LEADER ISSUE 008 FEBRUARY 2014
Growing apostolic ministry in the Salt & Light family Steve Thomas, leader of the Salt & Light International Team, outlines the call of God on our family of churches, to ‘go beyond’ in apostolic ministry, in planting churches and in starting to see unreached people groups touched with the gospel. The apostle Paul often describes his walk with God, and his apostolic ministry as ‘still looking for more’! ‘Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: forgetting what is behind and straining towards what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.’ (Philippians 3:12-14) ‘It has always been my ambition to preach the gospel where Christ was not known, so that I would not be building on someone else’s foundation. As it is written: ‘Those who were not told about him will see, and those who have not heard will understand.’ (Romans 15:20-21) When you think about it, this mirrors Jesus’ own heart, in that he starts his ministry in Galilee, his own locality, then heads to Jerusalem, where he will make most impact. He tells his disciples to wait in Jerusalem until they receive the Holy Spirit, and when they receive this power, they will be ‘…witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth..’ (Acts 1:8) It seems so natural that we should always be looking in our personal walk with God to know him better, and to live a life in which we glorify him more and more, and that in our church life, we should be looking to be increasingly effective
I find this passion burning in me at the moment, and as I share with our International Team, it is no surprise that they feel the same way. They are largely apostolic leaders, who are seeking to lead those they lead into God’s big vision for the salvation of his world. ‘For God so loved THE WORLD, that he gave us His only Son…’ (John 3:16). Just before our International Leaders’ Conference 2014, we gathered 110 or so younger leaders who we believe have
if we are going to carry God’s heart, we must have a heart for the peoples and nations for which God himself has a heart! some apostolic genes and spirit in them, in order to try to think and pray together about what it means for us to be apostolic people and ministries. As I write, I am full of expectation for this ‘International Apostolic Development Workshop’. I am praying that it will stoke the fire of apostolic ministry amongst us in the Salt & Light family, and lead to a much greater passion for the gospel to go to the nations, continued ➤
There’s gold in them there hills! – – – Repositioning the dial – – – – – – – – – ‘I will give you a Sheikh!’– – – – – – – – Carrying the full heart of Jesus – – – Challenge and support – – – – – – – An open heaven – – – – – – – – – – – Book review– – – – – – – – – – – – – –
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INSIDE
Beyond!
and fruitful in our own regions, and further afield. In the end, if we are going to carry God’s heart, we must have a heart for the peoples and nations for which God himself has a heart!
Breaking new territory This issue of Leader coincides with our Salt & Light International Leaders’ Conference 2014, and our International Apostolic Development Workshop 2014. Two conferences with rather long titles, but two very significant conferences! Our International Team – senior leaders from the 11 regions that make up our international family – know that God is speaking afresh to our international family of churches about the importance of discipleship and raising leaders, especially apostolic leaders who will go and break new territory for God. And, God is already bringing together several ‘apostolic teams’ to go and work among people who have never had opportunity to hear the gospel, unreached people groups in so-called ‘creative access nations’ (that means that we need extra wisdom from the Holy Spirit to get in – nowhere is closed to God!) This magazine seeks to outline and highlight some of those issues. Enjoy! Be provoked! Respond!
Andy O’Connell International Administrator and Operations Team Leader
BEYOND continued from front
and for us to be much more ready to send out pioneering teams into largely unreached parts of God’s world. After John Wesley had developed his own itinerant ministry up and down the UK, he started to pray for 100 workers who would take the nation with him, and work alongside him to see the Kingdom come to the nation, and many churches planted as people came to faith in Christ. I find myself praying this same prayer for our Salt & Light family. We need workers who are on fire and impassioned for the gospel and the Kingdom, and who will inspire and envision others to be involved in this great apostolic task, which Jesus came to galvanize.
we want His light to lighten up the darkness of nations all around us. And we are asking him to take us beyond our present borders and spheres of influence That is also why we chose the theme ‘Beyond!’ for our International Leaders’ Conference 2014. We want our knowledge of Christ to go beyond whatever we have known of Him before. We want His light to lighten up the darkness of nations all around us. And we are asking him to take us beyond our present borders and spheres of influence. That may seem challenging, but as the apostle Paul says, God is ‘able to do exceedingly beyond all we can ask or imagine’ (Ephesians 3:20), by His power at work in us, to bring glory to Christ through the Church. For example, in 1999, God spoke to our UK Team prophetically about ‘going to Europe’. Many of us were going to Africa and India on teams, but there was an empty field right in front of us in mainland Europe, where we needed to see new churches planted. We are grateful for all that has been accomplished in terms of mission into Scandinavia, central, eastern and southern Europe, and we are looking for God to take us further in this respect.
Published by Salt & Light Ministries an international family of churches together on mission Editorial team Steve Thomas, Ron MacLean, Stanley Mehta, Ngwiza Mnkandla, Dave Richards Editor Andy O’Connell andyo@saltlight.org international@saltlight.org www.saltlight.org +44 (0)161 850 7530
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Now, however, we sense that there is a fresh call to Muslim nations, and to other unreached peoples, where God wants us to engage again with the power of the gospel and the love of Christ. Some of these people groups are actually also
even if we are out of our depth, God is glorified in the faith we are operating in and the risks we are taking for him!
As I write, I am praying that our International Leaders’ Conference 2014 will both deeply bless and powerfully provoke us, until we go beyond any current levels of commitment or experience, and are lost in the ocean of His great love for us and the nations he has made! And let me be clear, that is our shared vision not just for one conference, but for what God wants to establish in our family of churches increasingly through 2014 and beyond!
on our doorsteps, living as they do in immigrant communities in many other nations. We can therefore engage with them at home, and they can lead the way into their own nations too. May God really take us beyond our current limited knowledge of Him, to know much more of His glory. May we see much more of His presence and power at work in our churches, which goes beyond our current limits. And may we be led as a family of churches way beyond where we have been before in terms of apostolic mission, so that, even if we are out of our depth, God is glorified in the faith we are operating in and the risks we are taking for him!
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There’s gold in them there hills! The challenge of unreached peoples on our doorstep Adam and Karina Martin work extensively with Kurdish, Iranian and Afghani refugees in the church in Derby, UK.
In 1849 Dr. M. F. Stephenson stood on the steps of Lumpkin County Courthouse and tried to persuade miners to stay in Georgia instead of joining the California Gold Rush. Pointing at the wooded hills around them, he’s famously quoted as saying, ‘There’s gold in them there hills.’ Whilst we’re not exactly facing a ‘gold rush’ into foreign missions we are in danger of missing the incredible missions opportunities right where we live. Previous generations paid a high price to take the gospel to the world’s
like veins of precious metal running through our urban populations many of these same people groups are within reach of our local congregations most unreached people. Now, like veins of precious metal running through our urban populations many of these same people groups are within reach of our local congregations. In our experience, many of these people are open to relationship and hungry for the liberating message of the gospel. However, as you go after these ‘treasures hidden in the darkness’ it helps to have the right tools and to develop the necessary skills! At Community Church Derby we’ve recently been experiencing some exciting breakthroughs. After a period of about 10 years working with the central Asian refugee communities in the city we now have over 70 in regular church attendance. We’ve had the joy of baptising over 30 from Muslim backgrounds and are in the process of forming six small groups catering for Iranians, Afghans and Kurds. What’s even more exciting is that similar things are happening in cities all around the UK and other parts of Europe. The challenge is how can we cooperate with what the Holy Spirit is doing to build strong and multiplying communities of disciples?
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Facing the challenges Working cross-culturally is demanding. New immigrant communities are constantly changing as people move in and move on. Many of our cities are hugely diverse, and even within a people group there’s complexity; significant cultural differences between the 1st, 2nd and 3rd generations and those arriving from different social and educational backgrounds. It can take a long time to establish relationships and really understand cultural differences. Immigrant groups are often very resourceful and at the same time have plenty of needs. Whilst this provides many opportunities for churches to get involved, it can be rather overwhelming for a small team!
Mobilise the whole church To begin with, we worked as a church planting team with a clear vision to plant a multicultural church among the refugees in Derby. Over time it became clear we’d be more effective working from within the larger congregation and mobilising a greater number of people to get involved. Reconnecting with CCD has been the catalyst for the recent burst of growth. We are part of a larger congregation who share the mission in all sorts of ways. Some get involved in simple practical tasks; visiting a new family, giving them a lift to church meetings or the shops, donating something for their home, helping them find a job. Others make an effort to welcome people from another culture on a Sunday morning, or invite them home for lunch. We all celebrate the testimonies and baptisms together and the whole
church joins in praying for a particular crisis or need. Our cross-cultural work has benefitted from the generosity of the larger church too. We have a destitution fund for those with no support and rent meeting places in the area where most immigrants live. We subsidise attendance at conferences and buy Bibles and evangelistic literature in different languages.
equipping church members to play their part in God’s global purpose. Taking time to pray for missions related situations on a Sunday helps to reinforce the message, but there’s nothing more powerful than the testimonies from those who’ve made the costly decision to follow Christ from another faith background.
we’ve gained a reputation for genuinely loving refugees through our community development projects
Another factor in seeing a harvest among unreached immigrant communities is establishing ministries that bless them practically. Over the years we’ve gained a reputation for genuinely loving refugees through our community development projects. These can be simple and low maintenance. One of our most successful initiatives is the ‘Welcome Box’ project. We train volunteers to take a shoe-box of gifts to families who’ve just arrived in the city. As well as providing a personal and genuine welcome, the initiative enables general church members to begin to form friendships with people from another culture. As we’ve grown in capacity and experience we’ve developed a range of projects including English classes, business skills training, and housing. This involvement builds a foundation of trust, breaks down suspicion and softens hearts to the gospel message.
Sow a cross cultural vision An effective cross-cultural ministry requires the whole church to have a good understanding of God’s heart for other nations. Without this, prejudices and tensions can emerge and there will be a general reluctance to pay the price to welcome and integrate people of another culture. We aim to have missions speakers several times a year. We recently ran a whole preaching series entitled ‘The World on Our Doorstep’ , and we host regional missions conferences. Last autumn we ran the Kairos Course on ‘becoming a world Christian’ which does an excellent job of
Welcoming the Stranger
Another benefit of running practical projects is that you become conspicuous in your community. If you are unashamed about your Christian identity and motivation, then people who are seeking God know where to come. We’re seeing the importance of praying and seeking to be continued ➤
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THERE’S GOLD IN THEM THERE HILLS! continued from p5
led by the Spirit to those communities and individuals he’s been preparing. We’ve heard so many amazing stories of people having dreams and visions of Jesus that we have a strong sense of partnering with the Lord in mission.
Gather a crowd There’s no doubt that spending time with the few who are hungry to learn and show leadership potential is key for reaching new communities. However, we’ve also recognised the benefit of gathering a crowd. A crowd is a safe place for the enquirer. It has a certain attractive power and signifies ‘this is ok for people from my culture’. Once our Iranian group reached about 15 people it developed its own momentum. Even if you don’t have that many believers, gather larger groups for regular social events and especially for celebrations like Christmas and Easter.
Multicultural or Monocultural? We are committed to creating groups where people can hear the word of God in their own language. It is so powerful and gives them a vocabulary to express themselves in prayer and worship. It shows their friends that Jesus is relevant to their culture too. At the same time we don’t want immigrant believers to end up in isolated mono-cultural churches. Paul was passionate about helping the churches of his day to welcome and accept people of other cultures and to work out how they could be family together. Not only is this a powerful expression of the power of the gospel to unite and break down prejudice, it also enriches church life tremendously. So we do both – a variety of language groups during the week and an increasingly multicultural Sunday gathering.
Learn from the Experts! God has been really good to us in providing workers who have had years of experience on the mission field. They have been an invaluable resource; some with relevant language skills, or a good understanding of Islam, cross-cultural skills or a passion for prayer. If you don’t yet have people like this around, pray them in and contact some of the established missions organisations. Many have people returning from the field who are looking for a way to use their skills. Finally I’d like to make an appeal. If you have been blessed with people in your church who feel a call to work cross-culturally in your locality, please give them all the support you can. There is much to learn and they will benefit immensely from attending some training courses and visiting some other places where people have been at it a bit longer. Make sure the church is behind them in prayer and keep cross-cultural work high on the church’s agenda. Most of all keep encouraging them - it really is worth all the effort!
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Repositioning the dial Building a culture of mission to the unreached globally Keith Elmitt is based in Oxford, UK, and serves the S&L UK team by leading Going Global in the UK, an initiative to work together to make disciples among the least reached.
The world of overseas mission is changing. God is on the move among nations where the gospel has not yet strongly penetrated. As a consequence, the church is being challenged to address the imbalance in how it resources mission overseas. We in Salt & Light have not escaped that challenge. God has taken us on a journey – first to Europe by highlighting the nations we are not yet touching. Prophetic calls from people like Len Bartlotti have faced us up to the importance of taking the gospel where it is not yet heard. As a
consequence, the International Team of Salt & Light are convinced that God is wanting to shift our focus away from mission among nations where we already have connections towards fresh pioneering mission, looking to fill the ‘empty places’. The goal in going is to make disciples, to bring people to faith in Christ and see them trained in his ways, and growing into new communities of Christians. This will involve us in going where we have not gone before. Over the past couple of years some of us have begun to explore what that journey looks like. There have been four important elements to that journey.
God is wanting to shift our focus away from mission among nations where we already have connections towards fresh pioneering mission, looking to fill the ‘empty places’
been developing strong working partnerships with two pioneering missionary agencies, Frontiers and World Horizons. From their experience they have been able to ‘open doors’ for us into certain nations, enabling us to prepare people to go with the necessary skills and wisdom for ‘creative access nations’. This is different from traditional approaches to mission agencies: rather than the church role simply being ‘send, pray and pay’, our partners are working with us to support our teams on the ground!
Together in teams Team has always been a hallmark of how we have worked in our churches: we believe in being stronger together; we believe in working in teams! So why not take these maxims into working into unreached nations? We want to see teams develop that are led by people from Salt & Light churches, with people joining them from our churches too wherever possible. These teams are then jointly overseen by apostolic leaders from our family and experienced leaders from our partner mission agencies.
Releasing pioneers Clarifying the vision In the UK, S&L leaders recognised that God was speaking to us, prophetically and strategically, and so we articulated a vision statement of ‘going to the unreached, together in teams, to make disciples’. We were clear that the priority was unreached people, and that the goal had to be seeing new disciples emerge. Doing it together in S&L teams meant we would do it with the spiritual DNA God has imparted to us over the years.
Finding partners The next step was to find people to help us, as we have not worked into these sort of situations before. Working on where we already had good relationships, we have
We have been looking for those whose hearts God has captured with a vision to go and make a difference, along with the skills and abilities to lead a team of others. Already we are seeing at least six couples ready to lead teams across North Africa and central Asia. We believe God has not only spoken but has led us towards making some foundational preparatory steps. We could have several Salt & Light teams in unreached nations over the next couple of years! God is raising up leaders for those teams – the next step is to see those teams properly staffed. Who do you know who could be in one of those teams?
LEADER 7
‘I will give you a Sheikh!’ Jerry Trousdale, guest speaker at our International Leaders’ Conference 2014, is the author of the book Miraculous Movements (How Hundreds of Thousands of Muslims Are Falling in Love with Jesus), which recounts an amazing change taking place within Muslim communities where the truth of Jesus Christ is turning around the lives of many thousands of Muslims from more than twenty people groups.
S
heikh Hanif’s dream was very curious indeed, both overwhelming and hopeful. It was not at all like the frightening and troubling nightmares that he had sometimes known. No, this was very different, and there was little time to reflect on this dream. It required immediate action because, according to the dream, something important would happen today, something that required him to be in place before first light. Hanif was a seasoned Muslim leader. Like his father before him, he had studied the Qur’an for years. One of Hanif’s superiors had observed Hanif’s people skills, which had resulted in his being recruited to organize Muslim communities and launch new mosques. For eight years, he had done this with excellence. For his community, Hanif was the voice and character of Islam, a decent man who represented what it meant to be a good Muslim. But there was one thing that no one else could ever know. Hanif’s commitment to Islam was genuine, but there was a deep void in his soul that Islam had never really satisfied. He longed for certainty regarding his status with God. He struggled to find answers or reasons for the violence inside his Islamic world. He grieved at the lack of compassion for suffering people. And he recognized that his religion did not allow him or the people he led to make choices for themselves, nor did it give them satisfying answers for the huge struggles of life. But this night, Hanif had awakened in the dark hours with a new hope burning inside: perhaps he was about to learn the answers to these questions! It had been a dream like no other dream. In it, Hanif had encountered a very handsome and graceful man. The man addressed him by name, simply saying that he wanted Hanif to serve Him. But then came a warning:
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Hanif must learn to listen to Him, the man said. Surprised and shaken, Hanif asked, ‘Who are you?’ ‘I am Isa al Masih [the Qur’anic term for Jesus the Messiah],’ the man answered, ‘and if you obey me, you will succeed in what you have longed for in your life.’ ‘What should I do?’ Hanif asked. Jesus showed him a tree standing alone atop a hill, a very busy road running beneath its branches. Hanif recognized the place, for it was well known to him and not too far from his home. Jesus then showed him the face of a man and said, ‘Go now, and wait under the tree by the road. Look for this man, for he is my servant. You will recognize him when you see him. Find him, for he will show you the true answers to all your questions about God.’ Hanif awoke from his dream, pondering his encounter with Jesus, still seeing the face of the man he was commanded to meet. He must not forget that face! In the press of crowds, he might only have a second to make the connection. Within an hour, the first glowing of the East African sky would begin, and the designated road would quickly fill with carts, livestock, and thousands of people with their loads, sometimes overflowing the road space beyond its shoulders and ditches. Finding the man in the midst of this chaos would be a genuine challenge. Hanif dressed quickly and quietly, not bothering to pack food or water in his haste. He would have to try to outrun the sun to the exact place he was told to be so that he could be there to examine the face of every passing person. Hanif dared not tell his wife about this assignment. She might think that he was under a spell or becoming unstable. Or worse, she might even betray his intentions to the local Islamic council. And even if she was sympathetic, how could he explain that he was looking for a stranger who was being sent to answer all his important questions, deep questions that had tormented his soul? How many years had he prayed daily, asking God seventeen times a day to show him the right way? But until this dream was given to him, he had feared that he would die without ever experiencing the right way of true peace and certainty. Of course, he had kept all the requirements of Islam—devotion to the Qur’an, leading the daily prayers—yet still he had no assurance of paradise, no enduring ‘salaam’ (peace) inside. How many times over the years had he grieved when trusting Muslims asked him for help with the same issues he struggled with, or came asking how to find unity and love in broken families? How humiliating it was to give them the same answers of ‘more sharia’ that had left him empty for years. Hanif made his way to the appointed tree, sat down at its base, and waited. He waited and he watched; he sat and he scanned, searching every passing face. From time to
time, a thrill would shoot up his spine: ‘That’s him! It’s ... no ... not him.’ Time passed and people passed, and still Hanif waited. In the late afternoon, several miles away, a man named Wafi was wondering if he would finally have a chance to get some sleep when he returned home the next morning. It had already been a full day, and there was still another hour of walking to get to the secluded place selected for this week’s all-night prayer meeting. Thankfully, the sunset winds so common in this part of Africa refreshed him and his companions. Today had been a good day, traveling on foot with the two promising young leaders whom he was currently mentoring, visiting new Christ followers in their homes. There was no better way of making disciples than this.
And Wafi could not pass up the chance to share the good news of Christ with this man who was so hungry to hear. (Strangely, it was not until much later that he made the connection between Hanif and his dream of God sending him an influential sheikh.) Finally, Wafi suggested that they go quietly to Hanif’s house where they could have privacy to talk more in depth. There they found a stunned wife who understandably had more than a few concerns about what was happening in her family. But within days, she and her husband had both experienced what true freedom in Jesus Christ means, especially for those who had lived for so long with dark uncertainty and discouragement.
Wafi had developed an ability to find the people whom God had prepared and positioned to become bridges for bringing the good news of Jesus into a new town. For those who had the privilege of spending time with him, Wafi could always be counted on to model and mentor the disciplines of prayer, the processes for finding those ‘bridges’ into a community, or the patience of overcoming trials. For Wafi, sharing, teaching, walking, praying, and enduring together were how Jesus discipled the Twelve, and it was the only way he knew to do the same. Curiously, Wafi had recently had a strange dream, in which God had said to him, ‘I will give you a sheikh!’ Wafi understood the dream to mean that God might have a plan to use him to disciple a sheikh who would perhaps become a bridge for taking the gospel to other Muslim leaders. But Wafi would have to wait to find out. That dream, however, was not in his mind as he and his two friends walked along the darkening road. Meanwhile, Sheikh Hanif, still at his appointed place, was beginning to despair. He had not imagined that his dream-imparted task would take more than twelve hours of scanning innumerable faces, until the last light was growing dim in the western sky, matching his own fading hope. Then, in near darkness, there came a few more people on the now almost-empty road. He could barely discern three figures as the distance closed between them. And then, the one in the middle ... yes! It was the face for which he waited! It took a few minutes for the excited sheikh to convince Wafi that he meant him no harm, in spite of the intensity of his greeting. ‘My friend, understand! It is Isa al Masih himself that requires you to answer my questions tonight.’ This seemed to Wafi like a heavy burden, to be met unexpectedly by a stranger and told, ‘You must answer all my questions ... tonight!’ But the man was unwilling to meet at a later date; he had waited all day— actually, many years—for answers to life-and-death questions, and he was not inclined to wait any longer.
Buy the Miraculous Movements book today to discover through the sometimes humorous, often sobering, but always enlightening and encouraging true stories how imams, sheikhs, and entire mosques are forsaking Islam and embracing Christ. (ISBN 978-1418547288)
LEADER 9
Carrying the full heart of Jesus Building a culture that welcomes Ephesians 4 ministries Doug Kreighbaum leads the C2C family of churches in USA, and travels widely with apostolic teams working with churches in USA, the Nordic region and Africa. He also serves as part of the International Team.
importance and how we have experienced them so far. I fear that in some ways I have become comfortable with the level of Ephesians 4 ministries I am familiar with. If we are not careful we can end up with the same ‘hometown’ effect Jesus faced when he went back to Nazareth in Matthew 13:54-58. Their familiarity with Jesus resulted in unbelief that limited what he could do among them. We must be careful that we do not limit what Jesus wants to impart among us due to a comfortable familiarity with who we receive from and how we receive Ephesians 4 gifts. While on earth Jesus walked perfectly in all five of these graces at the same time. He was an Apostle (Hebrews 3:1), Prophet (Mark 6:1-6), Pastor (John 10:11-14), Teacher (Matthew 19:16), and Evangelist (Luke 19:10). These five aspects represent the full desires of God that were in his heart at the same time. He continues to have these five desires fully in his heart all the time. Now from his heavenly position Jesus distributes
We are thankful that for many years our Salt & Light family have been pioneers in trumpeting the importance of all five of the Ephesians 4 ministry gifts operating in local churches. Many years ago men like Barney Coombs began to see the importance of those ministry gifts being involved, in order to see local churches become ‘the fullness’ of what God intends them to be. We should also be thankful for the progress across the greater body of Christ in understanding, identifying, and receiving such ministries. One denomination we were forced to leave in the early 1980s now openly receives men among them who are recognized and move in apostolic dimensions. Even with the challenges and excesses (goofy ministers trying to embody all five gifts) there also has been great progress.
we need more, not less of the Ephesians 4 gifts at work among us. There are new expressions of these gifts that are growing up all over the earth However, let none of us think that we have arrived! We need more, not less of the Ephesians 4 gifts at work among us. There are new expressions of these gifts that are growing up all over the earth. Because of this we need to continue to cultivate a culture among our churches that desires to welcome, raise up, and receive more Ephesians 4 ministries. These Ephesians 4 ministries will come in different styles, packages, and cultures that will challenge some of our preconceived notions – just like Peter, when challenged with the vision in Acts 10, made a new connection with Cornelius that resulted in Kingdom expansion! One thing that will help us become a more welcoming culture regarding Ephesians 4 ministries is how we view their
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his heart always beats for evangelism, teaching, shepherding, the prophetic and the apostolic those aspects of his heart into the people carrying those graces, so that they can stir and equip these gifts in local churches. While there are times that individuals and churches may settle for seeing one or more of these gifts lying dormant, Jesus never does. His heart always beats for evangelism, teaching, shepherding, the prophetic and the apostolic. Jesus designs us to walk together, mutually dependent on one another, so that we can be equipped on a regular basis by those who carry those gifts. One thing that can steal our motivation is that we can view those five desires expressed in Ephesians 4 ministries as slices of a cake. You can take the evangelistic slice out and you still have a pretty good cake that can be eaten and can taste good. Churches can get comfortable with thoughts like ‘we are just not that evangelistic, or prophetic, but we are still a pretty good church and do some wonderful things.’ That posture can limit our advancement and what Jesus wants to do through us! What if we viewed those five desires more like the ingredients in a cake and each ingredient has a bonding effect (Ephesians 4:16 ‘every joint supplies’)? Cakes usually contain sugar, eggs, flour, butter, and oil. When flour and the other ingredients are added there is a chemical reaction that creates a bonding effect that affects the whole cake. When
they are present in the cake, every bite of every slice has the taste of all ingredients. This is how these five graces work together to equip local churches. They help bring ingredients into the local cake and stir the ingredients that are already there to get them into the fabric of the whole thing. Forgive me for my ideal thinking but wouldn’t it be wonderful to see local churches carry the full heart of Jesus in their various capacities? This is why we need an atmosphere among the leaders and churches that isn’t content with the level of Ephesians 4 ministry they have been exposed to. We must want more.
What can we do to help cultivate that atmosphere? 1 Regularly teach and talk about the importance of all five ministries to your local leaders and church body.
2 Pray for and seek to connect with other Ephesians 4 ministries outside of what you already have.
3 Overcome, and help others overcome, ministry prejudice (narrowness due to styles and mistakes of the past). We have probably all heard of, or have had bad experiences with some in the past. We have all made mistakes and by the grace of God we correct them and go forward.
4 Take measured risk with different Ephesians 4 ministries and help others have the same heart. Take a risk and have some into your world who may be a little different.
5 Come to peace with the concept of ‘different but not wrong.’ Everyone has different styles, culture, and background. That doesn’t mean every aspect of it is God, but the variety will help stretch us.
6 Beware of confusing style with character. A ministry may bring a style that makes you uncomfortable, but that doesn’t necessarily mean they are wrong, or of bad character!
7 Inquire of and listen to ‘Barnabases’ (networking types) among our Salt and Light family and beyond. These are people who have the ability to connect with others outside of us and, like Barnabas did with Paul, and bring them around so we can all benefit.
LEADER 11
Challenge and support Building a Culture of Discipleship Steve and Bev Jones lead the church in Oxford, UK, where they have been learning afresh what makes for good missional discipleship.
In the 1950s, few Christians saw themselves as disciples. That word was normally reserved for the Twelve Disciples who first followed Jesus. If anyone did think about being a disciple, they were probably inspired by Dietrich Bonhoeffer, whose classic book, The Cost of Discipleship, written in the trauma of the Second World War, focused on the demands that Jesus placed on his disciples to take up their cross and sacrifice themselves for him. Intentional discipleship, then, was attempted by only the most heroic Christians, and it was a solitary pursuit. Then, in 1975, a book was published by an Argentinian that was soon provoking ordinary Christians all over the world to see themselves primarily as disciples of Christ. In Discipleship, Juan Carlos Ortiz wrote very practically about every Christian being supported personally by a more mature believer who could help shape them into the image of Christ. He challenged the church to take seriously the biblical pattern of making disciples by sharing life together in close relationship.
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if I choose to embrace the challenge of Jesus’ teaching, and if I have a pastor who both holds my feet to the fire and also puts an arm around my shoulder, then my transformation into the image of Christ will take off like a rocket!
Both strands are needed It seems to me that we need both of these strands together to create effective discipleship. Bonhoeffer wrote about the huge challenges involved in following Jesus. However, if I am simply given a strong challenge without any meaningful personal support, I will probably end up more stressed than heroic. Ortiz described the wonderful benefits of a pastor who knows me personally, but he also knew that care and support alone will turn me into a spoilt brat. What I need is both challenge and support. If I choose to embrace the challenge of Jesus’ teaching, and if I have a pastor who both holds my feet to the fire and also puts an arm around my shoulder, then my transformation into the image of Christ will take off like a rocket!
Personal pastoring: training or problem solving? The Salt & Light family of churches has been known for years for the practice of ‘personal pastoring’. People outside our network have told us that ‘personal pastoring’ is the thing we do best, and that it is amazing how we have learnt to avoid the spectre of ‘heavy shepherding’ whilst continuing to offer incisive personal input to would-be disciples of Christ. When people leave our churches, it is most often this relational approach that they miss. Any yet… I suspect the reality in most of our churches is not quite so healthy. If I am determined to get physically fit and healthy, I might decide to join a gym or a running club. If I am really very determined, then I might also employ a personal trainer, who will set individualised exercises for me and stand alongside me as I do them, cheering and spurring me on.
This is very much like the difference between simply joining a church and having an effective personal pastor. I reckon, however, that most of our pastoral relationships are not quite like this. When I think about my physical health, I am also very glad to have an excellent doctor. Naturally, I arrange to go and see him when I have a problem that needs fixing. I like him, but he is not actually my friend. We talk about my problem and he provides me with a solution, but we don’t share our everyday lives with each other. I suspect that many of our so-called discipling relationships really function like a visit to the doctor. We have warm but superficial friendships, consisting mainly of ‘sofa-time’ that has been arranged as an appointment to address a particular problem that needs solving.
Following Jesus’ Example Afresh The real problem may be that we leaders are too bighearted. We want everyone in our churches to be covered, and so we make ourselves available to as many people as we can. Many of us are stretched too thin. We have forgotten the possibility of simply having fun with the people we care about. Jesus, however, did just that. His example provides the direction that we need to reinvigorate our practice of relational discipleship. There is much that we have yet to discover, but the following questions may provide you with a helpful starting point:
1 Focus: Jesus shared his life deeply
with just twelve followers. Do we need to reduce the number of people we care for and focus on seeing real change in a few?
2 Action: Jesus shared meals with
his disciples, but he also engaged them practically in ministry with him. When will we get off our sofas and do something active with the individuals we pastor?
3 Community: Jesus drew the
disciples together into a new community. How can we bring together the individuals we are training, so that they can learn together?
LEADER 13
An open heaven? Building a Culture of Prophetic Worship John and Naomi Bilson lead a church-plant in Créteil, a suburb in southern Paris, and leads the worship development team working across the Destinée family of churches (Frenchspeaking Europe).
What makes a Christian? New birth and the presence of the Spirit of God (Rom. 8:9). That means the Christian life is all about walking in step with the Holy Spirit. If that is true, it has to have an impact on our church meetings – they have to look like the God focused, Spirit inspired, mutual encouragement events that the New Testament seems to depict (e.g. Ephesians 5:18-19). ‘Prophetic worship’ is the phrase that we use to describe times of corporate worship that focus on encounter with the living God who is present with us by His Holy Spirit. It’s not a style of worship. Perhaps we’d be better to call it New Testament (New Covenant) worship. Since Jesus made a new covenant for us at the cross, and probably well before, worship has been intended to be a two-way encounter.
since Jesus made a new covenant for us at the cross, and probably well before, worship has been intended to be a two-way encounter
14 FEB 2014
Given the creativity of the Holy Spirit, there are a multitude of ways to experience this – there is no ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach. We are discovering, though, that there are some things we can do to build a culture of prophetic worship – due to some aspects of church history, and our spiritual dullness, it’s not always something that comes naturally. Over the last five years, we have been working together across churches in Destinée (the Salt & Light family in France, Belgium, Switzerland and beyond) in this area. We love the prophetic, but we’ve had (and still have!) to make a conscious effort to learn how to work together in meetings to follow the presence of God. Our seminar is not designed primarily for worship leaders, but for anyone in church leadership who wants to be part of their church moving forward in the area of prophetic/New Covenant worship. We think there are four key areas to work on develop this culture, and we’re going to share how we’re going about it with you. Here are our headlines:
1 Understand that heaven is open Often, when we start talking about prophetic worship, we tend to think that it’s about turning up the tempo, and trying with all our might to connect with a distant world called ‘heaven’. We’re learning that actually it’s about leaning ever-stronger on what God has done for us in Christ. He’s a good God who wants to bless us and touch us, and who is constantly communicating with us. We don’t incite him to come by getting excited, or stirring ourselves up. The way is already open - we just need to turn to Him. Many of us have got into bad habits, and people are not expectant. We need to teach an expectation of the presence of God, based on grace.
2 Learn how to release individuals Of course, worship is all about God. But it’s actually a lot about people too. If God is looking for a two-way connection with us, then we need to learn to respond to Him. As leaders, there are lots of things that we can do to release praise, to help people connect with God. There are loads of practical things that we can to release people in worship, and help them connect with the Spirit of God.
3 Sing a new song It’s fantastic to use songs that are being used all over the world. But God has a specific call and identity for each part of His family. There’s something really healthy about ‘singing our journey’, and new songs feed a sense of fresh encounter with God. Not all of us are songwriters, but there are things we can do to encourage new songs and creativity.
4 Practice God’s order Communities encountering God together involve the release and use of the different gifts He gives. Leaders need to learn what different roles they can play, and how to serve in harmony with others to achieve what God wants to achieve in a particular event or meeting. We are learning to recognise, honour and work with other gifts to flow well with what the Holy Spirit is doing. Building a culture of prophetic worship, like most of church life, is a long-term process. But it’s one worth giving ourselves to. This is where, together, we get to learn how to work with the Holy Spirit. And that can only better equip us for our mission to show Jesus to the world.
LEADER 15
GOD ON MUTE by Pete Greig
Reviewed by Lorraine Thomas This is, in all honesty, one of the best books on prayer that I have ever read! Although it deals with the specific subject of unanswered prayer, it also encourages and renews the delight of being able to pray, underlining the fact that prayer is a privilege, a necessity, and our only hope! The book is written with painful and commendable honesty, and a quirky sense of humour, which helps to ground deep spiritual truths and teaching, and serve them to the reader in a very accessible way. Mr Greig is open and vulnerable in regards to his own struggles and situation, thereby helping us all to feel able to identify with him. He also includes many anecdotes, and some fairly moving stories of ‘real life people’ adding to the interest and variety of situations which may therefore apply to the reader. Having said all that, the book is peppered with humorous comments and irrelevancies which lighten a possibly heavy work. I thoroughly enjoyed it, and heartily recommend it, and look forward to hearing him speak to us.
16 FEB 2014