Church Planting Movements

Queens, Killer Bees and Multiplication

Oct 19, 2022 | Stories

Charlie and Sarah have been stretched a lot lately, and at times they have felt quite discouraged. They continue to find people who seem interested in following Jesus, only for them to lose interest or push away for various reasons. Language is a constant challenge. And recently, three disciple-makers they have invested in for 18 months decided to head in a different direction.

“As we took our discouragement to the Father,” Sarah shared, “God reminded us of a seemingly unrelated experience a few
years ago …. with bees.

“Several years ago, while stateside, we discovered a colony of bees living inside a wall in our house. After relocating the hive to our backyard in a newly purchased beehive box, Charlie began learning the art of beekeeping while watching the bees grow in numbers. Unfortunately, the colony was lost when the queen bee mated with an Africanized drone, a “killer bee.” The resulting colony was extremely violent; it even tried to kill Charlie when he accidentally bumped the hive while mowing. We thought of buying a new queen and some worker bees to restart a colony, but we sensed God saying to just put the now-empty beehive box into the garage and wait. Maybe our beekeeping days were over.

“Then, lo and behold, a neighbor found a large clump of bees in a tree and called us. Charlie immediately knew this was a swarm protecting a queen looking for a new home. So, we relocated the swarm to our beehive box, and the colony started growing and multiplying. It is still going strong to this day, making honey that, God willing, will be enjoyed for years to come.

“You see, God provided the first bees. He took them away. And, then he provided us with the second set of bees which continues to multiply to this day. All Charlie did was scoop them off the tree branch while giving them a healthy environment in which to live!

“Job 1:21 says: The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised. God has reminded us that any fruit in ministry is His fruit. We are only called to be obedient disciples. The fruit is not a burden we are asked to bear.

“Jesus told his disciples: Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light. (Mat 11:28-30)”

When we face discouragement, let’s go to our knees to ask how God wants to mold us to be better servants and witnesses for Him.
Related Reads:
We Walked As He Parted the Waters
Getting to the Harvest is Doable
I Told Him I was Quitting
Trading Tradition for Multiplication

Refreshed for Multiplication

Oct 12, 2022 | Stories

Do you remember when a shaman met Jesus? The Lord is still at work in this family.

Ryan* and his local partner, Rio, felt the need to pray for boldness in a group of five young followers of Jesus they had discipled. These young disciples include Soleh’s daughter, Hajay, and his nephew, Dylan. They are university students and former Muslims who have followed Isa (Jesus) for the last few years.

Concerned about a lack of multiplication, Ryan and Rio began to pray that God would embolden these students, and that the Lord would bring them to people He had prepared. Wanting to revive their vision, Rio spent three days retraining them in God’s vision for kingdom multiplication from Matthew 28. He also reshared a few simple methods to start conversations that would lead to Isa. After their refresher, the students went out to apply what they’d heard.

Hajay went to visit Nuria, a friend she had been praying for. They immediately began speaking about spiritual things. Nuria stopped Hajay saying, “I’ve had two unforgettable dreams I want to tell you about.” In the first dream, a man wearing a white robe made from light reached out his hands to welcome Nuria into his arms. Nuria knew it was Isa al Masih from stories she’d heard. In her second dream, she saw the whole earth from outer space. It was dark, and there was no sun. Suddenly, a very small lantern was lit in one part of the world and then another and another. The light grew until a great light shone. From that light, a cross rose up from the earth, and a great star appeared at its head. The star cast its light throughout the whole universe.

“You’ve clearly been given guidance from God,” Hajay responded. “I would like to help you learn about Isa al Masih by reading through His holy book.” Nuria agreed, and they made a plan to begin later that night.

Another of the disciples, Kaji, called his friend Iyan. Months ago, he had told Iyan about his new understanding of Isa al Masih, but he’d never followed up. With this fresh encouragement, Kaji boldly said he wanted to get together to talk about something so important that only the Word of God could explain it. Iyan agreed, and they set a time to meet.

Hilar, another of the young disciples, had class immediately after their training — a religion class at the Muslim university she attended. In class that day, the professor taught that God had handed down four holy books: the Alquran (Qur’an), the Taurat (Genesis – Deuteronomy), the Zabur (Psalms), and the Injil (the New Testament). Then the professor built a case for why they only ever needed to read the Alquran.

After class, the girl sitting next to Hilar (Novi) asked her why God would give books they didn’t need to read. “I’ve read them,” Hilar quickly replied, “and they have greatly helped me.” Novi introduced herself to Hilar and asked if Hilar would teach her about the other three books. “Actually,” Novi said, “let’s go to the bookstore right now!”

After purchasing a Bible, Novi said she wanted to read it every day with Hilar. “I want to become a new person. I have a pile of sins from my past, but I want to go to heaven.” Hilar returned to her fellow disciples with a huge grin on her face and told them all that God had done.

Pray for Hajay, Kaji, and Hilar as they grow in boldness to proclaim and point to God’s word.

Pray for Nuria, Iyan, and Novi as they begin to grapple with new truths about God’s plan to rescue them from sin and darkness.

What Kind of Dirt Are You?

Oct 5, 2022 | Stories

Matt lives and works as a movement catalyst in a remote region. He wanted some of his local Christian friends from traditional churches to think about discipleship as Jesus does. So he asked if they wanted to look over the parable of the sower with him.

After reading through the passage together, Matt asked which kind of soil their respective churches represented. They both felt their church was the third kind of soil – where thorns choke out any fruitfulness or maturity.

They read Jesus’ last command to his followers: “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.” They agreed that if Christians are in the third kind of soil, they are likely not keeping Jesus’ final command, and probably also not keeping many others.

Finally, Matt asked, “In which of the four soils does Jesus want his word to be planted?”

“All of them!” they replied. But they added that Jesus wants his followers to grow and reproduce like seeds in the fourth soil, producing crops of one hundred, sixty, or thirty times what was sown.

Matt’s friends decided to invite others to join them in studying some Bible stories about Jesus. Please pray that they persevere in their seed sowing, and pray for a 100-fold harvest.

Obedience to God’s Word Overcomes Systemic Prejudice

Oct 5, 2022 | Longer Reads

by the Walker Family
The movement with which we are connected is bringing transformation—not just to the lives of families and individuals, but also to deeply rooted social problems including systemic prejudice.

The early church celebrated the Lord’s Supper: “They worshiped together at the Temple each day, met in homes for the Lord’s Supper, and shared their meals with great joy and generosity” (Acts 2:46 NLT). A few years ago, we learned of some churches in the Listening Movement that were not taking the Lord’s Supper. India’s systemic sin of casteism was the root of the problem. Casteism dictates that eating with a low-caste person makes a high-caste person spiritually unclean. “We cannot take the Lord’s Supper across caste lines,” they explained.

Sanjay,* the main leader in the area, didn’t know how to tackle this issue. We were out of the country at the time, so he wrote to us for advice: “What should we do?”

Teaching obedience is very different from simply teaching about Jesus or about the Bible. Jesus’ final command to His disciples was to make more disciples, “teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you” (Matt. 28:20). At its core, casteism is racism. Prejudice in any form is unacceptable to God. It runs contrary to the truth that all of us are made in God’s image (Gen. 1:26-27). Within His Church, racism violates the Lord’s commands to both “Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another” (John 13:34), and “in humility value others above yourselves” (Phil. 2:3b). Casteism, meanwhile, teaches that from birth, some people are better and more valuable than others.

In the Indian context, caste is a huge issue. The churches needed heart changes about this systemic Indian problem. Mere verbal assents to a teaching we might give weren’t going to suffice. We needed God to touch their hearts. To get there, the churches needed to learn from the Bible, not from us. We gave Sanjay a list of verses addressing the equality of all people in God’s kingdom, and how in Jesus, all barriers – including gender – are dissolved. We also prayed like crazy.

Sanjay took these Scriptures to the leaders of the movement. They studied God’s Word together. They discussed what God was saying regarding casteism and the Lord’s Supper. Sanjay did not preach or teach. He gave them the Scriptures. He prayed. He asked questions. They all looked at Scripture together. Finally, the leaders (not Sanjay) came to the conclusion that, “If I am in Jesus, I am no longer Brahmin (or whatever caste I was born into). I can either be a Brahmin, or in Jesus, but I cannot be both. If that’s the option, then I want to be in Jesus!”

It is important to note that we are not turning the above personal application statements into doctrinal statements for all the churches. These particular churches wrestled with the Scripture, then applied it to their personal lives in this context of casteism. This is what it means to teach others to obey Jesus. From the very beginning, even before these Brahmin families called themselves followers of Jesus, they had been taught to not just listen to Bible stories, but to apply them. Thus, when this issue arose, the DNA of “obey the Word” was already established. They had no idea that casteism was anathema to Jesus’ kingdom. So we gave them the Word, they wrestled with it and then applied it to their personal lives. They chose unity over disunity, to count all things as loss compared to knowing Jesus. And since they are committed to teaching their disciples to also obey Jesus, we know they will share the Bible verses with others.

How do we know they really meant what they said? Through their actions. After declaring they wanted to be “in Jesus,” the leaders did something seldom seen in their context. They apologized. In front of each other, without attempting to save face or defend themselves, they admitted: “We are sorry; we were wrong” both to Sanjay and to their disciples. Apologizing in public is a big deal anywhere, but it’s huge in Asia. Usually, apologies here are passive at best. For someone here to take ownership of a wrong they have done and apologize, not just to someone they consider “above” themselves (Sanjay), but also to people who look up to them (their disciples), is stunning. We were speechless!

That’s not all. After apologizing, the leaders intentionally gathered multiple churches with mixed caste-background people, and they all took communion together! This may sound like a small thing to outsiders, but this is a huge thing for India. Casteism is the filter through which the vast majority of Indians think about relationships and community. God broke into their hearts and minds through His Word alone. Hebrews 12:4 says, “For the Word of God is living and active and full of power [making it operative, energizing, and effective]. It is sharper than any two-edged sword, penetrating as far as the division of the soul and spirit [the completeness of a person], and of both joints and marrow [the deepest parts of our nature], exposing and judging the very thoughts and intentions of the heart” (AMP). We have always believed this to be true. Now we have seen it in action, bringing transformation to individuals and to whole churches. What a joy!

“Teach them to obey all that I’ve commanded you.” Sadly, we Christians tend to believe that lectures, sermons and codified theological doctrines will accomplish this task. But we need to ask ourselves: is all the sharing of information resulting in obedient disciples of Jesus, even when His commands run directly counter to their deeply ingrained cultural patterns and habits? When the Holy Spirit speaks through the Bible, people recognize that they are accountable to Jesus for their obedience (or disobedience). Praise God that discovering His will through group study of His Word helps people learn to obey Jesus for themselves. It is a priceless, humble privilege to watch God tear down destructive attitudes and practices, and build up an out-of-this-world fellowship among people from all kinds of diverse backgrounds. Hallelujah!

This article was used with permission and was first published in Mission Frontiers

You Hate This Man But He is Good

Sep 28, 2022 | Stories

Rajbir* is a fruitful disciple maker in North India. In 2012, he gave his allegiance to Jesus, was baptized, then quickly dedicated himself to making disciples of Jesus who would make other disciples. Through Rajbir’s spiritual lineage, thousands of churches have begun, and tens of thousands of people baptized. The churches and disciples are healthy and strong.

Rajbir makes his living as a farmer. He spends his days in physical and spiritual fields. Harassment and persecution from local Hindu radicals are unrelenting. When they warn him to stop talking about Jesus, Rajbir simply responds that he will continue to obey Jesus.

Last year, right before the harvest, some local men repeatedly warned Rajbir to stop talking to Hindus about Jesus. When he didn’t, they decided there had been enough “talk.” They came to his farm, restrained him, then plowed up his harvest. The police refused to help.

Through it all, Rajbir’s “Timothys”, those he was discipling, were watching him. They took note of his response. He didn’t lash out or back down. He continued reaching out to his neighbors.

A few weeks after the attack, Rajbir visited a house church in another village. On this visit, the village leader, Pallab, approached him and said, “I sent men to cut your harvest to stop you from doing this work, but you are not stopping.”

“You have done your job by finishing my harvest,” Rajbir said. “But I cannot stop. This is truth.”

Pallab had no response. He thought about Rajbir’s answer for days. Finally, he went to speak with the house church, “Why do you call this man to visit you?”

“Rajbir is a man of integrity,” they replied. He carries no ill will for others. He speaks truth. We used to be bothered by many evil spirits, and we did bad things, but now we are healed. We feel safe and happy.” Once again, Pallab was rendered speechless. He turned and left.

A few weeks later, Pallab’s sister-in-law became ill. The family paid doctor after doctor to no avail. Finally, Pallab’s wife said, “I have heard many good things about the man whose harvest you destroyed. If we call him to pray, I think my sister will be fine.”

“No way,” Pallab said. “I won’t call him. He’s my enemy.”

His wife replied, “See our sister. She is in poor condition. He can pray, and she will be fine.”

With all other options exhausted, Pallab finally asked the local church to send for Rajbir. They did. Rajbir was afraid. Was this a trap? Even so, Rajbir and one of the local disciples went to the village leader’s home. Rajbir asked, “Why did you call me here?”

Pallab said, “I hate you, but my wife says good things and wants you to pray for her sister.”

Rajbir replied, “We have no magic. Our loving God heals people. If you want prayer, bring your sister-in-law to the next village where a house church meets. We will pray for her there.” [Writer’s note – We do not fully understand why Rajbir didn’t pray for the sister-in-law that day. We can only surmise that he was listening to the Lord, and this was His direction.]

Two weeks later, Pallab and his entire household went to the village, entered the home where the church was meeting and sat down. They participated, then went home. They attended every week for two months. The sister-in-law improved as they prayed for her each week. Eventually, she addressed her brother-in-law: “You hate this man, but he is good. You have seen the miracle of my recovery. You should invite him to visit us.”

“OK,” Pallab said. “I do love this man. I will call him and bring him to my home.”

Soon after, Rajbir and several others visited Pallab. They prayed for the family. After a few visits, Pallab apologized to Rajbir: “I am sorry for your harvest. I did wrong. I cannot give you money right now, but when I get my harvest in, I will give you some.” Then, he asked, “What do we do next? You prayed for my sister-in-law, and she is better. I know people in nearby villages who have similar illnesses and need prayer. Can you go with me to pray for them?”

To date, 11 families have given their allegiance to Jesus, and Pallab is now a spiritual leader.

Praise God. His Kingdom is advancing. Sauls still become Pauls. God is unstoppable.

*pseudonyms

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