we train people to make disciples, we find it helpful to answer a few simple questions to help people get started.
This story helps us answer the question of who. Who should we share with?
Who did the Samaritan woman share with? She went back to her town and shared with the people who knew her and by whom she was known. There is a relationship already established. And this is the place where we are all called to start making disciples.
In Acts 17, the Apostle Paul is speaking at the Areopagus in Athens and he says, “From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands.”
Have you ever thought that you are where you are, that you have the neighbors and co-workers that you do because God appointed you to be their neighbor or co-worker or friend right where you are? Paul continues by telling us why this is so: “God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us.”
Like the Samaritan woman, we have neighbors, friends and acquaintances who need to hear about the the good news of the Kingdom of God.
And it’s no mistake that you are in their lives!
God wants to use you to introduce them to Himself.
Action Step
Our lives are busy! Too often we get going through our days and weeks and, without some intentional effort, we easily miss the opportunities that God is putting before us. I too often find myself with my head down and it’s go, go, go.
At our E2E events one of the training strategies we use is to have everyone take five minutes to pray about their life and think about the people in their life. We then have them make a list on a note card of everyone they can think of who they think is far from God. I’d like to challenge you to do this activity right now for yourself.
Here are the four steps:
If you can do this; if you can begin to pray daily, I can almost guarantee that God will begin using you. You’ll find your friends suddenly asking questions about God. You’ll find that you are more readily transitioning to spiritual conversations and that you conversations are more fruitful than you would have imagined.
God delights to answer these kinds of prayers for our lost friends and family members.
And then they won't believe just because of what we have said, but will believe because they have met the Lord Jesus!
There is all kinds of background and context to this exchange but in the course of the conversation between Jesus and this woman, she comes to realize that Jesus is someone very special, the long awaited Messiah.
Once she realizes this, she leaves her water jug where it is, hurries back to her town and says to the people there, “Come, see a man who told me everything I did. Could he be the Messiah?”
And the people respond. They come out to the well to meet Jesus for themselves where they eventually are lead to say, “We no longer believe just because of what you said; now we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this man really is the Savior of the world.”
Making disciples begins with telling others about the good news of Jesus; the gospel. As we train people to make disciples, we find it helpful to answer a few simple questions to help people get started.
This story helps us answer the question of who. Who should we share with?
Who did the Samaritan woman share with? She went back to her town and shared with the people who knew her and by whom she was known. There is a relationship already established. And this is the place where we are all called to start making disciples.
In Acts 17, the Apostle Paul is speaking at the Areopagus in Athens and he says, “From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands.”
Have you ever thought that you are where you are, that you have the neighbors and co-workers that you do because God appointed you to be their neighbor or co-worker or friend right where you are? Paul continues by telling us why this is so: “God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us.”
Like the Samaritan woman, we have neighbors, friends and acquaintances who need to hear about the the good news of the Kingdom of God.
And it’s no mistake that you are in their lives!
God wants to use you to introduce them to Himself.
Action Step
Our lives are busy! Too often we get going through our days and weeks and, without some intentional effort, we easily miss the opportunities that God is putting before us. I too often find myself with my head down and it’s go, go, go.
At our E2E events one of the training strategies we use is to have everyone take five minutes to pray about their life and think about the people in their life. We then have them make a list on a note card of everyone they can think of who they think is far from God. I’d like to challenge you to do this activity right now for yourself.
Here are the four steps:
- Take a minute to pray and ask the Holy Spirit to bring to mind everyone you know who is not walking with Him, who is far from God.
- On a sheet of paper, note card or in a document on your phone, write down every name that the Spirit brings to mind.
- Take a few minutes to pray about every person on that list right now. Ask the Lord to remove the blinders of darkness, to soften their hearts and draw them to Himself. Ask the Lord to use you to share His love with them.
- Make a plan. Make a plan to pray over this list every day. Some people set a daily alarm on their phone that goes off every day to remind them to pray. Others post the list on their mirror at home or on their dashboard for their morning commute. Find what works best for you and determine to pray every day. This is your prayer strategy.
If you can do this; if you can begin to pray daily, I can almost guarantee that God will begin using you. You’ll find your friends suddenly asking questions about God. You’ll find that you are more readily transitioning to spiritual conversations and that you conversations are more fruitful than you would have imagined.
God delights to answer these kinds of prayers for our lost friends and family members.
And then they won't believe just because of what we have said, but will believe because they have met the Lord Jesus!
- Published on
What is it that has shaped the way you think about the world around you?
What is shaping your worldview right now?
I often say that we are all, always being discipled by something. We don't have a choice. The things we listen to, watch and read are shaping us. They are shaping how we think, forming our character and driving our interests.
It is a reality.
If we go to church for an hour and a half each week and then spend two hours every day watching Oprah or listening to Rush Limbaugh, guess what? Our thinking, character and interests will look a lot like Oprah or Rush. We don't have a choice. That's just what happens.
The choice we do have is in the content of what we listen to, watch or read. We are in control of those choices.
Our Multiply team was reflecting today on the desires of our heart. It was during this time that I began to think back over my life and the things that shaped some of my strongest desires. One book in particular came to the forefront of my mind. I read it first in college and it began to shape my thinking in powerful ways. It was the missionary biography Through Gates of Splendor by Elizabeth Elliot.
There are others as well and with today's post I want to share with you 7 missionary biographies that I think will fuel your missions fire. They certainly have for me!
You'll probably be able to find most of these in a church library near you, but if not, you can purchase them from Amazon at the links given.
What is shaping your worldview right now?
I often say that we are all, always being discipled by something. We don't have a choice. The things we listen to, watch and read are shaping us. They are shaping how we think, forming our character and driving our interests.
It is a reality.
If we go to church for an hour and a half each week and then spend two hours every day watching Oprah or listening to Rush Limbaugh, guess what? Our thinking, character and interests will look a lot like Oprah or Rush. We don't have a choice. That's just what happens.
The choice we do have is in the content of what we listen to, watch or read. We are in control of those choices.
Our Multiply team was reflecting today on the desires of our heart. It was during this time that I began to think back over my life and the things that shaped some of my strongest desires. One book in particular came to the forefront of my mind. I read it first in college and it began to shape my thinking in powerful ways. It was the missionary biography Through Gates of Splendor by Elizabeth Elliot.
There are others as well and with today's post I want to share with you 7 missionary biographies that I think will fuel your missions fire. They certainly have for me!
You'll probably be able to find most of these in a church library near you, but if not, you can purchase them from Amazon at the links given.
Through Gates of Splendor by Elizabeth Elliot is the story of five missionaries determined to share the gospel with a remote tribe in Ecuador with a history of violence. This story has inspired generations of missionaries from across the world and was one of the most formative books in my young life.
Buy It Here
Hudson Taylor's Spiritual Secret by Dr. and Mrs. Howard Taylor follows the life of Hudson Taylor, known as one of the founders of modern missions and the leader of the move to share the gospel with the people of China. The book tells the story of his life but also the spiritual truths that Taylor discovered along the way.
Buy It Here
Buy It Here
Chasing the Dragon by Jackie Pullinger tells the story of Pullinger's work in Hong Kong's walled city. I have not read this book but watched a documentary about her life and work and was challenged by her faith and how much her life reminded me of the life of Jesus. I look forward to reading this book soon.
Buy It Here
Jungle Pilot by Russell Hitt is the biography of Nate Saint, the Mission Aviation Fellowship pilot who, along with Jim Elliot and three others, gave his life as a martyr on a jungle river beach in Ecuador. His life of commitment and service and faithfulness is inspiring and challenging.
Buy It Here
Bruchko is the biography of Bruce Olson, who as a young man traveled alone into the jungles of South America to carry the gospel to tribes who had never heard the name of Jesus. His suffering is intense: shot through the leg with an arrow, capture, disease, loneliness, torture and loss. Despite overwhelming hardships, he is used by God to bring the love of Christ to those who did not know.
Buy It Here
Buy It Here
Peace Child is the story of Don Richardson's engagement with a stone age child who upon hearing the gospel story for the first time, began cheering for Judas as he betrayed Jesus. How do you share the good news of Jesus with a tribe who revere deception? Through the story that God wove into their culture centuries earlier. This is a fascinating story of discovering the fingerprints of God in the stories of a primitive tribe.
Buy It Here
Buy It Here
A Chance to Die by Elizabeth Elliot is the intensely personal biography of Amy Carmichael. This Irish missionary spent fifty three years in the south of India and never once came home. There she founded a refuge for underprivileged children and gave her life to the service of her Lord.
Buy It Here
Buy It Here
I in no means intend to say that these are the seven best missionary biographies that are out there, but they are seven that get me excited and they are stories that will both inspire you and help to shape your heart for the nations. I hope you will find time to read them all in the next year!
Perhaps you have a favorite missionary biography - if so, please share it in the comments below.
Perhaps you have a favorite missionary biography - if so, please share it in the comments below.
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We are excited to announce that we have three Everywhere to Everywhere (E2E) training events scheduled for this spring!
This three day training event will prepare you to make disciples who make disciples among the unreached.
You can learn more about the event by reading the program description and looking at a sample schedule a the Program Page.
You can find all your registration, training dates and pricing information at the Trainings Page.
I've been a Christian all of my life and this is the most practical training about sharing my faith that I have ever received!
- a participant in South Dakota
E2E Training Location and Dates:
Wichita, Kansas - March 9 - 11 (register here)
Sioux Falls, South Dakota - April 26-28 (register here)
Sioux Falls, South Dakota [E2E Family Training] - May 31 - June 2 (learn more)
Wichita, Kansas - March 9 - 11 (register here)
Sioux Falls, South Dakota - April 26-28 (register here)
Sioux Falls, South Dakota [E2E Family Training] - May 31 - June 2 (learn more)
Help Spread the Word
Will you help us spread the word about these great training opportunities. Please take a moment to share this post on your favorite social media platform.
Feel free to print off a few of these flyers to hang up at your local church. [E2E Flyer]
Thanks so much!
Will you help us spread the word about these great training opportunities. Please take a moment to share this post on your favorite social media platform.
Feel free to print off a few of these flyers to hang up at your local church. [E2E Flyer]
Thanks so much!
- Published on
This Christmas break our family visited the Cosmosphere in Hutchinson, Kansas and learned all about the race to the moon. The men and women who worked on that program were asked to do what seemed impossible. They had to work toward answers to questions that they did not yet know existed. They needed to develop systems that were not yet developed. The vision to put a man on the moon was far bigger than their own capacities and yet they did it. They worked with a determination that would get their men to the moon.
“. . . but finding no way to bring him in, because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and let him down with his bed through the tiles into the midst before Jesus.”
- Luke 5:19
If you are not familiar with the story of the paralytic whose friends would let nothing stop them from getting him into the healing presence of Jesus, I’d encourage you to stop and read the short story in Luke 5:17-26.
These were men whose determination would let nothing stop them from bringing their friend to the feet of Jesus. They were men of stubborn perseverance who knew their ultimate objective and were determined to achieve that objective no matter the obstacles and no matter the cost.
This is a theme Jesus brings us back to again and again in the book of Luke. A man loses a single lamb and he leaves the ninety-nine others to search far and wide for it. A woman loses a single silver coin and sweeps the house in search of it despite the nine others she has in her pocket.
Relentless searching seems to be the appropriate response in the kingdom of God to the reality of the lost. And celebration is the appropriate response to finding what was lost.
What’s It Going To Take
I first heard the term “Wig-Take” in 2007 in Chang Mai Thailand. Our trainer was telling of his work in SE Asia among an unreached people group numbering in the millions. He was sharing the plan that he and his team had developed to reach the entire people group. They had started in prayer with a simple question that he called a Wig-Take question: What is it going to take to reach this people group?
I’d grown up with questions like, “How can we get more people to come to our church?” a vision which suddenly seemed stunningly inadequate in light of his vision to reach an entire people group; a remote ethnic group of nearly 2 million people with no gospel access and no known believers and who were largely illiterate.
It began to seem even more inadequate as he shared stories of their work among these people and what God was doing.
This question presupposes a vision that is bigger than me. It’s presupposes a God sized vision, a vision I could never accomplish alone.
Pastor Chris Galanos writes about how he discovered the Wig-Take principles and explains it this way, “What’s It Going to Take to Reach Everyone in the People Group?” Not what can I do or what can you do. Not what have others done before us. Not what’s possible. No. What’s it going to take? That’s the question we must ask! We have to be willing to do whatever it’s going to take! [read the whole article]
Our trainer in Thailand challenged us with the statement, “If your vision is something you can accomplish by yourself, your vision is probably too small.”
I want to encourage you to begin to dream and pray for a God sized vision for your context.
Perhaps you live in a city: What is it going to take to reach everyone in your city?
Perhaps you live in a small rural town: What is it going to take to reach everyone in your county?
Perhaps you are working among a remote group of people in Africa: What is it going to take to reach ALL of them?
Pray to the Lord of the harvest for a God sized vision and then begin to ask yourself, what is it going to take?
Are we willing to do whatever it is going to take?
“. . . but finding no way to bring him in, because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and let him down with his bed through the tiles into the midst before Jesus.”
- Luke 5:19
If you are not familiar with the story of the paralytic whose friends would let nothing stop them from getting him into the healing presence of Jesus, I’d encourage you to stop and read the short story in Luke 5:17-26.
These were men whose determination would let nothing stop them from bringing their friend to the feet of Jesus. They were men of stubborn perseverance who knew their ultimate objective and were determined to achieve that objective no matter the obstacles and no matter the cost.
This is a theme Jesus brings us back to again and again in the book of Luke. A man loses a single lamb and he leaves the ninety-nine others to search far and wide for it. A woman loses a single silver coin and sweeps the house in search of it despite the nine others she has in her pocket.
Relentless searching seems to be the appropriate response in the kingdom of God to the reality of the lost. And celebration is the appropriate response to finding what was lost.
What’s It Going To Take
I first heard the term “Wig-Take” in 2007 in Chang Mai Thailand. Our trainer was telling of his work in SE Asia among an unreached people group numbering in the millions. He was sharing the plan that he and his team had developed to reach the entire people group. They had started in prayer with a simple question that he called a Wig-Take question: What is it going to take to reach this people group?
I’d grown up with questions like, “How can we get more people to come to our church?” a vision which suddenly seemed stunningly inadequate in light of his vision to reach an entire people group; a remote ethnic group of nearly 2 million people with no gospel access and no known believers and who were largely illiterate.
It began to seem even more inadequate as he shared stories of their work among these people and what God was doing.
This question presupposes a vision that is bigger than me. It’s presupposes a God sized vision, a vision I could never accomplish alone.
Pastor Chris Galanos writes about how he discovered the Wig-Take principles and explains it this way, “What’s It Going to Take to Reach Everyone in the People Group?” Not what can I do or what can you do. Not what have others done before us. Not what’s possible. No. What’s it going to take? That’s the question we must ask! We have to be willing to do whatever it’s going to take! [read the whole article]
Our trainer in Thailand challenged us with the statement, “If your vision is something you can accomplish by yourself, your vision is probably too small.”
I want to encourage you to begin to dream and pray for a God sized vision for your context.
Perhaps you live in a city: What is it going to take to reach everyone in your city?
Perhaps you live in a small rural town: What is it going to take to reach everyone in your county?
Perhaps you are working among a remote group of people in Africa: What is it going to take to reach ALL of them?
Pray to the Lord of the harvest for a God sized vision and then begin to ask yourself, what is it going to take?
Are we willing to do whatever it is going to take?
- Published on
How did you do?
In last week's article, I put you in charge. (Read Last Week's Article)
I wonder what your thought process was like? I wonder if you wrestled over where to send your people and how many to send?
Maybe it was a simple decision.
With today's post I want to share the two videos that inspired last week's post. They also answer a question for us.
They don't share what we "should" do but rather, what we are actually doing?
I want to encourage you to watch the following videos and then to take some time for reflection.
In last week's article, I put you in charge. (Read Last Week's Article)
I wonder what your thought process was like? I wonder if you wrestled over where to send your people and how many to send?
Maybe it was a simple decision.
With today's post I want to share the two videos that inspired last week's post. They also answer a question for us.
They don't share what we "should" do but rather, what we are actually doing?
I want to encourage you to watch the following videos and then to take some time for reflection.
- How does the information these videos share sit with you?
- Are there things we can do differently or better as the church?
- Is there some specific step you can help your own church take in response to this information?
I've also created a group activity for training situations using this idea of three stadiums.
You can find that here:
Reaching the Least-Reached Lab
You can find that here:
Reaching the Least-Reached Lab
Find this post helpful?
Share it with a friend!
Share it with a friend!
- Published on
With today's article I want to ask for you to step into the role of the decision maker. I'd like to give you a scenario and then ask you to think about how to approach the problem. And if you'd like, you can share your ideas in the comments section.
You're in charge, so let's set the scene.
You are standing in a field on an open plain. Around you stand ten stadiums, each with a capacity of 100,000. Each stadium is filled with people and each person is wearing a colored t-shirt.
An Explanation
These stadiums represent the world's 7.5 billion people. The color of the t-shirts represents where the people in those stadiums are at concerning the good news of Jesus.
You're in charge, so let's set the scene.
You are standing in a field on an open plain. Around you stand ten stadiums, each with a capacity of 100,000. Each stadium is filled with people and each person is wearing a colored t-shirt.
An Explanation
These stadiums represent the world's 7.5 billion people. The color of the t-shirts represents where the people in those stadiums are at concerning the good news of Jesus.
Gold T-Shirts - The gold t-shirts represent the people who identify as Christians and are working to intentionally proclaim the gospel and make disciples. They are sharing their faith and believe that God wants to use them as his witnesses and ambassadors in a broken world. They make up about 10% of the world's population.
Yellow T-Shirts - The yellow t-shirts represent the cultural or nominal Christians in the world. If asked, they would identify as Christians but it may just be a cultural identification because they were born in a majority Christian country or into a historically Christian ethnic group. They may attend church and have some basic knowledge of the Christian faith but they are not regularly sharing with others. They make up about 23% of the world's population.
Green T-Shirts - The green t-shirts represent people who have access to the gospel - there are Bibles in their language, Christians and churches nearby - but they have not chosen to become followers of Jesus. If they wanted to learn more about Jesus, they would be able to find someone to tell them more in their neighborhood. They make up about 38% of the world's population.
Dark Blue T-Shirts - The dark blue t-shirts represent the unreached people of our world. They have no access to the gospel - no Bibles, no churches, no Christians. There are fewer than 2% of their own people group who are Christians and so if they did want to learn about Jesus, there would be no one near them with whom they could talk. They make up about 29% of the world's population.
The Stadiums
Off to your right, three of the stadiums are brightly lit by the stadium lights. Roughly 10,000 of the people in each of those stadiums are wearing bright gold t-shirts. As you scan the crowds, these gold t-shirts are scattered among a sea of other people wearing yellow or green t-shirts. The yellow t-shirts make up about 30,000 people and the green make up another 59,000 people in each stadium. A final 1,000 people wearing dark blue t-shirts are huddled in small clumps, mostly near the exits.
Let's call this clump of three stadiums Group C.
Next to these three stadiums are four more stadiums which are also filled to capacity. The security lights are on but not the stadium lights. The majority of those sitting in the dim light of each stadium are wearing green t-shirts. Let's say roughly 60,0000. There are about 30,000 yellow t-shirts, another 9,000 dark blue t-shirts and only 1,000 gold t-shirts scattered throughout the crowd. The stadium is dominated by green with some yellow, a hint of dark blue and a barely perceptible touch of gold.
We'll call these four stadiums Group B.
Finally the three remaining stadiums sit shrouded in darkness. Neither the main lights nor the security lights are on. These stadiums are filled to capacity as well. Each stadium is filled from corner to corner with an expanse of dark blue t-shirts. The vast majority, 99,950 people are wearing them. A mere 50 people in gold shirts which you can hardly see are spread all around each of these stadiums, mostly near the exits.
These three stadiums we'll call Group A.
Off to your right, three of the stadiums are brightly lit by the stadium lights. Roughly 10,000 of the people in each of those stadiums are wearing bright gold t-shirts. As you scan the crowds, these gold t-shirts are scattered among a sea of other people wearing yellow or green t-shirts. The yellow t-shirts make up about 30,000 people and the green make up another 59,000 people in each stadium. A final 1,000 people wearing dark blue t-shirts are huddled in small clumps, mostly near the exits.
Let's call this clump of three stadiums Group C.
Next to these three stadiums are four more stadiums which are also filled to capacity. The security lights are on but not the stadium lights. The majority of those sitting in the dim light of each stadium are wearing green t-shirts. Let's say roughly 60,0000. There are about 30,000 yellow t-shirts, another 9,000 dark blue t-shirts and only 1,000 gold t-shirts scattered throughout the crowd. The stadium is dominated by green with some yellow, a hint of dark blue and a barely perceptible touch of gold.
We'll call these four stadiums Group B.
Finally the three remaining stadiums sit shrouded in darkness. Neither the main lights nor the security lights are on. These stadiums are filled to capacity as well. Each stadium is filled from corner to corner with an expanse of dark blue t-shirts. The vast majority, 99,950 people are wearing them. A mere 50 people in gold shirts which you can hardly see are spread all around each of these stadiums, mostly near the exits.
These three stadiums we'll call Group A.
You Are In Charge
So there you are in the middle of that field, looking out over these ten stadiums. You're job is to work toward the completion of the great commission, to make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit and teaching them to obey everything that Jesus has commanded.
Standing with you is a group of 100 young men and women, all wearing gold t-shirts. These 100 represent the total missionary force that has come out of Group C and you are in charge. It's your job to decide how you will deploy these 100 to be most effective in working toward the completion of the great commission. How many will you send to each group of stadiums?
So there you are in the middle of that field, looking out over these ten stadiums. You're job is to work toward the completion of the great commission, to make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit and teaching them to obey everything that Jesus has commanded.
Standing with you is a group of 100 young men and women, all wearing gold t-shirts. These 100 represent the total missionary force that has come out of Group C and you are in charge. It's your job to decide how you will deploy these 100 to be most effective in working toward the completion of the great commission. How many will you send to each group of stadiums?
Where will you send them? You are in charge.
What's your move?
What's your move?
I've also created a group activity for training situations using this idea of three stadiums.
You can find that here:
Reaching the Least-Reached Lab
You can find that here:
Reaching the Least-Reached Lab
Find this article helpful?
Share it with a friend!
Share it with a friend!
- Published on
We want to wish you a Merry Christmas!
May you experience the full joy of the savior in these next few days and may 2019 be full of new adventures in risk taking obedience to Jesus!
Until all have heard!
May you experience the full joy of the savior in these next few days and may 2019 be full of new adventures in risk taking obedience to Jesus!
Until all have heard!
- Published on
I've been thinking a lot about the different phases of the growth of the church. In a place like Turkey where the church is small - well less than 1% of the population are followers of Jesus - the church looks different than it looks in a place like Europe or the United States - places where the church has been established for hundreds, even thousands of years.
When I came across the video below, I found it helpful as I struggle with some of the realities of my context in the U.S. where the church has largely been institutionalized and professionalized and is quickly moving into a post Christian reality. It was helpful as well as I thought about the many works we are helping to support in unreached areas of our world - places like Turkey.
There are some good lessons to be drawn from Ray Vaughn's explanation. Church historians will undoubtedly find flaws in the explanation, but I found it helpful to think about. As we consider the different contexts where we seek to be faithful to proclaim the good news and make disciples, there are lessons that we need to learn and apply.
This teaching is 30 minutes long. It is a basic overview of what missiologists have observed in each of the phases of the growth, expansion and decline of the church throughout history and throughout the world. It is descriptive not prescriptive, a backwards glance at what has happened, not theoretical thinking about what we should do. I'd encourage you to find some time to watch it with a few questions in mind.
When I came across the video below, I found it helpful as I struggle with some of the realities of my context in the U.S. where the church has largely been institutionalized and professionalized and is quickly moving into a post Christian reality. It was helpful as well as I thought about the many works we are helping to support in unreached areas of our world - places like Turkey.
There are some good lessons to be drawn from Ray Vaughn's explanation. Church historians will undoubtedly find flaws in the explanation, but I found it helpful to think about. As we consider the different contexts where we seek to be faithful to proclaim the good news and make disciples, there are lessons that we need to learn and apply.
This teaching is 30 minutes long. It is a basic overview of what missiologists have observed in each of the phases of the growth, expansion and decline of the church throughout history and throughout the world. It is descriptive not prescriptive, a backwards glance at what has happened, not theoretical thinking about what we should do. I'd encourage you to find some time to watch it with a few questions in mind.
- What can we who live in a Christian and post Christian context learn and adapt from what is happening in phases 0-2?
- What can we who are seeking to engage unreached people groups learn from this overview?
- What are some of the basic beliefs and practices in phase 0-2 that we may have inadvertently dropped as we move toward more institutional models of church?
- What are one or two lessons you can learn from this look back into the phases of a church planting movement and how could you apply them in your context?
