Reports on the 2009 Antioch Gathering

There is a growing number of reports of what took place in the October 2009 "Gathering in Antioch."

What follows is a list of those I have run across. If you are aware of others, please include these in the comments so that I might add them to the list.

The Antioch Gathering 2009 by Tall Skinny Kiwi, "The Antioch Gathering last week was one of the most important mission/church event of 2009. It was probably also the least blogged and least photographed church event this year."

Antioch 2009 good summary by Wolfgang and Mercy Simson, "Rather than focusing on strategy issues (facts, numbers, methods) many of us felt God wanted to call together a token group of people in order to share what is on his heart at this decisive hour in the history of Missions."

Antioch-Part 1 and Antioch-Part 2 personal reflections by Linda Muse, "I have a purpose to fulfill in Ecuador and I needed to be there to learn what that was."

Linda's personal photos and descriptions of the gathering can be seen here. Many more were taken of new friends, but for security reasons cannot be viewed publicly.

The Antioch Gathering (Part 1) and The Antioch Gathering (Part 2) report and reflections by Guy Muse, "The gathering was like no other meeting Linda and I ever attended. There was no set schedule, no assigned speakers, no morning devotionals, no singing, and no hot water!"

The Legacy of Antioch by John Piper (though he wasn't there, it is an enlightening article about the Antioch model of church and missions), "The Legacy of Antioch is that it was a mission church that became a sending church through the partnership of Barnabas and Saul, who in the end were sent out by the church to which they were sent."

Antioch 2009: Going back to where it all began by Mike and Leslie,"What we learned from the experience: WAIT AND LISTEN! It is of utmost importance for us to humble ourselves, lay down our organizational agendas and personal kingdom-building, and just listen to God."

Lessons from Antioch by Linda Muse, "If I learned anything at all this week, it was that I am first, and foremost, a citizen of God's Kingdom. I needed to put down my flag and take up the Banner of the Kingdom. I could no longer allow the flag to compete with the kingdom."

Turkey photos taken by Curtis Sergeant in and around the site where we gathered (really awesome pictures!)

Curtis also shares thoughts on various subjects arising out of our time together in Antioch: Parable for the Institutional Church/Missions Effort?, A New Kind of Disciple, The Bible Channel, Travel Back Through Time, and Central Asia, "God reshaped missions here nearly two thousand years ago. I am gathered here with about 70 people to hear from the Lord together about what He might be saying to us in these days about reshaping missions yet again. It seems to be a particularly fitting place to hear from Him about it, given the significant history here."

Why Denominations Cannot Complete the Great Commission

By David Watson
Irving, Texas
September 10,2009

First of all, I am not anti-denominational. I spent more than 15 years as a denominational employee and 10 years in various denominational church staff roles, and have been a member of the same denomination’s churches for 50 years. So, please reserve your judgments until you finish reading this article.

What distinguishes a denomination or denomination-like church is the insistence that all related churches and any churches they start adhere to a particular and peculiar perspective and associated practices related to the Bible, as well as their particular church history. All denominational churches are Bible-based and history-based. They may require a strict or loose adherence to their doctrine and/or practices. Their doctrine, however, is at best a subset of what Scripture has to say, and at worst contain extra-Biblical teachings and practices based on their church history. All worship styles, leadership styles, and governance styles are mostly extra-Biblical, even though all denominations will claim a Biblical background for their practices.

All denominations and denomination-like churches exclude or minimize certain passages in the Bible and highlight other passages that support their views. They will often play the “interpretation” game when challenged with passages from the Bible that do not support their doctrine, or they may even redefine those passages as “spurious” or not really Scripture, or not relevant today.

In almost all cases denominations and denominational-like churches will raise their historical extra-Biblical beliefs and church practices to the level of Scripture. Some denominations openly embrace this practice. Others deny it, but in practice affirm it. I’ll let you look at your own denomination and determine where your beliefs and practices are in light of the whole counsel of Scripture. (Hint: Look at the doctrines and/or practices on which you are unwilling to compromise or look at the doctrines and/or practices for which you criticize others.)

And herein lays the problem.

When we look at the attendance records of any given denomination, even in state church countries, we find that a small percentage of the population even attend any particular church. In most cases this number is only 2 to 5 percent, even in countries with state churches. Everyone who wants to go to a particular church is already attending. Everyone else knows something about that church and chooses not to attend and not to be a part of organized and religious Christianity.

So, no matter what denominational stance is comfortable to you, it will only appeal to about 5% of the population, at most. And everyone who is interested is already a member, most of whom only attend on special occasions.

So, what makes us think that any one denomination or even all denominations working for the Great Commission can succeed in reaching the world for Christ? We have had 1600 years of denominational Christianity, and best case numbers of those who call themselves Christian put us roughly at 1/6th of the world’s population. And we know that only about 20% of so-called Christians ever participate in any kind of church on a regular basis.

If we keep doing what we have always done, we will keep getting the same results. Denominational approaches to the Great Commission have not succeeded in 1600 years or the 492 years since the Protestant Reformation that began in 1517. The reality is that Christianity does not have a good name in most of the world. We have made Christ like us, which is the vilest form of idolatry, instead of becoming like Christ. What makes us think that anyone wants our religion? They have seen it at work, and have rejected it. And the heart of Christian religion is denominationalism.

Another barrier that results from denominationalism is that leaders must go through extensive educational and indoctrinational processes before they are qualified to lead. This bottleneck precludes any hope of completing the Great Commission before another generation dies. All the seminaries, theological schools and Bible schools combined cannot produce enough leaders to finish the task. The denominational education and indoctrination processes make it impossible to fulfill the Great Commission. We have come a long way from First Century illiterate fishermen entering new people groups, nations, and cities and starting a church within months and then moving on. With the loss of simplicity we lost the ability to replicate leaders quickly and move through people groups efficiently. By over training and over managing new believers we stop the process of replication that could reach a nation and a world.

Jesus left eleven men, some of whom doubted, standing on a hilltop. Some were illiterate. Others were rebels. All would be considered ill prepared to fulfill the task Christ gave to them and the Church. If Christ deemed these eleven-very-marginal-leaders fit enough to carry forward the Great Commission, perhaps we need to rethink what we are doing.

CPM is about doing what was done in the First Century. Give the Gospel to a people and teach them to obey it. See them become faithful Disciples of Christ. Leave them to struggle in obeying the Word of God in their own context and history, developing their own unique practices for worship, leadership, and governance within the confines of Biblical obedience.

When denominations forget their differences and get back to planting the Gospel instead of their doctrines, we may have a chance to complete the Great Commission. When we turn to making Disciples of Christ instead of converts for our denominations, we may have a chance to complete the Great Commission. Until then we will be doomed to repeat the mistakes of our forefathers. I prefer to learn from mistakes, not repeat them.

When denominations and denominational-like churches begin to plant the Gospel, make obedient Disciples of Christ, and forget their own pet doctrines and practices, we will see the Great Commission fulfilled in a generation. When denominations and denomination-like churches do this, they will see their own denominations grow as never before, because they will become relevant to the people as they serve them in obedience to the Word of God.

In the mean time, I will keep working with lost who want to know the Creator, and help them to become obedient Disciples of Christ who will take seriously the planting of the Gospel, the making of Disciples, and the salvation of a generation.

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What are your thoughts about what David says above? To me they have huge implications on the current way we work, relate, partner, and minister.

Dying to self

In my previous post, Our changing roles, Shelly from la bella veritá commented from a recent John MacArthur Bible study what dying to self entails. For me, this is a timely and needed word. I share with you what she sent...

Dying to self is...

-When you are not forgiven or you're neglected or purposely set aside and you hurt with the insult or oversight, but your heart is happy and you're content to be counted worthy to suffer for Christ- that's dying to self.

-When your good is evil spoken of; when your wishes are crossed, your advice is disregarded, your opinions are ridiculed, and you refuse to let anger arise in your heart or even defend yourself but take it all in patient loyal silence- that's dying to self.

-When you lovingly and patiently bear any disorder, any irregularity, or any annoyance; when you can stand face to face with foolishness, extravagance, spiritual insensitivity, and endure it as Jesus endured it- that's dying to self.

-When you see another brother prosper and see his needs being met and can honestly rejoice with him in spirit and feel no envy nor even question God while your needs are far greater and in desperate circumstances- that's dying to self.

-When you can receive correction and reproof from one of less stature than yourself and can humbly submit inwardly as well as outwardly, finding no rebellion or resentment rising up in your heart--that's dying to self.

-When you never care to refer to yourself or record your own good works or seek commendation; when you can truly love to be unknown- that's dying to self.

Truly loving to be unknown...faithfully serving so that others may prosper and draw closer to Jesus. Accepting any and all tasks, regardless of where that leaves you.

Our changing roles

My wife and I arrived in Guayaquil, Ecuador as missionaries in December of 1987. In those early missionary days we labored at the center of where "the action" was taking place. We were in high demand by the churches, associations, and Ecuador Baptist Convention and all their related institutions and programs. A lot of our time was spent attending all the different meetings of both our own denominational work, as well as the events and programs of other evangelical denominations. I served on various denominational boards, committees, and task forces. Our advise and opinions were respected and listened to. We were constantly called upon to preach, teach, administer, counsel, train, and coordinate ministries, institutions, and strategy. Each of us wore multiple ministerial hats. All of us were responsible for carrying out an assortment of assignments, often in areas we were not particularly gifted in, but "someone" had to fill those shoes, so we took on these tasks as well. Our phone rang incessantly. Rare were the days when we had an entire evening to ourselves without someone in our home, someone dropping by to chat, or the phone ringing day and night.

Over the years, all of the above has continued to decrease to, what is today, a mere trickle of what it was 20 years ago. Has the work diminished? Not at all. In fact far more is happening now on multiple levels than anyone could have ever imagined. But our personal influence and role has definitely diminished from what it once was. Probably to be fair, a better description would be our influence and role has changed. While we are certainly still loved and respected by our Ecuadorian brethren, the things we used to do--as "principal actors on stage"--are now being done by those we poured ourselves into years ago. The very men/women/youth we taught, counseled, trained, and encouraged have taken our place. They are the ones now that others call upon, serve in "important" capacities, speak, teach, train, travel, lead, preach, etc.

One of the hardest missions lessons is the one John the Baptist must have also struggled with: "He must increase; but I must decrease." Someone once defined missionary success as working oneself out of a job.

But actually saying these words is a lot easier than living with the consequences of someone else now doing and filling the roles one used to have. We too want to be needed, sought after, consulted, and called upon. In fact, instead of the phone ringing in the evenings with yet another crisis for us to solve, we now can sit most nights quietly reading a book without interruption.

As I reflect back over the years of all the assignments, responsibilities, tasks, and roles we have played; ALL, without exception, are today in the hands of nationals who are doing an excellent job--including our current assignment of leading a church planting team.

So what are we still doing here if we have successfully worked ourselves out of all our jobs?

The task is far from completed. With only 5-7% of the population in Ecuador followers of Christ, much remains to see the Great Commission fulfilled in our region of the world.

What I sense is most needed is not more missionaries coming from other parts of the world to help us, but rather a needed shift in role we missionaries play.

We must begin to see ourselves more in the apostolic role of encouragers, enablers, equippers, trainers, motivators, connectors, and coordinators who are principally engaged in mobilizing God's people into the ripe harvest fields He has prepared over the past decades.

While there will always be room for the first generation apostolic church planter who goes into unreached/under-reached territory to proclaim the Gospel, make disciples, and leave a NT ekklesia; in the later stages of a ripe harvest field (like Ecuador) we best serve the King by shifting our tasks to helping the church see what remains to be done, how to accomplish the task, provide tools and training, and mobilize to lead hundreds of laborers to bring in the harvest the Lord has given.

Another way of understanding this role change is to explain it this way: I can feel great about spending 30-40 hours a week directly engaged in proclaiming the Gospel, making disciples, baptizing 15-20 and hopefully planting 1-2 churches in a year's time...or, I can spend that same time modeling, training, mobilizing several hundred others to do the same things, and at the end of the year see the Kingdom grow by dozens of churches and hundreds of baptisms and scores of new disciples also equipped to going out and making even more disciples.

In the first role we are the primary actors on stage. Everyone sees us, needs us, and looks to us for direction. In the second we are behind the scenes and the ones "seen" are those we are coaching. The difference in the way we understand our apostolic/missionary role is between planting a church, and being an instrument in the Spirit's hands for dozens of churches to be planted all over the region.

What do you think? As usual, your thoughts and observations are welcome.

Rad Zdero's 'Top Ten' reasons for planting house churches

Rad Zdero's top ten reasons for starting house churches...

1. Biblical – This was the normative New Testament pattern established by Jesus and the apostles and perpetuated by the early church of the first three centuries and in subsequent renewal, reform and revival movements throughout history. (Acts 2:46, 5:42, 20:20)

2. Exponential - To reach a growing world, we need to multiply, not just add. Current house church movements worldwide are outstripping more traditional church planting and church growth efforts.

3. Effective – The most effective method of evangelism is not growing existing churches, but planting new ones. House churches are the most easily reproducible form of church, and hence, are the most obvious choice for church planting.

4. Natural – House churches become part of the local community and easily tap into relationship connections, thereby more readily taking on an indigenous flavour.

5. People-Focused – They focus on relationships and the development of people spiritually, not on executing programs or projects.

6. Efficient – They are more mobile, flexible, and adaptable than conventional churches, especially in areas characterized by persecution and poverty.

7. Equal Opportunity – Because of their small, intimate and participatory nature, all believers have the opportunity to exercise their spiritual gifts during church meetings, and not just professional clergy or key leaders.

8. Unbounded – They are not limited by church buildings. Whatever use buildings may or may not have, history shows that they are not necessary for rapid church planting movements to start; in fact, they may be a hindrance. Although church buildings are not evil by any means, nor are homes in any way magical, the practical release of time, energy and money away from building maintenance, and into evangelism and discipleship, should cause us to rethink current practices.

9. Inexpensive – They are less expensive than traditional church, because no expensive buildings, programs, or professional clergy are required.

10. Immediate – It can start now, right in your living room. There is no need to wait for a gym to be rented or for a building program to be completed to begin a new church or for a full-time pastor to be hired.

This 'sect of the devil' known as Baptists

This past weekend the Ecuador Baptist Convention met in Cañar, Ecuador for their annual meeting. With dozens of churches represented from all over the country, few present likely realized just how significant this meeting in this place actually was.

I don´t remember exactly the year, but back in the early 70´s Cañar and the surrounding area was a stronghold against the Gospel. There were no known believers living in the region at the time.

As a fifteen or sixteen year old teen, I accompanied my dad and another missionary from Cuenca in what was to be the first known effort to attempt to reach this county seat city with the Gospel.

My dad had a large circus tent which he set up just outside of the city. During the day we would go through the streets and with a loud speaker attached to the car roof, announce the evening meetings.

People would throw at our passing car whatever handy pieces of garbage they could find. By their shouts and insults it was quite clear we were not welcome in Cañar.

The local priest handed out pamphlets all over town warning his parishioners of this 'sect of the Devil known as Baptists'. Any one caught attending the meetings would be excommunicated. It seemed to me like a hopeless venture to even attempt to have any kind of meetings in Cañar.

However, back in that period of time there was little to do in the cold Andean evenings. My dad's strategy was simple:

--Bright lights at the tent site, accompanied by loud speakers blaring lively Latin American Gospel songs to attract people inside the tent. Inevitably the tent's presence attracted a host of popcorn, cigarette and candy vendors, along with other local fast food delicacies roasting over charcoal fires around the perimeter of the tent!

--The meetings usually began with 3-4 short Gospel choruses. It was my job to stand on the makeshift stage and play my electric guitar for the out-of-tune congregational singing. I was always glad when that part was over.

--The main attraction, though, was when the lights were turned down, and the 16 mm evangelistic "Life of Christ" films where shown.

The desire to view these films, with Jesus speaking Spanish, proved to be more enticing than their fear of being excommunicated! Every evening as the sun set, people would quietly slip in under the cover of dark and take a seat to watch the miracles of Christ, hear Jesus' words, and see Him die on the cross, rise from the grave, and ascend to Heaven.

--After the film, the bright lights were again turned on, and before people could begin a mass exit, a short 10-minute Gospel message and invitation was shared by my dad or the other missionary.

I remember, night after night, the tent would fill to watch the evening's film. Most even stayed around to listen to the short Evangelistic message. But fear of the consequences of taking a stand for Christ, was like asking someone to turn their backs on hundreds of years of tradition, their family, their religion, their identity as Cañaris.

NO ONE in Cañar came forward during any of the invitations to give their lives to Christ.

After many evenings of meetings, the final night arrived. Once again the songs were sung, the film was shown, the message was preached, and the invitation given.

As long as I live, I will never forget what happened next. Almost as if preplanned, a group of about a dozen Cañaris men locked arms in a long human chain, and together came forward as a group. Through a designated spokesperson they announced they were giving their lives to Jesus Christ!

That dark, cold, windy night the light came to Cañar and the rest is history.

This past weekend I wondered how many Baptists in attendance at the annual meeting of the Ecuador Baptist Convention were probably aware of all the history that has taken place in and around Cañar and Tambo over the past 40 years. I was there at the birth of the church in Cañar. It is something I will never forget.

The Trip

This past month, October 2-20, Linda and I made a trip to Spain and Turkey. The main reason was to attend the Antioch Gathering Part 1, and Part 2 as blogged on previously.

But there was a lot more to the trip than described in these two posts. Since my wife Linda has already done a good job in describing the trip on her blog A Foreign Life, I will refer to her posts and photos to look through according to your interest.


Madrid where we spent a short two days with our friends the Dixons. Our Madrid photos can be seen here.


Sunday afternoon, Susie dropped us off at the bus stop in Madrid and we went by land to the Granada portion of our trip to visit with our friends the Irwins. Besides the joy of seeing them again, we were able to fill a life time dream of seeing Alhambra. As for all our Granada pics, click here.


From Granada we flew to Barcelona where we stayed with our good friend Chachi from Guayaquil who recently married a Catalán and currently lives just outside of Barcelona with daughter Andrea and husband. See photos here.


After too short of a time in Barcelona we flew back to Madrid and boarded a Turkish Air flight to Antakya (Antioch) in far eastern Turkey. Here we spent seven incredible days. You can read Linda's account of them here and here. Our photos of this time can be viewed here. After viewing our photos, you might also enjoy these superb photos taken by a fellow participant in the gathering.


From Antioch we returned to Istanbul where we were able to see our friends Pete and Allison and their kids, and take in a few of the "must see" sights in this amazing and ancient city.

As you view all of Linda's photos, there are good descriptions which will help to describe the trip and a taste of what we experienced.

Thanks for reading and viewing! Any comments, questions, etc. are welcome.

How to get our churches interested again in missions

I think Richard Ross is onto something in the article he writes below for Baptist Press...

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FIRST-PERSON: The path to a missions resurgence
By Richard Ross

FORT WORTH, Texas (BP)--Real men eat rare steaks cut from the grizzly bear they killed with a hunting knife. And, they think the only real sports are those that routinely result in crushed vertebra and ripped ACLs. Real men played football in high school and now they think that is the only sport that matters. They are certain that kicking a soccer ball into a net is a sissy sport, not worthy of their TV time.

But all of that begins to change when the real man's son shows an interest in soccer. It doesn't take long before he starts telling the guys at coffee break about the new soccer trophy sitting on his mantle. Suddenly the dad finds himself online, learning all the intricacies of the player positions and strategies. When his son makes the traveling team, the dad cancels important meetings to help the coach on the trip. And without blinking an eye he pays $500 for a summer soccer camp that will give his son a leg up on the other players.

Why would a real man give this much attention to sport he doesn't like? Because it is important to his daughter or son. And why would a parent who has dozed through years of missions challenges suddenly become vitally interested? The answer is the same -- because it has become important to a son or daughter.

I dream of a day when God's people will call out and send out almost all students to spend a summer, semester, or year in front-line missions, within a year or so of high school graduation.

God seems to be orchestrating a cultural shift to make this practical. An increasing number of secular and Christian universities are granting admission to recent high school graduates but not requiring them to register for classes for one year. They use the term "GAP year" to describe this period where students are allowed to do something immersive before beginning university studies.

For Christian students, that could mean going to the hard places internationally, nationally or even locally. Parents will never see missions the same after they get the e-mail that says, "Daddy, I held a baby while she died last night. I cried a long time because this is so needless. If believers just sent a little money, we could dig a water well and the dying would stop." Or, "All the people crowding around our van wanted Bibles. But I ran out before most got one. I do not understand why Christians don't live more simply so they could give more."

For the life of me I do not know why some theologically confused people in Utah would be the only ones to prepare and send out all their sons and daughters on an adventure that will shape their lives.

The Great Commission Task Force and then the Southern Baptist Convention must weave together many elements to achieve a true resurgence in missions. But sending our own children to the front lines can capture the hearts of churches in ways few other things can.

-- Richard Ross is professor of student ministry at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas.