Thursday, March 31, 2022

DMM/CPM: Coaching the POP to Facilitate



Excerpt from Stubborn Perseverance by James Nyman

Discovery Group (Coaching the POP/Natural leader to facilitate). 

Bringing Forgiveness to the Unforgivable
Abdullah and Umar learn no sin is too great for God to forgive. Finding places to meet hadn’t been easy. Dressed like a hard-core radical, Abdullah was not the kind of person with whom one wanted to be seen. As a traveling honey salesman, Nasrudin knew many secluded places, so they had varied the times, days, and places where they met.

Arriving at the appointed place at the agreed upon time, Abdullah and Nasrudin greeted each other warmly. “Are you ready to discuss the next Isa story?”

After discussing the story, Nasrudin said, “This story teaches three ways to respond to Isa: deny Him like the religious leaders, believe in Him but fear to confess Him to others like the parents, or believe in Isa and confess Him like the man born blind.
“Abdullah, which person do you want to be like?”
“Do you remember the day you and Faisal came to my house and cast the demon out of my son, Ali?”
“How could I forget?” Nasrudin laughed. “I was terrified of you, yet I knew God wanted me to come to your house.”
“I probably wouldn’t have been open to Isa in any other way, but I saw His power with my own eyes. I had to know who Isa is.”
Suddenly Abdullah shifted nervously in his seat and began bouncing his knee. He scratched the back of his neck, and looked blankly off into the distance. His expression intensified, and his eyes narrowed.
“Do you remember the day we sat in the grass hut, and you told me Isa forgave all my sins?”
“I remember it well. I also remember you said there was something in your past you needed to tell me.”
“My parents wanted me to grow up to be a good Muslim, so they sent me to a Muslim boarding school. There I studied more diligently than all my classmates. When my teachers saw my devotion to God, they started giving me special instruction. I was taught it is the duty of every Muslim to fight for God to establish Sharia law. If an unbeliever wouldn’t submit to God’s will, we were obliged to kill him.

“When I finished high school I was sent to Afghanistan for further training. My friend, Saleh, went too. There we studied verses about jihad in the Qur’an. Our teachers taught us Muhammad (pbuh) was a great military leader. When he conquered a people, he gave them three choices: convert to Islam, pay a special protection tax, or be killed. I wanted to follow the example of the Prophet, and became convinced violent jihad was the only way to establish Sharia. I learned how to make bombs, too.

“I returned to Indonesia and trained with jihadist groups. We were armed with guns and machetes, and went to the Maluku islands to kill Christians there. We would approach a village in the middle of the night, charge into the village, and go house to house killing people.

“One time, Saleh found the baby of a Christian, but he couldn’t bring himself to kill it. So I took the baby and put it in a bag and began beating it against the wall. The baby screamed and blood began to run out of the bag, but I kept hitting it against the wall. When the crying stopped I threw the bag onto a rubbish heap.

“We also raped girls, cut babies from pregnant women, crucified children, forced circumcision on both sexes, played soccer with severed heads, and took women captive and forced them to marry Muslim men.[1]

“In one village, all the Christians fled to a church building. We surrounded it and threw in Molotov cocktails. The building caught fire and burned to the ground, killing 170 Christians.
“We even kidnapped Christian children and sent them off to Islamic boarding schools to train them as jihadists like ourselves.[2]

“The day you came to my house, Saleh and I were teaching others how to make a bomb.” Abdullah bowed his head, his face covered with deep remorse, guilt and shame. Quietly he said, “Isa could never forgive me for all I have done.”

Nasrudin glanced up at the overcast sky as the light rain became a downpour. Nasrudin shivered in the brisk breeze. He felt nauseated by all the atrocities Abdullah had committed in the name of Islam. He had read about these brutal murders, and now he was sitting with a murderer who was asking for forgiveness. A person like this deserves the worst form of torture, not mercy. Waves of anger, shock, revulsion, disdain, and horror cascaded over Nasrudin as his mind raced with competing thoughts. What do I say? Do I run? Do I call the police?
Then he thought of his own life. I haven’t killed anyone, but I am still a sinner in need of forgiveness. I too have dishonored God by breaking his law.[3] Isa forgave me, didn’t He? God’s love and forgiveness know no bounds. No sin is too great to be forgiven. Isa died for everyone’s sins. Even Paul participated in putting believers to death.
As if on cue, the rain stopped and a ray of light pierced through the dark clouds.
“Isa forgave the woman caught in adultery, and Isa forgave those who crucified Him, so I’m sure Isa forgives even you. Would you like to pray right now and ask God to forgive and cleanse you forever?”
“Yes, I would.”
* * *
Abdullah waited for Umar to arrive.
They were an unlikely pair. One a former radical Muslim who disdained all things irreligious, the other a former alcoholic who despised all things religious; one the epitome of legalism, the other the embodiment of debauchery. Yet they were drawn together by their thirst for forgiveness, and then bonded together in their quest for new life.
Starting as polar opposites, they were each attracted to the person of Al Masih, hearing the words of Isa as being spoken directly to them: “Neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more.” [4]
Together they basked in freedom from shame and guilt like men just released from prison, passionately seeking Isa and experiencing His transforming power to change them from the inside out.

After discussing the next Isa story, Abdullah said, “As you can see in this story, there are three responses to Isa, that of the religious leaders, the parents, or the man born blind.
“Umar, which person do you want to be like?”
“I was stone drunk the day you found me on that road. I didn’t always drink, but then I went from one failure to another. I got drunk to forget my problems, but each time I awoke my problems were still with me. I used to rationalize ‘Everyone has weaknesses. My weakness is alcohol; those who judge me, their weakness is being judgmental.’”
“I wanted to change but I was powerless to give up alcohol. I felt deep shame every time I took money and used it to drink, but I couldn’t stop. I never did anything right. The fear of failure and being rejected always haunted me.
“Others ridiculed me. I was a big shame to my parents and friends. Worst of all, I let my wife and kids down. I felt like a worthless stray dog.
“What gave me hope was the story Isa told about the son who squandered his inheritance on wild parties until all his money was spent. Then he had nothing to eat except what was given to pigs. As Muslims, we can’t eat pork, so to eat the food pigs eat is the lowest humiliation imaginable. Nevertheless, the son gathered his courage, returned home, and asked his father for a job. He said to him, ‘I am no longer worthy to be your son, treat me as one of your hired servants.”
“But what did this father do? He saw his son coming from a long distance and ran to meet him. He embraced his son, and prepared a feast for him.[5] The father covered his shame and restored his honor.
“If God is like that, and forgives us when we repent and turn to Him, if He gives us power to break bad habits and be transformed, if He heals families that seem beyond hope, if He removes our shame and gives us honor, and if He gives us purpose and direction in life, then I want to follow Isa.
“I want to be like the man born blind.”

Pray together for God to convict people of their sin so they will seek His forgiveness. Pray for opportunities for each of you to minister to people with low self-esteem, and to those already conscious that their sins have separated them from God.



[1] Details based on events reported in interviews conducted by the author.
[3] Rom 3:23
[4] John 8:11
[5] Jesus story 8, listed in Appendix C.

DMM: Take no prisoners!

DMM: Take No Prisoners!

Unflinching Evaluation

(focus fully on God’s “endvision” and be completely honest about what is happening and willing to make any necessary changes)

Or, in other words, "take no prisoners", when it comes to being willing to be willing to do and be whatever it takes to trust God for the launch of cascading movements to Christ.


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Unflinching Grace-Filled Evaluation
by Essie Joy and R Nyman

            If a pilot flies a plane off course by only one degree without correction, after an hour of flight the plane will be miles off of its planned destination. This can also apply to DMMs. Unless we unflinchingly evaluate all that we’re doing we may find ourselves way off course.
Spirit-led Realignment
            David Watson and Victor John did this with the Bhojpuri people movement in India. One case was when they trained the church planters into becoming church planter catalysts.

After this period of re-evaluation, David and Victor gathered the church planters together. At this point, they probably had 40-50 fully supported church planters. They gave them new instructions: “You may not plant any more churches. Nor can you pastor any churches!” The church planters were shocked: “Then what can we do?”

David and Victor gave them new instructions. They were to train church planters from the Bhojpuri. They were to go back to the same villages where they had planted churches and tell them: “We will not start any more churches or pastor your churches. It is your responsibility to do these two things. We will help you do it.”

Essentially, the church planters were changing roles from church planters to church planting catalysts. The trauma of changing roles was too great for some, and over half left the work. For David and Victor, it was a difficult transition. However, they trained the catalysts that remained. These catalysts went back to the villages with the goal of helping the churches plant second generation churches. Many of the Bhojpuri churches succeeded in starting new churches.  (BHOJPURI CASE STUDY: 3 phases of work [April 2009])[1]

Reaching Households
My husband and I (R Nyman) had been serving among Muslim UPGs in Southeast Asia since 1991. We had a strong understanding of reproducing disciples and had already seen four house fellowships catalyzed. In partnership with our national colleagues, we had succeeded in reaching individuals but were stumped as to how to reach households. We asked senior missionaries and they also didn’t know how to reach households and see those households of disciples multiply.
In 2003, David Watson led a DMM training on our island. We were amazed at how the Lord had been catalyzing disciple-making movements in India. Following David’s example, we changed our approach and began trying to reach households through Discovery Groups.

Willing to Be Willing to Do Anything for God’s Glory

To move forward in DMM, we and our local partners frequently ask these simple questions:
·      What do we need to stop doing in order to focus on what needs to be done, to see the launch of cascading movements?
·      What do we need to start doing?
·      What do we need to continue doing?
As my husband and I wrestled with these questions, we realized that our area leadership role with expatriates took 80% of our time in recruitment, orientation, shepherding, training, coaching, and member health. Our local partners were floundering, as we didn’t have the time needed to model implementing the basics of launching a movement.

After much prayer, fasting, and seeking godly counsel, we realized that we needed to align ourselves with an organization which focused exclusively on implementing a DMM strategy among UPGs. We joined a new organization and poured our lives into our local partners. In the first year, we saw the four house fellowships explode to 40 Discovery Groups from 1st-3rd generation, with 9 new house fellowships birthed in the 2nd generation. We are still far from a 4 x 4[2] DMM, but this unflinching grace-filled[3] evaluation helped us make the decision we needed to make.

Healthy Realignment      
Unflinching grace-filled evaluation has helped my husband and me (Essie Joy) pinpoint problems, lift them up in prayer, and acquire new insights into the process of launching  a DMM. It has enhanced growth both personally and as a community of believers .
Unflinching grace-filled evaluation helps provide a healthy way forward and avoid failure. We do well to work like the pilot who needs to periodically give a one-degree correction on the course of the plane.



[1] 
[2] Four streams of four generations of groups of multiplying disciples, multiplying house fellowships, multiplying leaders.
[3] Unflinching-grace-filled-evaluation is emphasis upon the grace and the spirit filled as we evaluate what needs to be done in order to see the launch of a DMM.



Wednesday, March 30, 2022

DMM: Baptism Reproducible

 

A Big Day Has Arrived 




As my husband and I continue to implement, train, and coach others in DMM among UPGs, one of the dividing lines of commitment among Muslims is obedience in the step of baptism.


In coaching others to implement this step, the first breakthrough came when God shifted our local partners’ paradigms as to who is able to baptize. They discovered through Scripture that there is no instruction that only ordained people can baptize. They then adopted the principle that the person who led another person to faith would do the baptizing after a brief baptism DBS.


These days, in what is the beginning of a CPM, male and female, young and old baptize those who have made a commitment to follow Jesus in their DBS groups. Whether in a rice field, river bed, wash room, or the ocean, baptism is an outward commitment of the inward reality of followership of Jesus.


This story, taken from the book Stubborn Perseverance, shows what this process looks like.

* * *

The big day had arrived! Faisal and Fatima picked up Ahmad and his family and drove to the beach. The sun was coming up, and a light breeze blew. 


The group stood near the water’s edge. Faisal opened to Matthew 28:18–20 and read:


And Isa came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”


“Baptism is one of the commands Isa gave His followers. Ahmad and his family have come to obey that command. Baptism has three primary meanings.


“First, baptism is a public statement that you have made Isa your Savior and Lord.


“Second, baptism is an outward symbol of the inner change in your life. You have become a new creation. Being immersed symbolizes that you have been washed and changed.


“Third, baptism joins you to every other person who has been baptized. You become members of one worldwide family in Al Masih.


“Finally, baptism doesn’t save us; faith does. Baptism is not a work to ‘earn’ salvation. It is a command to obey.”


“Now please share your personal salvation stories, starting with Ahmad.”


When they finished, Faisal asked:


Do you believe the Taurat, Zabur, and Injil are inspired by God and free from error?


Do you believe Isa Al Masih is the eternal Word of God who became a human being?


Do you believe Isa is the Messiah and the Son of the living God?


Do you believe Isa Al Masih shed His blood on a cross to cleanse you of your sins?


Have you confessed your sins, asked God to forgive you, and received Isa as your Savior and Lord? Are you willing to obey Him even to death?


Have you severed all ties with the occult, ancestor worship, and idolatry?”


They responded “Yes!” to each question.


Then Faisal prayed, “O God, we praise You for the way You have worked in this family.


“Thank You for calling them to be Your children, and for giving them the courage to obey You in baptism. Strengthen them so they will be faithful when persecution comes.


“Be glorified in their lives. In the name of Isa Al Masih, Amen.”


Together they waded into the sea. 


Faisal stood in front of Ahmad and placed his hand on Ahmad’s head. “I baptize you in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.” Ahmad lowered himself under the water. 


Ahmad then stood in front of his wife and placed his hand on her head and declared, “I baptize you in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.” She lowered under the water. Ahmad then baptized the rest of his household.


After they changed, food was spread out. All eyes turned to Faisal to bless the food.


“Hey, am I the only one here who can pray?” Faisal joked. “Let’s ask Ahmad to pray!”