Showing posts with label making disciples. Show all posts
Showing posts with label making disciples. Show all posts

Feb 11, 2012

Making Disciples





I became involved in a discussion a while back with a group of leaders from the street healing movement. Brandon Lee, one of visionaries of the movement asked a group of us how we might go about making disciples after seeing people healed.

Most of us have seen hundreds of people healed on the streets. After they were healed, some were led to a profession of faith in Jesus. But almost none were walking in the power of God as we had hoped.

Preaching and healing can bring people to God. Getting people to make a profession of faith isn’t hard to do. Keeping them in a relationship with God afterward is more problematic. Church polls reveal that many new converts leave the church or lose faith in God shortly afterward. Among those who remain committed followers of Jesus, few can honestly say they're living the kind of life Jesus and his disciples lived. Many leaders have recognized that present models of evangelism and discipleship aren’t working.

In the span of three years Jesus took uneducated men and through frequent demonstration and teaching on the kingdom of God, transformed their lives into ones that looked like His. When the process was done their lives replicated the life of their teacher. This is the goal of making disciples. It’s the replication of the kingdom of God in the lives of others.

The gospel of the kingdom of God is transformational. Wherever the kingdom goes it destroys mindsets that are opposed to the righteousness of God. It frees people from bondage to sin. It empowers them to release miracles into the lives of others. The kingdom of God is not a set of precepts we agree upon, it is the transformational power of God that works in the lives of believers, changing them into the image of Christ.

The question that leaders of the street healing movement are asking is, "How do we go about making disciples in the manner that Jesus did?"

Most of these leaders are young and on fire for God, which probably accounts for their enthusiasm and passion. They’ve seen the effects of powerless preaching and the weakness of a church body sitting in a pew on Sunday lulled to sleep by sermons. They have a vision of a church that’s different. Their vision is of a vibrant, spirit-filled, demon-casting, sickness-destroying, dead-raising army of disciples who do the things Jesus did.

They know that this vision will never become a reality without leaders who can demonstrate the kingdom and train believers to follow after them. This vision requires leaders who have a different mindset. And that puts them at odds with the leaders of most church congregations.

The church tends to reflect the operational values of it's leaders. Although Jesus is the head of the church, the manifestation of Jesus in the world is largely dictated by a handful of leaders, who collectively cast a vision for how the church impacts society. The leaders involved in street healing have noted that few other leaders seem to understand the value of training and equipping believers to go into the streets and do the works of God.

A few years ago I began to re-evaluate what I believed about the church and how it operates. One of the books that challenged my presuppositions was "The Shaping of Things To Come: Innovation and Mission for the 21st Century Church", by Michael Frost and Alan Hirsch.

Frost and Hirsch have three main observations about the church and how it operates. The first is that most churches are attractional instead of missional.

Traditional churches create sacred spaces that are uncomfortable for not-yet-Christians. Our goal is to attract the not-yet-Christians into these spaces. With the attractional church model, evangelism is about inviting people to meetings.

Jesus didn't instruct his disciples to gather in a building and wait for people to come to them. He sent his disciples out into the community. The disciples were guests in their homes and businesses. This is a very different approach than the one most churches use today.

Even when traditional churches try to reach out to the community, "church planting" generally involves planting another Sunday service in a new location, rather than establishing authentic Christian communities.

The answer from Frost and Hirsch is that church must operate missionally. The missional church does not seek to attract people to it. It seeps into the cracks and crevices of a society in order to be Christ to those who don't know him yet. It does this through proximity spaces, shared projects, and commercial enterprises.

Proximity spaces are places or events where Christians and not-yet-Christians interact with each other. They are definitely not churches. Examples of proximity spaces include art workshops, pubs and cafes where Christians form part of the regular clientele. Shared projects are activities of interest to the wider community, which meet a need and provide an opportunity for Christians and not-yet-Christians to meet in a natural situation.

Commercial enterprises are businesses, run by Christians for the wider community, which are not overtly evangelistic. The point of all of these activities is to find neutral ground where the Church can intentionally meet with the world.

The second observation they make is the traditional churches are dualistic instead of Messianic. That is, they believe that there is a separation between that which is secular and that which is sacred. This idea is rooted in Greek philosophy, not the Bible. This separation of the sacred from the secular impacts all aspects of life. We have sacred and secular people (clergy and laity), sacred and secular places (church buildings and the rest of the world), and sacred and secular activities (church services and the rest of our activities).

The separation of the sacred from the secular has a major impact on how we live out our Christian lives. It allows us to relegate spiritual duties such as healing and evangelism to the professional clergy, minimizing the impact of the average believer. It leads us to believe that only the things that happen on Sunday are truly spiritual, which compartmentalizes our Christianity.

Frost and Hirsch encourage the Church to abandon this distinction between secular and sacred, and to adopt the attitude of Jesus, who saw all activity as part of his ministry. We need to adopt an attitude which sees all of our activity, work, relaxation and specifically Christian service as a sacrament. All of our life must be sacred, and we must take Jesus with us wherever we go.

The third observation is that the traditional church structure is hierarchical instead of apostolic. Frost and Hirsch say that traditional churches have a hierarchical leadership system. They argue that this is neither Biblical nor efficient, and the Church should instead adopt the leadership structure taken from Ephesians chapter 4 (Apostles, Prophets, Evangelists, Pastors and Teachers).

The heirarchical model put enormous power in the hands of a few people and emphasizes the gifting of those individuals. It also ranks people in higher and lower places of authority, which is a model taken from society, not the bible. In contrast, the Ephesians 4 structure provides for a flat leadership model where the gifting of all the 5-fold offices are represented and no one is higher or lower in rank. This plurality of leadership based on spiritual gifting meets all of the needs of the Church, whereas a traditional hierarchical model often leaves gaping holes.

The traditional church model lends itself well to certain things. It is effective for teaching in the broader sense where a single message can be heard by thousands of people at once. Dissemination of information can accomplished this way. But the application of what is taught is a different matter.

Putting instruction into practical use can’t be accomplished in large groups over an hour or two a week, particularly if feedback is needed. This must be done in smaller groups, to allow for personalization and time for questions to be answered. Congregations that meet once a week have no time for practical application. Some churches have developed small groups that meet during the week for this reason.

The hierarchical leadership structure tends to emphasize and draw from the gifting of one or two key individuals who lead the congregation. It rarely allows for the development of the gifting of the congregation itself. Among fellowships where the gifting of the average believer is acknowledged and developed, it seldom deviates from the gifting of the leaders and it is rarely allowed to surpass it.

This structure allows for some of the things that the church needs to accomplish, but it isn't effective for making disciples. And it’s this issue that leaders of the street healing movement are most concerned with.

I mentioned that many of us tend to compartmentalize our Christianity. Some of us have little interaction with other believers outside of Sunday morning church services. We tend to bring out our spiriuality only when it's required. On Sunday we put on Jesus, but he remains hidden the rest of the week. The traditional church model forces many of us to live as a part-time Christians.

The spiritual growth necessary to be transformed into a disciple is a daily process. It happens little by little through daily renewing of the mind. As we meditate on new revelation from God and obey the leading of the Holy Spirit, our perceptions, beliefs and actions take on new directions. As we get together with others and operate in the power of God, faith for the miraculous grows. The transformational process that makes us into disciples can't do it's work if it's only operational one day a week.

One of the men who discipled me is David McLain. I had a dream in which he and I walked through the streets of the town we lived in. We were starting a new type of church called a ‘missional’ church and we were looking for a "person of peace". Finding them was the first thing we had to do. I’d like to draw your attention to the instructions Jesus gave his disciples in Matthew chapter 10 and Luke chapter 10.

In His instructions, Jesus told the disciples to go out into the cities of Israel. The first thing that should be noted is that He didn't tell them to bring people to a central location, as we do today. His instructions were for them to go out into society. He also told them to inquire who was worthy and to find a household where a person of peace lived. He told them not to go from place to place, but to remain there, eating what was served, healing the sick, raising the dead, casting out demons and teaching them about the kingdom.

What is the emphasis in these instructions? Developing relationships while ministering to strangers and teaching them about the kingdom.

In sending out the twelve and later, the seventy; He instructed his disciples to find a "person of peace". Finding the person of peace is the key to the entire process of spreading the good news.

The "person of peace" is a person who sees the work that God is doing through us. They are willing to partner with us in bringing that work to the lives of others. This partnership requires trust and a spirit of peace. Once the person of peace is found, they will lead us to a group over which they have some type of influence. If we gain favor and acceptance with the person of peace, we will likely gain it with those in their sphere of influence. Just as we are doorways to the kingdom of God, the person of peace is a doorway to the harvest field. The work of God flows through these doorways.

Biblical examples of a "person of peace" are numerous. The gospel came to the Gentiles after an angel spoke to Cornelius, who was called a ‘just man of good reputation’. The angel told him to send for the apostle Peter. He allowed Peter to speak to all who were in his home and the Holy Spirit fell upon them. Cornelius, by virtue of his reputation and influence served as the first doorway for the gospel to reach the Gentiles. (See Acts chapter 10)

The Samaritan woman at the well took the message of the Messiah back to her city after meeting Jesus. She was in a sense, a person of peace who helped Jesus spread the gospel. (John 4:28-29)

Aquila and Pricilla ran a small business. They received Paul into their home where he worked with them making tents until he received outside support. This couple later tutored Apollos and hosted a Gentile church. ( See Acts 18:1-3)

Justus, whose house was located next door to the synagogue, hosted Paul for a time at Corinth. (See Acts 18:7)

Lydia is another example, having opened her home to Paul and the disciples after receiving their testimony. (Acts 16:14-15)

The last example might surprise you. The man with the demon, who called himself ‘Legion’ became a person of peace. Some people are by their own nature, a person of peace. Some become one as a result of our interaction with them. The man with the demon, after he was set free, begged Jesus to allow him to remain with him. The people of Gadara begged Jesus to leave. Jesus sent the man home to Decapolis to tell of the great things the Lord did. Later, when Jesus visited Dacapolis, the people there asked Him to stay and heal their sick and infirmed. The man became a person of peace, whose personal testimony prepared the harvest field. (See Mark 5:14-20 and Mark 7:31-37)

When John G. Lake trained his divine healing technicians, he sent them into the homes of people who needed healing of a terminal condition. The household would have had at least one person willing to cooperate with the work God was doing. They would pray over this person, focusing on getting them healed. They taught the bible and stayed as long as needed, which would have been anywhere from a few days to a few months. This model, which proved to be very effective, is almost exactly like the one Jesus gave to His disciples.

It was after I decided to be intentional about living and walking in the power of God every day that I noticed changes in the lives of people around me. Those who were never interested in my religion, were very interested in the healing miracles they heard about. The deeper I walked into the kingdom, and the more consistently I demonstrated it the more people were attracted to Jesus. And my opportunities to disciple them increased dramatically.

Making disciples requires a large investment of time from the parties involved. We must come to terms with the fact that we only have so much time to devote to the process. Second, we need to accept the fact that there are very few people who are interested in becoming a disciple in the sense that we are discussing. You might see 100 people a month healed, but the number who are genuinely interested in doing what you're doing may only be one or two. Finding the ones who are interested is critical if you hope to see fruit come forth. In my experiences, God can lead us through dreams, visions, angelic messages and divine encounters to the "person of peace".

Once the person of peace is found, you must demonstrate the life and power of God in your daily activities with them. You must develop relationships of trust. If they open doors to the lives of others, ask God how you can meet their needs. You must have regular contact with those you meet, demonstrating Jesus to them in His power, forgiveness, love, compassion and all the things that reveal His life in you.

If we do these things, we will truly make disciples and fulfill the great commission and in the process we’ll reveal the truth that Jesus is alive and breathing in those He calls His bride.


Jul 21, 2011

Partner Evangelism





If you've followed this blog for any length of time, you've may have wondered what my partner thinks about all this healing stuff. Today, you'll get an inside look at what's going on in his life.

I'll be honest - I don't really know if he's a Christian or not. I've made too many wrong assumptions about that in the past, so I try not to categorize people any more. He believes in God. I'll leave it at that for now.

He's seen the power of God at work more than most people. He's witnessed miracles with our patients and he's been healed at least a dozen times of things like neck, back, knee and hand pain. He's one of the most accident prone people I've ever met - I think his size 14 feet have something to do with that.

He doesn't go to church. But we work a lot of weekends, so neither of us have the opportunity to attend every weekend, even if we wanted to.

Since we began working together 2 years ago, he's had a number of dreams from God. We always talk about what God is saying to him in dreams and he appreciates that.

I've never tried to lead him in the sinner's prayer. It's not something I routinely do and I've haven't had a leading from God to do it with him.

Much of what he knows about religion he gets from the history channel. A few months ago, he watched a program on the subject of hell. We had a long talk afterward.

He asked what I thought hell was, why some people went there and why others went to heaven. It was the open door I had been waiting for. He already had enough information to believe in hell. I agreed that it was a real place and steered the discussion into matters he'd never discussed with anyone. We talked about the concepts of judgment for sin, the atonement for it by the death of Jesus, the nature of God's mercy and the forgiveness of sin through His grace.

It all made perfect sense to him.

A few months ago, he was having knee pain in the middle of the shift. After I asked him about it, he confessed that he went for a 3 mile run before work and probably shouldn't have. I told him to put his hand on his knee and command it to be healed, like he'd seen me do a hundred times.
He said he tried that already, but it didn't work. So I placed my hand on his knee and commanded it to be healed. It took 4 times, but he felt a warm sensation and in a few minutes all the pain was gone.

I asked how many times he tried to heal his knee. "Well....just once."

I'm glad he tried, even if he wasn't successful. I didn't know this, but apparently, he's been learning things by working with me. He's probably not even saved yet, but he's trying to do things I didn't attempt until I'd been saved for 7 years.

Two weeks ago, I began sticking pennies to the walls at the hospital while waiting for paperwork to be copied, IV's to be pulled, phone calls to be made and patients to eat before we could transport them.

My partner thought that was a neat trick. I told him "It's not a trick. It's the power of God at work. The same power that heals our patients, also holds the pennies to the wall. It's faith in action."

That day I stuck a dime to the wall outside the ER. Speaking so he could hear me, I asked God to hold it there and walked away, but I glanced at him over my shoulder as I did. When the dime finally fell, he picked it up. He held it to the wall and asked God to hold it when he let go. And it stayed there. He smiled and said, "Well I'll be a son of a bitch!" (Words of praise to God among those who don't know Him yet)

I stuck some pennies to the wood door at our station last week, just to encourage him. The next day, after I put the ambulance away at the end of the day, I came inside to clock out and saw two pennies stuck to the door.

He looked at me and explained: "I decided I'd try it scientifically. I held the pennies up and didn't pray or ask God to hold them there. I thought maybe it was the paint or some scientific thing that was really doing it. But they wouldn't stay there, even for a second. So I put them up again and asked God to hold them there and they've been there for 10 minutes."

I smiled and said, "like I told you, it's the power of God at work."

My partner is in the process of learning about God, by being around me. Some of it comes through dreams, some though healing, some through signs and wonders like coins on the wall and some by conversations about life.

Will I lead him in the sinner's prayer? I don't know.

But whether he knows it or not, he's already being discipled. And Jesus did tell us, "Go, and make disciples of all nations."



Jul 7, 2011

How To Be Effective......




Ryan Rhoades is one of the leaders of a group that has re-discovered the biblical model of healing given by Jesus. This group has taken divine healing and deliverance to the streets and they've seen great things happen.

Recently, I've become friends with Ryan and we began discussing a problem that's common to those who operate in healing. How do we go to the next level and make disciples, and not just healthier people who don't know about the kingdom of God?

We're all coming to the same conclusion; that discipleship requires relationships to be established and love to be demonstrated on a continual basis. Ryan does a nice job of explaining the process in this video.





Jun 18, 2011

The Graduates





Today is a special day for me. I have two children and both are graduating from high school today.

Where does the time go?

I remember that snowy day in March, when I first held my little five - pound bundles of joy, all wrapped up in pink and blue. It was the beginning of the grandest adventure; I was now a father.

The question most dads ask is, "What kind of father will I be?"

18 years later, my little blessings aren't so little. My son can easily whip me in a game of basketball. My daughter has biceps almost as big as mine from years of swimming.

The question I'm asking myself now is, "Are they ready?" Or more precisely, "Have I made them ready?"

I believe I've done all that I could to get them ready. Now it's up to them to use what I've given them - for better or worse. I'll always be their dad and I'll always pray for them and give them advice (when they ask for it). But now it's time for a little testing. It's time to inspect the first crop of fruit. Yesterday I saw a small sample.

My son was complaining of a painful big toe, which he injured playing soccer. He said it hurt pretty badly and wanted to know if one of us could get him healed. I looked at my daughter. She smiled and stepped forward. It was her time to shine and she knew what to do.

Before she laid hands on him, her brother said, "This is going be a real test for you, because I'm not joking, my toe is killing me. "

She placed her hand on his foot and spoke to the injury, commanding it to be healed.


It wasn't the most eloquent prayer. But with the grace available to a nervous teenage girl, amped on caffeine, she threw together a prayer she thought I'd approve of. Afterward she had him check it out. There was a little pain left, so she commanded it to leave a second time and he checked it out again. This time all the pain was gone.

My son walked around the house with a huge smile on his face the rest of the day. My daughter came over, gave me a high five and beamed with joy. I gave her a hug and told her she really did it. She asked if I was praying, too. I told her I wasn't. She believed me.

It's important for our kids to know that we approve of them. It's also important to set the right examples. They're going to imitate us more that we know.

Today I'll be at their graduation ceremony. They have a good start on their education but more learning lies ahead...and not all learning is equal.

What we learn in high school has a purpose. It's a foundation. We need to build upon it. The lessons of life will come and we must master them if we're to have a blessed life and be a blessing to others. Today I learned that my kids have a decent chance of achieving some pretty high goals, if they choose to pursue them. But it's their choice. All I can do is set examples and hope they follow.

I'm very proud of my kids, but they aren't just my kids, they're my disciples. I know God will do amazing things with them. We can all see good fruit and make disciples if we consider our ways carefully, do the most needed things and set examples for those who come after us. This is how disciples are made.