The SEND U Blog

Reflections and Resources for Lifelong Learning for Missionaries

Category: Disciple-making Page 26 of 29

Still Learning from Roland Allen 100 Years Later: Key Principle

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On August 26, 2014

In Church Planting, Holy Spirit

At the SEND Family Conference in July, I led a workshop on what we can still learn from Roland Allen’s book Missionary Methods: St. Paul’s or Ours? a hundred years after it was first published. I’m going to highlight our discussion in two blog posts for the whole SEND family.

Why bother with a hundred-year-old book?   J.D. Payne wrote in 2012, Roland Allen was “One of the most controversial, yet most influential, missionary thinkers of all time… it was Allen’s insights into the expansion of the church that sometimes equated him as being a prophet, a revolutionary, a radical, or a troublemaker.” (J.D. Payne, Roland Allen: Pioneer of Spontaneous Expansion, Kindle Edition, location 126.)

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Don’t Dismiss Small Beginnings

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On March 26, 2014

In Church Planting

My DiSC profile says that I am a high “D” in personality type. That means I am supposed to be direct, decisive and driven. I think living in Asia for most of my adult life has probably softened some of the edges, and 27 years of married life has helped as well. But I admit that I prioritize results (the word “results” shows up 52 times on my DiSC profile!).

I also admit that I am often tempted to discouragement when I look at my own ministry and that of my SEND colleagues around the world.  In most of the places where we work, our ministries are pretty small, and decisive results are not nearly always evident. In many places, we are just beginning, sowing seeds in hard places, building relationships, meeting with small groups of believers.    I love to hear and read about mass movements of people to Christ, but we have seen very few of those (yet) in the places where SEND is working. Instead we read about ones and twos coming to Christ.

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Discipleship, Just Do It?

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On February 3, 2014

In Church Planting, Disciple-making

In Matthew 28, Jesus commands us to go and make disciples of all nations.  At SEND we are committed to planting reproducing churches among the unreached because the Church is God’s primary means for making disciples through the ages.  Without discipleship, church planting is reduced to shuffling sheep around and does not bring much glory to God.

My concern is that we are often ready to talk about discipleship, but much less ready to actually live it out.  I recently took part in a discipleship course in a local church.  We talked about discipleship and its importance in our lives and I expected that we would somehow start “doing it” but that didn’t really happen in a significant way.  Then I thought that perhaps we would “do it” after we had established a bit more of a foundation, but that did not really happen either.  In a personal conversation, a fellow member of the class asked me, “When will we actually disciple people”?  Great question, I thought, and perhaps you have asked similar questions.  Knowledge is an essential foundation but we must build something on that foundation, otherwise it is useless.  How can we apply our knowledge to actually “just do it” as a contemporary “philosopher” once said?

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Church Planting is Discipleship

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On January 13, 2014

In Church Planting, Disciple-making

When Paul wrote about his ministry for the church in Colossians 1:24-29 his focus was not on church programs or church services. Rather his focus was “to make the word of God fully known” (Col. 1:25 ESV), “that we may present everyone mature in Christ” (Col. 1:28 ESV).

When we focus on buildings and program events our ministry can become more about performance of a few with a rather passive majority. It is possible that being a Christian is equated with attending a church service. Programs aren’t bad, they are essential. But programs without discipleship (making the word of God fully known and pursuing maturity in Christ) will not build the church.

Paul saw his ministry for the church as a stewardship from God to make the Word fully known. He proclaimed Christ “warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ.” (Col. 1:28 ESV). Paul did not see this as his role exclusively. When exhorting the Colossians to put on the new self in Christ in chapter 3 he again writes about the word of God and teaching wisely: “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom…” (Col. 3:16 ESV). The Colossians are to do the same thing Paul described in Col. 1:28. The Word should be at home in all believers as the source of growth and influencing others. The church should be a discipleship community, everyone growing in the Word and sharing that with others.

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How Can Christian Coaching Enhance My Church Planting Ministry?

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On December 2, 2013

In Coaching, Church Planting, Leadership, Adult Education

Everybody seems to be talking about coaching lately, but what is it and more importantly how useful could it be in my ministry? Keith Webb of Creative Results Management defines coaching as, “An ongoing intentional conversation that empowers a person or group to fully live out God’s calling.” The focus of Christian coaching is on the coachee and helping them hear God’s voice in their lives and follow through in obedience.

My own coaching journey began when I was coached by a friend and found the process quite helpful in my own life. The ongoing and intentional nature of our coaching relationship was just what I needed to gain clarity and make progress in a key area of my life. As a result, the next time the SEND U edition of the three-day Coaching Workshop was offered, I was one of the first in line to sign up. I too wanted to use coaching skills in my ministry with others.

The training time, led by Ken Guenther and Dave Wood, was very practical and allowed me to immediately practice using the skills learned. I have had a lot of schooling in my day, but this course was one of the most interactive and fun that I can recall. It was a good thing that I took the coaching training because shortly thereafter, one of our home service missionaries asked me to coach him during his home service. That first coaching series was a positive learning time for both myself and the coachee. That was about three years ago and since then I have had multiple coaching series both as coach and as coachee, and I am still learning a lot.

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