Disciple Making Movements are not the End Game. The End Vision is the glory of God. The timing of the release of movements is a sovereignty of God reality. The faithfulness to be and do whatever it takes, for however long it takes to see the glory of God embraced among a UPG for the launch of cascading movements to Christ is a God thing from beginning to end. We are all only a small but God-chosen piece of the process. Now, think on that and try to walk away un-changed in that kingdom privilege which the power of the Holy Spirit promises to empower us to bring in experiential reality.
The faithfulness to be and do whatever it takes,
for however long it takes
to see the glory of God
embraced among a UPG
for the launch of cascading movements to Christ
is a God thing
from beginning
to end.
What if we faithfully walk in these biblical principles/patterns and have yet to see the launch of a DMM/CPM?
My husband and I have been in a season of increasing our capacity to hear more deeply from ABBA. We have felt levels of discouragement and yet, we know to just pay attention and to listen. We recently spent time with Lelia Lewis, a long time personal mentor. She and her husband Roger came to the mis*sion field of B*ali in 1953. They were contemporaries of Jim and Elisabeth Elliott and knew them well. Roger has been with the Lord since 1999, while Lelia continues serving here.
I have attached some notes taken, which I will arrange in a book at a later time. Lelia’s comments are in black and mine are in blue below. This is a treasure trove of reminders of God’s eternal perspective and our vacuitous need to return back to His plumb line: no matter the cost, no matter the feel/and/or fact of the moments along the way.
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Well Done, Good and Faithful Sons and Daughters
It is so different today than when we came to the field in 1953 in the area of dealing with loneliness. There are times we felt lonely because we were alone. Our kids had to go through the trauma of not having us there for their important events, when there were tough situations. I had to give that level of loneliness and longing over to the Lord, over and over again, and trust that He would care for our kids. We wanted to be there for our kids and their important life events while they lived apart from us. That was what was required of our generation. I needed to resolve that before the Lord and choose to trust His best for our kids.
Don’t get too down on yourselves. Why is the book of I John written? It is written to believers. In all things, let the love of Christ lead you.
Missionary families that I saw who experienced some of the best cohesiveness in unity were the ones I saw in Tibet in my parents’ generation.
What is the difference? They came out of mostly intact families, communities. Churches had a role in life for a sense of rootedness and community in that generation. There was still a Judea-Christian ethic which laid a foundation of Biblical worldview which still mostly influenced the home culture of America, in particular. There were not nearly as many distractions for those coming on the mission field. The collective cultural value system of the home culture of America has changed dramatically. Values of faithfulness, integrity, honesty, fidelity in relationships, work ethic, not having a “always having to win” mentality, personal self worth was more stable on the whole. Who a person was and their value centered around who you were in the communal, family, system. If there was stability in the home, a measure of healthiness in the family, then, the formation of a more solid foundation of self worth would have a more solid foundation. Who you were in the home and community helped give a sense of developmental help in terms of loving oneself and others. There was more of a communal sense that you had value because God was part of the equation in the formation, in more healthy ways in earlier generations. There was more of an understanding of your value and worth as beginning and ending with God. Not to say that every one was a believer or that every family walked out being a believer in healthy ways. But, just to say, the current of the culture was more readily in the encouragement of the pursuit of Christian ethic.
We need to recognize that starting with those who came out as adults in the 70’s and 80’s onward and more clearly in this newer generation, people are coming out far more fragile. They are coming with deep issues, feelings of rejection, unredeemed areas devoid of the foundational healthy family units which helped to shape them. Newer missionaries to the field are mostly coming from broken parental marriages, broken home fronts. They are coming from a culture which has valued acquisition of wealth, pursuit of material goods, desire for status, selfish ambition, hunger to be recognized in position, poor in conflict resolution skill levels, e.g. They have been raised in a culture, in the States, which is evidenced in the Bride of Christ in America as well, where narcissistic and self aggrandizement type behaviors are celebrated, celebrity of service is desired, servant hearts are not largely cultivated, death to self-life is a strange and distant thought to most.
These things do not give you real sense of inner strength self worth and sadly, the unchecked nature of these pursuits do not match the needs of those whom God will use for His glory on the mission field.
Nowadays we have people coming to the mission field who are from cultures taken over by more and more evil. Dependency upon other than God is now the norm. I also feel some of the newer mission agencies in the past 30 years which have arisen are not emphasizing adequate readiness for what challenges are faced on the mission field. A question to ask oneself as you are preparing for the mission field…….have I really been tested in my faith? Have I had a faithful pursuit in learning how to effectively share my faith, make disciples in my own home culture? As a missionary, do your realize that your first priority is your time with the Lord daily, in His Word, in His presence, in worship daily? A lot of people come to the mission field without any acquaintance with what it is to embrace the process of brokenness, without an expectation of brokenness and the ways in which God transforms us in the process. “Here I am, Lord. In the dark and in the light, break me, use me, for your glory.” I Corinthians 4 is what God requires. To be found faithful is what is found here.
So Send I You by Oswald Chambers First call is to watch our relationship with Jesus. Watch that intimacy and things will spill out of this relationship as it grows daily. What does the Father say? “Well done good and successful servant?!!!” Absolutely not! First thing God is looking for is, “well done, good and faithful servant. Just be faithful. Be intentional in times with the Father first and foremost, and be deliberate in obeying Him because of this great love of the Father for you and you for Him, for His purposes and for His glory.
An author has said, know your faults well and don’t get down on yourself. Know our faults, surrender our faults to the Father and ask to be transformed in the midst of these flaws. Get back up and trust Him in all. Be faithful. Be singular in focus. Lighten up and enjoy the journey. If you don’t learn to laugh and enjoy life along the way, then you have not cultivated one of the most significant gifts in this journey with the Lord.
A word for this age is to understand commitment. The concept of commitment is lacking for this generation of missionaries. To make a real commitment to say, “Lord, whatever it takes to see these Unreached People Groups have access to the beauty of You”, is one thing to pray. However, to say to the Lord, “God, no matter what it takes as well as however long it takes, make me faithful. “
We are trying to appeal to a generation which may be thinking about careers instead of commitment, new experiences, extreme adventures as part of coming to the mission field. Are we lowering the bar by doing so? I think, yes. Finally, it boils down to having real commitment to Christ, above all else. I don’t think an effective laborer on the mission field is recruited by telling them, “Just go try and see what happens, maybe you stay or not, and if this doesn’t work out then you can always go back to whatever you really want to do.” It is important to help them understand a call. The very process of understanding God’s call on each of our lives has been diluted and made more mysterious than it is in reality. How does one know that they are a child (follower of Christ) of God? Simply, through the abiding testimony of the Holy Spirit and the Word…You begin there. How shall they discern a call to God? It is a growing conviction where one intentionally chooses to be informed of the Father’s heart for the nations, what still remains to be engaged in for His glory and you surrender yourself to say, “here I am, send me, O God.” You seek godly counsel who is bent on these same Scriptural priorities, “to go, to send, or disobey” is the challenge to every believer, both now and in ages past, and for days to come. Pretty simple. You just know God has called you. Moving down that road and trusting God to open doors and shut doors…have a sense of complete trust in God, he will lead…a sense of call. When there was a movement of this or that (Student Volunteer Movement, other movements for global missions through the ages, e.g.) then you have to rely upon the Lord and His leading. That simple process really does not change much through the ages. Cultivate that through prayer and time in the Word. Read missionary biographies. Cultivate a culture of seeking God’s heart and letting that germinate. One must fight the narcissism of this age.
