Sunday, December 20, 2015

DMM/CPM: Finding POP's Through the Darkness

Evangelism: lifestyle, ministry and miracles focused on finding a POP and oikos (Reproduce by training others to do this.)

                         (MAWL-Model, Assist, Watch, Love/Letter/Leave)

How He Leads Me through the Darkness: Finding POP's
By Hazel Heights


Longing to be found
I knew nothing. I was just beginning to speak Urdu. I didn't know how to dress, where to shop, or the value of the local currency in my wallet. Out on the streets it was just a “man's world.” They all ran businesses and stood on crowded sidewalks chatting over chai. Women were only seen coming and going to destinations. 
It was a big accomplishment if I could get another woman to smile at me, let alone find ones hungering for God. I was completely in the dark. I had been trained in DMM but was finding it difficult to implement.
Susana, working her successful chai stand with her husband, was the only one I found to connect with. I must have smiled five times at her before she returned the gift. The street had hardened her, the sun baked her skin and her wrinkles made her look fifteen years older than me, instead of just a few.
Pray and Keep Vigilant Watch
I would pray for Susana before visiting her chai stand: “Would you soften her? Please lead me, give clues you are working in her heart, give me discernment.” It took a while before I could read body language that hinted at someone's character in this culture. Lots of prayer and watching became my new norm. A variety of experiences trained my eyes to see: meals at Susana’s home, visiting her sister, taking a taxi with her family to meet her clan, going to the fall “fair.” Through all this I started to learn. I learned how an honorable woman lives. I also learned to study people. How did they treat others? What conversations indicate softness toward spiritual truth?
 I noticed that Susana always invited me over when she needed a ride to work. She let me pay every time. She thought of ideas that included my paying for things. She became jealous when I spent time with her sister. She stirred up trouble between the families when I was there. God let me glimpse her heart. It wasn't soft toward Him, it was out to get whatever it could to make life “better.”
I consider this one of the most difficult pieces of pursuing DMM: knowing when to move on to search for others whom God is preparing as Persons of Peace, while still loving those with whom we have acquaintance.
How can I give to others what I have not received?
Before you go out to look for People of Peace you need to hunger and receive living bread and water yourself. How can you give to others what you yourself have not received? Pray for your heart to be humble and open to whatever God has for you in this time. Pray for your focus people, that He would be drawing and wooing them to Himself. Ask the Holy Spirit for visual clues of what that Person of Peace might look like. I understand: that idea first struck my Western practical mind as somewhat crazy when I first heard it. But when we ask, God hears and answers. Why not ask for more help in weeding through the people to get to the ones who are searching for him? God knows the limits on your time; He made you with all your limitations. He is present to help.
Walk and Pray
One day I took three local partners prayer walking in the neighborhood behind my house. We spent some time praying beforehand. God showed me the color purple. Shortly into our walk we met Moham. I smiled; she smiled, and then motioned us over to talk to her. She asked what we were doing. I said that God had asked us to come out and pray for people on the street, then I asked if she needed prayer for anything. She said yes, her brother wanted to kick her and her son out on the street and she was worried for her future as a widow. She had no one to protect her. We covered our heads in accordance with the custom in that region, lifted our hands and came to God with her needs. I opened my eyes and realized she was wearing a bright purple salwar kameez! As Jesus said, “Ask and you will receive.” Our next step was to ask her to meet with her household in a Discovery Group so we could learn together God’s heart for each of us.
We need to ask God at each turn which way to go. Take the time to listen to the Spirit’s lead and then follow that lead. God uses our thoughts, interests and instincts to guide us. It is a process to discern how to trust Him in this. The enemy wants to put doubt and insecurity in our hearts that God would lead us so specifically, but we have to learn to rebuke that doubt and have confidence in God's guidance.
We need to constantly remember that God is preparing the hearts of those who want to be found. We go, in the power of the Holy Spirit, living a lifestyle of looking for these POPs in any situation, at any moment, in each encounter with others. Are they interested in spiritual truth? Invite them to discuss spiritual truth with their household or group of friends. These are basic patterns of what it is to look for Persons of Peace, offer the stories of the Prophets from the Old and New Testaments in a Discovery Group.


Bio: Hazel Heights lives with her husband and four children in South Asia where she befriends burka-covered ladies journeying towards Jesus. Leading a team among unreached in South Asia for 3.5 years,  she and her husband have grown in coaching, DMM, teaming, and local language. Currently they equip workers to carry out God’s calling among the unengaged. They focus on self-stewardship, relational wholeness with God and others, and becoming movement catalysts. They long to witness and be a part of how God is redeeming his lost children in South Asia. She can be reached at heightshazel@gmail.com.

Sunday, November 22, 2015

DMM/CPM: Your Kingdom Come




Your Kingdom Come
Extraordinary Prayer and Its Role in Kingdom Advance
by Annie Taylor

“Intercessory prayer is spiritual defiance of what is in the name of what God has promised. Intercession visualizes an alternative future to the one apparently fated by the momentum of current forces. Prayer infuses the air of a time yet to be into the suffocating atmosphere of the present…History belongs to intercessors who believe the future into being.” Walter Wink, in The Powers that Be, p. 185

Pray then like this: “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” Matthew 6:9-10 ESV

Envisioning a God-sized Future and Praying It into Being

What in your life and in this world doesn’t yet align with God’s promises? What alternative future is God giving you to believe into being?

One of my ongoing God-sized dreams is for John 17 unity in the global church. “I [Jesus] in them and you {God the Father] in me, that they [my disciples] may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me” John 17: 23 ESV.

I prayerfully envision a future where all followers of Jesus live God-empowered holy lives, wholly surrendered to Him. A future where multitudes of freed captives abide in Christ and joyfully worship together in Spirit and truth. A world where believers in Christ love one another well, are quick to resolve issues in godly ways, and pray continually. 

As I observe—in myself or others—ways in which this vision is not yet reality, I pray kingdom opposites into being. I pray unity over division, hope over despair, truth over lies, light over darkness, good over evil, life over death, love over fear, and faith over unbelief. I know these things are according to His will and so I pray in faith, believing. By His grace and power, I will continue to pray until the global church is fully unified. “And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us. And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him” 1 John 5:14-15 ESV.

I’ve seen Him move mountains of unforgiveness, shame, fear, depression, hopelessness, and disunity. I’ve watched in awe as He’s healed wounded hearts, restored marriages and resolved “unresolvable” conflicts. He’s answered intercessory prayers in ways that are only possible by His Spirit. He’s moved in power as I and others have simply worshipped. Recently He’s been healing me of scoliosis that I’ve had for over 40 years. So far I’m at least an inch taller. I no longer need a lift in my shoe or a small pillow for my back. In the process He continues to align me with Himself physically, spiritually and emotionally.

An Invitation

“Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you” 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 ESV.

God uses many kinds of prayer in His global advance: listening prayer, intimacy and abiding, worship, thanksgiving, confession, repentance, intercession, wholeness prayer, prayer walking, 24-7 prayer, prayer-shield teams and more.[1]

For the past fifteen years I’ve been most involved in Wholeness Prayer[2]: learning, receiving healing, praying for and training others. I’ve sat in awe as He’s transformed hundreds of lives for His glory. Reproducible approaches for helping laborers walk in emotionally healthy spirituality, is an important piece in becoming the kind of people whom God uses to the launch of movements. The above approach is just one of several in order to address the area of emotional healthiness. This approach has been taught and born great fruit in multiple languages and cultures around the globe, and is easily multipliable. Our goal is to model, assist, watch, and release others into healthy self-care, so that multitudes of former spiritual and emotional captives will be set free. Healthier laborers launch healthier church planting movements. “His Kingdom come. His will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”

What is your part in God’s Kingdom advance? How can you infuse extraordinary prayer into your life? Maybe by using time spent awake at night or praying while waiting for others? By using challenges as a launching pad for envisioning a God-sized reality and praying it into being? By praying Kingdom opposites where needed? By joyful worship? By…

Lord God, please show us the future you’ve called each of us to pray into being and empower us to persevere until these dreams become reality. We look to you. We depend on you. We rejoice in you. “Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, says the Lord of hosts” Zechariah 4:6b ESV. “Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”
Annie Taylor and her husband serve with Beyond www.beyond.org. They have served in Southeast Asia since 1993. In 2001 she began praying with people and seeing God set them free spiritually and emotionally. She launched Freedom for the Captives Ministries (www.freemin.org) in 2004. She has trained hundreds of believers around the globe in Wholeness Prayer and seen God set free hundreds of spiritual and emotional captives. Since 2010 she has been increasingly involved in global intercession. She serves on a multi-organizational global support team that empowers workers involved in church planting multiplication around the world. You can contact Annie at ffcm@emailglobe.net.  




See[1] http://www.ethne.net/prayer/prayer-strategies for more information.
[2]See www.freemin.org. The Simplified Version gives an excellent introduction.

Wednesday, October 28, 2015

CPM/DMM: Vision Casting to the Vision Impaired



Vision:  God’s Glory among your people
            (and reproduce this by vision-casting)

CPMs are God’s work for His Glory. The Holy Spirit is the One who authors and empowers CPMs.
   Know the mind and heart of God, and join in His work of reaching a UPG/city/tribe/nation.
   Share this vision to see co-laborers raised up.
(This is a continual process starting with outsiders and moving to insiders. As the movement grows, the main harvest force will be insiders.)”-Simple Steps[1] CPM/DMM Training

God’s Glory…the compelling story

I was ruined for God’s glory years ago. Jesus had me at, “come and follow Me.” The worthiness, the sheer otherness of the glory of God was cause for life trajectory pause as I considered what it meant to obey the One with whom I was falling in love, Jesus.
The Profundity of the Simplicity of Jesus’ Way
As a college student at Texas Christian University, in the early 1980’s, my future husband and I had been bitten by the profundity of the simplicity of what it is to make reproducing groups of disciples. In my rather myopic life experience of making reproducing disciples in the context of 100 Sorority girls, I saw a glimpse of potential for cascading movements to Christ. Myself and two other members, the only believers at the time, began to pray through the list of names of this campus group. By the time we graduated, 50 of these women had either come to Christ or recommitted to walk with Him, resultantly. We were intentional in extraordinary prayer, we were intent on adoring worship, and we desired to demonstrate as well as declare the goodness of God in the beauty of His good news. We saw generational growth of discipleship groups down to the 4th generation. The little world of that small slice of humanity was turned right side up for God’s glory. We were being discipled by others, as we were making reproducing disciples. That was the norm of what it meant to follow Jesus.  The passages of Matthew 10, Luke 10 were our sustenance: the obedience of following Jesus’ way became the centrifuge of our spiritual DNA. Transformation of individual hearts, lovingly committed to accountability in a group process, released streams of campus influence for the gospel.

My husband had also experienced the similar journey in his spheres of campus influence.

We were imprinted for life with a desire to make disciples who make disciples, who make disciples, in groups.

Disciple Making Movements are not a new idea or trend. The intended Kingdom of God reality of movements to Christ has been glimpsed since the Early Church.
1991
The part we were missing, as we considered heading to the mission field among Muslim UPGs was the piece of seeing these groups become fully adoring, healthy functioning reproducing households of fellowships…being the reproducing Bride together.

The reason for longing for this…God’s glory.
  
Recruits to our sending organization, Beyond, have shared with us that one of the keys which sold them to partner, was the reality that every one of the leaders with whom they have interacted has exhibited this unbridled passion for the glory of God to be demonstrated/declared among the UUPGs/UPGs. To the launch of cascading movements to Christ among these UPGs, the driver must and need be the love and obedience of Christ’ heart to flow out of this vision. Living out of the overflow of personal growing intimacy with Christ is key in this process. To be in Christ, first and foremost, lends one to be fashioned into the type of vessel of whom God is able to bless His name in the process.

“Fulfillment of the Great Commission is primarily a function of relationship that moves in love of God and love for others. To confuse strategy and tactics for the motivation of love is to replace the grace of God with the ambition of the leader and or the drives of organization.” Ray Wheeler

Three questions to consider when desiring to implement CPM/DMM:
1. What do I need to stop doing in order to be engaged in the launch of a Disciple-Making Movement?
2. What do I need to start doing in order to be engaged in the launch of a Disciple-Making Movement?
3. What I need to continue doing in order to be engaged in the launch of a Disciple-Making Movement?



Saturday, July 18, 2015

CPM/DMM; The Bare Bones...A Heart Condition Exposed


The Bare Bones; A Heart Condition Exposed




Broken bones have a way of separating the need for immediacy of relief from the mundane life of the patterned norm.

Bu Ainung writhed in agony. Demonization had been a patterned norm for this long time friend. Fully submitted to Allah, yet, whole-heartedly committed to invoke demonic spirits was the life of Ainung. A calculated, perceived need for power/peace had consumed her.

During one of these demonic attacks, several relatives of the village had attempted to restrain her thrashing body. She screamed, they pinned. A few hours passed. Resultantly, this desire to keep the demonic spirits from destroying her caused the loud snap.

I held the x-ray up to the light. Yes, the doctors, along with the nurses, could not quite comprehend the image.

A gap, 1 ½ inches in width, exposed the consequence of the event. Her collarbone now endured separation from the clavicle.

The bone could not heal easily. The limitation of the medical help in this region is exposed readily, in times like these.

This otherwise feisty Muslim woman, lie listlessly, dependently in a discouraged state.

Ibu Ainung had been the local Islamic teacher for the village children, for many years.
Now, with her bone in helpless state, her heart condition lay exposed as well.

We took the steps to obtain medical help, as we coached the relatives in the process therein.

Physical therapy helps were put in place for the healing of this awkward injury.

During this process, the life of Isa Al Masih, in the healing of the woman with the issue of blood, was one of the stories shared. I offered to pray for healing in His name, alone, while challenging her to stop seeking help from the local witch doctor.

While explaining that Allah does not share His glory with another, I also emphasized the part in their book  (Sura 3:42-56) where Isa is said to have all power to heal the sick and raise the dead.

I prayed for healing in Jesus’ name, alone.

Yesterday I met with Ibu Ainung and offered to start the stories of God’s heart for mankind.

We start this week on the first of the prophet stories from the
Old Testament and New Testament in a Discovery Bible Study.

Full range motion in her shoulder, is the mercy of God for her. An intense, hopeless future for life apart from a debilitating handicap was what she had faced. A life lived apart from the love and hope of Christ is the eternal perspective reality of her broken state before a holy God.

A bone easily broken, a life shaken to hunger.