DMM: Blurred Vision?

 “What happened next was a blur…”

Muharis and Ani met and married shortly after they had each been through a multi-week discipleship training on Disciple Making Movements (DMM) led by Beyond field leaders Ryan and Anna. Muharis and Ani wondered: How would Father God have them serve, in light of his desire for all peoples to hear of his Son? 

Both couples sought the Lord’s direction for Muharis and Ani’s life. The answer came. Muharis and Ani felt led to live and work among the Bimanese Muslims. Working with Ryan and Anna, they would form a new DMM team. They desired to see the knowledge of Christ and obedience to God’s Word transform this unreached people group. 

 

Muharis and Ani moved to serve the Bimanese people and soon learned of another upcoming transition. They were expecting a baby! In 2017, Muharis held his baby girl for the first time and heard the doctor pronounce that all was good. Although Ani had needed an emergency C-section to deliver the baby, she would recover as they enjoyed their precious daughter. Muharis was elated.

 

It should have been a time of pure rejoicing. 

 

What happened next was a blur to Muharis. Ani was in the recovery room when Muharis noticed a steady stream of blood oozing from his wife’s suture. 

 

He called for help. When the doctor arrived, he ordered her back into surgery. As he left to prepare, the doctor stated, “There is a 50-50 shot for me to be able to save your wife.”

 

Muharis turned, saw his newborn daughter next to him, then fell to the floor in shock. He cried out to Father God in prayer. Then he called Ryan. Ryan and Anna mobilized their entire discipleship network in prayer for Ani.

 

Ani survived the ordeal. But the doctor removed her womb. The removal was probably not necessary. A more proficient doctor might have saved Ani without removing her womb, but skilled doctors are rare in such remote places. 

 

Since that day, God has blessed Muharis and Ani. He has honored their commitment to serve him no matter the personal cost. Their team has seen 117 discovery Bible study groups form. They have four house fellowships of baptized followers who meet regularly and are facilitating a second generation of discovery Bible groups!

Jesus told his disciples that following him would not be easy. We need to count the cost of discipleship.

 

 

 

 

 

 

DMM: Baptized in an Irrigation Canal

 Baptized in an Irrigation Canal

 

In Disciple Making Movements approach among this Ssk Unreached People Group Cluster, Amisha led five women in reading prophet stories from the Bible: a good way to introduce the Word of God to Muslims. Participants then share the stories with their family and friends, and obey lessons God impresses on them during their time together.

Three of the women have had visions of Isa al Masih (Jesus the Messiah). In the dreams, He had instructed one to forgive her husband and encouraged another by confirming that she was studying His Truth. The third had a simple yet profound vision of being embraced by Jesus!

Before long, all five women became followers of Isa. Amisha baptized them in the irrigation canal of a nearby rice paddy.

Amisha is a layperson who has been trained in Disciple Making Movements and longs to hear and obey Jesus. All six women are in the process of learning to become reproducing disciple-makers. 

These women were the first in their families to come to Christ. Pray as they engage their husbands with the Word of God and encourage their spiritual leadership. This process can sometimes be messy, but it is so important in bringing the whole household to faith. 

DMM: Shift Happens!

 DMM-Shift happens

In DIsciple Making Movements, we are constantly diving back into the Word of God to discover how Jesus made disciples who made disciples. 

 

In times of crisis we see incredible opportunities to shift mindsets of those who have yet to hear of Christ as their foundation for transformation no matter the crisis one faces.

So, how do we harness these potential paradigm shifting moments for the launch of cascading movements to Christ? 

 

In July and August of 2018, our island experienced a wave of high level successive earthquakes. The result? Half of our island saw 80% pancaked structures with casualties. 

 

How do you respond, as teams desiring to see these unreached peoples know and experience the reality of Jesus in the midst? 

 

“God, what needs to be done for the sake of the launch of cascading movements to Christ in the midst of this present suffering?” Not, “God, what can we do?” Vision drift is easy to be carried into in the midst of large-scale disaster zones. End Vision brings clarity to keep one focused upon what needs to be done. 

 

In American football, the team on the field who possesses the ball has one goal—get to the End Zone. That is it, pure and simple. The coach, the players, the backup players, all live to see that temporal end vision fulfilled. There are times when vision-drift occurs in that process: players are injured, the coach is not coaching well, the playbook falls into the hands of the opposing team, the weather can interfere, mental toughness can wane, physical strength can fail, interpersonal issues within the team can obscure unity, prima donnas can self-promote, the opposing crowd can infuriate. Teams can lose their way. Vision-drift happens.

 

Imagine how ridiculous it would be if one of the players decides to leave the field to go sit in the spectator seats. Imagine how crazy it would be if the coach takes his headphones off and decides he just wants to make things up as they go along. Crazy, it seems, far from reality in the missions’ world, it is not.  

 

It is to the laser focused laborer who maintains their focus upon the main thing, who can keep their eyes focused upon the End Vision—the glory of God among those who have never had the Jesus option. 

 

O, that the peoples of the earth would come to know and delight in the joy of being and making reproducing lovers of Jesus (disciples) who hear and obey, who choose to live in transformed ways. How will they hear? How will they know Jesus unless they have the privilege of hearing and obeying the only One worthy? As the waters cover the seas upon the earth, so shall the knowledge of the glory of the Lord be demonstrated and declared throughout the peoples of the earth. (Hab. 2:14 paraphrase)

 

In the book of Daniel, chapter 5, we see the origin of the idiom, "Handwriting on the wall." God was breaking through the godless norm in order to write the reality of His kingdom come ways.

We see in 2  Kings 6, the way in which Elisha had cultivated a listening heart to the Father's plans and ways. This patterned intimacy with God, procured the ability to rely on God in any situation. In other words, Elisha could see from the lense of God eternal for the opposition they faced in the temporal. Eyes to see the hand of God moving in the midst, are developed not by a fast-food, drive thru, cursory embrace of God and his Word.

As we and our local colleagues considered the vast expanse of the massive earthquake damage on our island, the Lord gave those markers of his purposes in the midst.

In one village, a women sat in front of her rubble next a remaining foundation of what yesterday was her home. She took one broken brick at a time and built a new mound of the same broken bricks. The affect? She still clung to the trust that that rubble would still be a worthy home. 

 

When God allows whatever broken rubble in our lives to expose faulty foundations then that is where we can see wholehearted shifts to the worthiness of Christ alone. 

 

When End vision is clearly to see Jesus make reproducing disciples who love, hear and obey Him, who are tethered to His unchanging Word, that is the beauty in the midst of even the most horrendous of ashes. 

A DMM Mindset

The resources are in the harvest

 

Phase One

·      Trauma Bell curve of response-

o   Who survived?

o   Who is injured and needs triage

o   Who is injured in minor cases

o   Shelter condition

o   Temporary tents

o   Food, water, toilet issues

o   Shock, PTSD, grief, anger, numbness

o   Ask God for eyes to see and heart to feel from His

o   Listening prayer each morning (hugely vital in all phases)

o   Ask God, “What needs to be done? Not what can we do?”

o   Personal check in/checkup for trauma impact for workers

o   Med volunteers who are DMM centric, and/or teachable in that

o   Volunteers and team meet daily for prayer, co-ordination, casting End Vision of the launch of DMM

o   Equip volunteers and team to be integral in the med relief with simple intake forms for ailments, then a question regarding person/persons feel trauma and want to talk through with someone who cares

o   Trauma Debrief Questions utilized:

 

Trauma Debrief questions:

When looking for and/or finding potential Persons of Peace (POPs), gather 4-5 people in a group/household. 

Ask the Lord to give you, a heart posture which reflects his in all that your team does in response to a given disaster.

Listen to the victims story with patience and lovingkindness.

Have each person share their responses as you invite them to respond to questions.

 

·      Each person shares as they are able their responses to each question

·      Listen with care and intent to show love in your listening

·      Tears are a way of healing which are received, affirmed, and not closed off when one responds with tears. Listen well

 

Trauma Debrief Questions:

1.     Describe what you experienced. Share as many details as you would like. 

2.     What were you thinking at the time of the most intense part of the crisis. 

3.     What were you feeling at the time of the most intense part of the crisis? Share how you felt during and immediately afterward in the initial days past.

How are you feeling presently?

4.     When you close your eyes, what images keep flashing across your mind as the worst part of what you experienced? What is the worst and most difficult part to see healed in your experience.

5.     What regrets might you be experiencing? Describe the “what-if’s” and/or the “if-only’s” which you are experiencing.

What emotions do you still experience related to the crisis?

6.     How might you be able to be part of the solution for healing for you and your family? 

7.     What is your biggest concern moving forward from here?

8.     Based upon their worldview: How did you see God help/comfort you during this time?

 

What needs to be done, not what can we do? Key biblical paradigm shifts: 

1.    Resources are in the harvest, come alongside those who are already advocates for their communities

2.    Trauma stages in response (Loss acknowledgement process, threat still active/non-active, physical-emotional-mental-spiritual impact?)

3.    Tarps for shelter, food and water, people still trapped, unaccounted for…Medical teams of Indonesians n pipelines we have trained in Disciple making movements and/or on mobile clinics

4.    Looking for households of peace (persons of peace). Trauma debrief equipping with prayer at end of all. Use simple questions to draw out their experience of the trauma: What happened?Your experience? Loss? Grief? Others whom you love impacted? Feelings/Thoughts? What if's, If only's? Place of regret? How to heal? Art therapy trauma debrief for kids. Draw house, person, rain, tree. Train parent to do w their own families/community. Contacts filtering process

5.    Spiritual statements-Shema deut 6:4-11

6.    Personal story of God’s healing /comfort

7.    Healing prayer

8.    Oral story: Jesus calm in storm

9.    Woman w issue of blood

10. C2C gospel in 3 minutes

11. Offer an oral story for further healing from the Bible; e.g., Kitab Suci

12. Listening Prayer in all

13. Prayer teams at base camp rotated going out with med/trauma teams

14. In phase 2, portable toilets, temporary homes, food relief

3,000+ contacts, 99% prayed with in Isa Almasih name

300 formed into Discovery Groups

Filtered to 16 house fellowships in 1st to 2nd generation

 

In one village, a women sat in front of her rubble next a remaining foundation of what yesterday was her home. She took one broken brick at a time and built a new mound of the same broken bricks. The affect? She still clung to the trust that that rubble would still be a worthy home. 

 

When God allows whatever broken rubble in our lives to expose faulty foundations then that is where we can see wholehearted shifts to the worthiness of Christ alone. 

 

When the End vision is to clearly see Jesus make reproducing disciples who love, hear and obey Him, who are tethered to His unchanging Word, that is the beauty in the midst of even the most horrendous of ashes. 

 

 

 

DMM: Extraordinary Prayer--Simple Prayer Strategies

David Garrison in his book entitled Church Planting Movements   emphasizes, 

“We pray because our vision exceeds our abilities. 

Prayer is the soul’s deepest cry of rebellion against the way things are. It’s seeing the lost of this world and crying out, “This does not glorify God, and so, by God’s grace, it must change.” 

New Wine, New Wineskins (Luke 5:37-39)

When one thinks of prayer, there might be a templated assumption, which may or may not be born forth of God's heart. The End Vision of His glory and His purposes might be somewhat lacking, as we continue the area of intercession. For me, not much in life worth reproducing is born forth apart from a growing relationship with ABBA Father. As I consider my own journey, all that informs my prayer life, is born from that which is yearns to walk in a long line of love and obedience of Jesus in the same direction. (To rephrase Eugene Peterson's book title A Long Obedience in the Same Direction.)

When it comes to End Vision informed prayer, in Disciple Making Movements, we are asking the Lord, "What must be done?" to help to see the launch of multiplying groups of disciples, who make disciple makers, who reproduce house churches, who are transformed by love and obedience to the Word and prompts of the Holy Spirit. 

As the new disciple makers walk in transformed ways, as Jesus disciples, who make disciples, who make disciples, who make reproducing house churches, we see whole villages, communities, peoples, other peoples transformed with the power of the gospel likewise. When I mention that this is a simple, yet profoundly neglected base line obedience to make reproducing disciple makers, it does not mean that it is easy. Nor, does it mean that it is devoid of the messy. Just peak again at the letters to the churches in Corinth to be reminded of that Kingdom battle and reality. 

Extraordinary Prayer is one of the key CPM/DMM critical elements, which helps teams to frame baseline patterns of what Jesus modeled/equipped/watched/coached. 

Extraordinary Prayer defined= End Vision informed prayer, anchored in the Father's heart expressed in the Word, as led by the Holy Spirit. Gone are the days of prayer which is self focused, when one grows into the Father's heart, as on-goingly discovered by tethering all that we are to be and do upon the efficacy of God's Word and His purposes. 

When we discuss the development of a Movement Mindset Prayer strategy, we like to think of two main aspects: 1. Content which reflects God's heart and purposes among the peoples of the earth, 2. Practice: How might the Lord like to increase strategic prayer and in what ways can we consider multiplying out this incredible privilege and command. All Movements are predicated upon a multiplying prayer strategy, which is anchored to Holy Spirit led dependence for both content and practice. 

The following is a "tool", which a dear Movement leader colleague has developed, which is something highly reproducible. Take it and ask the Holy Spirit to bring whatever needed adaption on content for your given Unreached People Groups foci, as well as any of the Acts 1:8 foci which the Lord has you engaged as your main focus. 

Simple Prayer Strategies (Amie P.) 

Prayer is part of our JOB, not just an activity for our personal devotional time. 

5-5-5 

The name of this simple strategy is exactly what it is: 3 blocks of 5-minute prayers. During each block of time, pray for a different topic. Pick any topics you like. Examples could include: 

1. 3 different sections of a psalm. 

2. Lost people you know. 

3. 3 UPGs. 

4. Broader categories like the lost “back home,” the lost in your current neighbourhood, the unreached. 

5. 3 issues your disciples are facing. 

….etc….etc….etc….. 

If at some point you want to make it four 5s instead of three, go for it! Or six. Or, maybe instead of adding more 5 minute blocks, you expand the time into 10-10-10. Great! Make this tool your own. But, start with three 5s. It's easy. It'll get you started. And that's the thing with prayer. We need to do it. So, start, and trust that God will grow you into more "5s" as time goes by. 

Prayer Notebook 

Instructions: 

1. Buy a notebook. 

2. Only write on the front side of each page. 

3. Write a category for prayer at the top of each page, and then brainstorm a list of 5-8 points for each category. 

4. Use the notebook to pray. 

Having a prayer notebook is a good way to organize prayer. You can choose to simply pray through the different topics each day. Or, you can club it with the 5-5-5 strategy above. Even if your notebook is filled with topics, you can work your way methodically through the whole book. On Monday, you can pray through the first 3 categories in the notebook. Tuesday, pray through the next 3, etc., When you're done, go back to the beginning.

 

Below are potential categories to get you started with your notebooks: 

1. God's End Vision. Write a list of Bible references about God’s End Vision on this page, like 1 Tim 2:4, MT 24:14, Rev 7:9-10, Mal 1:11, and Ps 96. There are many more. When it comes time to pray, use the verses as springboards for your prayers. As time goes by, add other verses to the list.

 

2. Your Vision for Your People. Has God given you a vision for your people? Write it down and pray into it. If it changes/grows/starts to be fulfilled or clarified, add to the page. 

3. Christians You Know Who Need to Become Disciple Makers. Make a list of at least 5 names.

 

4. Lost People You Know. Make a list of at least 5 names. Or, if you don’t know the person’s name, write down “newspaper guy” or “chicken rice hawker stall lady.” 

5. High Value DMM Activities. Examples could be extraordinary prayer, abundant seed sowing, shema, PoP, signs and wonders, households, vision casting. Make a list of at least 6-8. Pray for these things to start to happen in your people. 

6. Obstacles to DMM. Examples could be fear, perfectionism, tradition, need for control, others' expectations, local buy-in, good things that aren't strategic, prayerlessness, etc. Make a list of at least 6-8. Pray against these things for your people. 

7. Geography. What is the geography of your target area? Make a list of neighbourhoods, states, districts, counties, etc., however your area is divided. If you don’t know names, look them up. Pray over these areas. 

8. Governmental Leaders. Who is over the city, state/province, district, country of your people group? Make a list. Pray for them.

 

9. For God’s Kingdom to Come. What would it look like for God’s Kingdom to come to your people? Would forgiveness be unleashed? Curses lifted? Girls finally honoured along with sons? Wives loved instead of beaten? Make a list of at least 6-8 things. Pray for these things to start to happen in your people. 

10. For God to Protect Us from the Evil One. What does the evil one do in your people? Is there a lot of death? Fear? Bitterness? Illness? Make a list of at least 6-8 things. Ask God to break down/through these issues for your people. 

As time goes by, add more points to these lists, and add new categories to your notebook. Use the notebook to fuel your prayers for the 5-5-5 strategy, or pray through the topics in another way. Make this strategy your own AND teach it to others! Let’s not only pray, but also multiply prayer. 

RA