Personal Book Survey

1. What author do you own the most books by? Fiction: Jeffrey Archer. Non-Fiction: Elisabeth Elliot. I was surprised to find I owned so many titles by Watchman Nee and Amy Carmichael.

2. What book do you own the most copies of? The Bible. I also collect hymnals and just counted 37 sitting on my bookshelf. My favorite is a facsimile of the original 1779 “Olney Hymns” by John Newton and William Cowper.

3. Did it bother you that both those questions ended with prepositions? No--I end sentences all the time with prepositions and don't even realize when I do it.

4. What fictional character are you secretly in love with? I have read hundreds of books in my life time but can't recall any characters that I am secretly in love with.

5. What book have you read the most times in your life? The Bible.

6. Favorite book as a ten year old? I loved any book I could get my hands on about the Civil War. If there were pictures, that was even better!

7. What is the worst book you’ve read in the past year? My rule of thumb is if a book doesn't capture my interest in the first 100 pages I will simply stop reading and usually never pick it up again. However, it has now been a couple of years since I last failed to finish a book that I have started reading.

8. What is one of the best books you’ve ever read? I don't know if it was the best but definitely one of the most helpful to me personally was “Walking With God” by John Eldredge. I highly recommend this book.

9. If you could force everyone you know to read one book, what would that book be? Of all the questions, this is the hardest for me to answer. There are just too many good books out there that I would like everyone to read. 

OK...here are some I'd like to "force" on certain people I know: “Love Does” by Bob Goff, “Mere Christianity” by C.S. Lewis, "Velvet Elvis" by Rob Bell, "The Sacred Romance" by Eldredge and Curtis, "Blue Like Jazz" by Don Miller. All of these express for me the essence of what Christianity is all about without all the religion that distracts from Jesus’ teachings.

10. What book would you most like to see made into a movie? I understand William P. Young's "The Shack" is being made into a movie. If done well, I think it could have a profound impact on its viewing audience. Other possibilities would be “Bruchko” by Bruce Olson, or maybe Barbara Kingsolver's "The Poisonwood Bible."

11. What is the most difficult book you’ve ever read? Miguel de Cervantes “Don Quijote de la Mancha” in the original 1615 version for an advanced Spanish class I took in Costa Rica (I understood only about 20% and guessed at the rest!)

12. What is your favorite devotional book? A tie between Oswald Chambers “My Utmost for His Highest” and “Dare to Journey with Henri Nouwen” by Charles Ringma.

13. What is your favorite play? “The Mouse Trap” by Agatha Christie, the longest run of any play in the world. My wife and I saw this classic in London and count the evening as one of our most memorable.

14. Poem? “The World Is Too Much With Us” by William Wordsworth

15. Essay? “On Church Music” by C.S. Lewis.

16. Who is the most overrated writer alive today? The lady who writes all the Harry Potter books.

17. What is your desert island book? The Message.

18. What are you reading right now? “Biblical Foundations of Freedom” by Art Mathias, “Psychology” by David Myers and Nathan DeWall, “The Book of Mysteries” by Jonathan Cahn, and “The Gospels” by Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.

19. The “Top Ten” books that personally impacted your life? (You don’t have to necessarily agree with everything they write.)

1.     “Love Does” – Bob Goff

2.     “Walking With God” – John Eldredge

3.     “Shadow Of The Almighty” – Elisabeth Elliot

4.     “Houses That Change The World” – Wolfgang Simson

5.     “Blue Like Jazz” – Donald Miller

6.     “Hind’s Feet On High Places” – Hannah Hurnard

7.     “Organic Church” – Neil Cole

8.     “Velvet Elvis” – Rob Bell

9.     “The Sacred Romance” – Brent Curtis and John Eldredge

10. “The Shack” – William Paul Young

[Honorable mentions: “Prayer” by O. Hallesby, “Heaven on Earth” by R. Alan Streett, “Heaven” by Randy Alcorn, “Pagan Christianity” and “Reimagining Church” by Frank Viola, “The Present Future” by Reggie McNeal, “Love Wins” by Rob Bell, “The Shaping Of Things To Come” by Michael Frost & Alan Hirsch—all of these are books that have greatly impacted my thinking.]

20. Five authors who have most influenced your thinking (again, one does not have to agree with everything they write.)

1.     John Eldredge

2.     Philip Yancey

3.     Elisabeth Elliot

4.     Neil Cole

5.     Rob Bell

Honorable mentions: Watchman Nee, Frank Viola, Wolfgang Simson, Tony & Felicity Dale, A.W. Tozer, and Henri Nouwen.

Feel free to copy the questions and fill in your own answers. If you do so, please leave a comment below so we can check out some of your favorite books.

Simple Church: Unity Within Diversity

Simple Church: Unity Within Diversity is 24 contributors (including yours truly) writing from differing perspectives what simple church proponents believe and stand for. Originally the title was to have been "What We're For"--a good description of what the reader will find in the 286 pages of this book.

What I personally like about this compilation is its contrast with many other writings out there which tend to place an emphasis on "what's wrong with today's church." Simple Church: Unity Within Diversity is a positive attempt to share with fellow believers what simple church is all about.

So, what is simple church? A simple question that doesn't have a simple answer--hence the book! Each of the 24 writers shares from his/her perspective a single aspect of what it means to be the church.

For example, in my own assigned Chapter 17, "A Church That Gives Liberally and Generously," I start out by exploring the difference between 'storehouse tithing' and Kingdom giving:

When Malachi 3:10 “storehouse tithing” ceases to be the standard for how much and where we give, many believers are left wondering: 

• To whom then should I give?
• How much should I give?
• When is the right time to give? 

In New Testament simple churches, giving is based upon Jesus’ teaching on the subject:

Freely you have received, freely give (Matthew 10:8). 

Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you (Luke 6:38).

What implications do Jesus' words and teaching on this subject have for believers and the church today? How is money to be handled in the church as exemplified in the Gospels and Epistles? My chapter seeks to answer these and similar questions.

While I have been thoroughly blessed by all the contributing writers, some of my favorite chapters in the book are those which explore the following topics:

• A CHURCH THAT ASSEMBLES FOR MUTUAL EDIFICATION by Will Rochow
• A CHURCH THAT KNOWS LEADERS ARE THOSE WHO SERVE OTHERS by A. Knox
• A CHURCH THAT GIVES EVERYTHING AWAY by Keith Giles
• A CHURCH THAT RESTORES DIGNITY WHERE IT’S BEEN LOST by Kathy Escobar
• A CHURCH THAT TAKES THE GOSPEL TO THE ENDS OF THE EARTH by Miguel Labrador (a fellow co-laborer in Ecuador)
• A CHURCH THAT RECOGNIZES EQUAL LAITY WITH CHRIST AS THE ONE AND ONLY HEAD by Kathleen Ward

There is so much great material here and to single out a few chapters is only to whet your appetite for some encouraging, but challenging reading.

Far too often discussions about the church descend into arguments about theology, practices, doctrines, traditions, and methods. None of the writers in this book desire to be a part of that kind of dialogue. Rather, each attempts to shed light and provide answers for a growing number of believers who sense that something is missing in the way we 'do church.'  Why aren't we experiencing more today what is seen in the Gospels and Book of Acts?

If you would like to know more about simple church and are willing to have your thinking stretched a bit about the church, I hope you will read Simple Church: Unity Within Diversity and let us know what you think about the book in the comments section below.

Neil Cole's "Primal Fire: Reigniting the Church with the Five Gifts of Jesus"

I ended up highlighting 138 separate passages in this book. What a gold mine of insight about the Eph. 4 APEST team and how they function! So much of what is written in these pages expresses my own heartbeat concerning the forgotten and yet-needed roles of apostles, prophets, evangelists, shepherds and teachers. We need the APEST functions as much today as when they were first given to the church in the first century.

I found the author's treatment of 1 Timothy 3 passage to be especially thought-provoking. Cole points out, for example, that some translators assume the role of 'overseer' in 3:1 to be an 'office' and hence, "stopped translating and started teaching something that Paul did not intend." In 3:8-13 I found his suggestion compelling that, "the roles of deacon and deaconess are the fulfillment of the equipping gifts mentioned in Ephesians 4:11—that is, deacons and deaconesses are the mature apostles, prophets , evangelists, shepherds, and teachers who equip the saints for the work of service." He goes on to state,

"From this perspective, an elder’s role is less broad in influence than that of a deacon or deaconess, and more focused on a specific spiritual family (what we would see as an oikos, which is a spiritual household of faith or a missional community). As such, the necessary abilities for the elder’s role are more specifically defined, and teaching is essential to that more limited role. In contrast, perhaps deacons and deaconesses are capable of many more ministry assignments (five, to be specific) on a broader scale, only one of which would be as “teacher.” That is, deacons may serve as apostles, prophets, evangelists, or shepherds."

I also resonated with the description of apostles and prophets (AP) being the START AND GO team, while evangelists, shepherds and teachers make up the STAY AND GROW team building upon the foundation set by the AP team. If you've ever wondered about what each of these five functions entail, this book does a wonderful job in spelling out how these work together and how each is needed.

The book repeatedly emphasizes something I have long believed and taught others, that each of the APEST are there to equip the saints for the work of service. They do not exist to be DOING the work themselves, but "for the EQUIPPING OF THE SAINTS for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ; until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ." Since this goal has not yet been reached, there is still the ongoing need of modern apostles, prophets, evangelists, shepherds, and teachers to be about the appointed tasks. Cole does a good job in pointing out counterfeits to the real thing.

All in all, this is an excellent and much needed read for the greater Body of Christ, especially those in church leadership roles. We need to get back into a more Biblical balance in regards to being servants first and foremost.

At a "Cross Roads" over "Proof of Heaven"

Two books. Both take the soul out of the body and go places not been to before--the afterlife. One is fiction, the other a true story. In both narratives, the main character goes into a coma and emerges from the experience transformed by what is discovered in the spiritual world that lies beyond. I enjoyed both immensely, and hope you read both books!

There is something within us that draws us to the mysterious, the unknown. I love writers who are able to transport us into other realms where the profound questions of the meaning of life are explored. I relish anything that challenges me to think outside-the-box of my own small world. Two such books, listened to back-to-back, are the audio versions of William Paul Young's second novel Cross Roads and Eben Alexander's personal journey into the afterlife, Proof of Heaven.  The former is Young's long awaited follow-up to his 18-million bestselling novel, "The Shack." Alexander's book is a detailed recounting of what happened to him both physically and spiritually while in a coma for seven days.

Both narratives fall into the category of exploring the mysterious afterlife. Neither author questions whether or not life exists after death; but rather, seek to describe what the afterlife is like. Young, utilizing a fictional story, has greater freedom to explore this "other world" without having to justify every word, scene, and sentence. Alexander's recounting is tougher because what he describes of his experience of heaven is limited by having to share only what he personally saw, heard, felt, and experienced without additions. Add to these limitations, his "proof of heaven" is not distinctly a Christian Heaven, which can be a little disconcerting for someone like myself.

Needless to say, both are thought-provoking and explore the timeless questions about life, where we come from, where we are going, what happens after we die, is God real, and does God really love us individually and personally. I think both succeed in assuring us that Heaven is indeed real, and the afterlife is more real than life as we know it now.

Young and Alexander's writing engage the reader on multiple levels:

• theological--what does the Bible actually say about these things?
• physical--understanding the brain and our physical world what happens on a scientific level
• emotional--the power of our emotions and beliefs that directly affect the lives and choices we make in this life
• spiritual--the soul, the consciousness, our spirits and how all that "fits" inside our body

These four aspects intertwine themselves around two fascinating stories. Both narratives alternate back and forth between the heavenly regions and things as they are back here on earth. They explore choices made here on earth and how these affect what is going on in the "real world" beyond.  If the reader already believes in the afterlife, there is little doubt these two books will only strengthen that hope that lives within, as well as challenge those who might be skeptical.

While I was intrigued by Alexander’s recounting of what happened while he was "dead" for seven days, his experience of heaven was not distinctly Biblical. He even uses different terminology for God, heaven, angels, etc. While there is little doubt Alexander believes in God, what he describes is what one would expect from someone who is not familiar with the Biblical passages and language used in Scripture. He describes in detail meeting God (“the Core”) and learned many things about the universe, including how much we are all loved intimately by God, regardless of our past sins. If you have read Rob Bell's "Love Wins" several of the more controversial concepts he relates in his own exploration of heaven and hell are revisited in these two books.

Alexander didn’t see Jesus but describes in detail the afterlife as being a place of great beauty and peace. There is even an entire chapter entitled, "REAL" where he attempts to describe in human language things incomprehensible.  He likens the difficulty of relating his indescribable experience as if a chimpanze becomes human for one day and then reverts back to being a chimpanze and then trying to express to his fellow chipanzes what he experienced as a human. The language, words, concepts, dimensions are just not there to be able to express the unexressable. I couldn't help but think on Paul's difficulty as he too attempted to describe his own beyond this physical world experience...

I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven. Whether it was in the body or out of the body I do not know--God knows. And I know that this man--whether in the body or apart from the body I do not know, but God knows-- was caught up to paradise. He heard inexpressible things, things that man is not permitted to tell.  (2Co 12:2-4)

I have often wondered if Paul's hearing inexpressible things "that a man is not permitted to tell" was meant only for him because of his pride issues (see the verses immediately following 2-4). But it also might be that we are not permitted to tell because we have not yet been given the vocabulary and understanding of what is beyond. To try and tell it as these authors have done falls short of the whole truth. Thus, any attempts to describe the indescribable might distort or cloud what really awaits us over on the other side.  A partial truth can be more dangerous that an outright lie.  Alexander repeatedly refers to his inability to put into language that which he saw, heard, felt, and experienced. In "Cross Roads" Paul Young is not restricted by language and thus is able to offer fascinating dialogues through the interactions of the main character with the beings he encounters in the other world. If you enjoyed the dialogues of Mack with the Godhead in "The Shack" you'll love "Cross Roads" in that, here too, Young has his main character posing the difficult questions of life, trying to make sense of a senseless world, and doing so with the only One who has the answers.

Anyway, be as it may be, these two books are very thought-provoking and are guaranteed to shake you up and rekindle interest (hope) in the next world that awaits us all.

Solo los enfermos necesitan hospitales

Jeannette Walls en su memoria personal "El Castillo De Cristal" relata un incidente de su niñez cuando estaba cocinando y por accidente se incendió dejándola severamente quemada. Su mamá despreocupada la llevó al hospital. En poco tiempo sus médicos determinaron que Jeannette vivía en un ambiente pésimo con padres disfuncionales y al borde del mal trato. En su casa cada uno de sus tres hermanos tenían que velarse por si mismos ya que sus padres no hacían nada para atender a sus tres hijos.

Cuando Jeannette llegó al hospital encontró todo un mundo de maravillas y placeres que hasta entonces no conocía. Allí le daban de comer tres veces al dia--y buena comida! Todo el personal del hospital la trataba con cariño. Gente desconocida le traía regalos. Las enfermeras cambiaban las sábanas de su cama diariamente. En fin, un mundo totalmente a lo opuesto a lo que Jeannette vivía en su propia casa.

Con tantas comodidades nunca antes disfrutadas, Walls no quería sanarse de sus quemaduras. Pretendía estar en más sufrimiento de lo que estaba para convencer a los médicos de NO DARLE DE ALTA del hospital. Ella quería vivir para siempre allí en ese paraiso y no tener que volver a la triste realidad de su vida difícil y el mundo cruel afuera del hospital.

Muchos Cristianos son como Jeannette Walls. Se contentan con la atención y el buen cuidado que reciben en sus iglesias. En sus templos encuentran un oasis de tranquilidad en medio de un mundo cruel y lleno de problemas y dolor. Pero la iglesia no existe para ser un hospital permanente en la vida del paciente. ¿Qué hospital quiere que sus pacientes estén allí como miembros permanentes en un continuo estado de recuperación?

Como Jeannette, muchos no quieren salir del hospital. Quieren quedarse, y hasta buscan trabajos voluntarios y llenarse de cargos hospitaliarios, todo con no tener que salir de nuevo al mundo. Pero nuestro "Médico Celestial" sabe que no fuimos creados para pasar nuestros dias en un hospital. Más bien, fuimos creados para ser un hospital móbil entre gente verderamente enferma allá fuera en el mundo.

Jesús mismo dijo: "Los que están sanos no tienen necesidad de médico, sino los que están enfermos; no he venido a llamar a justos, sino a pecadores." (Marcos 2:17)

Se dice que en el Ecuador hay dos millones de creyentes evangélicos. Si esta cifra es real, ¿cuántos Jeannette Walls hay entre nosotros? Creyentes que año tras año se han acostumbrado a la vida de hospital y no quieren regresar al mundo de enfermos que se encuentra allí afuera? Si solamente el 5% de los supuestos 2-millones de creyentes se mobilizaran a los campos de "enfermos espirituales" y harían "hospitales de campo" en medio de esos enfermos, ¿qué resultados diferentes tendríamos?

This is the "less is more" book of the year

Over the past decade I have read dozens of books related to church planting. Six Word Lessons to Discover Missional Living by David DeVries sits among my top five favorite titles. It would seem David has read all the same books and yet somehow managed to summarize them all in just 140 pages. He does this with "100 Lessons to Align Every Believer with the Mission of Jesus" (the sub-title of the book.)

Like the title says, the book consists of 100 simple to understand six-word lessons. Just six words per lesson? Yes. Each lesson is explained in 2-3 carefully worded sentences. This has got to be the ultimate "less is more" book of the year!

Here is Chapter One in its entirety:
 

Follow Jesus. Help others follow Jesus.

Jesus said, "Follow Me and I will make you fishers of men." (Matthew 4:19)

First, follow Jesus fully. Then, help others to follow Jesus.

If you aren't helping anyone to follow Jesus - are you really following Jesus?

Enough is said in this chapter alone to keep me busy the entire year. And yet there are 99 others just like it!
Some of the categories dealt with in the book:

1. Love God. Love People. Make Disciples
2. Disciples Make Disciples Who Make Disciples
3. It’s His Mission, What’s My Part?
4. Think and Act Like a Missionary
5. Discover God’s Heart for Your Neighborhood
6. Embody the Gospel Where You Live
7. Church Isn’t a Destination, It’s People
8. Time To Take the Missional Challenge!
9. Lessons I Learned Planting a Church
10. Don’t Skip Reading the Final Chapter

---------------------
Also available on amazon.com for Kindle or in paperback here.

Lottie Moon quotes*

“What we need in China is more workers. The harvest is very great, the laborers, oh! So few. Why does the Southern Baptist church lag behind in this great work?"

Nov. 1, 1873, Tungchow

"How many there are ... who imagine that because Jesus paid it all, they need pay nothing, forgetting that the prime object of their salvation was that they should follow in the footsteps of Jesus Christ in bringing back a lost world to God."

Sept. 15, 1887, Tungchow

"Why should we not ... instead of the paltry offerings we make, do something that will prove that we are really in earnest in claiming to be followers of him who, though he was rich, for our sake became poor?"

Sept. 15, 1887, Tungchow

"Is not the festive season when families and friends exchange gifts in memory of The Gift laid on the altar of the world for the redemption of the human race, the most appropriate time to consecrate a portion from abounding riches and scant poverty to send forth the good tidings of great joy into all the earth?"

Sept. 15, 1887, Tungchow

"Why this strange indifferences to missions? Why these scant contributions? Why does money fail to be forthcoming when approved men and women are asking to be sent to proclaim the "unsearchable riches of Christ" to the heathen?"

Oct. 3, 1887, Pingtu

"A young man should ask himself not if it is his duty to go to the heathen, but if he may dare stay at home. The command is so plain: "Go."”

Nov. 1, 1873, Tungchow

"Oh! That my words could be as a trumpet call, stirring the hearts of my brethren and sisters to pray, to labor, to give themselves to this people. But some will say, "we must have results, else interest flags"...We are now, a very, very few feeble workers, scattering the grain broadcast according as time and strength permit. God will give the harvest; doubt it not. But the laborers are so few.  Where we have four, we should have not less than one hundred. Are these wild words? They would not seem so were the church of God awake to her high privilege and her weighty responsibilities."

Nov. 11, 1878, Pingtu

"The needs of these people press upon my soul, and I cannot be silent. It is grievous to think of these human souls going down to death without even one opportunity of hearing the name of Jesus...Once more I urge upon the consciences of my Christian brethren and sisters the claims of these people among whom I dwell. Here I am working alone in a city of many thousand inhabitants, with numberless villages clustered around or stretching away in the illuminate distance: how many can I reach?"

Oct. 3, 1887, Pingtu

"I would I had a thousand lives that I might give them to ... China!"

Aug. 27, 1888, Zhenjiang

"When the gospel is allowed to grow naturally in China, without forcing processes of development, the 'church in the house' is usually its first form of organization. God grant us faith and courage to keep 'hands off' and allow this new garden of the Lord's planting to ripen in the rays of the Divine Love, free from human interference!"

Sept. 10, 1890, Pingtu

-----------------------------------------
*quotes taken from imb.org website: Quotables: Lottie Herself and "Send the Light: Lottie Moon's Letters and Other Writings" edited by Keith Harper.

He made us in order to use us for His purposes, not our own

I am currently re-reading Evelyn Underhill's The Spiritual Life.  It is one of those rare classics that continues to speak as freshly today as it did when first published in 1937. While the book is in reality a series of transcribed radio broadcast talks, it remains a powerful reminder that we belong to Him, and God doesn't have to explain himself to us or make things work according to how we want them to be.

"He made us in order to use us, and use us in the most profitable way; for His purpose, not ours. To live a spiritual life means subordinating all other interests to that single fact.

Sometimes our positions seems to be that of tools; taken up when wanted, used in ways which we had not expected for an object on which our opinion is not asked, and then laid down.

Sometimes we are the currency used in some great operation, of which the purpose is not revealed to us.

Sometimes we are servants, left year in, year out to the same monotonous job.

Sometimes we are conscious fellow-workers with the Perfect, striving to bring the Kingdom in.

But whatever our particular place or job may be, it means the austere conditions of the workshop, not the free-lance activities of the messy but well-meaning amateur; clocking in at the right time and tending the machine in the right way. Sometimes, perhaps, carrying on for years with a machine we do not very well understand and do not enjoy; because it needs doing, and no one else is available. Or accepting the situation quite quietly when a job we felt that we were managing excellently is taken away. Taking responsibility if we are called to it, or just bringing the workers their dinner, cleaning and sharpening the tools. All self-willed choices and obstinacy drained out of what we thought to be our work; so that it becomes more and more God's work in us." (pages 75-76)
 

Where's the passion for the nations?

I am one of those eternal optimists who believe the fulfilling of the Great Commission can be a reality in our lifetime. Yes, I know we are a long way from seeing this today, but it wouldn't take much to turn things around 180° and get back on track.

After all, everything we need is already in place to get the job done:

--Jesus' promise to be with us,

--the Holy Spirit's empowering,

--the Father's provision of needed resources,

--millions of Christ followers already on the front lines ready for action,

--millions more in "reserve" waiting to be deployed

--the Word to guide and us show the way,

--outposts strategically placed in all the key centers around the world,

--direct access to the Commander-in-Chief 24/7/365,

--apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastor-teachers, servant-leaders willing, eager, and ready to train the saints for the work of service...

And yet with everything in place, why is it that we are further away from accomplishing the goal than ever before?

I believe we have substituted comfortable peace-time religion instead of engaging an all-out war effort to finish the task we were charged with 2000 years ago. It is about us and what we want and like; not Him and where is heart is for bringing in the harvest.

A man had two sons, and he came to the first and said, "Son, go work today in the vineyard." And he answered, "I will not"; but afterward he regretted it and went. The man came to the second and said the same thing; and he answered, "I will, sir"; but he did not go. Which of the two did the will of his father? They said, "The first." (Matt.21:28-31)

Which of the two are we like today? The first or the second? Most of us are persuaded we are doing the will of the Father because we are "good Christians" who go to church and read our Bibles. Yet, we have been clearly told to work in our Lord's vineyard. Like the second son, we say, "I will, sir"--but our words are just words. We are not doing anything. It is perfectly OK to lie sing in church, "Send me, O Lord, send me to the nations, for your glory, send me..." but we have zero intention of changing a single thing about the way we live or our current lifestyle--certainly not up doing something as radical as going to the nations for the glory of the Lord!

As Steve Smith writes in T4T: A Discipleship ReRevolution, "The problem throughout history has never been with God--He is willing, passionate for His people to be reached. The problem is not with the harvest--the Spirit is doing His part to prepare a harvest even among hard peoples. The problem is with us--we need to recapture the first-century discipleship revolution that turned the world upside down. We need a discipleship re-revolution!"

I find it amazing so few Christians seem interested in even talking about evangelism, discipleship, church planting, or reaching the billions of lost souls scattered around the nations--not to mention actually engaging in these pursuits. The idea that we are followers of Jesus who fish for men (Mark 1:17) seems to be something missionaries and professional clergy are supposed to do.

The Church in America seems to have a totally different agenda from that of our Lord. She desperately needs to understand that the call to follow Jesus means death to one's self, one's ambitions, one's personal dreams, one's personal well-being. His Kingdom is first. His mandate of making disciples of the nations takes precedence over our own plans, dreams and ambitions. "Not my will but thine be done" was Jesus prayer (and ought to be our prayer!) His interests come first. His heart beat needs to be our heart beat. His glory is what it is all about.

We desperately need to recapture the first-century discipleship revolution!

If you aren't helping anyone to follow Jesus - are you really following Jesus?

Over the years I have read dozens of books related to church planting. Six Word Lessons to Discover Missional Living by David DeVries now sits among my top five favorite titles. It would seem David has read all the same books and managed somehow to summarize them all in 140 pages. He does this with "100 Lessons to Align Every Believer with the Mission of Jesus" (the sub-title of the book.)

Six-Word Lessons gives 100 simple to understand six-word lessons. Just six words per lesson? Yes. Each lesson is explained in 2-3 carefully worded sentences. This is the ultimate "less is more" book of the year!

Here is Chapter One in its entirety:

Follow Jesus. Help others follow Jesus.

Jesus said, "Follow Me and I will make you fishers of men." (Matthew 4:19)

First, follow Jesus fully. Then, help others to follow Jesus.

If you aren't helping anyone to follow Jesus - are you really following Jesus?

Enough is said in this chapter alone to keep me busy the entire year. And yet there are 99 others just like it!

Some of the categories dealt with in the book:

1. Love God. Love People. Make Disciples
2. Disciples Make Disciples Who Make Disciples
3. It’s His Mission, What’s My Part?
4. Think and Act Like a Missionary
5. Discover God’s Heart for Your Neighborhood
6. Embody the Gospel Where You Live
7. Church Isn’t a Destination, It’s People
8. Time To Take the Missional Challenge!
9. Lessons I Learned Planting a Church
10. Don’t Skip Reading the Final Chapter

Small is Big

I absolutely loved Small Is Big: Unleashing the Big Impact of Intentionally Small Churches by Tony & Felicity Dale and George Barna. This quick-reading book expresses so well in words what it is we are seeing first hand in our midst. I guess we aren't as crazy as people keep trying to make us!

So much within its pages resonates with our own experience. Tony, Felicity, and George have truly blessed us with a vivid, practical, and encouraging guide from church-as-we-know-it to church-as-God-wants-it (as W. Simson so aptly expresses it!) They have pulled this off without offending or speaking negatively against the Church at large.

Many today sense that there is a huge shift taking place globally. The Spirit of God seems to be "downsizing" the church in order to prepare her for the next (final?) stage of an unprecedented worldwide Kingdom harvest. Small is, indeed, the new big!

I like the way the authors lead us through the elements of simple church by sharing their own pilgrimage. One gets the sense that what is shared has been personally lived, and not just some scholarly dissertation arguing the virtues and values of simple church.

In essence, the "revolution" we are living today is summed up with their words:

The 16th Century Reformation was the result of a grassroots change in theology produced by ordinary people having access to the Scriptures in their own language. That Reformation is coming full circle in our day, only this time it is the church being put back into the hands of ordinary people, instead of the Bible.

"The objections [today] are similar as well: how can untrained and unqualified people run churches? Shouldn't that be reserved for the professional clergy? People who have jobs don't have the time to prepare a sermon, let alone get trained in hermeneutics. How are they going to prevent heresy? On what basis do they claim the authority to act as the church? Are they accountable to any higher church authorities? Can ordinary people administer the sacraments?"

The rest of the book deals with the practical matters of this already happening in tsunami proportions--a global reformation of the Church every bit as big as the theological reformation of the 16th century!

My own copy is totally marked and highlighted with the practical suggestions shared in this "return of the church to the people." For example, Acts 2:42 is used as a simple framework for this New-Old church order: 1) they devoted themselves to the apostles teaching, 2) fellowship with one another, 3) the breaking of bread together, and 4) to prayer. These four parameters offer a definition of what the Holy Spirit intends to happen when believers then, and now, gather.

While much of the book was an encouragement to me personally, what really got me thinking in this book is something that has long troubled me about the whole simple/house/organic church movement. While hard to put in words, it might best be described as LIQUID CHURCH vs SOLID CHURCH. Is the church intended to be a solid structure? Or a flowing, ever moving stream of living water?

Throughout the book, I found this concept intriguing. What has always bothered me is the short "shelf life" of the simple/house churches we have been associated with. Very few seem to survive more than a few years at best before "melting" back into water again. Coming from a "solid church" upbringing, if something planted (eg. a church) does not remain fixed and continue to grow, I tend to view it as a failure. What the Dales/Barna so masterfully show, though, is that these "church melts" are precisely the way the Spirit of God continues to permeate and impact society with the Gospel!

Flowing, living water was never intended to stagnate--or freeze!--into solid structures requiring huge amounts of maintenance to keep things going. We are meant to continually be on the move! Water--liquid church--is able to permeate into every crack and crevice of society. We reach our neighbors, co-workers--hey, the world!--not by asking them to come to our church, but by bringing the Kingdom of God right into their living rooms and work places!

Space and time do not permit me to further describe the implications of this, but suffice it to say, we often confuse the KINGDOM with the CHURCH, as if they were one and the same. Jesus clearly told us to seek first his Kingdom. We are commanded to make disciples of the nations. That is what we are to be about. Building the Church is HIS domain, not ours. A liquid/flowing/moving church will be able to extend His Kingdom to the ends of the earth 1000 times more efficiently than a solid church proudly boasting of having been rooted in the same location for the past 150 years!

I cannot conclude this review without at least mentioning three chapters of the book: "Pitfalls to Avoid"; "No Empire Building, No Control, and No Glory"; and "The Art of Rabbiteering." As the authors so aptly put it, there is real danger in brilliant substitutes for what God is doing, fashionable fads, movements without momentum, people without passion, leaders without a limp (as in Jacob), and reformation without revival. The Devil is always out there trying to divert church planting movements initiated by God's Spirit. Empire building, attempting to take control of what we see God doing, and wanting to share in the glory are real temptations to all of us observing this movement of the Holy Spirit.

It is for these three chapters, and the spirit of humility in which this book has been written, that I give "Small is Big" my highest recommendation. Even though I first read the book months ago, my head is still spinning with excitement at the implications of getting on board with the "rabbit" revolution of what God is doing. I want to be part of what Jesus is doing in giving birth to thousands of small, mobile churches that will impact the entire planet and usher in the Kingdom of God as intended from the beginning.

Get hold of a copy today!

How church doctrines develop over time

I have always found it intriguing how Christians reading the same Bible can come up with such a wide variety of beliefs and practices about the church. I recently downloaded a free Kindle copy of John Hayward's The Book of Religions Comprising The Views, Creeds, Sentiments, Or Opinions, Of All The Principal Relgious Sects In The World Particularly Of All Christian Denominations In Europe and America To Which Are Added Church and Missionary Statistics Together With Biographical Sketches (obviously with a title like that I wasn't surprised by the 1860 publishing date!)

Of particular interest are the summary chapters of the dozens of varying Christian Denominations existing at the time of Hayward's 1860 writing (not to mention the thousands added since that time!) All claim the Bible as their source of faith and practice. Each draws its ecclesiolgocal distinctions from Scripture and sees everyone else as "missing the mark." How is it that believers professing the Ephesians 4 Pauline creed, "one body, one Spirit, one hope, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all" can have so many different--and often conflicting--ideas about the church?

After years of bewilderment, I recently stumbled upon a very simple explanation of how such a wide variety of beliefs can exist within the Body of Christ. Much to my surprise it was through reading Father Zachary J. Hayes explanation of the Roman Catholic doctrine of Purgatory where he points out that our understanding of church doctrine and practice hinges upon our overarching view of Scripture itself:

"While the Protestant viewpoint looks for a pure form of doctrine at the beginning of Christian history and sees any deviation from that pure form as a corruption, the Catholic viewpoint sees the beginning more like a seed planted in history. It is the nature of a seed to grow and develop...

Catholic theologians have been inclined to think of the church as a community that grows through history like a living organism. The idea of a seed and the plant emerging from the seed became common metaphors to express this sense of growth. Like a seed, the revelation of God germinates in the ground of history and of human cultures and gives rise to a plant. While this plant is intrinsically related to the seed, it still looks quite different from the original seed, just as an oak tree looks very different from the acorn from which it grew...

In terms of doctrine, this has come to mean that, while the Scriptures have a normative and irreplaceable role to play in the faith life of the church, nevertheless, we ought not to expect any one-to-one relationship between the formultations of the Scriptures and the later formulations of church doctrines..."

--Father Zachary J. Hayes

Wow! If Scripture is merely the initial "seed" from which the plant--the church--matures and grows; then yes, we can have all kinds of beliefs, traditions, and church practices.

But is Scripture meant to be only the initial seed? Is God's Word meant to be only the starting point? Where in Scripture, itself, is the church referred to using a seed metaphor?

The predominant metaphor used for the church in the New Testament is "the body of Christ" found in multiple references (such as Rom.12:5), the "bride of Christ" in Revelation, "God's household" (Eph.2:19), "chosen race", "royal priesthood", "holy nation", "a people for God's own possession" (1 Peter 2:19), but I do not find the church referred to as something that grows out of a seed.

This might not seem like a big deal, but to me the seed metaphor has enormous implications. If Scripture is just an initial seed that grows and matures into something else down through history (as Hayes describes above) then everybody is right to nurture their "seed" and hopefully mature it into something they are comfortable with. Isn't this what we have done with the church? We have made church into our own image. We see Acts and the Epistles not as blueprints, but as "seeds" that need to be developed into what they were intended to become.

I believe it is not only the Catholics who have misunderstood the church, her doctrines and practices as deriving themselves from Scripture seeds, but Protestants and Evangelicals as well. All of us tend to justify what it is we believe (or want to believe) by copying/pasting favorite proof texts about the church and making them fit our current ecclesiology. We have taken the seed found in the Bible, sowed it into the soil of history, nurtured and watered it down through the ages, and think what we have today is an improvement over what Jesus and the apostles left for us. After all, why gather in a simple home to stimulate one another to love and good works, when we can meet in multi-million dollar complexes complete with state-of-the-art technology and artificial waterfalls cascading in the foyer?

Yes, the kingdom of heaven is referred to as a mustard seed in Matt. 13:31. Faith is likewise referred to a mustard seed in Matt.17:20, and the Gospel itself as "seed sown in a field." But does this give us the right to morph original NT teaching about the church into something that goes far beyond what we find in the Gospels, Acts, and Epistles? Wasn't that Jesus primary objection to the Pharisees that they added to the Law of Moses and held people accountable for the additions? Aren't we doing the same thing today with our own church traditions and practices when we elevate them as being equal (or superior) to actual Scriptural teachings?

And that is how church doctrines get developed over time. What do you think?

What role do you want to play?

Bob Roberts, Jr. writes in "The Multiplying Church"...

You can be Mark Driscoll, Rob Bell, Rick Warren, Bill Hybels, or Neil Cole, or you can be the person who raises them up. What role do you most want to play? I used to want to be them--to get to see all this stuff happening up close--but that's because all I saw was what I could do.

As I grew older and began to help planters start their churches, I realized I could have greater impact raising up multiple leaders who would plant more churches than I could ever do alone. Not all of us are gifted or called to be Driscolls, Warrens, or Coles, but every single pastor can raise up other young men and women. As a matter of fact, one of the chief roles and responsibilites of every pastor is that of raising up leaders--not just for their church but for the broader church as well.

Which is greater, to plant a single church or to plant multiple churches out of your church?

I once heard that our Chinese brothers express it this way...

It is good for a Christian to lead someone to Christ,
It is better to plant a church,
It is best to lead others to plant churches.

If we are ever going to see genuine church planting movements, we have to get away from wanting to be center stage. Instead of ministry being about us, or what we do; how do we encourage that vast army of ordinary believers to step out in faith into the ripe and ready fields of harvest?

Question: how long does it take to get from 0-1000 member church? Unless extraordinarily gifted like those mentioned above, most of us would dedicate a lifetime to reaching that goal. The largest Baptist Church in Ecuador Iglesia Cristiana Evangélica Bautista Israel took 30 years to reach a thousand members. But in only the past five years has more than doubled in size. How? Not by fancier facilities, slicker services, or better sermons...but by empowering, equipping and encouraging ordinary "lay leaders" to go out and plant more than a dozen community churches. These "daughter churches" each average close to 100 people. I love their motto: "one church; many communities."

A couple of months ago, a dozen men and women signed up for church planting training here in Guayaquil. After Eight weeks, more than 100 new believers (and soon-to-be-believers) meet together weekly in at least seven newly planted house churches.

I wonder, how long would it have taken me to plant a church of 100? Working full time, with several others helping, and access to money and outside resources, probably a couple of years. Yet, by investing a few hours over the past eight weeks with a dozen people, we already see greater results.

I totally agree with Bob Roberts statements above. Most would rather be one of those household names known for having a successful ministry. But how differently things might be in the Kingdom if Ephesians 4 APEPT were about perfecting/equipping the saints for the work, instead of being the primary ones doing the work?

What do you think? Your thoughts and comments are welcomed!

Teaching old dogs new tricks

Most of us operate out of the factory default mode. We seem to be wired this way regardless of all the books we have read, or conferences and trainings we might have attended. We act marginally, at best, on the ideas generated from all the information shared with us. All this information, as interesting or helpful as it may be, usually has little bearing on what is actually put into practice and applied. It is indeed quite a task to teach old dogs new tricks. And yet a huge chunk of my time seems to be spent attempting to do just that!

Proverbs 22:6 says, "Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it." The key is training early on; not when people are set in their ways. This certainly applies to the way we do missions, make disciples, and be church.

It amazes me how much effort and money is spent on meetings and sending people like myself to conferences. I certainly enjoy these opportunities, but do all the talks, speeches and handouts ever really impact much of what actually gets implemented once we get back home?

I literally have shelves and filing cabinets full of papers, studies, manuals, documents, and reports that do little than take up precious space. I don't have the heart to toss any of it--most of it really is great material. But what percentage of those thousands of saved pages has any bearing on what we are actually doing? Probably less than 1%!

If teaching old dogs new tricks doesn't work, why do we continue to try and do so anyway? As someone said, it is easier to give birth to a child, than try to raise the dead.

So what am I getting at?

What I try to practice in my own life is anytime I attend a meeting, event, conference, training, or read a book, I try to grab hold of 1 or 2 ideas. I carry with me a notebook and jot these ideas down. As soon as feasible, I begin testing the ideas by sharing them with fellow co-laborers. When others begin interacting with me, the idea often evolves or morphs into something that we can definitely use.

What has changed in our way of teaching and training church planters is to try and get them to do the same. Grab hold of a few key ideas and run with them, allowing the Holy Spirit to guide in the fleshing out and implementation within the given context.

It is unrealistic to think that people are actually absorbing and learning all the stuff we share with them. Just because something is said doesn't mean it has been learned. Instead of trying to assimulate large quantities of information, I believe it is more profitable to grasp a couple of ideas and implement them, even if it means leaving out a lot of important information we think they are needing to know.

For example, last year I read Neil Cole's "Church 3.0" a great book packed with tons of helpful, practical stuff for anybody involved in church planting. Out of all the interesting information and advise for starting churches, three ideas got starred. It has taken a year of trial and error and revamping for our context, but these are now being implemented along with the corresponding fruit.

1) "Groups of three" (he calls them LTG) as an evangelistic tool for not-yet-believers, and a discipleship tool for believers.
2) "Seven Signs of John" as an evangelistic tool.
3) The natural order of social groupings (in particular, consensual decision making is best done by 3-5 people.)

I don't even remember what it was Neil wrote, but we latched on to these three. A year later they have been integrated into our own church planting ministry. (Read the book if interested in learning more!)

Latching on to a few key ideas and working them out in one's context bears a lot more fruit than a steady stream of new information pouring in daily. Write down ideas as the Spirit brings them to mind. Like cream rising to the top, eventually a few ideas begin to urge us, "do me."

How do you go about teaching old dogs new tricks? What have you learned from your own experiences?

Making disciples that make disciples that make disciples = CPM

The way to get to a 'church planting movement' is focus on what it will take to initiate a 'disciple making movement.'

Our focus is usually trying to get churches to reproduce themselves. The whole CPM thing of 'churches planting churches that plant churches' just hasn't happened in our context.

What we are learning from the Lord is that we need to get back to basics: 'making disciples that make disciples that make disciples.' Church plants will follow if new disciples are making disciples themselves.

Christ didn't charge us with going out and starting churches. Our assigned task is to 'make disciples.' Jesus stated, "I will build my church"--not, 'WE will build his church.'

God is on mission. He invites us to partner with him in bringing about the Kingdom. In this partnership each "party" is responsible for certain things. If we will do our part and 'make disciples', He will certainly do his part and 'build his church'!

There is nothing new about any of this. But for some reason, we busy ourselves with all kinds of activities other than the clear cut commands and instructions of Christ to go, make disciples, baptize, and teach the new believers to be Christ followers who reproduce themselves into other new disciples.

One of the more helpful and practical books on discipleship and church planting is Neil Cole's Organic Church. On page 98 he writes...

Trying to multiply churches is starting at the wrong place...We must go further down microscopically, to the smallest unit of Kingdom life if we want to start the multiplication process...The way to see a true church multiplication movement is to multiply healthy disciples, then leaders, then churches, and finally movements--in that order.

As passionate as I am about church planting, I found it perplexing that the Bible never instructs us to start churches...we are not to start churches, but instead to make disciples who make disciples. that is actually the way churches are started...Jesus gave us instruction that is one the molecular level of Kingdom life, for a very good reason: it works. Trying to multiply large, highly complex organisms without multiplying on the micro level is impossible.

Our focus must be on getting back to multiplying healthy reproducing disciples. Trying to get churches to multiply who are filled with non-reproducing believers is futile. Until we get back to basics of being disciples, and multiplying ourselves in others, there is little chance of ever seeing a CPM in our midst.

The 'Curse of Knowledge'

Chip and Dan Heath argue in Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and 0thers Die, that the great cruelty of the Curse of Knowledge is this:

The better we get at generating great ideas—new insights and novel solutions—in our field of expertise, the more unnatural it becomes for us to communicate those ideas clearly.

The “Curse of Knowledge” is best illustrated by a psychology experiment conducted in 1990 by a Ph.D. candidate named Elizabeth Newton. She designed a simple game in which she assigned her subjects to one of two roles: “tappers” or “listeners.” Tappers received a list of 25 well-known songs, such as “Happy Birthday to You” and “The Star-Spangled Banner.” Each tapper was asked to pick a song and tap out the rhythm to a listener (by knocking on a table). The listener’s job was to guess the song based on the rhythm being tapped.

The listener’s job in this game is quite difficult. During the course of the experiment, 120 songs were tapped out. Listeners guessed only 3 songs correctly out of 120, a success ratio of 2.5%.

But here’s what made the result worthy of a dissertation in psychology.

Before the listeners guessed the name of the song, the tappers were asked to make a prediction: What’s the probability that the listeners will guess the right song? The tappers predicted that the probability was 50%. The tappers communicated successfully 1 time in 40, but they thought they were communicating successfully 1 time in 2.

Why?

When a tapper taps, she is hearing the song in her head. It is impossible for the tappers to avoid hearing the tune playing along to their taps. Meanwhile, the listeners can’t hear that tune—all they can hear are a bunch of disconnected taps. In the experiment, tappers are flabbergasted at how hard the listeners seem to be working to pick up the tune. Isn’t the song obvious? The tappers’ expressions, when a listener guesses “Happy Birthday to You” for “The Star-Spangled Banner,” are priceless. How could you be so stupid?

It’s hard to be a tapper. The problem is that tappers have been given knowledge (the song title) that makes it impossible for them to imagine what it is like to lack that knowledge. When they are tapping, they can’t imagine what it is like for the listeners to hear isolated taps rather than a song.

This is the Curse of Knowledge.

Once we know something, we find it hard to imagine what it was like not to know it. Our knowledge has “cursed” us. And it becomes difficult for us to share our knowledge with others, because we can’t readily re-create the state of mind of our listeners.

The question then becomes, how do we avoid the curse of knowledge? How do we move beyond knowledge and communicate with those around us the ideas so that they too "get it"? What are your thoughts? How do you personally go about overcoming the 'curse of knowledge'?

My 'Top Ten' favorite books for 2010

Here's my list of favorite reads for 2010. They aren't in any particular order, but all are 5-Star, must-read books. If you force me to choose the best of the ten (and please do not ask me to do so!) I would have to go with the first three titles. But truly each book below is well worth the time it takes to read.

Radical: Taking Back Your Faith from the American Dream by David Platt was probably the most challenging read of the year for me personally. Click here for a video promo that gives an excellent overview of what this challenging book is about. If you can watch this video and not feel convicted, you are way too immersed in the American Dream!

Church 3.0: Upgrades for the Future of the Church by Neil Cole. Very helpful and practical stuff for anyone involved in organic church planting. To view a short video by Neil about the book click here. This title is an excellent follow-up to Cole's classic "Organic Church Planting."

Heaven by Randy Alcorn. For years I'd heard references to this book but had somehow not gotten around to reading Alcorn's comprehensive study on the subject of Heaven. This book recharged my spiritual batteries like few others have done.

A Million Miles in a Thousand Years by Donald Miller. After loving his Blue Like Jazz I was eager to read more from this unique writer. This title and the next below, "Through Painted Deserts" were both gems. Check out this video review to see if you too might be drawn in to reading this great book.

Through Painted Deserts by Donald Miller is a book that the author describes as "...the beginning of a long trail of walking away from home, from religion and from an American version of Christianity."

Battlefield of the Mind by Joyce Meyer. Whether you agree or not with Joyce Meyer's teachings, I personally found this to be an honest and helpful read. The biggest battles we fight are in our minds and Joyce helps with many practical and Biblical helps.

No Graven Image by Elisabeth Elliot. My own review of this novel that engages the graven images we conjure in our minds about God can be read here.

Sheet Music: Uncovering the Secrets of Sexual Intimacy in Marriage by Kevin Leman. This book is about what the title says it is about, and in vivid detail!

Nobody can tell a story better than Jeffrey Archer. Few things in life bring me as much pleasure as sitting down with anything this man writes. And Thereby Hangs a Tale is his latest and sixth collection of short stories. Each is a gem with ten of the fifteen stories based on true events.

I have read many books over the years about prayer, but Philip Yancey's Prayer: Does It Make Any Difference? is one of the best on the subject that I have ever read. In typical Yancey fashion he gets into the tough questions and doesn't try to sugar-coat the answers. If you struggle with your prayer life, this is a great place to find some help. Check out this video if still wondering whether this book is for you.

I still have a pile of books on hand acquired in 2010 that I have yet to get around to reading. I know several of these titles should be on this year's list, but until I actually read them, will have to wait before appearing on any lists!

What are were some of your favorite titles of books read in 2010? Please share in the comments below some of the more meaningful books you read last year.

No Graven Image

Years ago, I read Elisabeth Elliot's only published work of fiction, No Graven Image. A novel with some hard things to say about missionary motives and the way we measure ministry success. I can see now why the book was never a Best Seller.  In fact, as I recall, it was not received well when first published in 1966--especially amongst the, then, large missionary population here in Ecuador. The reason? We prefer to hear inspirational missionary success stories and not the real day-after-day plodding of mostly unfruitful labor.

Last week, I reread this no-nonsense fictional missionary story taking place in Ecuador less than a four-hour drive from where I sit typing. "No Graven Image" is an unusual missionary story in that it is NOT an inspirational read.  Blogger Loraena describes the novel as, "a book about submission to God's sovereign hand, even when life doesn't happen the way we expect." Her own excellent review can be read here.

Margaret Sparhawk is the fictional missionary working amongst the highland Quichua of Ecuador. As she settles in to her long-prepared for ministry, Margaret shares common struggles many missionaries encounter in their day-to-day life...

It was surprising how many days I managed to spend getting settled. It seemed that each day was full of little things that could not wait. I could not begin my work until my living routine was established and my house in order, and although I awoke each morning with the thought of going to visit Indian homes, each evening came before the thing was done. During the day I felt triumphant to see the time passing in useful ways, conscious that I was not sitting down and wasting time, but when evening came and I took stock of the day's accomplishments I felt guilty to see that no breach had yet been made in heathenism. Hudson Taylor had made an impact on China, Mary Slessor on Calabar, John Paton on the South Sea Islands, David Livingstone on darkest Africa. Just exactly how had they begun? It was strange to find the actual daily doing of missionary work so unspecific, so lacking in direction. "Margaret Sparhawk is working among mountain Quichuas." I could not get away from the image I knew I had projected at home, but here was the other side of the coin. "Working." What does she do? Missionaries wrote of "doing" visitation, of "reaching" people, of "witnessing." I did not need to read any more missionary books, prayer letters, or progress reports in magazines to learn the terminology. I needed to find out what was really basic in the operation..." p.58-59

No Graven Image is, of course, referencing the 2nd Commandment in Exodus 20:4-5,

"Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me..."

Strange as it may seem, this passage isn't alluded to at all in the book. As Loraena's own review explains,

Unexpectedly, the graven images in this story are the ones that exist in the heart of the Christian, not the pagan. The book's message is this: as Christians, we engrave in our minds, images of what we think it means to serve God - a picture of ourselves doing a good thing - and that is idolatry. We need God's grace to help us see ourselves as we truly are and worship the God who calls us. As Margaret says in the book, The Indians had become people to me - the were no longer my "field". While I had once declared them to be my equals, I now regarded myself as theirs. Instead of saying, "Oh, you are as good as I - let me help you," I now said, "I am as poor as you. God help us all."

Though we openly acknowledge this commandment, we continue to fashion God in our own image. We know what He should be doing, how He should do it, when things should begin to happen, and even presume Him to fit into our theological "God boxes."  When He doesn't, then we have a way of explaining things in such a way so that He does fit our graven images of Him.

This in a nutshell is Elisabeth Elliot's point for missionaries laboring away in the "fields of the Lord"...God is God. He will not be conformed to any of our expectations. He is the Potter; we the clay. The clay doesn't tell the Potter what He should or should not do. God will be glorified with, or without us. He is Sovereign. He does not need our permission to act, or have to explain himself to us.

While a bit harsh for those of us who might be tempted to think we are "sacrificing our all for Jesus" it is nonetheless a needed wake-up call. I often find myself confused with God. After all, I am doing my part, shouldn't He be doing His?

I strongly recommend this book to anyone who is out there "serving the Lord" and especially to my missionary colleagues. Somewhere along the way, we have all grown accustomed to hearing only the inspirational and successful missions stories. A lot more goes on in real life than what gets printed and told by the media. "No Graven Image" is the other side of missions rarely told.

Do it anyway

A while back our family read aloud in family devotions, Kent Keith's Do It Anyway. For many years now these ten paradoxical commandments have impacted people all over the world.

The Paradoxical Commandments
by Dr. Kent M. Keith

1. People are illogical, unreasonable, and self-centered. Love them anyway.

2. If you do good, people will accuse you of selfish ulterior motives. Do good anyway.

3. If you are successful, you will win false friends and true enemies. Succeed anyway.

4. The good you do today will be forgotten tomorrow. Do good anyway.

5. Honesty and frankness make you vulnerable. Be honest and frank anyway.

6. The biggest men and women with the biggest ideas can be shot down by the smallest men and women with the smallest minds. Think big anyway.

7. People favor underdogs but follow only top dogs. Fight for a few underdogs anyway.

8. What you spend years building may be destroyed overnight. Build it anyway.

9. People really need help but may attack you if you do help them. Help people anyway.

10. Give the world the best you have and you'll get kicked in the teeth. Give the world the best you have anyway.

© Copyright Kent M. Keith 1968, renewed 2001

Locksmith or fireman: Understanding the primary missonary task

A few weeks ago I blogged Is there still a need for missionaries in the major cities of Latin America? Esteban, a fellow missionary commenting on the post contends, "Mobilization and connecting may be a part of that task but they are NOT the primary M task...Biblically the M task is the zero to one stuff of entering new communities, making new disciples and starting new NT groups where previously there were very few or no believers or NT groups."

He goes on to quote Ralph D. Winter who likens the missionary task to that of a locksmith, "Here is one way to look at it: Anyone can open a door and walk through it, but only a locksmith can deal with a locked door. Missions is "locksmithing" new groups. Once the lock is open (a very special skill), expanding the number of churches is by comparison a relatively simple task." (p.5 of the November-December 2002 issue of Missions Frontiers.)

So, is the primary task of missionaries today to "locksmith" new groups?

A few days prior to this post, Ron, a visiting missionary from Guatemala, helped us in a camp for missions mobilizers and described the missionary task/role this way,

"If there is a big fire needing to be put out, is it the wisest thing for the fireman to try to put it out himself, or would he be more effective to awaken 100 other firemen to come help him?"

For Ron, the missionary is primarily a fireman who awakens other firemen, who by working together, are better able to put out the fire than the fireman trying to do so by himself.

Both analogies are true and illustrate some of the tension going on in missionary circles these days about the evolving role of the 21st century missionary. Today missionaries are as likely to be referred to as either a mobilizer or a connector, as they are a church planter.

If the missionary task has evolved into something akin to "locksmithing new groups" and firemen awakening other firemen to put out the fire, then who is it that is supposed to actually carry out the task of making disciples of the nations?

The Church.

All of us have been charged with the responsibility of making disciples of the nations. It is no longer the responsibility of a few called, special, chosen, gifted, self-denying individuals traditionally known as missionaries.

Locksmiths and firemen are both needed. Each are but part of "the church." While these are certainly highly specialized giftings (callings) they were never meant to be the sole workers in the harvest. If we are to reach the world with the Good News of Jesus, all of us will have to do a lot more than what is currently being done by the church today.

As David Platt says in his must-read book entitled, Radical

"Every saved person this side of heaven owes the gospel to every lost person this side of hell. We owe Christ to the world...We are in debt to the nations. Encompassed with this debt, though, in our contemporary approach to missions, we have subtly taken ourselves out from under the weight of a lost and dying world, wrung our hands in pious concern, and said, "I'm sorry I'm just not called to that"...But what if we don't need to sit back and wait for a call to foreign missions? What if the very reason we have breath is because we have been saved for a global mission? And what if anything less than passionate involvement in global mission is actually selling God short by frustrating the very purpose for which he created us?"

I am encouraged to see so many signs that the global Church of Jesus Christ is awakening to her Acts 1:8 calling and role to take the Gospel not only to our Jerusalems, but to our Judeas, Samarias, and yes, ends of the earth. This is indeed an exciting time to be a missionary locksmith, fireman, mobilizer, connector...whatever you want to call us!