DMM: Crafting an End Vision

 

DMM/CPM: Crafting an End Vision

 

To love and obey Jesus was never designed as a fail-safe endeavor. However, in Jesus, through the empowering and filling of the Holy Spirit, it is always safe to fail. 

 

The same can be said for those of us who feel called to trust God for the launch of Disciple-Making Movements.

 

One of the most crucial of pieces in this process is to cultivate a lifestyle of listening to the heart of the Father, as He continues to reveal the End Vision of His desire to be fulfilled among the Unreached People Groups (or otherwise) of His leading. 

 

End Vision (GPS-God’s Heart Positioning for Spiritual Movements locator-What you carry with you everywhere you go)

 

God-sized vision sounds great but in reality so few choose to embrace the Kingdom centric possibilities. C.S. Lewis reflects upon the general condition of the Bride of Christ in his day, "It would seem that Our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased." C.S. Lewis, The Weight of Glory.

 

God beckons. He calls to every heart, of whom He has brought into being the followers of Christ we were created to be. As such, we are called to live out of the overflow of that relationship, which He initiated with us, drew us into, as followers. We are His, He owns us, bought and sealed with the precious blood-sacrifice price of redemption, made possible through Christ alone. 

 

No one, save a fool, would dare consider a journey without first considering the end desired destination. The more clearly we take the time to listen to the Father, the greater clarity on His desired End Vision.  

 

In Disciple Making Movements (DMM)/Church Planting Movements (CPM), one crucial commonality of what could help launch cascading movements to Christ among a given people group is the crafting of an End Vision. 

  

On considering what it is to craft an End Vision, S.P. writes:

 

"Vision: Our goal is to see God glorified in our life and among those whom we serve.

 

In our ministry, we need to first hear from God – what is HIS Vision for our people? We then look for others with a similar vision or for those who will catch the vision. 

 

Significantly, the movement catalysts God uses seem to be people who are willing to receive a God-sized impossible vision to see a whole city, nation, ethne, language reached."

 

 

Consider Paul and the End Vision for how God wired him:

 

Romans 15:16-23…”to be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles, ministering as a priest the gospel of God, that my offering of the Gentiles might become acceptable, sanctified by the Holy Spirit… And that’s why it has taken me so long to finally get around to coming to you. But now that there is no more pioneering work to be done in these parts,…”

 

Paul was clear in his End Vision. The saying goes, if you aim at nothing, you’ll hit it every time. 

 

As one considers what it is to seek the Lord, hear His voice, and invite His Spirit to lay out the End Vision, I typically coach others to consider four components:

 

·       Be God’s glory centric

·       Be Audaciously Specific

·       Be CPM/DMM Essentials Focused

·       Be Time Bound, By Faith

 

 Samples of End Visions:

 

 

a.      To facilitating church planting movements so that all 300,000 N people are within walking distance of a reproducing house church that is taking the Gospel to the N, Asia, and the world. There will need to be at least one church in every village (16,000).

b.     To glorify God through multiple church planting movements among the two million Muslims of S Town so that there is a reproducing house church in every Muslim neighborhood so that every Muslim can understand the Gospel and participate in a house church. There will need to be 20,000 house churches proportionately distributed through every Muslim sect and ethnic group in the city.

 

c.      Our vision is for XF district is to have an indigenous CPM that is led by lay, unpaid, local Christians. Thus allowing all in XF district to hear the gospel, and have a chance to receive Christ. The DNA of this movement should be evangelism resulting in new churches from the beginning. Our end vision is to have 200,000 new believers worshiping together and training in 13,000 new house churches by 2015.

d.     Every Y in every village (~45,000 villages) in every dialect in Y State coming to know or at least hear about Jesus Christ. Radical Transformation of Y State (is the most corrupt, most poor state in country) from a place of darkness to a place of light. The Y are the key to this transformation. The Y people would cross people group lines and ultimately spread the Gospel to all Y State, then to all of North India, and then to the East to Thailand, China, Japan, etc and to the West to Pakistan and the Middle East.

 

As for my husband and I and our local colleagues, here is our End Vision. 

 

For God’s glory, we are trusting the Holy Spirit to launch a reproducing disciple-making movement, by establishing an indigenously-led house fellowship to the fourth generation+ in each  of the 995 villages in eight regencies across West Nusa Tenggara (NTB)village, by 2020, among SaSumBi Muslim People Groups.

 

As you consider crafting an End Vision, also consider that reality of how God desires His children to simply follow Christ’ model in all. 

 

Meditate upon the following passages in order to get started in crafting the End Vision of the Father's will. Review the DMM/CPM Critical Elements list in order to align your pursuits.

 

Revelation 5:9-14

Revelation 7:9-17

Genesis 12:1-3

Romans 15:16-23

Matthew 28:16-20

Galatians 4:4

Ephesians 2

Acts 1:8

Psalm 67