Shaman Ina appeared befuddled—visibly undone by what she was hearing.
Our time in her village began as we prayer-walked along the shoreline of her island home. Later, inside a wooden house raised on stilts, we sat with Shaman Ina, an Islamic witch doctor. Toothless, bright-eyed, and thoroughly captivated, she listened as Maya, one of our summer team members, shared her personal story of God's story.
Shaman Ina could hardly believe what she was hearing.
Maya described what her life had been like before Jesus drew her to faith in Him. As I translated her words, Shaman Ina became increasingly concerned. Finally, she could no longer contain her desire to comfort Maya.
“Oh, honey,” she said, “don’t worry about those sad things in your life.”
Her tenderness was touching. I told Shaman Ina how kind it was of her to want to comfort Maya. Then I added, “But you are going to be so elated when you hear how Isa Al Masih brought Maya healing and comfort—greater than any human words could ever offer.”
Maya continued, sharing how Jesus had drawn her to Himself. He had brought healing and comfort not only to that wounded area of her life, but also to her whole life, filling her with abundant hope and renewed purpose.
As Maya spoke, I found myself thinking about the words of Jesus:
“For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are healthy, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eyes are unhealthy, your whole body will be full of darkness. If, then, the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!”
—Matthew 6:21–23
Again, we sensed the Holy Spirit prompting us.
“Shaman Ina,” we asked, “would you like to know what we see in your eyes?”
One Household, Several Conversations
We were not the only ones sharing God’s story in that house.
The village leader sat nearby, surrounded by members of his extended family. All were deeply committed Muslims, including some who held imam-level religious standing. While Maya and I spoke with Shaman Ina and her niece, two other members of our team shared their personal stories of God’s transforming work with the imam and the village leader.
Several gospel conversations were unfolding simultaneously under one roof.
This encounter illustrates why we praise God for the recent summer team of college students who served alongside us. We had the privilege of training and coaching them in simple, reproducible practices that helped launch additional Discovery Groups among Muslims who are being drawn to Christ.
These students, together with our local Indonesian teams, are learning to establish consistent rhythms designed to help catalyze Disciple-Making Movements among unreached people groups. The practices are simple enough to reproduce, yet significant enough to shape how we pray, enter communities, share the gospel, make disciples, and train others.
Seven High-Value Weekly Disciple-Making Movement Activities
1. Focus on God’s Word and the Holy Spirit
We trust God to draw people to Himself as they hear from Him through His Word and respond to the leading of the Holy Spirit.
John 6:44–45
2. Multiply Extraordinary Prayer and Fasting
Movements are rooted in extraordinary prayer. We cultivate persistent intercession and fasting, while helping others develop the same rhythms.
Matthew 17:21
3. Look for Persons of Peace
We prayerfully look for people whom God has prepared—those who will receive the message and open their households, families, friendships, and relational networks.
Matthew 10; Luke 10
4. Help Launch New Discovery Groups
Throughout the book of Acts, the gospel repeatedly spreads through households and relational networks rather than reaching only isolated individuals. In 27 of 30 accounts of people coming to faith, the gospel reaches households.
Our aim, therefore, is to reach households and relational groups who can discover God together.
5. Cast Vision for Others to Do Likewise
We continually cast vision for making multiplying disciples who make disciples. God's heart is for his glory to fill the earth and for people from every tribe, language, nation, and people group to worship before His throne.
Habakkuk 2:14; Matthew 24:14; Revelation 5:9–11; 6:9–11; 7:9–11
6. Train Others to Do Likewise
We follow a reproducible training process: Model, Assist, Watch, and Leave—while continuing to coach as needed. From the beginning, we help every disciple envision how they can obey Jesus and train others to do the same.
2 Timothy 2:2
7. Provide Ongoing Coaching
We coach emerging disciple makers to become fruitful, faithful, and reproducing disciples who make other disciples. Our goal is not simply the transfer of knowledge, but obedient discipleship that multiplies from one generation to the next.
Matthew 28:18–20
Please Pray With Us
Shaman Ina’s bright eyes remain before us. So do the faces of her niece, the village leader, the imam, and the family members who gathered in that wooden house.
Each conversation represented a seed being sown. Each household represented the possibility of a new community discovering and obeying Jesus together. Each student and local believer represented the potential for another disciple maker to be trained and sent.
Please join us in praying:
- Ask God to open these households as our teams continue following up with them.
- Ask God for continued breakthrough among the SaSumBi as we persevere in shameless, persistent, and unrelenting intercession.
- Ask God to raise up persons of peace who will open their households and relational networks to the good news of Jesus.
- Ask God to launch new Discovery Groups that become reproducing streams of disciples and churches.
- Ask God to fill Shaman Ina’s eyes—and her entire household—with the light of Isa Al Masih.
May the light she heard about that day become the light that fills her life, her household, and, ultimately, communities throughout her island home.
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