“I’m in this Job for a Reason . . .”

“I’m in this Job for a Reason . . .”

Dec 4, 2019 | Stories

God convicted *John of not sharing his faith with his unbelieving co-workers. He became convinced that God had placed him in the exact cubicle, in this exact job for a reason – to tell them about Jesus and what he had done in John’s life. 

John began by laying a foundation of prayer and asking some close friends to hold him accountable for sharing his testimony. He started going to lunch with six of his colleagues. He told them how the Bible had radically changed his life and asked if they would like to read it with him to learn what it says about God and people. Some of them rejected the suggestion outright; some remained silent. 

Undeterred, John asked others: “I’ve never fully shared with you my life story. Could I share with you over lunch how Jesus changed my life?”  John got a lot of no’s.

Then one day, John asked a manager named Jason, a known atheist, if he would like to study the Scriptures. Jason had been one of the silent people in the lunch group, but when asked one-on-one, Jason responded, “Sure. Why not?” Another co-worker said, “Yeah, I’ve never really read the Bible before.” John was surprised! These guys were the ones he had thought least likely to come!

On the first week, John printed out a short Bible story, and the group read through it. He asked what it said about God and about people. He then asked: “If this is true, how should you apply it in your life?” They were intrigued and kept coming to study. Word got around the office, and in a couple of months, most of those in the office were attending the lunch gatherings. 

It wasn’t a scary or intense time. People walked in, picked up a sheet of paper, and started talking about it. Barriers came down. It was simple, straightforward, and moved beyond the office as the attendees told the stories to family and friends.

In similar ways, BEYOND mission catalysts seek to make obedient followers of Christ among the unreached. These disciples make other obedient disciples who plant churches that plant other churches. By living open lives and using simple, reproducible methods, we seek to bring God’s glory and saving power to those who don’t know him.

*pseudonyms used

Prayer Walking: An Important Part of our Strategy

Prayer Walking: An Important Part of our Strategy

Nov 26, 2019 | Stories

*Trisha was excited when *Saeng offered to lead her through a prayer-walking exercise. “Come, invite anyone,” Saeng said. “I’ll invite people too!” When the day arrived, five ladies gathered in the busy streets of the Mekong city they loved.

Saeng set the method and objectives for the morning. They would go in two small groups and pray aloud for one hour as they walked through the neighborhoods. Twice during the hour, they were to stop and still themselves for five minutes as they asked God what he wanted them to see. When they felt led to pray for someone, they were to ask for that person’s entire family to know God, not just that individual. Finally, they would ask God for a song to sing, since they couldn’t be certain when he would next be praised there.

A quick game of rock, paper, scissors determined who went in each group, then they decided what areas each group would cover. They chose a place to meet afterward, asked God to lead their time, and set off.

Trisha was teamed up with her language tutor, a woman she knew loved God but with whom she had never prayed before. “It was so sweet to walk through the streets, pleading for entire families to know God, with a local believer voicing agreement and pleading right beside me.”

As she walked, Trisha began to see the people in a new light. She could see the communities in which they belonged: shop owners helping each other to break a large bill, groups of women talking and children playing, street vendors swapping stories as they prepared food, motorcycle taxi drivers waiting together on the side of the road. Trisha was struck by what could happen in the families and communities if Jesus were welcomed by just one of them.

When they met up an hour later, they all discussed what had touched their hearts and what questions they had. Saeng took notes so they could read over them the next time they went prayer walking. After closing with a time of prayer, the ladies agreed not to let the experience stop with them. They would tell others about their experience and encourage them to try it for themselves.

How about you? Are you interested in seeing God’s kingdom multiplied around the world through intentional prayer and active obedience?

*pseudonyms used

From Triangles to Circles

From Triangles to Circles

Nov 14, 2019 | Stories

The BEYOND South Asia team had a problem. God had birthed a movement with them serving as catalysts. Now the movement among their focus people group had grown too large to continue using their old training and equipping model. As problems go, it was a good problem to have. The movement had done a phenomenal job of teaching disciple-making. It had many “Pauls,” disciple-makers mentoring others in disciple-making, and many “Timothys,” disciple-makers being mentored. Lives changed as followers of Jesus obeyed his word. Whole communities felt the impact. To meet the growing need of training thousands and nurturing their spiritual health, however, they needed a new approach.

The old model was like a triangle where each “Paul” would gather and train a group of 15 or more “Timothys.” This worked well in the beginning, but when numbers grew, problems arose. In the large meetings, several people never spoke up and never got help for the issues they faced. The financial cost of these gatherings also limited growth.

The catalyst team knew something had to change, but they didn’t have the answer. They had no guide book for how to develop the movement. So they prayed and listened for the Lord’s guidance, knowing he would provide.

He did, of course. In time, they connected with a brother in Christ from Africa who shared how a movement there had learned to deal with similar growing pains. In the African movement, groups of about five people from the same area meet regularly in a home. They sit in a circle as they discuss the positive and negative things they have faced that week in making disciples. Often, when someone has a problem, another from the group has faced a similar issue and can share what they have learned. They set goals and hold one another accountable for making disciples. No one struggles in silence. They each find community, care, and direction from like-minded brothers and sisters in Christ.

These groups are not leaderless. Each circle has a coach who meets with them. The coach is a fellow disciple-maker who has a bit more experience than the others. The coach belongs to a circle of his/her own peers and has a coach of their own. Through these interlocking circles, the experience and connections of more seasoned disciplers are available to the network.

For the leaders of the South Asian movement, a new paradigm began to emerge. Circles, not triangles. As they implemented the new model, they had to deconstruct their previously held beliefs about training and mentoring. They realized their tendency, like that of many others, was to go bigger. The idea of going small to be more effective was a step of faith for them, but they saw it work firsthand. People who used to sit in the back and not speak actively engaged in the smaller format. The focus stayed on disciple-making. The circle model would scale to meet their needs.

*pseudonyms

I Told Him I Was Quitting

I Told Him I Was Quitting

Nov 7, 2019 | Stories

Before joining BEYOND, *Charlie worked in the IT industry. He specialized in indirect sales and marketing; he educated and supported hundreds of salesmen. He also led efforts to simplify products so lower-skilled resellers could effectively market them.

“I wasn’t good at direct sales myself,” Charlie states. “But, as an indirect salesman, I trusted my team to be good salesmen. I could then focus on achieving three things: helping my resellers catch the vision of our product while building trust with them, equipping them with training and tools to be successful, and supporting them as they engaged with real customers.” Charlie was passionate about his role, and very good at it. The sales’ numbers rocketed as his hard work paid off.

Then Charlie quit.

“I still remember telling my VP I was about to resign,” Charlie recalls. “I told him I was quitting to become a full-time missionary in a hostile nation in Asia. He clearly thought I was crazy. And to be honest, I couldn’t disagree.”

As Charlie had wrestled with God about this radical new calling, he had argued that his skills were in the IT world, not in ministry. He couldn’t preach. He struggled with words when sharing his faith. He had no seminary training and wasn’t even great at leading small groups at church. Charlie asked, “How could I be a church planter? My gifts aren’t classic ‘missionary gifts.’”

One day, as Charlie read the story of Jesus calling Andrew and Simon, it hit him. “Come, follow me,” Jesus had said, “and I will send you out to fish for people.” Jesus took their “secular” skills as fishermen and applied them to the new Kingdom work to which He was calling them. Their skills in throwing nets and cleaning fish weren’t directly applicable in Jesus’ work. But they understood what it meant to leave the safety of land and go to where the fish were. They knew what clues indicated that fish were near and what methods would catch the most fish. These more subtle skills were relevant to the ministry Jesus had in store for them. In that moment, Charlie sensed God saying, “You will be doing the same thing as before. I’m just going to give you a better product!”

As BEYOND missions catalysts utilize Disciple Making Movement (DMM) principles, they spend most of their time in vision casting, and training and equipping local believers to start movements. BEYONDers then mentor and coach these equipped local partners as they step out in this mission. This model almost exactly parallels what Charlie did as an indirect salesman.

In addition, the DMM model capitalizes on the fact that only simple, easily reproducible models have a chance at growing church planting movements. A complicated approach cannot multiply. Charlie’s experience in streamlining products helped him implement these simple, reproducible models of discipleship. He summarizes: “Understanding how God can use my unique giftings has given me the confidence to make disciple-making disciples and church-planting churches.”

God’s wisdom always surpasses ours. We need innovative business people who love others and know how to cast vision, equip, and support the people God is calling to start movements among unreached people groups. God did not give us all the same gifts. And none of His good gifts are wasted.

*pseudonyms used

Alone, We are Just a Drop in the Vast Sea of Need …

Alone, We are Just a Drop in the Vast Sea of Need …

Oct 20, 2019 | Stories

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.