Steve Addison's Blog, page 6

340-Max and Sydnie’s Story

A movement begins when insiders spread the good news and make disciples. This is a story of salvation and multiplication.

Wait! We’ve got something to say!.

This is not Hamid

Jordan and Victor were getting ready to go out into the harvest in Southern California. They prayed, “Lord lead us to someone who is seeking you, someone like Zachaeus in the tree.

Jordan says, “We were at our local hangout reading the Word together, then we decided to prayer walk the area. Just then a guy walked in, but the place was closing. He left and we ran after him!”

We caught up to him and told him, “We love Jesus! and how he has changed our lives. The guy wanted to know more.

Hamid was an Iranian engineering student studying in the United States.

Hamid told them, “This is amazing. I grew up Muslim, but I began feeling Islam can’t be the way God treats people. For the last two weeks I’ve been praying every morning, asking God to make himself known to me.”

Jordan and Victor shared the 3-Circles with Hamid and he wanted to know more. They said, “If you want to read the Bible, we’d love to read with you.”

The next day they met and read through Genesis 1 and John 1. At the end Hamid said, “This is the Word of God! This is what I’ve been seeking! That God created us in his image and we ran from that, that makes so much sense to me.”

Within one week he’d read through the whole New Testament. During that time he was approached by a cult who told him, “You have to get baptized by us if you want to be saved.”

He told them, “That’s not what I’ve read in the Bible.”

The next week Victor baptized him and Hamid was added to the disciples. Now he’s sharing boldly with his classmates and meeting regularly for discipleship and church.

What happened was not an accident. Here’s what I learned:

Jordan and Victor look for people far from God and engage them. They know what their mission is.

They know what to do. They have the simple skills of prayer walking, Gospel sharing and 3-Thirds discipleship in the Scriptures.

They are confident that the Scriptures will speak to Hamid and lead to conversion and discipleship.

What they did with Hamid, Hamid was able to do with his relationships — almost immediately.

They didn’t have to fly to Iran to reach Persians, God has brought them to their backyard.

If you can reach and disciple Muslims in your city, you can reach them in theirs. If you know how to make disciples, all you need to add is some language and culture.

Movements have fresh stories of people far from God like Hamid, who are now following Jesus and fishing for others.

This is what the movement of God looks like. It’s happening all over the world.

The Changing of the Guard

For two generations we’ve witnessed the decline and decay of religious institutions across the Western world. As they drift from the Word, the Spirit and the core missionary task, expect more of the same. Meanwhile, God is at work, always on the fringes doing something new, which is at the same time a return to the old ways.

Jesus came to fulfill Israel’s calling to be a light to the nations. He called men and women to follow him and learn to fish for others. He embodied true Israel. He invited his opponents to come and join the celebration as the prodigals returned home.

Eventually judgment will fall on Jerusalem and the Temple and the new Israel will emerge to take its place.

Acts is the story of how the movement of God emerges and comes to replace the Temple and the priesthood.

Jesus’ disciples are not on the inside but on the fringe of institutional religion. The gospel goes out in the power of the Spirit and the fruit is disciples and churches to the glory of God.

It’s the movement that puts pressure on the institution by its very existence. There’s continuity and discontinuity. Continuity — like Jesus the disciples are faithful Jews who believe the Scriptures have been fulfilled in Jesus. They are fulfilling Israel’s destiny. Discontinuity — they engage on their own terms. They do not try and change the system from within. Like Jesus, they invite the religious leaders to embrace what God is doing.

They are the movement of God that fulfills Israel’s calling. The religious leaders have all the institutional power and bitterly oppose the movement. The disciples have nothing but the Word, the Spirit and the core missionary task which they pursue. The gospel goes out in power and the fruit is disciples and churches to the glory of God. The true Israel is fulfilling its destiny by being a light to the nations. Unlike Lot’s wife, they don’t look back at what is passing away. They look forward to what God is doing.

339-Change the Campus, Change the World

A conversation with Berk Wilson who has given his life to reaching students to reach the world.

Previous interview: 079-Pioneering movements among students — Berk Wilson

The Missio Dei Cul-de-sac

All over the Western world progressive and former evangelical church leaders are drifting from the authority of God’s Word and are wandering down the Missio Dei cul-de-sac.

The Missio Dei (Latin for mission of God) is a theology of missions embraced by many evangelicals that is “corroding the evangelical missionary enterprise from within.” Peter Pikkert

It was first conceived of by the mainline, liberal Protestant churches resulting in their steady decline and decay. When it had run out of steam some evangelical missiologists embraced the idea, and it became “the the most popular theological basis for missions.”

The Missio Dei argues that the goal of God’s mission in the world is the renewal of the whole creation. The church is called to participate with God in the restoration of all things.

Sounds great, until you dig a little deeper.

The Missio Dei ignores, or avoids, the problem of sin and judgment. Forgiveness and eternal life come only through repentance and faith in Christ’s atonement and resurrection from the dead. Jesus did not pursue political and social transformation, nor did his disciples in Acts. Jesus came to to call sinners to repentance, and to give his life as a ransom for many.

God will restore and transform the whole of creation — on the other side of his judgment. Meanwhile God is at work in human history to discipline his people, and to oppose evil. There is no promise of social and political transformation in this life. The opposite — Jesus prophesied persecution for those who remain faithful to him.

Social and political transformation is the naive hope of Western elites who have access to wealth and power or at least a Facebook account. Today in the majority world Jesus’ disciples suffer for his name. Yet the Word goes out through them in the power of the Spirit, its fruit are disciples and churches to the glory of God, from Jerusalem to the ends of the earth.

Peter Pikkert: Missio Dei and the Corrosion of Christian Missions

Confronted with decaying religious institutions — What did Jesus do?

Jesus weeps over Jerusalem

The troubles in the Church of England are another example of how across the Western world progressive and former evangelicals have denied the authority of Scripture and neglected the core missionary task. We shouldn’t be surprised, it’s a recurring pattern in the history of God’s people. Endless conversations are not the answer. The way back is to return to the life and mission of Jesus.

Jesus founded a missionary movement that would go to the ends of the earth. That’s why one of his first acts was to call some fishermen to follow him and learn to fish for others.

He had come to call true Israel out of historic Israel. There was both continuity and discontinuity. Continuity — he came to fulfill Israel’s calling as the true Son of God. God’s people will be a witness to the nations, as God intended. Discontinuity — not all Israel would embrace their Messiah and their calling.

Jesus was a faithful Jew who fulfilled the Hebrew Scriptures, attended the synagogue and the Temple, and the great festivals in Jerusalem. He debated his opponents and urged them to embrace what God was doing. The story of the prodigal son ends with the father’s appeal to the older son to join the celebration; for the son who was lost is now found.

But Jesus does not invest himself in the institution. He doesn’t attempt to save it. His priority is the new Israel which he embodies. He embraces Israel’s true identity and mission. He pioneers a missionary movement as he calls everyone — pharisees, scribes, priests and prostitutes, soldiers, tax collectors and farm laborers. They are the vanguard of the true Israel, the new Israel which will reach the nations and fulfill Israel’s destiny.

In AD 70, the Romans destroyed Jerusalem, the Temple and the priesthood, as Jesus prophesied. Out of the rubble, a movement emerged of the disciples he had chosen, trained and sent into Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and the uttermost ends of the earth.

Solving the Puzzle of Calling

In the conversation with Bill there were some handy lessons for people considering a call to make disciples from where they are to the ends of the earth.

1. Step out

Bill heard God’s call on a mission trip to Nepal ten years ago. When Peter heard the call to go to Cornelius’ house and reach Gentiles he was away from Jerusalem on the edge of what God was doing, open to change.

2. Begin here and now

Bill’s response to God’s call was to begin making disciples and planting churches immediately where he was in Florida.

3. Find your tribe

Bill and Sue partnered with Troy and Rachel Cooper in making disciples and training others. They joined the team headed for Southern California.

4. Put the time in

To succeed in any human endeavor you need 10,000 hours of practice and experience. Bill and Sue put in the hours connecting with people, sharing the gospel, forming new disciples into churches, training and mentoring workers, dealing with all the problems and challenges along the way.

5. Seek God in the fog of unanswered prayer

They had to learn to trust God during years of infertility.

6. Hear his voice

They knew they were called one day, to go after unreached people groups. They identified possibilities. They fasted and prayed and sought input.

As they prayed, Central Asia would not let them go.

7. Watch God confirm

Two weeks after the decision to head for Central Asia, God confirmed their calling when Sue became pregnant with their first daughter. A nice confirmation that they’d made the right choice.

This is another example of what we call “movement to mobilization”. The most effective way to mobilize workers is out of an existing movement. The alternative is to go from mobilization to movement, that is mobilize people who have no experience of making disciples and expect them to make it happen in a strange place.

This is what to look for:

Calling from the Lord

Character developed (in tough times)

Competency (pioneering, training and networking)

Community in the work (disciples, peers and mentors).

These elements don’t guarantee results, but they make them more likely. When troubles inevitably come, you have people who know their calling, are used to persevering, know what needs to be done and are not alone.

Interview: 338-NoPlaceLeft Central Asia

Let’s have an endless conversation about this.

Archbishops of York and Canterbury

The Church of England have been embroiled in controversy over sex and marriage for decades. No-one knows how long it will continue, but it will continue. Denominational officials, leaders of contemporary progressive evangelical and charismatic churches, have told me this is a “complex” issue that will take years to resolve. What they don’t grasp is that some issues are not up for discussion.

When Nehemiah was rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem news came to Israel’s enemies and they sent him this message: “Come, let us meet together... So Nehemiah sent messengers to them with this reply: ‘I am carrying on a great project and cannot go down. Why should the work stop while I leave it and go down to you?’” ‭‭Nehemiah‬ ‭6‬:1-‭3‬

Nehemiah knew that some matters are not up for discussion. God had given him a job to do and he would not to neglect it.

Movements are renewed by making a fresh return to their identity in Christ. Jesus was obedient to his Father’s Word, dependent on the Holy Spirit and faithful to the core missionary task. The book of Acts shows us what that looks like for the people of God. The Word goes out in the power of the Spirit and wherever it goes the fruit is disciples and churches to the glory of God  – in every place and among every people group.

That’s true north. God’s people are renewed by returning to their identity in Christ and living out the mission he has given us. As Nehemiah did in his day.

Historically institutions and denominations rise and fall the degree to which they align themselves with the life and ministry of Jesus. The Word will triumph, it will go out to every people and every place. That is as sure as Jesus’ promise. There is no guarantee that any expression of the church will survive and if it does, not guarantee it will remain faithful to the gospel.

There’s a time to talk, and a time to go back to work.

Archbishop Betrays His Sacred Trust

Archbishop Justin Welby (left)

“In a significant interview on the Rest is Politics Podcast, England's Archbishop of Canterbury has denied the teaching of the Bible and the teaching of his church. Archbishop Welby says sex should be in a committed relationship, and it doesn't matter whether that relationship is straight or gay.

All sexual activity should be within a committed relationship, and whether it's straight or gay.

The statement by the Archbishop is a further betrayal of his ordination and consecration vow to banish error and to uphold and defend the truth taught in Scripture.”

We’ve had fifty years of experience of liberal protestants abandoning the authority of Scripture and going with the flow of Western culture. We know where this will end. So why is a new generation of evangelical progressives headed in the same direction?

The battle has always been over the question, “Did God say?” The Bible tells the story of God speaking and expecting our trust and obedience. The movement of God is founded on Jesus’ sacrificial obedience to his Father’s Word. The story of the early disciples tells the story of the spread of God’s Word in the power of the Holy Spirit. The fruit of that spread is disciples and churches to the glory of God among every people and in every place.

Come out from under the authority of God’s Word and everything is lost.

It’s not just the Archbishop of Canterbury who’s bowed the knee. Church leaders across the Western world have gone silent on the teaching of Scripture about sex and marriage, afraid of offending either the culture or their more conservative congregations.

Meanwhile, the Word of God advances in power in the majority world. There are more Anglicans in Nigeria than in Britain and they are dying daily under Islamist persecution. They pay a huge price for their faithfulness to God’s Word. If only the Archbishop would do the same.

338-NoPlaceLeft Central Asia

A conversation with “Bill” about pursuing movements of disciples and churches in Central Asia, home to around 80 million people. Most are Muslims.