Continuing principles from Luke 10:

There are other principles tied up with Jesus sending us out as lambs among wolves (Luke 10:3).

Lambs make lunch for wolves!  So why did Jesus send us out as lambs among wolves rather than wolves among lambs? What kind of shepherd is he?  Would a good shepherd do that?

Evangelism can be an exercise in, "I'm right, you're wrong!" "I have made the right choices in life, you're on the wrong path!" "I'm going to tell you what you need in life." All of which makes us appear superior. To be honest, that isn't very attractive. People intensely dislike being made to feel inferior.

Lambs are vulnerable and weak compared to wolves. So how does this effect our reaching out? It's much more attractive (tasty even!) if we appear vulnerable when we talk to others about the Lord. If we are willing to mention our own weaknesses, to open up about our failings, then we become much more approachable.  People feel they can confide in us, are willing to let down their guard and let us into their lives.  I'm not talking about wallowing in our own guilt and sin, but being honest.  Then we have the opportunity to share the difference that Jesus has made.  "He is the one who has made a difference in my life and he can change your life too."

If our attitude enables someone to open up about the problem areas in their life, this then gives us the opportunity to pray with them and demonstrate the Kingdom.  And a demonstration of the Kingdom gives us the right to tell people the good news (Luke 10:9).

National House Church Conference 2010 http://bit.ly/adpZ54

When our daughter finished school, she spent a couple of years with YWAM (Youth with a Mission).  At the end of that time, she asked us if we would be willing to let her work downtown in our club and bar district. Just what any parent wants--their daughter becoming a cocktail waitress in the most notorious section of town!  What would our Christian friends think?

  

But we decided that if that was what Jesus was telling her to do, it didn't matter what other people thought. And we decided we had to trust him to protect her.  So she started working there that fall.

Coming up to Christmas, she decided that she wanted to reach out to her new friends and so invited them to our home for what she called, "a baby Jesus BBQ!"  Around 40 bartenders and bouncers came.  Tattoos, piercings, they were an interesting (and delightful) bunch.  We started a group with several of them, and over the course of the next few weeks, several gave their hearts to the Lord.

Continuing a study of Luke 10. Luke 10:3 says this: Now go, and remember that I am sending you out as lambs among wolves. Jesus told his disciples to go--or more accurately, "be going." Yet we usually ask people to come. "Come to our church," "Come to our special meeting!" Even in our house churches we ask people to come. Why did Jesus tell us to go? If we go, we are the ones who are crossing the cultural barrier. We are the ones to get uncomfortable. Think about it: what is it like for someone who has never been... Felicity Dale

This is a break in my series on Luke 10. I will get back to this passage in the next post! When we first moved to this country, we had no means of making an income. (No one wanted to employ two unlicensed physicians). So we became involved in a business that taught us a lot about American culture. We also learned some very positive principles, many of which had their basis in Scripture. One of the things emphasized to us was the importance of tools. The value of tools is that they make a job easier. You can hammer... Felicity Dale

God's maths is not our maths. Continuing the discussion on Luke 10. Luke 10:2 says this: "These were his instructions to them: “The harvest is great, but the workers are few. So pray to the Lord who is in charge of the harvest; ask him to send more workers into his fields." A number of key points come out in this. According to Jesus, the problem isn't the harvest. (See my post on how to recognize a ripe harvest at http://bit.ly/a8tbOW) In another place, Jesus says to the disciples, "You say there are still 4 months left until harvest, but... Felicity Dale

We have had the privilege of spending time with the leaders of several church planting movements over the years. (A church planting movement occurs when there is rapid and spontaneous multiplication of churches, comprised mainly of new believers). We always ask them what principles are behind the growth that they see. They usually point to Luke 10 (or Matthew 10). So the next few posts will look at this passage in greater detail. Luke 10 is the passage where Jesus sends out the 70 (or 72,depending on your version of the Bible) disciples. The passage follows Jesus' teaching on the... Felicity Dale

When you talk to people who are seeing a church planting movement, they all talk about the importance of people passing on what they are learning. Neil Cole says in a recent blog post at http://bit.ly/asqEgw that every church he has started has begun because people become Christians going through the 7 signs of John. One of the questions that is asked in this evangelistic Bible study is "Who do you know who needs to hear this?" David Watson has seen tens of thousands of churches start in many different countries of the world. In this country, he uses Bible... Felicity Dale

Continuing a study of Luke 10.

Luke 10:3 says this: Now go, and remember that I am sending you out as lambs among wolves.

Jesus told his disciples to go--or more accurately, "be going."  Yet we usually ask people to come.  "Come to our church," "Come to our special meeting!"  Even in our house churches we ask people to come.  

Why did Jesus tell us to go?  If we go, we are the ones who are crossing the cultural barrier.  We are the ones to get uncomfortable.  Think about it: what is it like for someone who has never been in church to come to one of our meetings.  It is a total culture shock! We may ask them to sing songs they don't know, to listen to a monolog or take part in a discussion they know nothing about.  There are reasons we are told to go.  

Jesus may send us to places where we don't naturally feel comfortable.  But Jesus was known as a friend of sinners.  He was willing to mix with people that the upright religious people of his day refused to have anything to do with.  He was comfortable with tax collectors and prostitutes.  Notorious sinners hung around him (Luke 15:1-2). Are we willing to risk going to places where "sinners" hang out if Jesus asks us to?

Then Jesus tells us that our going is like throwing lambs to the wolves!

 
 

What kind of shepherd would do that?  Send his lambs to the wolves?

What is the protection for a lamb?  As Neil Cole likes to point out, it's not their superior intelligence, or their camouflage, or their speed.  They have no natural defense but their shepherd.  When we go to dangerous places, Jesus himself is our protection.

This is a break in my series on Luke 10.  I will get back to this passage in the next post!  

When we first moved to this country, we had no means of making an income. (No one wanted to employ two unlicensed physicians).  So we became involved in a business that taught us a lot about American culture.  We also learned some very positive principles, many of which had their basis in Scripture. One of the things emphasized to us was the importance of tools. The value of tools is that they make a job easier.  You can hammer in a nail using a rock, but it is much easier to use a hammer.  Even more useful are power tools.  

The National House Church conference is a tool. You can start a simple/organic/house church without reading the books or meeting others who have already done it.  But it is a whole lot easier if you can learn some principles from their experience and avoid some of the mistakes they made!  At the conference there is plenty of opportunity to talk with people who've been on the journey for a while, as well as different breakout sessions devoted to various helpful topics--for example, a couple who transitioned their legacy (traditional) church into a network of house churches will share the principles that guided their journey.  

Here's a brief descriptio of the conference which will take place over the Labor Day weekend:

According to recent Pew Foundation Research, 7% of American Christians now identify a house church as their primary expression of church.  This is exciting news but it also points to a significant problem. An increasing number of believers are now meeting in homes but they are bringing with them leadership patterns from their traditional church background.  The result?  Burned out and confused leaders and struggling house churches.

The 2010 National House Church Conference will be addressing just this problem at several levels.

• Wayne Jacobson will be helping us think through what it looks like when you really believe that following God is a 24/7 description of walking with Him.
• Our breakout times will explore everything from basics of house church life to understanding the transition process for pastors from traditional setting.
• Tim Bach will be talking to us about iconcity, the adventure that God has him and others engaged in as they seek to bring transformation to a small town in Oregon. Tim and other members of the team spent time in various Christian bands, including Petra. From “I’m with the band” to helping homeless kids – it’s quite a story!
• The House2House board/team will be exploring with us the role of transformational leadership teams to help provide infrastructure to fresh moves of the Holy Spirit.  Infrastructure is generally not seen, not noticed, but vital to the functioning of society. Godly, servant leadership is like this!

Why not bring a group of you from your church?  Details can be found here.

 

God's maths is not our maths.

Continuing the discussion on Luke 10.

 Luke 10:2 says this: "These were his instructions to them: “The harvest is great, but the workers are few. So pray to the Lord who is in charge of the harvest; ask him to send more workers into his fields."

A number of key points come out in this.

• According to Jesus, the problem isn't the harvest.   (See my post on how to recognize a ripe harvest at http://bit.ly/a8tbOW)  In another place, Jesus says to the disciples, "You say there are still 4 months left until harvest, but I tell you, the harvest is ready now" (paraphrase of John 4:35).  We give God excuses as to why the harvest isn't ready--"My area is too hard, no one is interested,"  As soon as I finish this, (think of an excuse) I'll go out and find a ripe field."  But the Lord of the harvest says, "Now's the time!"
• The real problem is too few workers.  But hold on.  Jesus had 70+12= 82 workers.  That's 41 pairs of people who were going out into the harvest.  Surely that's enough!  If we had that number of committed church planting teams here in our area, we'd be thrilled.  But according to Jesus, that's inadequate for the task.  It reminds me of the old story.  How do you get a herd of cows to produce more milk?  Do you feed them better food, give them extra vitamins, play them soothing music in their stalls?  That might help a little (well the food and vitamins, anyway).  No, the best way to significantly increase milk production is to add more cows to your herd!  It's a bit like this here.  It's easier to see more harvest by increasing the number of workers than by trying to persuade the existing ones to work harder or smarter.  
• Jesus' solution to the problem is this:   Pray the Lord of the harvest to send out more workers into the harvest.  We are to pray (beseech, beg) the Lord to send out more workers.  The Greek word used her for "send out" is ekballo which has an element of violence in it.  It's the word used for casting out a demon. I'm sure most of you are familiar with the story of the Luke 10:2b virus (which I tell in detail in "An Army of Ordinary People") and how a prayer movement is producing amazing results in terms of church planting around the country. We minimize the importance of prayer to our cost!

We have had the privilege of spending time with the leaders of several church planting movements over the years.  (A church planting movement occurs when there is rapid and spontaneous multiplication of churches, comprised mainly of new believers). We always ask them what principles are behind the growth that they see.  They usually point to Luke 10 (or Matthew 10).  So the next few posts will look at this passage in greater detail. 

Luke 10 is the passage where Jesus sends out the 70 (or 72,depending on your version of the Bible) disciples.  The passage follows Jesus' teaching on the cost of discipleship.

Verse 1: The Lord now chose seventy-two other disciples and sent them ahead in pairs to all the towns and places he planned to visit.

A few points on verse 1:

• These are "other" disciples--presumably other to the 12.  This means he sent at least 82 disciples (41 pairs) out.
• He sent them in pairs--not in teams and not individually.  It's interesting to note that when the disciples are listed, in at least one location they are listed in pairs (Luke 6:13-16)
• Jesus sent them ahead of him to all the places he planned to visit.  If Jesus sends you somewhere, it's because He plans to go there too.  Your job changes, then Jesus plans to meet the new people you work with.  You move house, Jesus plans to touch your neighborhood through you.
• Jesus not only planned to visit towns, he planned to visit places too.  Maybe Jesus said to them, "You two are to visit such and such a town, and you two go the tavern on the road to Capernaum."

Jesus had a strategy for the area.  He has a strategy for your area too.  The disciples job was to listen to him and to obey when he told them where to go.  We have the same responsibility--to listen to Jesus and do what he tells us.  That is why knowing how to recognize his voice is so important.

When you talk to people who are seeing a church planting movement, they all talk about the importance of people passing on what they are learning.  

Neil Cole says in a recent blog post at http://bit.ly/asqEgw that every church he has started has begun because people become Christians going through the 7 signs of John.  One of the questions that is asked in this evangelistic Bible study is "Who do you know who needs to hear this?"

David Watson has seen tens of thousands of churches start in many different countries of the world. In this country, he uses Bible study as the way to start them, and again one of the questions asked is "Who do you know who needs to hear what you have just learned?"

Curtis Sergeant who saw a church planting movement in China talks about the importance of discipleship chains--whenever someone learns something, they are responsible to pass it on to at least two other people, who in turn pass it on to two more.

The next time they get together, there is accountability.  "Did you pass on what you learned to the people you mentioned who need to hear this?"

If new believers (or even unbelievers) are encouraged to pass on what they are learning to others who don't yet know the Lord, the Kingdom will spread quickly.

 

David Garrison, in his book "Church Planting Movements" (which I thoroughly recommend) talks about the deadly sins of church planting. One of these is sequentialism. So what is this, and why is it so "deadly"? Sequentialism is the idea that things have to be done in order. First we do this, then we do that. One of the common mistakes that existing Christians make when starting an organic/house church is this. They decide that the first thing they are going to do is develop community. When they have done that, they will think about reaching out to the world around... Felicity Dale

In the last post I looked at what it means for us to be citizens of a kingdom. We are there to serve the King and do his bidding. But we serve a loving and merciful King! Recently I did an extensive study through the NT to see what the good news of the Kingdom is. Here's a brief summary of the benefits we have by being in the Kingdom: 1. Our sins are forgiven: If we believe, turn (repent) from our sins and are baptized, we will be forgiven. This brings us peace with God. 2. We've become a... Felicity Dale

Continuing thoughts on the Gospel of the Kingdom: We are blessed to live in a democracy -- or to be more specific, here in the States, a constitutional republic. It is "government of the people by the people and for the people" (Abraham Lincoln). The people have the power. As society changes, so do its laws, because there are no absolutes. The United Kingdom, where I am from, is a constitutional monarchy. The government is a democracy and the Queen is its figurehead Because we live in a democracy, when the Bible talks about the Kingdom, we have no real... Felicity Dale

David Garrison, in his book "Church Planting Movements" (which I thoroughly recommend) talks about the deadly sins of church planting.  One of these is sequentialism.  So what is this, and why is it so "deadly"?

Sequentialism is the idea that things have to be done in order.  First we do this, then we do that.  One of the common mistakes that existing Christians make when starting an organic/house church is this.  They decide that the first thing they are going to do is develop community.  When they have done that, they will think about reaching out to the world around them.

The result of this kind of thinking?

• Once some community has formed, they start to run into problems, so they don't feel they can add other people.  
• The fellowship becomes so deep and meaningful that they really don't want to interrupt it by adding others.  
• Even if they start adding others with the intention of splitting into two when they get too large, (probably the slowest way to multiply), often it has taken a gifted leader to get them to that size and no one feels qualified to do something similar.

No, if you want to see multiplication, do things simultaneously.  Just as soldiers in battle develop a camaraderie that nothing else is likely to equal, when Christians join together in a task, their fellowship deepens.  If we want to see our communities reached for Christ, let's deliberately reach out right from the start.

In the last post I looked at what it means for us to be citizens of a kingdom.  We are there to serve the King and do his bidding.  But we serve a loving and merciful King!  Recently I did an extensive study through the NT to see what the good news of the Kingdom is.  Here's a brief summary of the benefits we have by being in the Kingdom:

1.  Our sins are forgiven:

 If we believe, turn (repent) from our sins and are baptized, we will be forgiven.  This brings us peace with God. 

2. We've become a new creation

 His laws are now written on our hearts so we don't live by a rule book but by his divine nature inside us.

3.  Healing and deliverance:

Jesus announced the good news of the Kingdom to the poor and demonstrated it by healing every kind of sickness and illness.  He had authority over every demon. We have authority over all the power of the enemy when we use the name of Jesus. We can see the captives set free.  The Kingdom of God is not just fancy talk; it is living by God's power!

4.  We have eternal life:

Jesus died on the cross, so that everyone who believes in him will have eternal life—in fact, has already passed from death to life.  One day we will have resurrected, spiritual bodies, full of power. 

5.  The Holy Spirit fills and empowers us:

The Holy Spirit will never leave us but lives within us.  He  teaches us and leads us into all truth and testifies of Jesus.  He will convict the world.  He brings glory to Jesus

6.  We have a relationship with God:

God is our Father and we are his sons and daughters.  We are adopted into His family.  Eternal life is knowing God and Jesus. We are now friends of Jesus rather than servants.

7. Relationship with others:

As his body, we are family together

Now all of that is Good News!!

Continuing thoughts on the Gospel of the Kingdom:

  

We are blessed to live in a democracy -- or to be more specific, here in the States, a constitutional republic. It is "government of the people by the people and for the people" (Abraham Lincoln). The people have the power. As society changes, so do its laws, because there are no absolutes.

The United Kingdom, where I am from, is a constitutional monarchy. The government is a democracy and the Queen is its figurehead

Because we live in a democracy, when the Bible talks about the Kingdom, we have no real frame of reference to understand it.

A kingdom is ruled by a king. In an absolute monarchy, the king has undivided rule and complete sovereignty--supreme authority over his people.  He decrees how the people live, is responsible for the governing laws.  He is not subject to the will of the people; their responsibility is to serve him. 

The good news of the kingdom is that we have a king who has made a way for us to enter his kingdom. But is being ruled by a king good news? It all depends on the character of the King!

In the next post, we will look at what our king has chosen to do for us.

This is a continuation of the series, "Ways to see more harvest." Jesus preached the Gospel of the Kingdom. What do we preach? I often think that we preach a Santa Claus gospel. We portray God to those who don't yet know him as some kind of divine genie who is there to give us an easy life. "Invite Jesus into your life and he will give you peace and joy." "You can know your sins are forgiven and you will go to heaven." "Raise your hand and Jesus will come into your life." We give the impression that God... Felicity Dale

A couple of posts ago, I talked about the power of story telling and of listening to others' stories. Dan Hubbell emailed me with this wonderful example from one of his trips. Enjoy it! But also learn from it. When we were in China on one of our early missions about seven years ago, we were equipping and training Chinese leaders. We had committed ourselves for three years to minister as servants to these precious saints. Knowing that we would be with them for this long period of time, I was praying about how best to personally know each of... Felicity Dale