Steve Addison's Blog, page 16

Download the Preview

298-Jake and Stacy's Story

A conversation with Jake and Stacy Jarrell about their calling to Spain.

A movement of God requires a shift

Why I wrote Acts and the Movement of God

Here’s my pitch for Acts and the Movement of God, due for release in May.

Learn more

Israel, Street Sweeper and Disciple Maker

image

We’re one month out from the launch of Acts and the Movement of God. We dig deep into the book of Acts to rediscover the principles and practices of a movement of God and then look around the world to find what that looks like today. Here’s one of my favorite stories…

Disciple making movements teach the newest believers that they have the authority and responsibility to make disciples.

Kumar Pillai is a movement catalyst in northern India. One of his disciples was an illiterate, low-caste Hindu who took the name Israel. Low-caste Hindus are known as “untouchables,” their very presence brings ritual impurity. From generation to generation, they are restricted to occupations such as garbage collectors, sanitation workers, and street sweepers. From 4 to 9 each morning, Israel swept the streets.

Kumar trained Israel to share his new faith. Israel couldn’t read, so his children helped him learn Bible stories by heart.

Israel shared the gospel with his relatives and friends, many of whom put their faith in Christ. at would normally be enough for a semiliterate, low-caste street sweeper. But Kumar trained Israel how to make disciples among his people.

On one occasion, Israel visited his community, and Kumar went with him. Israel led the son of a local Hindu priest to Christ, and as they walked to a local fishpond, Kumar asked Israel to baptize the young man. Israel was reluctant. With a smile on his face, Kumar told him, “You baptize him. I have a fear of water!” So, that day, Israel baptized his first disciple.

Later that day, Kumar and Israel visited Israel’s elderly father. When the father heard that his son, a street sweeper, had been trusted to baptize a new Christian, he wept. His son, from such a low caste, had been honored with real responsibility.

Israel has since learned to read and write, and Kumar has trained him to plant churches. Typically, the churches are ten to fifteen people seated in a circle on the floor. They pray and sing, their only instrument is an Indian tambourine. They read the Bible together, using a 3-Thirds approach. Out of their poverty, they give to needs within the community of faith and the wider community and they are known for their generosity. Their giving pays for food, or a hospital visit, or school fees.

Israel has led seven other street sweepers to Christ. One of them, Abraham, is also planting churches. Israel has been the catalyst behind multiple streams of new disciples and new churches. He’s lost count of how many, as it’s hard to track while he is still working a full-time job as a street sweeper. He has won the award for the best street sweeper in his town three times.

At the heart of every movement of God, there are people like Israel. Jesus chose men and women like Israel. When Israel came to Christ, Kumar saw a disciple who could make disciples, baptize them, and teach them to follow Christ together. Kumar released authority and responsibility to Israel, backed up by training and coaching.

Can we see the Israels around us? We must shift our focus from what we can achieve, to helping the newest disciple reach their community. The skills aren’t difficult, but the shift in understanding can be. That’s why Luke wrote Acts.

Acts and the Movement of God : From Jerusalem to the Ends of the Earth is due for release on May 12.

297-From Established Church to Movement

Russell Godward leads a conversation on the journey from established church to movement.

Links:

Russell’s YouTube channel.

Church to movement page

296-NoPlaceLeft Uganda

A conversation with Nathan Zziwa about the progress they are making towards NoPlaceLeft in Uganda.

Movements and Money

Peter's conflict with Simon Magus by Avanzino Nucci, 1620.

The love of money has destroyed too many promising leaders and movements. Here’s what I’m learning about movements and money from the book of Acts.

When revival broke out in Samaria, thousands turned and believed and churches were formed throughout the region for the first time (Acts 8:9–25; 9:31). Satan’s counter-attack came through Simon the Sorcerer. He too had believed and was baptized, but like Judas, his heart was corrupted by the love of money.

Principle 1: Movements serve God not money.

Peter’s clash with Simon the sorcerer is a powerful illustration of Jesus’ teaching that you cannot serve both God and money. Leaders who use their position to gain money and power will corrupt a movement and must be confronted.

A disciple trusts God by placing obedience to his Word above the desire for money, comfort, and security. Just as a disciple who falls into the love of money will become unfruitful, so a disciple making movement that grows to love money will become unfruitful. Money does not fuel movements—commitment and faith do.

Principle 2: Movements ordain everyone.

At Pentecost, the Spirit fell on everyone, and they all declared the wonders of God revealed in Jesus Christ.

You cannot pay enough people to make a disciple making movement happen. Volunteers, not paid professionals, do most of the work in any movement. For every movement leader like Peter or Paul, there are hundreds, even thousands who devote their time and resources for the cause.

Principle 3: Movements keep their options open.

In Luke’s Gospel and Acts, there isn’t one funding model. God provided a variety of funding sources for the advance of the movement. Some missionaries supported both themselves and others through their trade. Some workers served at their own expense. Even the grateful inhabitants of Malta honored Paul and his companions and supplied their needs for the journey to Rome. Ordinary believers, wealthy individuals, and churches gave money and other resources. Hosts opened their homes to traveling teams; homes which then became meeting places for new churches.

Principle 4: Movements travel light.

The challenge of funding a movement isn’t only about raising money; it also involves keeping costs low. Jesus instructed his disciples to leave their wallets behind when they went out on mission. God provided through the people who welcomed them. The pattern of God providing through receptive households continues in Acts.

The movement Jesus started didn’t require a temple, a priesthood, or any of the trappings of the ancient religions. As the gospel spread, churches sprung up where they were needed, not where they could be afforded.

Principle 5: Movements stay nimble.

There was no supply chain from Jerusalem to the churches started in Samaria or on the Phoenician coast; nor was there one from Antioch to the churches in Macedonia and Achaia. Authority and responsibility were continually released to the field. The new churches soon had their own local leaders and were responsible for their own funding. It wasn’t long before these churches released resources and workers for new fields. In this way, the movement remained flexible and nimble, able to multiply. To organize and fund the movement centrally would have choked its life and growth.

Finally . . .

The oxygen of a movement is the commitment of its people—to give, to go, to serve without pay, to open their homes, to work with their hands, and to trust that God goes with them as they take the gospel from Jerusalem to the ends of the earth.

This is an edited extract from my forthcoming book, Acts and the Movement of God: From Jerusalem to the Ends of the Earth. It should be out in May 2023.

Previously: It matters how movements handle money

It matters how movements handle money

Brian and Bobby Houston

Disturbing allegations have been raised in the Australian parliament concerning the use of money by the leadership of Hillsong.

Thousands of documents obtained by a whistleblower show a disturbing pattern of spending.

Hillsong’s former global senior pastor, Brian Houston has denied the allegations. It’s now up to the Australian charity watchdog to investigate.

It matters how movements handle money.

When Jesus walked away from his trade as a carpenter, he left his mother in the care of his brothers and sisters.

Jesus called his first disciples away from their usual occupations to follow him while he trained them to fish for people.

Sometimes God’s provision was miraculous—the feeding of the crowds, the coin to pay the temple tax, the miraculous catch of fish—but not always. Jesus relied on the financial support of some wealthy women who sometimes traveled with him. He relied on the hospitality of people like Zacchaeus. When Jesus sent his disciples on mission, he taught them to trust God for the provision of food and lodging through the people who welcomed them and their message.

Sacrifice and generosity fuel movements, but greed stifles them. The Gospels give just one reason for Judas’s betrayal—greed. Jesus warned that worry, riches, and pleasures choke the Word and prevent it from producing a crop.

Jesus urged his disciples to give generously, trusting that their heavenly Father knew their needs and would provide.

There were no luxury watches or business class flights for Jesus’ disciples. No green rooms to cater to their needs. No designer sneakers to wear on stage.

Movements of disciples and churches rise and fall as they move towards, or away from, the life and ministry of Jesus. That’s why money matters.

295-South Asia Calling

A conversation with one young couple called by God to pursue movements of disciples and churches in South Asia.