RE: Spiritual Movements and Multiplication Constipation

As I finished up my last post I was reminded of a Perspectives lecture by a cross-cultural missions expert by the name of Carol Davis (at the time she was a professor at Golden Gate Seminary).

She was relating an experience with a fruitful church planter in Latin America; the below is the best my memory could retain these 15 years.  

The church planter had been raising up multiplying churches and indigenous leaders for a long stretch.  The planter returned to his home country for a time and then took a trip back to visit the leaders.  

At his first stop, the leader took him to the local house that the church was meeting in.  They were growing and were actively planning the next stage of multiplication and expansion to nearby villages.  He left encouraged and confident that they were on track and were practicing the principles they had inherited.

When he landed at his second stop the leaders met him with great excitement on their faces.

"We have something incredible to show you", they gushed.

As they traveled down the road and neared the last turn, the planter related that his heart immediately sank.  He knew that the chances of this church ever multiplying again was slim to none.

"What do you think?!" they exclaimed in great anticipation of the joy that the church planter was sure to have.

Before them stood a towering spire topped with a cross.  The brand new church building, a gift of a generous and well meaning American short term missions team, instead must have looked to the church planter like an iron anchor.

Why was this such a terrible thing?  How can a church building be a bad thing?

From that point on, that particular church saw a literal building as a necessary ingredient to growth and maturity.  In order for them to multiply, they were going to expect that they also had to multiply the environment - brick, cement, steel, steeple, cross and all.

This is the equivalent of constipation for multiplication.

A note to remember.  Even though well meaning - in our rush to bless others like we have been blessed - we end up giving them things that become a burden and hindrance to their growth, maturity, and multiplication.

A few questions to reflect on.

Take a look at your discipleship process for new and maturing believers.  

What are the expectations, rules, or environments that they must move through?

What do these things help you accomplish in their lives and what has been some of the results?

Are any of them extraneous, burdensome, or downright legalistic?

If the list is long for that last question, you are building a high maintenance and HIGH ROAD spiritual environment which is dangerously close to a NO ROAD environment (which we will look at in my next post).

One quick example from my context is that the discipleship process emphasis is on ministry skills while the heart is usually touched on but mostly assumed to be strong and growing.  This results in disciples with strong hands and sharp minds but unsupported by a heart relationship with the God they are serving. Very, very dangerous.

One way we are trying to change this is to ask everyone involved with us three questions - and the order is paramount.

1. How have you been reflecting a true follower of Jesus the past few weeks? 

If a disciple cannot clearly articulate this, then there is no need to process with the other questions.  We have narrowed down into the place of deepest need.

2. How is your relationship with your wife, kids, family, friends, and "neighbors" (in the Good Samaritan sense of neighbor)?

Again, if a disciple cannot clearly articulate how they are following Jesus into these relationships and being an agent of faith, hope, and love then there is no need to proceed.  

Only after the first two do we get to the skills part.

3.  How is your ministry?

The assumption and implication of this order is that:

• ministry flows from relationship (with God and others).  See Great Commandment in Matthew 22.
• our work for Him, though an important part of our service, isn't the only part of our service.
• ministry IS relationship.  How many marriages of Christian workers wouldn't be strained to breaking, how many children wouldn't be embittered toward their fathers if this was the attitude rather than that it is o.k. to sacrifice our families and friends on the alter of ministry.

100W