We know the need: there are two billion unevangelized people in the world. Forty-seven thousand of them die every day, never once having heard the good news of the Gospel. We’ve heard how effective Disciple Making Movements (DMM) are, and we’re on board. But alone, we are just a drop in the vast sea of need. To address the situation, many goers are necessary – approximately 21,000 teams of two to three that can each reach 100,000 people! When you factor in the prayer and financial supporters for those who go, the need for many to catch the vision of Matthew 28 increases dramatically.
How will we ever mobilize that many? Many more people need to embrace Jesus’ calling as their own. We can help them do this through vision casting.
Chris Galanos is the lead and founding pastor of E-Life church in Lubbock, TX. Chris and his leadership team transitioned their megachurch from that of a “traditional” church into one laser-focused on disciple making through DMM practices. In his book From Megachurch to Multiplication, Chris says, “we cast vision to get more believers involved in disciple making and church planting.” He goes on to say, “The more vision we cast to others, the more people we’ll be able to train. The more people we train, the more teams that form. The more teams that form, the more people we have the potential to reach.”
Vision casting in a Disciple-Making Movement (DMM) context is simply passing on the passion and principles of DMM to believers who God might be calling to join in the work. There are many ways to do this. One might share stories of what God is doing, present facts and statistics, have a discovery Bible study or model DMM practices for others to emulate. Here are a couple of examples of some Beyond movement catalysts casting vision with potential local partners.
We have a local Christian lady attending the house church we have with others. She finally realized that we see our “house church” as a “real” and “full” church! We had a great discussion about what does God really want in a church. We challenged her to consider having a Chinese speaking church in her home. She was too afraid. She thought she was too shy . . . only special people do that. I asked her, “Do you remember the last words of Jesus on the earth?” She said yes . . ., ‘Go into all the world baptizing and teaching’. I asked, “Who was he talking to?” She paused and said, ‘His believers, followers”. “Then, was he talking to you?” I asked. Long, long pause … then she said, “Yes.” -Neill
While vision-casting with a local friend about Disciple Making Movements, I got stuck in the middle of differing expectations as to whether or not to pay local believers to partner in disciple-making. With help from my coaching circle, I selected a passage from a list of scriptures dealing with God’s perspective on money and ministry and set a time to do a discovery study with my friend and her husband. As we read the passage, my friend, who usually has a lot to say when we read the Bible together, was barely talking. Was she upset? Did she believe what the passage said? I couldn’t tell. When I saw her a few days later, she explained, “I couldn’t say much that night because I was so distracted by the Holy Spirit. The Spirit was present and tangible, like a thick cloud.” Clearly, God spoke deeper than I had realized. -M.B.