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Why are we failing to fulfill the Great Commission?

April 14, 2010 in Church Planting Methods, DISCIPLESHIP, Ministry Philosophy, The Leader, Training Leaders with 0 Comments

Could it be that as men of God we have lost our vision for the world. It was not on purpose! Many have become so busy doing the work that they have lost the big picture. It is as though all were working on building a large building, bridge or railway. It is easy to become a bricklayer rather someone building a cathedral. It is easy to be the guy placing the crossties and not the guy building a railroad. We can’t see the forest for the trees! God wants us involved in World Evangelism but maybe we are too busy taking care of a few people to see the big picture.

We have fallen into the traps that so easily detour us from our real ministry. It is easier to do the work than it is to teach someone else how to do the work. It takes less time and gets done right when the man himself does the job. Due to this we do not take the time and effort to train others.

Our insecurities that others may steal our place and the love our people have for us. Or another insecurity might be that we aren’t sure that we can teach someone else what to do. We fear that our training has not been sufficient to train others.

We do not believe that we can impact the world so we plan to do all we can to reach our area or our people.

As long as we stay clean and stay where we are then we have done our duty.

God has set before us a task that is bigger than us. We are to evangelize the world.

Could it be that we have wrong goals for our ministry such as conversions, crowds, church buildings, building a great church, getting your people to be holy and using the gifts that God has given you for His glory

These wrong goals lead to wrong results

Salvation decisions to boast about in the next church questionnaire

Numbers to show in your slide or video presentation

A beautiful empty building that keeps you busy

A ministry that makes you look good but ties you down. You become a pastor just like in the states only in a different country and in a different language

You offend everyone and they leave your church. You develop parasitic people that depend on you to think for them and trust you to guide them.

You can’t go on furlough without getting another missionary to take your place because no national can do it as well as you can

Check out bcwe.org

Gleanings from The Road to Reality

April 8, 2010 in Book Reviews, Ministry Philosophy with 0 Comments

by
K. P. Yohannan

“What I have found has to be one of the most tragic ironies of all times. A tiny group of believers who have the gospel keep mumbling it over and over to themselves. Meanwhile, millions who have never heard it once fall into the flames of eternal hell without ever hearing the salvation story” p. 23

“Fewer than one percent of those who respond to the altar call will ever obey the great commission of Christ and go to the foreign mission field. Of those that do go, over one half will not return for a second term of service.” p. 24

“Not one was willing to break out of that velvet cage of comfort and convenience to begin a radical life-style lived from inner reality that affects the world. Since when has obedience to Christ and His gospel become optional to Christianity?” p. 24

“…we modern Christians have divorced what we do from who we are.” p. 25

“Over fifty million Americans have become what is mistakenly called “born again.” By this, they mean that they have walked the aisle to be saved from hell, find peace and joy, escape from guilt, please family and friends, find wealth, health and happiness, and get that preacher off their backs! But a religion measured in such superficial, external terms bears no resemblance to the faith of Scripture.” p. 25

“Thus, the false religion of popular Christianity does not ask us to internalize the passion and mind of Christ, surrender our egos, lay aside our flesh, take up the cross and begin a life-style marked by submission to the will of the Father as He did.” p. 26

“…we modern Christians are divorced from what we know.” p. 26

“Someone has said that there are more than 1,000 commentaries on the book of Acts in the English language — but not 100 Christians living with the power of the New Testament Christianity.” p. 26

“As I have made the rounds of these conferences each year, certain truths have become evident. One of the most devastating is the fact that the concept of missions has been so cheapened that many Christians in the West now equate it with fundraising. It has been reduced to just another appeal for money, similar to the annual budget campaign or the building fund drive.” p. 29

“If and when missions is reduced to a dollars-and-cents decision-merely another option for our giving-we prove that we have lost sight of the Savior. The test of our true affection is not how much we give, but how we live. Missions is not something we do but something we are.” p. 30

“God is not asking us to give money to missions, but to make missions the central passion of our lives!” p. 31

“A look at our church activity calendars reveals not a body of givers, but a society of receivers. Even our prayer meetings are little more than “bless-me” clubs.” p. 32

“We have spoiled our children and youth. Why is it that the young people of our churches are given fun and games rather than the challenge of the great commission?” p. 37

“The standard answer is to hire a youth director to plan parties and trips based around the premise: “You can be a Christian and have fun, too!” How many millions of our youth have been ruined by the introduction of this worldly Christianity just at the moment in life when they most need to see reality?” p. 38

“What am I going to do about my knowledge of God and His ways? When is my life going to demonstrate His compassion to the needy world around me?” p. 39

“Jesus predicted that the branch connected to the vine would produce much spiritual fruit. But too often our frantic lives are barren.” p. 40

“We are not storming the gates of hell. Instead, we’re falling over one another in retreat–looking for fox holes, hiding form the enemy. Why is the army of God in retreat before the world, the flesh and the devil?” p. 43

“…we are to be the body–the hands and feet of Jesus in this present world….The purpose of the body is to fulfill the commands, desires and wishes of the head….Our hands are His hands, our feet are His feet, our tongues are His tongue. This means that the basic way God expresses His limitless love today is through the church.” pp. 47-48

“The measure to which I will manifest the life of Christ is the same measure to which I am willing to put my “self” to death.” p. 51

“This is the life that is connected to Jesus, the head, on a decision-by-decision basis. It is the submitted, dead-to-self life that the Lord can animate and use for His glory. It is the only kind of life He will empower and use.” p. 51

K. P. Yohannan, The Road to Reality, Coming Home to Jesus from the Unreal World (Altamonte Springs, Florida: Creation House, 1988)

The importance of the media ministry!

April 6, 2010 in Africa, Church Planting, Discipleship, Ministry Philosophy, Missions News, Muslim Missions, Muslim World, Training Leaders with 0 Comments

The following paragraph comes from an article entitled Morocco: Are Christians at Risk? It is interesting to note what has gotten more results in Morocco. We definitely believe in putting men on the ground. God wants a man on the ground planting churches. God has given us some good men doing just that. Without them there would be no real discipleship and church planting. The church is God’s way to conserve the results and to train men to continue carrying out His plan.

But notice how this blogger claims that most people are “converted!” They hear the gospel from different forms of media. That is our goal.

As a team for years we have had three words as our ministry goals: Men, Media, and Materials! We will continue to do just that. Number one and most important is to put a man on the field. That is why it is first in the list. We want to be training “leaders of leaders!” But we also want to use the media to get the gospel to the lost and then have a contact that is interested in the gospel.

Will you pray for the men on the ground right now? Will you pray that God allow us to get more and more media up to reach souls?

In the main article, it points out that most Moroccans convert to Christianity more as a result of Arabic media and not from foreign missionaries. This jives with my experience: a number of Moroccans I know have had long conversations with Christian missionaries about religion and none have converted. Some defended Islam while smoking hashish just to piss off the Christians, it that gives you an idea of how many Moroccans understand their Islamic identity. This observation about foreign missionaries, of course, undermines the rationale behind the recent expulsions of many foreigners.

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