CPM/DMM: Between the Miraculous and the Menial

Between the Miraculous and the Menial

Worshiping the God of the miraculous as well as the seeming menial.

Counterintuitive. That is the supernatural nature of the miraculous.

Expected; that is the natural inclination of the heart of man when considering the menial.

Exodus paints a portrait of a broadsided Moses encountering the revealed presence of the God who is. God called Moses. Moses reluctantly obeyed. Moses learned a lifestyle of trust and obedience by being thrown into the deep end of believing God to be God. The daily obvious reminder of Moses’ desperate need to depend solely upon God was cultivated; a million plus doubting hearts staring him in the face.  Wholehearted dependence upon God’s goodness was crafted in the heart of Moses in the process.

How would he lead these stubborn people who instantly disobeyed God when asked to wait upon Him for the next steps, Moses wondered.  After the miraculous came the menial. God delivered them but could God provide food for so many? And what about the nasty camping conditions? They wondered. They doubted. They disobeyed in the midst of the menial after directly witnessing the miraculous. They wandered.  Front row seats were aportioned to witness a glimpse of the work of God’s mighty hand.

Nothing compares to the greatness of God’s glory.  Moses cultivated a heart that yearned for God’s glory while many of the others developed a craving for the wow of His mighty acts.

When one desires to see a disciple-making movement (CPM/DMM) among a upg, one can feign the menial while desiring the instant big fruit. CPM is to believe God desires to accomplish His promised purpose and one believes asap while surrendering to His perfect timing. However, even the intentionality and deliberateness in the yearning can be erroneously formed into just another sacred golden cow. Sometimes one can forget the priority of cultivating a heart for God’s glory alone to be our beginning point in all that we endeavor; between the miraculous and the menial.

Surveying the landscape of the freshest group of indigenous partners whom we are training/coaching in Church Planting Movements (CPM/DMM), my husband and I felt a strong sense of awe along with gratefulness.

We began this round of equipping, as every round of training with the following challenge; here are the ground rules in trusting God to initiate a CPM among Unreached People Groups.

1. Forget Tradition

2. Focus and Rely Upon Authority of God's Word Alone

3. Trust the Holy Spirit to Lead You

4. Be counterintuitive

Movements are fomented in the trenches of life. It is the inch-by-inch gain what wins the day. It is what we believe and embrace of the God who is Lord over the miraculous that delineates whether we walk faithfully with Him in the menial.

The rain cascaded unrelentingly from the darkened sky in this coaching time. These college students are ones who desire to trust God with their respective profession to be sent as tentmakers among upgs. Hours later, after waiting for a seam in the fabric of the heavy downpour to open way, we began the next phase of coaching them into becoming an indigenous sending agency focused upon cpm.

We waited. And we waited. We were way past the raining “cats and dogs” type rain and were officially experiencing the torrid monsoon phase.

We prayed with the few of the group who were present.

After 3 hours, most of the ones desiring to be sent out as teams for long term efforts had managed to come. How we each view these seemingly menial times reveals more than the ready adoration we offer to the Lord in the midst of the miraculous. Choosing to trust God for the joy in the midst of the everyday is just that; it is a choice. 

RA

CPM/DMM: Imitation of Life--MAWL Part 4

Model the Process of Evangelism and Discipleship as Lifestyle

One of the greatest hindrances we have observed in Church Planting Movements/Disciple Making Movements over our time on the field is not that missionaries are unwilling but rather that they cannot train others in that which they have not had modeled in their own lives. It has been my observation that the missionaries who have a strong background of lifestyle evangelism and multiplying discipleship have tended to thrive. It is important that you and I, as missionaries model obedience based on the love, grace, and mercy of Christ-based discipleship and evangelism. And where this is the case in a missionary’s life, it has been my observation; there are seeds of multiplying house fellowships occurring in these target groups. Obedience based discipleship is more than Bible Study. 

Obedience when not rooted in the adoration/worship/and trust of a loving Father is simply called legalism. Conversely so, where there is adoration of Jesus but no obedience to His commands, that is simply cheap grace. Encouragingly so, when we are in a growing personal intimacy development with ABBA, obedience to His ways becomes an amazing portrait of grace and mercy painted clearly on the canvas of the hearts of those who truly desire to obey and love Jesus. 

Points of engagement in Church Planting Movements for women: 

Suggested ideas to consider related to multiplying discipleship in CPM processes       

--Explore creativity in worship expressions alongside your indigenous partners.
Model, Assist, Watch, Leave (MAWL) applies here as well as to other aspects of the CPM process. If our hearts are not rooted in growing intimacy in the Father, we are simply going through the motions and self-reliant. For it is truly out of the overflow of the reality of our “being” in Christ that we “do” His bidding.    

My hubby and I recently enjoyed a sweet lunchtime visit with David Watson (CPM practitioner/coach). He mentioned that each of his most effective CPM practitioners spend 3-4 hours daily in intercession. Caution to reader; Don’t freak out over this…simply ask the Father for a longing to be with Him intentionally as a growing delight in your heart. Start where the Father invites as He speaks to you in this area, not to compare with others.

Realize this, the more we all yearn for His glory the more we realize our dependence upon His Holy Spirit doing the work of preparing the ground as we advance the Kingdom. Some have commented, “prayer is the work”. Be assured our actions will follow our personal heart posture on these areas.

--Be cautioned that one of the first ways Satan will attack a missionary is to mess with these above areas. The enemy of our souls wants to rob us of the pure joy of being with Christ. He will even mess with you, perhaps, as a reader to heap condemnation upon you in what you have just read. A spirit of legalism or even comparison with others (envy, jealousy) is a Gold Medal Olympic Sport level of cleverness that Satan employs against the believer.

Be aware that one of Satan’s ploys is to invite the servant of Christ to hold the God of grace and mercy in contempt. Walk in freedom.         

It is imperative that each cross-cultural worker, foreign and national, embraces the  significance of being involved in multiplying discipleship.


A basic discipleship process with national partners is essential to include in any effort among Unreached People Groups. Helping believers feed themselves spiritually through Discovery style Bible study and prayer, practicing walking in the power of Spirit-filled ways, working on character issues and gaining skills to share the          splendor and love of Christ with others is basic.

--Commit to trusting the indwelling of the Holy Spirit to model all aspects of evangelism and discipleship alongside indigenous colleagues.
 (MAWL-Model, Assist, Watch, Leave process in CPM)        

Each worker on the missionary team trusts God for anywhere from 1 to 5 Persons of Peace in target group. It is equally important that the cross-cultural worker trusts God to raise up national partners with hearts for target group to meet with regularly for cpm training/equipping, leadership training, and mutual accountability in CPM processes.        

Generally speaking, the discipleship process will be most effective when women disciple women.
Over 50% of a given Unreached People Group are women. When foreign female missionaries do not model these basics in CPM processes then guess what happens among their partnering indigenous leaders? They follow that example and are imprinted into thinking that making disciples is an option not a command given by ABBA as a privilege to be engaged in, no matter what season of life one is in.

--Provide training for indigenous followers to walk in freedom in Christ from involvement in forms of spiritual bondage or strongholds.   As I observed another organization’s national female leader attempt to communicate to the dead spirit of the recently deceased, I was reminded that we assume much when it comes to ministry partners. Do not assume, whether national or foreign partners, that growth in Christ is a plateau one reaches. The discipleship process is a commitment to go the extra mile in demonstrating gracious one-anothering. The discipleship process is intended to      spur one another on to a lifestyle of growing intimacy in Christ, which bears real deal real time fruit for His glory.

Summary

In conclusion, the above suggestions are meant to spur you on and not to prick. Consider what I reflect upon to be intended as a grace-filled burr in the collective saddle of the Body of Christ. God’s grace is full and His power to lead you is limitless. In the midst of honest feelings and thoughts of inadequacy, His enoughness awaits you as you lay hold of His purposes in Christ Jesus. My hope and prayer is that each of you, as missionary women, will see how vital the varied roles you play in the process of seeing Church Planting Movements birthed. 

I trust these suggestions will inspire you to believe God for releasing you into the work of His hands in deeper ways still. I trust also, that the basics of intentionally asking God to lead you to indigenous female partners to equip in multiplying discipleship in CPM effective ways would be the fruit of this little ride with me.

Many of you are modeling the above considerations and are doing so effectively. However, it has been my observation that there are others who have expressed regrets over having not left multiplying disciples behind as they leave the mission field.

To bask in the warmth of His goodness and to hunger to live out of the overflow of His touch in your life is my heart cry. May you continue to desire to drink deeply of His rivers that wash over each and every situation you face as you cling to THE ROCK, who is your great STRENGTH.

Refusing Faded Glory, RA

CPM/DMM: Imitation of Life--MAWL Part 3

Contents:

Each posting features suggestions in points of engagement in CPM based upon:

Critical Elements in

 

Painting by Josh Ransom

CPM/DMM

1. Vision-God’s Glory

2. Extraordinary Prayer

3. Word of God Foundation. Holy Spirit dependence

4. Evangelism: Finding the POP and oikos

5. Discipleship: DBS style, Oikos

healthy House Fellowships

6. Baptism of followers

7. Leadership: equip indigenous leaders

8. Rapid reproduction of pregnant House Fellowships

9. Persecution Preparation

10. Ruthless Evaluation

Imitation of Life--Part 3

Make Biblical Patterns the Norm

In Biblical patterns, to make disciples who reproduce is the norm. In real time American Bride of Christ ministry making reproducing disciples is a departure from the practiced norm. The Bride of Christ wants revival, but we 

don’t want to break stride with our other plans.

Jesus imparted and multiplied His life into the lives of the few who would then reproduce the Christ-life into others and so forth. There is no Plan B.  Today’s pattern which is largely followed in the American Bride of Christ isn’t the God’s heart intentionality of the process of making disciples who reproduce—certain pieces have been lost in the process of obeying our ABBA.

In the above-mentioned time with our home base area, I facilitated the women’s ministry group to trust God for His movements (CPM essentials).  As I described the CPM essential of finding the Person of Peace, making reproducing disciples in a discovery-style group process within a given population, I queried their personal background experiential base. Only two of the seven high profile ministry leaders had any prior experience in making disciples. The rest admitted that they had never been discipled in a one on one, or group intentional way.

         Multiplying discipleship is the process of reproducing the Christ-life into others in such a way that they are patterned and obedient to do the same likewise and so forth. Carol Shadrach, with her husband Steve, enjoys years of experience both on and off the mission field. And in her most recent position of assisting the U.S. Center for World Missions Perspectives and Mobilization efforts, Shadrach has observed the following in regards to the necessary component of women being called to the mission field as she comments,

First of all I firmly believe most women either leave the field or are not effective because they are not involved in ministry before they leave the country (home country) – i.e, evangelism, discipling, leading small groups, practicing hospitality – having internationals over, etc…. if they are not sharing their faith and sharing their testimony BEFORE they leave, just going to another country will not change anything.  I think of a college girl I know who wants to be a missionary, has even been on numerous short-term missions focus trips. However she has never led anyone to Christ, is not actively sharing her faith, and not trying to influence others for Christ. – so how will moving to another country make her a missionary?  It won’t.  So you can learn all the methods you want, but what good is it if you don’t practice them?” [1]

Review the CPM/DMM essentials as listed above. Consider which aspects the Lord would be pleased to increase as you appropriate and obey His promises, to the Ends of the Earth.

RA