SIXTH INTERNATIONAL BRETHREN CONFERENCE ON MISSION WORKSHOP PROGRAMME

Transcription

1 SIXTH INTERNATIONAL BRETHREN CONFERENCE ON MISSION WORKSHOP PROGRAMME IBCM and the authors (Not to be reproduced in adapted form without the agreement of IBCM and the particular author)

2 INTERNATIONAL BRETHREN CONFERENCE ON MISSION 6 POMEZIA, ROME, ITALY, JUNE 2015 WORKSHOP PROGRAMME (Names in italics still to be confirmed at the time of printing) No. Workshop Chairperson Introducer G. The Brethren movement and church growth G1. What can be learned from church growth thinking and practice What are the keys to church growth? Is church growth to be considered normal or automatic? Does God want the growth of the Church, or any particular church? What are the main hindrances to growth in particular congregations? Is there a formula, or are attitudes, culture and spiritual conditions more important Shifting congregational culture from maintenance to mission G2. Growing the church in the majority world What are the particular challenges to growing the church in the majority world? Growing the church spiritually as well as numerically Evangelism and discipling Funding growth G3. Growing the church in sceptical, consumerist societies What are the main obstacles to church growth in the West? How can they be overcome? Why are some churches growing in the West while others are not? Is it reasonable to expect slower growth in the West than elsewhere? Motivating every individual church member for mission What can immigrant and ethnic churches, and reverse mission, contribute? G4. Meeting the secularist challenge What is secularism? Meeting its challenge at the general philosophical and religious level as well as meeting specific ethical and religious challenges of secularism. Engaging spiritually with atheists and agnostics Awakening spiritual need in secular hedonists G5. Growth and decline in the Brethren context Are there features of growth and decline which are special to Brethren churches? If so, how are they best addressed, without causing division and dispersion? Why are some Brethren churches growing in the West and elsewhere? What are the special features of growth in those particular churches? What is the role of distinctive features of Brethren ecclesiology? G6. Learning from growth among others Should we only learn from churches of Brethren background? What can we learn from other groups whose Jeremia Rusu (Romania) José Neto (Angola)? Reinhard Lorenz (Germany) Reynald Kozycki (France) Marco Vedder (Germany) Guy Bourassa Canada) Mulugeta Ashagrie (Ethiopia) Rod Jones (Italy) Abraham Thomas (India) Juvenal Ngendahayo (Rwanda) Eric Laurent (Belgium) Ken Newton (Australia) Len Smith (Australia) Josè Neto (Angola) Frederic Walraven (Netherlands) Ooi Chin Aik (Malaysia)

3 churches are growing strongly? Are there negative lessons? What can we learn from the movement's own experience of growth worldwide under God? G7. Growth through immigrant and ethnic churches Why do immigrant and ethnic churches grow when indigenous churches do not? Is this growth transferable into indigenous churches? If not, what are the obstacles and how can they be removed? The challenge of the second and third (assimilated) generations in immigrant and ethnic churches What are the conditions in which reverse mission can be effective G8. Church planting and growth Is there a difference between evangelism and church growth on the one hand and church planting on the other? Is planting preferable to evangelism and growth? If so, in what ways? What are the chief challenges of planting? Varieties of church planting methods, and their advantages and disadvantages Resourcing of church planting. G9. Emergent and missional church: can we learn from it? Key characteristics of emergent and missional church thinking and methodology compared with 'traditional' church thinking Challenges of E&MCT to 'traditional' church thinking Weaknesses/exaggerations of E&MCT What's wrong with 'attractional' church growth approaches?! Going rather than just attracting Biblical soteriological weaknesses of E&MCT. Disciple-making v. conversion? Conversion and discipling? G10. Sports ministry and growth Taking advantage of interest in sport for evangelism Keeping priority on gospel and discipling, while using the sports interest G11. Development of camps work Camps work as means of reaching children and young people; for discipling young people; and introducing young people to Christian leadership The practicalities of camps work in different parts of the world Development of programme content and changing external regulatory standards in the developed world Risks to be guarded against in camps work wherever it is done P. Joseph Raju (USA/India) Emmanuel Besleaga (Romania/Moldova) Pedro Bu (USA/Honduras) Dan Proctor (Australia) Alva Corbin (Trinidad & Tobago) Peter Tan (Malaysia) Enris Nase (Albania) Stephen McQuoid (UK) Daniele P. Pasquale Jr.(Italy) Mario Eizagas (Uruguay) Wendy Strachan (Australia) S. Strengthening the local church S1. Improving local church leadership Strengths and weaknesses of the Brethren model of plural leadership for encouraging local church life Key ways in which plural leadership can be improved Training for (unpaid) local church leadership Integrating paid and unpaid local church Alistair Hornal (UK) Kelvin Samwata (Zambia)

4 leadership successfully S2. Improving pastoral care In what ways has pastoral care in Brethren churches tended to be weak and why? And in what ways strong? Practical ways of strengthening pastoral care within the traditional Brethren model of church life Key elements of more effective pastoral care Is pastoral care confused with psychological counselling? S3. Care for the sick and dying Differences and overlaps with run-of-the-mill church pastoral care Key elements of pastoral care for the sick and dying What are the key aims? Practical do's and don'ts S4. Improving worship and music The divine and the human in public worship Worship practice and cultural habits Can a New Testament pattern be discerned? What are its essentials? Music and cultural styles Can worship be 'improved' from the biblical point of view? What should music in worship aim for? David Yap (Singapore) Antonio Calaim (Portugal) Antonella Cicerale (Italy) Gershom Chioni (Zambia) Shirley Davies (UK) Johnson Mwebembezi (Uganda) Regin Guttesen (Faroes/Italy) Joel Hernandez (USA-Mexico) S5. Youth ministry in the local church Lothar Jung (Germany) Santhosh Thomas (India) S6 Children's ministry in the local church Abraham Thomas (India) Czesław Bassara (Poland) S7. Moving a local church forward in evangelism Evangelism and outreach the poor relation and neglected duty in man y local churches: why and how to shift the focus, if it should be? Identifying gifts of evangelism and liberating them in the local congregation Encouraging all church members to use their social networks in evangelism and outreach Equipping congregations for outreach Examples of outreaching churches in different cultures. Key features. S8. Independence and inter-dependence of local congregations Congregational independence or isolation? How are inter-congregational and the unity of the church seen in the New Testament? The NT bases of unity and intercongregational responsibility Essential and non-essential church truth. What is essential? S9 S10 Using media and technology in the local church Brethren traditions relating to use of technology (ok in outreach, not in the church?) The role of media and technology in modern culture(s); the importance of communication both in outreach and within any organisation Technology: means or end? Over-dependence on technology. A substitute for the Holy Spirit and spiritual gifts,.e.g, of evangelist. The importance of personal communication. Practicalities of improving communication in the church Engaging with Roman Catholicism in different contexts Many Catholicisms: variations in different cultures worldwide. What is consistent. Historical European struggles. Where is RC Enoch Muniah (South Africa) John Wilkes (UK) Carl Scharschmidt (Jamaica) Damaris Playa (Spain) Hadyn Marshall (St Vincent & the Grenadines) Pablo Cenepo-Torres (Peru) Chris Leong (Malaysia) Tibo Dje Didi (Chad) Reynald Kozycki (France) Eduardo de Luz (Brazil) Andy Hamilton (Italy)

5 dominant; where are they nonconformists just like us, and what are the consequences? RC's and the Charismatic movement Official RC theology Using people's experience of RC religious education in evangelising them Engaging with RC antipathy; engaging with RC sympathy; where should lines be drawn?where and how can common cause be made with them? M. Mission today M1. The changing face of cross-cultural mission Keith Cruickshank (Australia) Ian Burness (UK) M2. The responsibilities of sending churches Robert Dadd (USA) M3. From everywhere to everywhere: Missions in the age of globalization and worldwide migration Migration and missions - God s pattern in the OT and NT The church in the age of migration opportunities and challenges The local church as God s catalyst in his mission Diaspora church and reverse mission- The hidden mission force of today Missions at the exit ramps of the refugee highway M4. Faith mission today Origins and principles of faith mission What faith mission has achieved in 150 years Evangelical criticism of faith mission principles: do they have substance? Faith mission and communication of financial need Impact of modern communication on faith mission 'Living by faith' today: has it evolved? M5. The role of mission service agencies today Development of mission service agencies in recent years, in developed world and elsewhere Developing roles of agencies: networking, influence and power. What about biblical principles? The local/commending church and agencies Forming a mission service agency Agencies and the funding of mission Park Keon Shin (Korea) Peter Andrews (UK) Raju Koshy (India) Hubert Keil (Germany) Lloyd Cooke (Jamaica) Paul Young (UK) Phil Barnes (Canada) M6. Contemporary missions challenges in Asia Abraham Parail (Bahrain) Ooi Chin Aik (Malaysia) M7. Evangelism and church-planting in the Muslim world Daniel Pervez (Argentina) Sabir Ali (India) Sara Montaldi (Argentina/Pakistan) Talaat Fikry (Egypt) D. Doing good to all D1. Relief and development in mission Is it a distraction? Is it integral to evangelistic mission? Examples of R & D work by Brethren in different countries (? Nigeria, Kenya, India, Myanmar, Moldova) Opportunities created by R & D work Lessons to be learned D2. Business ventures to fund mission and poverty relief: risks, benefits and governance Examples of successful and not-so-successful business enterprises to fund mission, church- Uli Neuenhausen (Germany) Moses Omondi (Kenya) Sajida Iqbal (Pakistan) Fraser Scott (New Zealand)

6 D3 planting and poverty relief Lessons and pitfalls Assessing and managing risk Principles of good governance of social enterprise Micro-financing and poverty relief The opportunities for micro-financing in poverty relief (examples from Bright Hope World, Shared Hope, and? George Muller Charitable Trust) Lessons to be learned; pitfalls to be avoided; encouraging personal responsibility Shaping and structuring effective microfinancing projects Rob Purdue (NZ) Eodie Nindamutsa (Burundi) D4. Medical care and evangelism today Dr Ian Burness (UK) Dr George Ukwuoma (Nigeria) Dr Stephen Alfred (India) D5. Schools work among the Brethren: lessons, challenges and opportunities Scope, scale and character of educational work related to Brethren movement in different countries The significance of local legal and policy frameworks Interesting examples of educational work (?Australia, Fiji, West Indies & Zambia). Lessons to be learned from contrasting situations Keeping up with educational standards and regulatory frameworks D6. Skills education and knowledge transfer What are we talking about? Opportunities in Bible Schools and Christian schools Opportunities in the life of the local congregations; skills and knowledge transfer in the church as well as society Opportunities in church-based projects Promoting skills and knowledge transfer How far to those with skills and knowledge understand the opportunities? D7. Orphans and widows work What are the opportunities and where? Orphanages, homes, child-headed households, helping orphans were they are? Working with street-children Different types of work with widows; pros, cons and opportunities Safeguarding children and vulnerable adults; ensuring that there is no abuse in our work David Clarkson (UK) Kevin Honore (New Zealand) Peter Hedley (UK) Andres Segovia (Bolivia) Nilesh Goundar (Fiji) Kelvin Samwata (Zambia) Joel Alviar (Philippines) E. Ethical challenges E1. Creation care Nilesh Goundar (Fiji) Neil Summerton (UK) E2. Confronting corruption in society and the church C.M. Daniel (India) Martin Solomon (Zambia) E3. Pastoral questions relating to sexuality (adultery, homosexuality, incest, etc) Shalu T. Ninan (India) Simon Marshall (UK) E4. The challenge to marriage in the developed world Chuck Gianotti (USA) Philip Nunn (Netherlands) E5. Marriage issues in the majority world Gershom Chioni (Zambia) E6. Ethical questions relating to the beginning and end of life Brendan Bain (Jamaica) Dr Stephen Alfred (India) E7. Religious freedom and human rights Alfred Mustafa (Albania) Lewis Uriri (Zimbabwe) T. Training workshops

7 T1 Confidence in the Bible Adrian Thomas (USA/Jamaica) T2 Apologetics: defending the faith; contending for the faith T3 Using the bible in church life Jeremia Rusu (Romania) T4 Interpretation of scripture: why it matters Peter Calvin (Pakistan) T5 Preaching and teaching to strengthen the church Fares Marzone (Italy) Czesław Bassara (Poland) T6 T7 T8 T9 T10 Encouraging scholarship and writing in the Brethren movement (Roundtable discussion) Brethren Training Network: report on and follow-up discussion to International Training Consultation 3 Brethren Training Network: innovation in Brethren training institutions worldwide: reports from individual institutions across the world (three sessions) Brethren Training Network: towards a positive ecclesiology in churches of Brethren background Brethren Archivists and Historians Network: Presentation on key aspects of Brethren history Christopher Zito (Italy) Russell Thorp and BTN Steering Group members Russell Thorp & Mark Davies T11 BTN Theologians Network: inaugural discussion David Smith (Australia) Frank Jabini (USA and Suriname) T12 BTN Consultants Network: discussion of development of transnational ministries in teaching and advice to embryo Brethren institutions Russell Thorp (New Zealand) David Smith (Australia) Elisabeth Wilson (Australia) I. Workshops in Italian (Fares Marzone organising) Evangelism and planting of churches Sp. Workshops in Spanish (Luis Mostacero organising) F Workshops in French (Reynald Kozycki organising)

8 SIXTH INTERNATIONAL BRETHREN CONFERENCE ON MISSION SPEAKERS' AND WORKSHOP INTRODUCERS' NOTES

9 TABLE OF CONTENTS Main sessions 1. Opening session: Unity and the Gospel Fares Marzone 2. Bible Reading 1: Relationship with Christ Karl Heinz Vanheiden (John 15: 1-17) 3. Strategic Session 1: The inner life of the Christian leader Eduardo de Luz 4. Bible Reading 2: Servant leadership Luis Mostacero (John 13: 1-17) 5. Strategic Session 2: Servant leadership in practice Ian Burness 6. Bible Reading 3: The gospel and persecution Stephen Alfred (John 15: 18 16: 4 & 17-33) 7. Strategic Session 3: The Church under pressure: - in the West Eliseo Casals - in the Majority World Ooi Chin Aik 8. Bible Reading 4: The Holy Spirit and the Church Adrian Thomas (John. 14: & 16: 5-16) 9. Strategic Session 4: The Holy Spirit and the Growth of the Church Kos Umion Mulugeta Ashagrie 10. Concluding Session: '... I have sent them into the world... Kelvin Samwata Workshops Introducer(s) G. The Brethren movement and church growth G1. What can be learned from church growth thinking and practice? Mulugeta Ashagrie Rod Jones G2. Growing the Church in the Majority World Abraham Thomas Juvenal Ngendahayo G3. Growing the church in sceptical, consumerist societies Eric Laurent G4. Meeting the secularist challenge Ken Newton Len Smith G5. Growth and decline in the Brethren context José Neto Frederic Walraven G6. Learning from growth among others Ooi Chin Aik G7. Growth through immigrant and ethnic churches Pedro Bu

10 G8. Church planting and growth Peter Tan Enris Nase G9. Emergent and missional church: can we learn from it? Stephen McQuoid G10. Sports Ministry and growth Daniele P. Pasquale Mario Eizagas G11. Development of camps work Enrico Pasquini S. Strengthening the local church S1. Improving local church leadership Kelvin Samwata S2. Improving pastoral care Gershom Chini Shirley Davies S3. Care for the sick and dying Johnson Mwebemezi S4. Improving worship and music Regin Guttesen Joel Hernandez S5. Youth ministry in the local church Santhosh Thomas S6. Children's ministry in the local church Czesław Bassara S7. Moving a local church forward in evangelism Hadyn Marshall Pablo Torres S8. Independence and inter-dependence of local congregations Chris Leong Tibo Dje Didi S9. Using media and technology in the local church Reynald Kozycki S10. Engaging with Roman Catholicism in different contexts Eduardo de Luz Andy Hamilton M. Mission today M1. The changing face of cross-cultural mission Ian Burness M2. The responsibilities of sending churches Robert Dadd M3. From everywhere to everywhere: Missions in the age of globalization worldwide migration Hubert Keil M4. Faith mission today Lloyd Cooke M5. The role of mission service agencies today Paul Young Phil Barnes M6. Contemporary missions challenges in Asia Ooi Chin Aik M7. Evangelism and church planting in the Muslim world Sabir Ali Sara Montaldi Talaat Fikry

11 D. Doing good to all D1 Relief and development in mission Abu Onche Sajida Igbal D2. Business ventures to fund mission and poverty relief: risks, benefits and governance Fraser Scott D3. Micro-financing and poverty relief Eodie Nindamutsa D4. Medical care and evangelism today George Ukwuoma Stephen Alfred D5. Schools work among the Brethren: lessons, challenges and opportunities Andres Segovia D6. Skills education and knowledge transfer Nilesh Goundar D7. Orphans and widows work Kelvin Samwata Joel Alviar E. Ethical challenges E1. Creation care Neil Summerton E2. Confronting corruption in society and the church Martin Solomon E3. Pastoral questions relating to sexuality Simon Marshall E4. The challenge to marriage in the developed world Philip Nunn E5. Marriage issues in the majority world Gershom Chioni E6. Ethical questions relating to the beginning and end of life Stephen Alfred E7. Religious freedom and human rights Lewis Uriri T. Training workshops T1. Confidence in the Bible Adrian Thomas T2. Apologetics: defending the faith, contending for the faith Isaac Mbabazi T3. Using the Bible in church life Ieremia Rusu T4. Interpretation of scripture: why it matters Peter Calvin T5. Preaching and teaching to strengthen the church Czesław Bassara T6. Encouraging scholarship and writing in the Brethren movement Christopher Zito T8. Brethren Training Network: innovation in Brethren training institutions worldwide T9. Brethren Training Network: towards a positive ecclesiology in churches of Brethren background David Smith

12 T10. Brethren Archivists and Historians Network: Key aspects of Brethren history Elisabeth Wilson I. Workshop in Italian Evangelism and planting of churches Sp. Workshops in Spanish F. Workshops in French

13 MAIN SESSION NOTES Opening session: Unity and the Gospel Fares Marzone (Italy) I. Introduction In the unique Gospel by John, the Gospel of Belief, is reported this wonderful prayer of the Lord Jesus. In John s writing this prayer comes after the Prologue, the Son of God s Public ministry and right at the end of His private ministry after the great love He showed till the end, the institution of the Lord s Supper, the washing of feet, the prediction of the betrayal (Jn. 13: 1-30), and His final teachings or Discourse in the Upper room (Jn. 13: 31-16: 33). In this discourse there was a time we could define as a «questions and answers» period (13: 31-14: 31), an important discourse divided into three sections regarding 1. the relations that the disciples should have had with the Lord Himself (15: 1-11), 2. among themselves (15: 12-17).and with the world (15: 18-27). Then comes the revelation of the sending of the Holy Spirit (16: 5-15), of Jesus reappearance (16: 16-24) and of the Father (16: 25-33). It is when Jesus finished all of this teaching that He went apart to pray. This is His longest prayer reported in the Gospels. It has high Theology proper and Christology and has been entitled in different ways and is divided into three main sections. Jesus prays for Himself, for His disciples and for His future believers. These three sections are like three concentric circles, the second of which is larger than the first, and the third of which is larger than the second, and inclusive of all three. All, however, have a common center. The prayer as a whole is keyed to one central idea, eternal life; for it is Jesus petition that He may be glorified in order that eternal life may be made available 1 In this opening message of mine I ll focus on the third section of this prayer. First of all, I ll try to explore some of its biblical content and meaning, so it will be a Bible reading or an exposition of the main lines. For example, I want to see the use of some key words which are peculiar in John s Gospel, some of them being: word, believe, world. Secondly, but very briefly, I ll try to see how this content has been applied during the course of history starting from the apostolic church, the apostles oral ministry, writings. And, thirdly, I'll give a few examples. Finally, as my conclusion, I d like to steer up our thinking and interest stimulating I hope! our action, too. In order to do so, we need to ask ourselves a few important questions. I don t expect to have either the answers to all of these questions or to answer all of them. But I think that, in considering them, we can really grasp the Lord s meaning of those wonderful words. The questions are: Which unity had our Lord in mind when He spoke of it: did he have in mind anything like what today is called worldwide ecumenism? What s our confidence in the gospel today? Why did we put in our conference logo, the symbol of the Coliseum? How can we apply Jesus simple yet very profound teaching today? II. Unity and the Gospel (John 17: 20-26) Presupposition: in spite of being the purest and most extensive example in the whole Bible of a direct communication between the two Persons of the Godhead, nevertheless it is expressed in the most comprehensible phrasings, syntax, and words. 2 This prayer contains the simplest sentences, though the ideas are profound. The shortest part is Christ s prayer for His own interests. The prayer has five main petitions, one for Himself and four for us. Our section enumerates two of them: unity and love. Luther said of this prayer: This is truly, beyond measure, a warm and hearty prayer. He opens the depth of His heart, both in reference to us and to His Father, and He pour them all out. It sounds so honest, so simple; it is so deep, so rich, so wide It has been said that the great Scottish Reformer, John Knox had this prayer read to him every day during his final sickness, and in the last moments of his life he testified that these verses continued to be a great comfort and a source of strength for him. 1 Merrill C. Tenney, John: The Gospel of Belief, Grand Rapids, Eerdmans, 1975, p See James Montgomery Boice, The Gospel of John: An Expositional Commentary, Grand Rapids, Zondervan, 1978, p. 335.

14 This prayer should be to us something of what the burning bush was to Moses, for here we hear God speaking, and we should put off our shoes and bow humbly, knowing that we are about to tread on the most hallowed ground. 3 A. Unity: the Lord s teaching 1. Unity: the first petition that the Lord asked for us 2. Unity: His threefold desire for us 3. Unity: a threefold basis B. The Gospel: the Lord s teaching 1. Preaching: one of His ministries 2. Preaching: one of the disciples ministries 3. Preaching: the results III. Unity and the Gospel in History A. How the first believers understood and practiced it B. Unity in the apostles teaching C. During the centuries IV. Conclusion: Practical challenges for us today If the motto of the sixteenth century was Truth will win, the one of the twentieth and ours is especially Unity will win. At all levels, there is a search for unity: at the political, economic, even among sport after the FIFA scandal! And, of course, in religious, what we would call false, ecumenism and syncretism But what kind of unity does God want for us? We want to obey the will of the One who has made us one in Christ. Unity has its base on the Gospel. Unity is not to be searched, but to be maintained according to the clear teaching by Paul (Eph. 4: 3). Considering all the divisions that have plagued Christendom for two thousand years, it is amazing that God has continued to use the church to extend his kingdom 4 Among the various challenges that we are facing today, there is surely the quest of unity at the ecumenical level. So the question we need to ask ourselves is: what kind of unity was taught by Jesus? Surely not an organizational one. But this is exactly what happened when Constantine came on the scene. Unity doesn t mean, or require, conformity. There is to be a very interesting workshop in which the discussion will be on the independence and interdependence of local churches. As Brethren, apart from in some countries where there has been a requirement by the government or where cultural circumstances favoured otherwise, the stress has been put on independency. And so a lack of unity has affected much the work, doing in some cases much damage, too. In organizing these conferences, we ve come to know many dear brothers and sisters who are working in the same country, sometimes in the same area, with the same kind of ministry, but they just don t know each other! Let s stop to be lone rangers! It will not do good for the furtherance of the work. That s not the kind of unity Jesus taught, nor the apostles and the faithful church across the centuries. We are a small part of the great body of Christ and how sad is it that even between our small midst there are so many divisions not to speak among Christians more widely. We have built barriers not so much in the name of the great theological doctrines of salvation (we would have the right to set apart from those who deny the plenary inspiration of the Bible and thus its inerrancy and authority) or in ethical matters, but as result of minor things. How sad must be our Lord when He looks down at us. We should stop and confess that too many times we ve not been one! What power has the gospel in our lives, in the lives of others: are we living the gospel, preaching the gospel, believing in its endless power. During this week we shall hear from the platform, in the corridors and in many of the workshop discussions, that this gospel (which was preached in a simple yet powerful way by men of different age, culture and educational levels) is still preached and brings fruits in every part of the 3 Op. cit. p John White, The Fight, Downers Grove, InterVarsity Press, 1976, p. 137.

15 world in spite of the enemy who mocks us. And, of course this ministry of ours should be watered by prayer. As Samuel Chadwick said: "The one concern of the devil is to keep Christians far from praying. He fears nothing from prayerless studies, prayerless work, and prayerless religion. He laughs at our toil, mocks at our wisdom, but trembles when we pray." People should say loudly in our cities, towns and villages what was said of Paul and his circle These men who have turned the world upside down have come here also (Acts 17: 6-8). In the pluralistic world of the first century, the early Church faced a cultural environment not dissimilar our own. These first-century disciples were known for their boldness, for they experienced the power of the gospel at work in their own lives. 5 We should be ready to Turn the world upside down living in Unity in the Gospel so that the world may know! Are we ready to do so? 5 Ian Burness, The Global Mission of the Church in Perspective n. 53, Autumn 2014, p. 7.

16 Bible Reading 1: Relationship with Christ (John 15: 1-17) Karl Heinz Vanheiden(Germany) We all are looking for greatness. And each of us has a longing for success. Who doesn t want to belong to a growing church or be a great preacher? Who doesn t want to bring blessings or bring fruit? Who doesn t want to be used to lead many people to faith? Of course we want that! We want to be filled with life, strong and fruitful. And with that we have the topic of our Bible study: Filled with life, strong and fruitful. But, as we will see in God s word, it is specifically not our strength, our assertiveness, or our assimilation of modern culture. Quite the contrary. It is about the one who is our strength, about him, the most important in our faith and about what is the most important in our discipleship. We must learn to be filled with life, strong and fruitful in the same way as our Lord Jesus Christ explained it to his disciples. What is a disciple? Our Lord Jesus Christ has said (v 16): You did not choose me, but I chose you. Disciples are people, who follow Jesus, live with him and obey him. And they do it, because he chose them. Disciples, at that time there were twelve, eleven to be exact, because Judas was already possessed by Satan and had walked out into the darkness. But Jesus had even more disciples. There were the 72 and the 120, there were the faithful in the large congregation in Jerusalem, the Christians in Joppa and in Damascus, in Antioch, Lystra and Ephesus. This is what Luke tells us in the book of Acts anyway. Disciples are people the Father has drawn to the Son and they came to Jesus. This is what John tells us (John 6: 44). Our text is about disciples, about people who followed Jesus, who live with him and obey him by reason of God having brought them to him. Our Lord doesn t discuss the question, if a believer can be lost. Rather he is intending to show his disciples how to bring forth fruit; that is, how one can become filled with life, strong and fruitful. But it is impossible without him. Without Jesus no fruit grows. Even a disciple cannot do anything that will last without his Lord. He can be successful and have a large following, but he cannot bring forth fruit, not real fruit. I can win followers, I can fight for success, but this doesn t work for fruit. To this day, no person can cause growth or produce fruit; only God can do that. Once again: what the Lord is telling his disciples is not intended to cause them to doubt if they are really disciples; it is to show them how to produce fruit. He uses two analogies for this: the grapevine and friendship, or more precisely, the difference between a slave and a friend. In the entire text, there are only two commands: In the analogy with the grapevine there is the command, Remain in me! In the analogy of friendship we have the command, Remain in my love! First, let us consider the facts our Lord is presenting to his disciples. 1 Facts which we cannot influence Fact 1: The grapevine and its branches are our Lord himself and his disciples. Fact 2: The gardener who prunes the grape vine is our heavenly Father, who removes all false and useless branches from the start. A while ago, my wife and I spent our holiday at a vineyard. We were told that the gardener plans the fruit from the very beginning. That determines what he cuts off and what he allows to grow. The gardener knows or presumes to know which branches will carry fruit and which will not. The former are broken off by hand in spring. They merely waste the energy of the grapevine and never bring fruit. Our Father in heaven knows from the very beginning much better than a gardener exactly what branches need to be pruned. A grape vine needs a lot of attention in the course of a year to help it to optimally produce fruit. The branches cannot be allowed to grow too long, before they need to be pruned. The sweetest and best fruit, is the fruit that grows closest to the vine. But if there are too many leaves on the branches, they need to be broken off as well, so that the grapes get enough sun and can dry well after rain. So is it in Germany. Otherwise they will rot. All of this is the job of the gardener, who prunes the vine. Whether that is painful for the branches is not mentioned. Thus there is not much point in spending any time thinking about that. The Father does it.

17 Period. There are other matters we need to be thinking about. We ll have more to say about that in a moment. Fact 3: The disciples are already clean (or pure) through the word of the Lord. (v. 3) In the three years of his ministry, he had proclaimed and explained many things to them. He had praised and corrected them, he had encouraged and admonished them. The same happens with disciples of the Lord today. It takes place through the word of their God and Lord in the New and Old Testaments. This word purifies us if we listen to it. But disciples have learned to listen to the words of their Lord and to obey them. I hope that we have learned to drink the milk of the Word and have become able to handle solid food. Fact 4: Jesus loved his disciples just like the Father had loved him. And we may safely assume that nothing in this statement has changed to this day. Nothing can separate us from the love of our Lord Jesus Christ (Romans 8: 35). This love has nothing to do with feelings and most certainly not with erotica. This love is not about liking someone, it is a kind of commitment; a love which, if called to, will lay down its life for someone. V. 13: Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one s life for one s friends. 2 The responsibilities of the disciples We need to consider what our responsibilities are and what not. For example, the Lord does not tell his disciples to bear fruit. We re not capable of that. If we would try to produce fruit, we would only produce works, works of the flesh as Paul calls them. No person can produce the fruit of the Spirit. So what is the responsibility of a disciple then and now? There are only two: Remain in Jesus and Remain in his love. Now we need to consider how that is possible. 2.1 A disciple should always be bonded to Jesus For he is the vine and we are the branches (v. 5). Just as the vine carries nutrients to the branches so they can grow and produce fruit, Jesus infuses his disciples with his power so that the Fruit of the Spirit can grow. The Lord once said to the apostle Paul: My power is made perfect in weakness! (2 Cor. 12: 9). But he first had to learn how that works Yes, we want to be filled with life, strong and fruitful, but we are weak. If we imagine we are strong then it is a stupid and devilish overestimation. No decent result will come of it. Jesus just says: Remain in me! Just stay closely bonded with me. Ask my advice in all things, ask for my help in every situation. And then always be thankful. I know it s terrible for our pride. But there is no other way. The Lord says in v. 4: Remain in me, as I also remain in you! That means, his power and his life can only flow through us if we are closely bonded with him. This is the only way we will bring forth ample fruit. And he explains to us immediately why that is: No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. V. 6: If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. A branch without a vine is mere nonsense, useless. It withers more and more and at last is thrown into the fire. A human sample was Judas. Another we read in John 6: 66: From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him. A branch without a vine is just as ridiculous as a Christian without Jesus Christ. Being connected with the Lord is not just a theoretical proposition that we have to convince ourselves of. It is a practical condition. I go to sleep and wake up and I m still bonded with him. I get up and I thank him for the new day, for my breakfast and for my wife, for clothing, the strength I need and for my health. I pray to him when I m sitting at my computer and I pray when I go for a walk. And if I meet a man walking his dog, I pray not for the dog, but for the man that the Lord will give me the right words. I pray while working, even if something doesn t work out. I thank him when I am able to solve the problem with his help. I pray when I study his word, when he gives me clarity, when he gives me instruction what I am supposed to do and so on. The first responsibility of a disciple: Remain in Jesus! Always be bonded together with him! 2.2 A disciple is always remained in Jesus love The Lord himself tells us immediately how we can do that, v. 10: Abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father s commandments and abide in his

18 love. That sounds strange. Is the Lord wanting to burden us with commands again? In v. 12 he becomes more specific: My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. And in v.17 he says once more: This is my command: Love each other. So, he wants us to remain in his love. And he explains to us that we abide in his love, if we keep his commandments. And he says in vv : Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one s life for one s friends. 14 You are my friends if you do what I command. This is strange. Why does my friend want to give me commands? A friend doesn t give me orders! But this friend is not on the same level with me. He is the Lord and I am the slave. The difference between him and us is huge: He is the Lord of the universe and I am only a tiny little man. But he says to us: v. 15: I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. He entrusts his friends who are willing to listen and do what he says with the word of God. He gives the revelation of God s attributes and will. Indeed, he entrusts things to us that you just don t entrust to slaves But how can disciples remain in the love of Jesus? In the same way as Jesus remains in the love of his father, obeying him and giving his love to others. We obey Jesus if we receive the stream of his love and let it flow on to others. Not like the Dead Sea that only receives the water without passing it on. It is only a salty swamp. Instead we should be like the Sea of Galilee which receives the water of the Jordan river and passes it on as a blessing for many. I remain in the love of my Lord in that I am conscious of his love for me, in that I enjoy his love just like I enjoy the sun. That means to thank him for his love to sing of his love to honor and adore him This is demonstrated by Loving one another (this is not about feelings but about caring and devotion) Showing love to other people Sacrificing one s own life if necessary. He who treats his brothers and sisters without patience and friendliness, does not love them. He shows that the love he is singing about does not really fill his heart. We have talked about the responsibilities of disciples. There are only two: We are to remain in him and in his love. That will have powerful implications for our everyday life. Let s take a look at the joyful results: 3 The joyful results V. 7: If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. What an incredible promise. But this promise is dependent on two conditions which we tend to forget far too easily: 1. Remain in him, 2. His word is to remain in us (because it purifies us). Then Jesus promises: he will answer our prayers. V. 8: This is to my Father s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples. This is how we bring much fruit. Fruit becomes apparent in our characters (Fruit of the Spirit Galatians 5:22), according to Romans 6: 22, in a sanctified life and, according to John 4: 36, also in people who are receiving

19 eternal life. The end of verse 8 is translated in the New Revised Standard Version (NRSV) as and become my disciples. That s what he said to his disciples. Discipleship is a process of continual growth. V. 16: I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit fruit that will last and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you. Here we have another wonderful promise that our prayers will be answered. Yes, he who has learned to remain in Jesus and in his love and thus bring lasting fruit, he has also experienced how prayers are answered. One more wonderful result is found in v. 11: I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. Our Lord doesn t cause us to experience aggravation or stress. He wants our joy to be complete. We want to be filled with life, strong and fruitful. We want to be filled with life through our bond with him; strong in him not in our self then our life will produce fruit. Fruit which remains and makes us happy.

20 Strategic Session 1: The inner life of the Christian leader Eduardo de Luz The bibliographic references for this inner life term, bring up lifestyle, contemplative people, people with little or no involvement with the world around them, as if they were alienated from the present world, living a simple communal life in its most radical version. Of course, that lifestyle has a certain merit, especially in regards to holiness and freedom from worldliness. However, it can cause one to be lethargic in regards to the Great Commission or, even to the life as a witness in the midst of the generation in which we live. The scripture text that shows the huge contrast between this theme and those who want to establish an earthly kingdom, is found in Acts, the first chapter, starting with verse six to verse twelve. In verse six, the disciples ask: "Lord, is this the time when you're going to restore the kingdom to Israel?" This group was expecting the restoration of the kingdom of David, with all of its past glory. An earthly domain with all of its aspects: secular, political, riches, casting off the yoke of Rome. At that time, the Lord corrects some doctrinal issues. HE does not deny this truth about the kingdom, but affirms that it is not the time for that to take place and that only the FATHER knows when this will happen. Now the responsibility of Christians is a very specific task, to be a living and powerful testimony in all those places mentioned, in Jerusalem and unto the ends of the earth. And when he had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight. The disciples were hearing these new things and seeing the Lord Jesus rising into the skies. This is a startlingly beautiful scene which testified to all that it was a tremendously spiritual, heavenly matter. They remained with their eyes fixed upon the skies, contemplating, and rightly so. After all, the skies had opened their doors to receive Him who was returning home. That group of people went from one extreme to another, in just a few seconds. These two extremes are visible today among Christians the world over. These extremes have distanced themselves more and more, forming groups that are totally separate, with one group violently criticizing the other. The first group interacts with the world around them, participating politically, in businesses and, most of the time, they seem to have forgotten about heaven, about the promises to come. They have become worldly, capitalists, secular. The other group is easier to classify: they are the contemplative ones that were mentioned earlier. However, both groups have forgotten the order that the Lord Jesus left to be fulfilled during His absence. I want to point out verse ten: and while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as he went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel; which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven. The two angels called the disciples attention to the fact that there was a time to be fulfilled and a promise of the Lord s return. However, there was something that needed to be done while awaiting that return. It was obedience to the Lord and the proclamation of the Gospel to the ends of the earth. What s more interesting is that it was this very obedience that would bring about the vision that both of these groups held: the Kingdom would become a reality and we would behold the Lord face-to-face. Here I want to call our attention to the great challenge of the Christian leader: finding a balance between these two ways of thinking in his inner life, and in this way, fulfilling the ministry that he is responsible for. The Christian leader needs to resolve this internal conflict, otherwise, he will over emphasize one or the other and could easily become unbalanced in the fulfillment of his responsibility. The word Christian brings direction to the matter in focus. Christian leader has certain characteristics of its own, which are unique, different from those of other leadership models. The values found in the teachings of Christ, regarding leadership are revolutionary, innovative, even though they have existed for more than 2000 years. They continue to cause wonder to those who seek to know them. Some of the most well-known speakers on the matter of leadership have sought inspiration in the New Testament, the life and ministry of our Lord Jesus Christ. The new concepts about servant leadership and leading by influence are inspired by Biblical principles and, recently, many books have been written about this. What really is surprising is that unbelievers have discovered these truths and some of us have not even given the due credit to this inexhaustible source of wisdom which is the Word of God.

21 Among the two innovative leadership models, I want to focus on leading by influence. Influence indicates trust relationships, relationships that value commitment, not just with the task to be carried out, but among those who do the work. When there is no trust, the likelihood of influence is almost nil. After all, people tend to follow those whom they trust. I want to quote some phrases from an excellent article on this matter of leadership by influence, by Gianini Ferreira. Successful influencing is to get people to accept commitment. Without that, you really won t have influenced anyone you re just fooling yourself. (Jim Wilson) A leader who is not capable of inspiring confidence in people is a leader who may be in a leadership position for reasons that are not compatible with the leadership profile that is necessary to face the current challenges. The credibility of a leader depends on how he builds the bases for his relationships. Confidence is the direct result of a conduct of integrity. Leading without confidence may cause the decision process to be slower and more fragile. According to Maxwell, co-author of the book, Leading is Influencing, The fundamental thing about integrity is that it allows others to trust you. Without trust, you have nothing. Trust is the most important factor in personal and professional relationships. When we don t trust, the chances of another person influencing us are almost nil. Distrust is an obstacle that keeps us from allowing ourselves to be influenced. People can give in for other reasons, such as threats or pressure. The style of coercive power, and many times manipulation is what is left to the leader when he loses the respect and credibility of his team. The human tendency is to follow those he trusts. Jo Owen, in The Art of Influencing People, states that, confidence is the currency of influence. If we want to be influential, we should become the trusted partner of people that we wish to influence. We may consider ourselves to be trustworthy, but that doesn t count. We have to be considered by others to be trustworthy. A sure sign that trust is fragile is when we ask another person to trust us. Confidence is not something that can be asked for, it is something that is won on a daily basis, from the first opportunity. Betrayal of someone s trust can have a negative effect that is lifelong. Follow the premise of Walk the Talk, demonstrate by your actions what you state with your words. Rectitude of character strengthens commitment and serves as an example to inspire people. One of its greatest exponents, John Maxwell, calls to our attention that certain attitudes are important in generating trust, which are: 1. Modelling consistency of character; 2. Using honest communication; 3. Valuing transparency; 4. Exemplifying humility; 5. Demonstrating your support for others; 6. Keeping the promises you make; 7. Adopting attitudes of service 8. Encouraging reciprocal participation with the people that you influence. In other words, the author is speaking about inner life. If there is no inner life, in fact, there will be no leadership leadership that influences, that motivates people to give their own lives to carry out that which they believe to be right. When we speak of a Christian leader, we are thinking of the following fundamentals:

22 1. We are talking about someone who has experienced the new birth, whose life has been transformed and he knows very well, when and where this new life began; 2. We re talking about someone whose way of thinking lines up with Scripture, whose concepts and thoughts are formed by biblical teaching, and with careful analysis it s possible to recognize which biblical principle forms the basis of his thoughts; 3. We re talking about a person who has a solid understanding of the divine purposes, and that invests his life in interaction and effective participation in a local church that has a strong missionary interest; 4. Consequently this person lives a life of holiness and worship of the living and true God. When we speak of leaders, we find some general characteristics, certain fundamentals which we hope that all leaders have. Anyone who is a leader should have: 1. A clear vision of the goal that he wants to see reached, or of the mission that was given him. 2. A macro vision of that which was entrusted to him 3. The ability to develop the details (the micro parts), while maintaining the overall view, the macro, in the background; 4. A preliminary strategy about who and when and how to reach this goal; 5. We would imagine that he has some notion, even though very basic, of the difficulties involved in accomplishing that which was entrusted and ideas about how to overcome these obstacles in his path; 6. An ability to mobilize and draw out the best in his partners in this journey. This is one of the main reasons for which he was recognized as a leader. However, our subject is not about models of leaders, about how to lead, but about the Inner Life of a Christian leader. This causes us to go deeper to leave the superficial, the tradition, and the outward part. I wrote down some characteristics that were common in these men: 1. They loved the Lord and had an intimate walk with HIM. They spent hours in prayer and meditation, hearing the Lord s voice. These times alone with the Lord were fundamental in the formation of these men that marked the time in which they lived. It s rare to find men who spend time alone with God, in meditation and prayer. We live in a time when this Christian necessity is looked down on. I remember something that happened to an excellent preacher in my country, Brazil. The doorbell rang at his house and he went to the door. It was an elder who asked him, what are you doing now? He answered, I m reading the Bible and meditating. To his great surprise, the elder said, Well, since you aren t doing anything, let s go calling on some of the brothers. 2. They knew the Scriptures and were faithful to their truths. Most of these men translated the New Testament into their mother tongues, directly from the original Greek. And so they knew the meaning that was the closest possible to what the text was trying to express. They studied the Bible, knew its text, its context, its history. Truly the Word of God was central to their personal agenda. 3. They worked intensely on the projects in which they were involved. They were not distracted by other things to do and made no distinction between day and night. I see clearly the principle taught by Paul in Colossians chapter one, verse twenty nine that teaches: Whereunto I also labour, striving according to his working, which worketh in me mightily. 4. All of them were intelligent and wise. My wife says that every Christian is intelligent and wise. The New Testament teaches us that we have the Mind of Christ. Do we need more than that? The Holy Spirit indwells us and teaches us, putting words in our mouths. How much wisdom I have seen, have read and heard among the brethren. Psalm one nineteen, verse ninety-nine confirms this truth: I have more understanding than all my teachers: for thy testimonies are my meditation. Wisdom is the correct application of what we know. 5. They did all they could to fulfill what they believed to be the mandate of the Lord God. They learned with the Lord Jesus in His prayer which is registered in the Gospel of John, chapter seventeen, verse

23 four: I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do. And yes, they reached the end of the fulfillment of their responsibilities. They didn t stop in the middle of the way, they never gave up, until they had finished that which the Lord had entrusted them to do. Only death could stop them. I recall David Livingston: he was in Africa, in Mozambique, lying on a simple bed, sick, debilitated, when he heard his assistant ask: Where are we going now? He babbled the following response: Anywhere, as long as it is forward. 6. They all had to struggle against the status quo of their time. Against the way of life of that time. They were did not give in to the immorality, the injustices, the ignorance, the corruption, to sin in its various forms. Because of this, they were persecuted, looked down on, humiliated, but they didn t give up, they remained steadfast, looking unto Christ. This attitude is called Holiness.

24 Bible Reading 2: Servant leadership (John 13: 1-17) Luis Mostacero (Peru) Introduction Their feet were dirty from the dusty roads they walked on. The basin and the towel were there in the Upper Room. They looked at their feet and into each other s eyes but none of them took the towel and basin to serve each other. Laziness? Pride? Indifference? Cultural barriers? Did Jesus want them to take the initiative to serve? Here they had that chance, but nobody took it! From our perspective, they missed the privilege of touching His beautiful feet! Those feet that considered worthy on stepping on this sinful planet earth! Those feet that walked relentlessly towards Jerusalem, towards the cross for our sake! It seems odd to us that, although John records Jesus final meal, he does not record the well-known details of the Lord s Supper as we have them in the Synoptic Gospels. 6 In these accounts, two important motifs appear. Firstly, Jesus uses the imagery of Passover bread and wine to point to his death. Secondly, Luke tells us that there was a dispute about greatness that night, and Jesus responds by telling the disciples about true servanthood (Lk. 22: 24 27). In our passage, John weaves these themes together as he shows Jesus speaking about and modelling true servanthood as well as declaring in clear terms his death and departure. 7 Jesus, the Son of God, shows us that His greatness lies in His servant attitude. For the purposes of our study, we will consider the passage in 3 sections. In v. 1-3 Jesus knows. In v Jesus washes. And in v , Jesus teaches. 1. JESUS KNOWS (v. 1-3): Divine knowledge The Gospels tell us about the omniscience of Christ. But here John tells us about the special knowledge of the Lord that sets the context for all that will follow. What is it that Jesus knows that John wants us to know too? 1. The arrival of the hour. 2. The extent of his love for his own people. 3. The activity of the devil against him through Judas. 4. The betrayal itself from a friend who also received his love. 5. The authority he received from his Father. 6. His identity with the Father, Jesus certainty of His divine origin. 7. His return journey to the Father, the destiny of his work. Jesus knew that His hour was come (13: 1). What was this divinely appointed hour? It was the time when He was going to leave this world and return to his Father. Jesus earthly ministry had come to an end. 8 Time was short and He wanted to show how much He loved them. Jesus knew that the Father had given Him all things (13: 3). Because Jesus knew who He was, where He came from, what He had, and where He was going, He was the complete master of the situation. 9 Jesus decision to wash his disciples feet is anchored in his assurance of his relationship with God. This gives him the courage to do something his followers never expected. 10 Maybe Jesus wanted to give them an object lesson, a visual, practical demonstration of what his teachings looked like in practice. He was concerned that they understand maybe the most important lesson: that they needed to love and serve one another (13: 35). 6 Mt. 26: 17 19; Mk. 14: 12 16; Lk. 22: Bis, (2000). 8 Morris, Leon, El Evangelio según Juan, Vol. 2, (Barcelona: CLIE, 2005). 9 Wiersbe, W. W. (1996). The Bible exposition commentary (Jn 13: 1 5). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books. 10 Burge, G. M. (2000). John. The NIV Application Commentary ( ). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House.

25 In great contrast with Jesus love is the betrayal of Judas. It is obvious that Jesus did not trust him and was always aware that he would eventually betray him. 11 Jesus is completely aware of the cost of this love, for the devil is working his plans through Judas. This knowledge would have inspired in us hatred and revenge; however, He loved them all. 12 Not only Judas, but all the disciples who abandoned him. 2. JESUS WASHES (vv. 4-11): Spiritual Cleansing As the account of the foot washing in John 13 makes clear, What Jesus knew helped determine what Jesus did (Jn. 13: 4 5). 13 What the Lord is going to show is deeper than an act of courtesy. Foot-washing was needed in Palestine. The streets were dusty and people wore sandals. It was a mark of honour for a host to provide a servant to wash a guest s feet, although Jewish slaves were exempt and the job kept for Gentiles. Wives often washed their husbands feet, and children washed their parents feet. But all the ancient sources show that foot washing was a degrading and lowly task. It was always an act of extreme devotion. But since it was also an act with social implications, we never find those with a higher status washing the feet of those beneath them. Most people, had to wash their own feet. 14 In Genesis 18, Abraham expected even the Lord and the two angels to wash their own feet! It was, however, a major breach of hospitality not to provide for it (Simon the Pharisee; Lk. 7: 40 50). When Jesus takes off his outer clothing and wraps a towel around himself (13: 4), he is adopting the posture of a slave. 15 His action contrasts sharply with the self-seeking disciples. 16 He knows that they don t deserve it. He knows that it would have been good for them to do it for Him instead. He knows they deserve a reproach, but he serves them in love! The astonishing fact here is that the very God who became flesh (Jn. 1: 14) was doing the work of a slave! It is not only WHAT He is doing but WHO is doing it! If one of my workers comes and washes my feet nobody will complain! But if the president of a powerful country comes and washes my feet?! Imagine the King of kings and Lord of lords, the Creator of the whole universe! It reminds us of when he laid aside his glorious and royal garments to become a servant (Phil. 2: 6). It is the journey he took from heaven to earth, to the cross and then His return to the Father. His journey was from glory to glory. He went back to the glory I had with you before the world began (Jn. 17: 5). It is a journey that will remind the disciples they will need to follow after. It is remarkable how the Gospel of John reveals the humility of our Lord even while magnifying His deity. His ultimate expression of humility was His death on the cross. His humility was not born of poverty, but of riches. He was rich, yet He became poor (2 Cor. 8: 9). Jesus was the Sovereign, yet He took the place of a servant. He had all things in His hands, yet He picked up a towel. He was Lord and Master, yet He served His followers. It has well been said that humility is not thinking meanly of yourself; it is simply not thinking of yourself at all. 17 Doubtless afterwards, all of the disciples were extremely embarrassed by what happened, but so far, nobody has complained. Until He comes to Simon Peter! His objection was well-motivated, but wrong. The Lord responds: Peter, I want to teach you something, I know you won t understand it now but you will do later! The Lord wants to wash his feet. It will be a proof of a real fellowship with Him. However, Peter doesn t want his Lord to do what a slave does. For him such a suggestion is an impossible act and he is not willing to allow it to happen. 11 eg 6: 70 71; 13: 10 11, 19; 17: 12. See Wiersbe, W. W. (1996). The Bible exposition commentary. Wheaton, IL: Victor Books. 12 Köstenberger, A. J. (2013). Encountering John: (W. A. Elwell, Ed.) (131). Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic. 13 Wiersbe, W. W. (1996). The Bible exposition commentary (Jn 13:1 5). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books. 14 Blum, E. A. (1985). John. In J. F. Walvoord & R. B. Zuck (Eds.). 15 Burge, G. M. (2000). John. The NIV Application Commentary ( ). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House. 16 cf. Matt. 20:20 24; Mark 9:33 34; Luke 22: See Blum, E. A. (1985). John. In J. F. Walvoord & R. B. Zuck (Eds.). 17 Wiersbe, W. W. (1996). The Bible exposition commentary (Jn 13:1 5). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.

26 What is Jesus referring to when he replies to Peter (13:10)? Unless is it conditional? Why? If the washing of all the body is a general statement it is referring to the taking away of a person s sin, but if it is a specific statement regarding the washing of the feet, he is referring to the fellowship which Peter will miss when he sins as he walks in the Christian life. Wash your feet then means washing away attitudes which we pick up from the world. For Peter the most important thing is to have fellowship with His Lord and, typically, he goes from one extreme You shall never to another you do my whole body! What Peter did understand was enough to prompt his unrestrained response. But who are those who have had a bath (13: 10)? What bath? And why only the feet? When the sinner trusts the Saviour, he is bathed all over and his sins are washed away. 18 However, as the believer walks in this world, it is easy to become defiled. He does not need to be bathed all over again; he simply needs to have that defilement cleansed away. God promises to cleanse us when we confess our sins to Him (1 Jn. 1: 9). But why is it so important that we keep our feet clean? Because if we are defiled, we cannot have communion with our Lord. (13: 8). When God bathes us all over in salvation, He brings about our union with Christ; and that is a settled relationship that cannot change. In Titus (3: 5), Paul calls this the washing of regeneration. However, our communion with Christ depends on our keeping ourselves unspotted from the world (Jas. 1: 27). If we permit unconfessed sin in our lives, we hinder our walk with the Lord; and that is when we need to have our feet washed. Who is clean? Who is not clean and why? When Jesus added that not every one of you is clean, He was referring to Judas (Jn. 13: 11, 18). Jesus knew Judas was about to betray Him. Judas had allowed Satan to seduce him with money and power. He had many opportunities to repent but he wanted to do his own will at the expense of the life of his Master. This is actually contrary to servanthood. Jesus instead wanted to do not his own will but the Father s! This indicates that Jesus work of foot washing has not changed Judas s heart, because Judas was not spiritually cleansed. 3. JESUS TEACHES (vv ): Humble Service Jesus asked the disciples if they understood what He had done, and it is not likely that they did. So, He explained it: He had given them a lesson in humble service, an example for them to follow. The world thinks that happiness is the result of others serving us, but real joy comes when we serve others in the name of Christ. 19 If the foot washing and the cross are prompted by Jesus love (v. 1), the fellowship of the cleansed that he is creating is to be characterized by the same love (vv ), and therefore by the same self-denial for the sake of serving others, as He had taught in Matthew 23: One of the ways human pride manifests itself in a stratified society is in refusing to take the lower role. But now Jesus, their Lord and Teacher, has washed his disciples feet an unthinkable act! 21 His later act of sacrifice on the cross cannot be repeated, but his model of self-giving love can become a natural feature of the community that follows him and imitates him (13: 14 15). 22 If you want to teach how to love, you need to love first. It is easy to give orders in your leadership. It will be direct and simpler. But if you lead by example, it will be more difficult because people are not forced to follow the example. This is a story that challenges our motivation for leadership. But it is also a story that builds us up. The servant (slave) is not greater than his master (13: 16); so, if the master becomes a slave, where does that put the slave? On the same level as the master! By becoming a servant, 18 cf 1 Cor. 6: 9 11; Titus 3: 3 7; and Rev. 1: 5 19 Wiersbe, W. W. (1996). The Bible exposition commentary. Wheaton, IL: Victor Books. 20 Carson, D. A. (1991). The Gospel according to John. The Pillar NT Commentary. Leicester, England; Grand: IVP. 21 Carson, D. A. (1991). The Gospel according to John. The Pillar NT Commentary (461). Leicester, England; Grand: IVP. 22 Burge, G. M. (2000). John. The NIV Application Commentary ( ). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House.

27 our Lord did not push us down: He lifted us up! He dignified sacrifice and service. The world asks, How many people work for you? but the Lord asks, For how many people do you work? 23 God blesses His servants not for what they know but for their responses to what they know. 24 Blessing comes after obedience. Not necessarily material blessing but the satisfaction of having done God s will. Even studying this section in John s Gospel can stir us emotionally or enlighten us intellectually; but it cannot bless us spiritually until we do what Jesus told us to do. This is the only way to lasting joy. Let s look around us to see how many opportunities we have to serve by washing each other s feet. CONCLUSION Luke tells us about a tragic and sad discussion among the disciples. They were discussing who was the most important (Lk. 22: 24). While Jesus was about to give His life, they were concerned about power and prestige. Was this discussion also what prompted Jesus to wash his disciples feet? 25 This attitude to one another needed to be washed away. The Lord is trying to wash away wrong attitudes to leadership. While some leaders compete with one another, Jesus serves. What model of leadership will you adopt? When Bert Elliot was called a great servant of God, he replied: a servant of a great God! What if one of the disciples would have washed Jesus feet? What a privilege! Wash the Creator s feet, blessed feet that walked on this unworthy planet. Feet that got dirty for our cause, feet that preferred to walk on dust rather than streets of gold for us. How many of us have the opportunity of washing His feet? Actually, we all have that opportunity, because as the Lord said in speaking to the sheep in Matthew 25: 40 as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me. May the Lord help us so. 23 Wiersbe, W. W. (1996). The Bible exposition commentary. Wheaton, IL: Victor Books. 24 Blum, E. A. (1985). John. In J. F. Walvoord & R. B. Zuck (Eds.). 25 Barclay, W. (2006).

28 Strategic Session 2: Servant leadership in practice Ian Burness (UK) "I am among you as one who serves" Luke 22: 27 There appears to be a conflict in the concept of a servant-leader. Normally leaders lead and servants serve leaders by supporting their work. When the model is Jesus there is no conflict! Leadership and its development has been a growth area for over 40 years, for 'the discovery of leadership' took place in the 1960s. Before that leaders were recognised, but not specifically trained for the role. Certain classes in society were assumed to be leaders and the rest followed. Leadership was either good, bad or indifferent, but usually it was unchallenged. Leaders were recognised by their 'qualities', status, or because they held the levers of power. Lee Iacocca in the 1970s, a effective executive of the Chrysler Motor Company, changed the model as a strong CEO. 'Where have all the leaders gone?' was the title of his biography. John Maxwell then emerged and evangelicals discovered leadership training, popularised by Bill Hybels and others as we recognised that the absence of leadership was 'the assurance of disaster'. Manuals on leadership training now fill the bookshelves of the world. Amazon has 75 pages on its site, a total of 1200 books on Leadership! The majority of these cover achieving results in the business world, growth of profits and control of the present and future. Christians have adapted these models and appointed leaders who will achieve results and growth, often choosing to ignore biblical foundations. It is too easy to lift a secular model and 'sanctify' it by attaching some bible texts to an model founded on secular presuppositions and world views. Biblical Foundations The Model of Servant Leadership. The Enlightenment worldview has driven modernity, with its belief that human beings can develop and progress without limit. Development and growth are not necessarily hostile to the work of God, but behind this worldview lies a different understanding of the world: instead of God being King and on the throne of the universe, Man is now on the throne. David Bosch summarises the effect of this cultural shift in thinking coming from the enlightenment: A central creed of the enlightenment is faith in humankind, whose progress is assured by free competition of individuals pursuing their happiness... This insatiable appetite for freedom to live as one pleases developed into a virtually inviolable right in the Western democracies. The self-sufficiency of the individual over social responsibilities was exalted to a sacred creed. There are no absolutes: freedom is absolute. 26 That is why we first must lay our biblical foundations. We have examining the model of our Lord Jesus Christ in John 13, the ultimate model of servant leadership. On that same occasion, Jesus told the apostles who were debating leadership priority: The kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them, and those in authority over them are called benefactors. 26 But not so with you. Rather, let the greatest among you become as the youngest, and the leader as one who serves. 27 For who is the greater, one who reclines at table or one who serves? Is it not the one who reclines at table? But I am among you as the one who serves" (Luke 22: 25-27) Isaiah presents this servant model in his 'First Servant Song'. 27 We note four things about his leadership model in this passage, which Matthew applies to Christ His calling and equipping for leadership - 'my chosen', ' I will put my Spirit upon him'. Leaders can be trained to be better and more effective, but leadership (and administration) are divinely given spiritual gifts to which God calls and equips by the Holy Spirit His character is seen: ' He will not cry aloud or lift up his voice...' (v.2). As God's servant, he was not concerned with self-projection but doing the Father s will and serving others. Jesus describes himself as being ' gentle and lowly of heart' 30, not normally found on a list of leadership qualities. 26 D Bosch, Transforming Mission Orbis (1991) p Isaiah 42: Matthew 12: Romans 12: 8; 1 Cor. 12: Matthew 11: 19

29 3. His compassion is emphasised (v. 3) working with the broken and needy, not discarding the broken reed, or extinguishing the dimly burning light, but restoring it to useful function. 4. This servant leader does not faint or become discouraged. (v. 4). Discouragement is a scourge of leadership, that can make us want to quit. He continues till he has finished his work for God. Here is servant leadership in practice; this is the Lord we follow; his model the one we imitate. Jesus Christ himself is 'the servant king'. Personal qualities of servant leaders What qualities should be present in a Christian leader? Character is a fundamental necessity for Christian servant-leadership. Paul could only say 'Be Imitators of me, as I also am of Christ' 31 because his character was Christ-like. Personal godliness, the pursuit of holiness, growth in the grace of Christ, should be the primary marks of those who lead in service for God. In the secular world, it is assumed that what a person is and does in private does not affect their competence to fulfil their duties as a leader. This it certainly not true for Christian leaders. Remember your leaders, those who spoke to you the word of God. Consider the outcome of their way of life, and imitate their faith. 32 A church or Christian organisation will rarely rise above its leadership and if that leadership does not demonstrate godly character, then the impact will be serious, even fatal. Albert Mohler writes: "Those we lead will expect us to live and to lead in alignment with our convictions. They will not be satisfied with character that is lived out only in public, a pretence of our real selves." 33 Servant leaders must first of all practice godly self discipline for the greatest threat to the fulfilment of our role lies within ourselves, not in external factors. The faculty of self criticism and rigorous self assessment. are essential, for it is easy to tolerate within ourselves faults that we may criticise in others. The character of the servant- leaders is crucial. Competence. Christian leaders should be good and godly people, but not all good people have the ability to lead. Effective leadership demands certain qualities. Not all will be found in one individual but some must be present. Team leadership allows a variety of abilities to be brought together in a balanced team. Leaders need conviction and belief belief in what they have been called to do, and the energy and enthusiasm to do it. They influence others because this conviction inspires others, they do not bend to the prevailing winds, and others are willing to follow their direction. Leaders are managers, who administer and manage people, processes and ministries effectively. They delegate and enable others to fulfil tasks that forward overall aims and goals. Leaders are communicators: perhaps one of the most essential skills for a leader is the ability to communicate vision and direction clearly. This also requires ability in public speaking. Leaders use power with caution, realising its dangers. Status and prominence can quickly distort our perspectives. The sound of our own name can be intoxicating and the trappings of position overcome us. The power of leadership is inherently dangerous and we need to surround ourselves with people who will advise and criticise us honestly. I saw a quotation from Abraham Lincoln on a friend's Facebook page: Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man s character, give him power. Development & Growth. Leadership can never be static but must respond to change. We face today information overload, and advancing technology so how do we survive? 31 1 Cor. 11: 1 32 Heb. 13: 7 33 Albert Mohler: The Conviction to lead; Bethany (2012). p. 79

30 Leaders must be life-long learners. Education is about continuous learning and development, so leaders must also be constant learners, able to assess what is of value and use to their role. If we stop learning we have reached the stage when we should be laying down the role. Leaders must be thinkers. Acquiring knowledge is important but there is a difference between knowledge and wisdom. Wisdom is knowledge properly applied after reflection, and for leaders this means seeking the mind of God for 'The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom'. 34 Every leader must make time to reflect, and apply this wisdom to reality. 'The conscious denial of reality is a central danger of leadership, and the leader must defend against this temptation.' 35 Leaders should be readers. This may be difficult for some, but we must try to make reading part of our ongoing development. If leaders are to understand the times and needs of our generation, we must feed our minds and read widely. Accountability Leadership is described by Paul as a stewardship, "It is required of stewards that they be found trustworthy." (I Cor. 4: 2) Leaders have multiple levels of accountability, ultimately to God, but also to those we lead, to those we serve, to those in our team and to those who support our ministry. Accountability is essential for leaders face many dangers and temptations. For men the big three dangers in leadership are money, sex and power. It is likely that we will all be vulnerable in one of these areas, if not in all. For women in leadership (I hesitate to go down this route), but suggest that possessiveness (particularly of a ministry), favouritism and inflexible positions may be problems. If we are not aware of temptations and do not develop accountability mechanisms, then all leaders are vulnerable. Leadership and our cultures. Biblical principles of leadership can be applied universally, yet leadership will take different forms from culture to culture. In our globalised world where cultures interact more frequently, this can lead to significant misunderstanding and differences in practice. As Christians we live under the authority of scripture, yet interpret scripture differently, and our practice will be moulded by our environment and context. Our culture affects the way leadership operates and with the growth of mission teams that include members from different cultures, the likelihood of misunderstanding is great. Some of the most significant intercultural work of the past 30 years has been done by the Dutch Researcher, Geert Hofstede. 36 In the course of the presentation we will consider this briefly. The difficulties of leadership Leadership can fail or be ineffective and there are several reasons for this. Absent leadership. A vacuum in leadership, inadequate leadership or poorly recognised leadership leads to leadership failure. A reaction against authoritarian leadership may lead to a vague consensus leadership that paralyses decision making. Forward movement is unlikely and the ministry regresses or disintegrates. The reaction to poor leadership is not no leadership, but better equipped and trained leadership. Dominant or Dictatorial leadership. The opposite extreme is strong domineering leadership and examples abound. While leaders must lead, they also must listen to those they are called to lead, and although conviction and confidence are essential, this can develop into leadership that accepts no criticism. Peter says that elders are those not domineering over those in your charge (1 Peter 5: 3). Our African brothers and others are familiar with the Big Man Syndrome, when leaders accumulate power, dominate and abuse those they lead. We see this in public life, and sadly also in the Christian community. This should never be a feature of servant-leadership as practised by followers of Christ. If he was meek and lowly of heart, so too should those be who accept leadership in his kingdom. 34 Proverbs 1:7 35 Mohler: p Geert Hofstede; Cultures and Organisations, Harper Collins (1994); GJ Hofstede, P, Pedersen, G. Hofstede, Exploring Culture; Intercultural Press (2002)

31 Indecisive or weak leadership. In our desire to avoid domineering leaders, we can create an indecisive leaders, who offends no one and keeps on everyone s side. That type of leader does not really lead, for although we should not be offensive and speak with grace, leaders must lead and require courage and the ability to make and defend decisions. The work of God will never prosper when leaders are weak, for that is not true servant leadership. Too busy leadership. Leadership demands time; time to think, plan and practice leadership. In an increasingly busy age, many leaders cannot lead for they are just too busy. They scramble from task to task, and the time needed to deliberate and pray is not available, leading to rushed decisions and poor judgments. Many will recognise the syndrome and you may well be there at the moment. I pass judgement on myself in this description. It is better to do a few tasks well, than many tasks badly and if we are involved in Christian leadership, we must prune our garden regularly, reduce our number of commitments, and simplify our lives. I challenge leaders today to look at your load, ask yourself how well you are performing, and consider reducing what you do so you can do the key things to the best of your ability. The pressures of leadership. If you do not reduce your workload, it will catch up with you in time. Many leaders are affected by significant stress, which can lead to burnout and long term health problems. Preventive action is needed when the load is getting too heavy, or else we will suffer the consequences. Eternal leadership. No guidelines are given in scripture nor are age qualifications provided for how we should remain in leadership, but this area is one of the most difficult in the Christian world. Leaders assume that they are indispensable, that they are leaders for life, and that their capacities will never diminish! A major failure in leadership is holding on to power for too long. Those leaders who do not prepare the next generation of leadership are not fit for purpose. The leadership of each local church should establish a policy on the term served by elders and church workers. Each ministry should define terms of service for board members and officers, and ensure the regular introduction of younger leaders. Failure to do this leads to negative outcomes, and bad transitions. It is a failure of leadership not to consider how we replace ourselves. It has been well stated that, 'We have not succeeded in any ministry or work, until we have trained our successor.' Servant leadership is shared leadership. We serve in the body, under the authority of Christ. We serve each other, we serve as brothers and sisters, we submit to one another out of reverence for Christ. (Eph. 5: 21) An increasing emphasis on leadership training is welcome, but we must beware the pressure of changing models of leadership which 'professionalises' leadership, so that it is once again set apart from the laity. That is a danger we must avoid, while affirming the need to lead better, and to recognise those who are gifted with leadership. David Bosch in his last book emphasised the revitalisation of the office of the believer as crucial for the future growth of the work of God: "The professionalisation of the ordained ministry has an ancient history going back to the early centuries of the Christian church. The Protestant reformation rediscovered the office of the believer; however, in the main branches of the Reformation churches this remained largely theoretical. Only in the Radical Reformation did it really take root, but even the churches emanating from this branch of the Reformation have today largely professionalised the ordained ministry. For our present theme the revitalisation of the office of the believer is crucial for two reasons: first, the church's witness will be much more credible if it comes from those who do not belong to the guild of pastors; and second, only in this way will we begin to bring together what our culture has divided, the private and the public, for the lay members of the church clearly belong to the public and secular world, whereas the pastors belong to a separate, " religious" world." 37 The model of servant leadership is Jesus Christ and the principle requirements for servant leadership are godly character and competence. We should understand the dangers of leadership in our own ministry and constantly be looking for emerging leaders who can be trained to take over our roles so that the work of God can progress, and the body of Christ grow to maturity. 37 David Bosch, Believing in the Future; Trinity (1995) p. 59

32 Bible Reading 3: The gospel and persecution (John 15: 18 16: 4 & 17-33) Stephen Alfred (India) The Gospel has incited, and will always incite, persecution. The focus and the attention this morning is the gospel and not persecution. Lutzer writes, A Christian who is popular with the world is a contradiction in terms. If we have not attracted the scorn of the world, it may well be because we have muddled our Christian witness. The Gospel is the fundamental command of the New Testament, and if we preach it there will be persecution. If we don t preach the Gospel we will fossilize, it is the life line of the church." The greatest criticism of the Church today is that no one wants to persecute it: because there is nothing very much to persecute it about. (George F. MacLeod) History of persecution It started way back in the Old Testament outside the garden of Eden, when Abel was murdered because of his faith and obedience. It follows through to Moses and Elijah, to the prophets and the priests. Many of them were hounded not from without but from within. The Old Testament is full of such history. Think of Jeremiah in the dungeon, Daniel in the Lion s den. And we find the culmination and climax of persecution at the cross in the person of our beloved Saviour. Jesus is commanding His disciples to remember that He was hated from the time of His birth to the time of His death. It was the good news of salvation, the gospel, that prompted this hate. Think about this: Jesus life began with King Herod attempting to kill Him. Jesus life ended in a death of sheer hatred. He was crucified at the wishes of His own people the Jews. The Bible says, yea all that live Godly lives shall suffer persecution, It continued in history and a vivid account is seen in the beginnings of church history. The persecution in the book of Acts started with everyone being very comfortable, great things were happening in the church, souls were being saved, they sold everything, had it in common and they were beginning to forget the great commission, and the Lord scatters them away. So persecution in some form or other has been central to all who have lived godly lives. The passage authenticates that. It says if the world hates you, it has hated me first; if you would have belonged to the world, then the world would not have hated you. The inference that we get is, that if you are not being persecuted or suffering for the name of Christ then you belong to this world. History tells us that all but one of the disciples died in martyrdom. Hebrews 11, the hall of fame chapter, gives us another beautiful account: 35 Women received back their dead, raised to life again. There were others who were tortured, refusing to be released so that they might gain an even better resurrection. 36 Some faced jeers and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. 37 They were put to death by stoning; [e] they were sawed in two; they were killed by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated 38 the world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, living in caves and in holes in the ground. The church has never been comfortable with power,. It cannot handle it, and whenever power was given to the church it has always misused it,. History has proved it and has repeated it again and again, and that is one reason why I am not too attracted by the church's trying to get a political voice. The church in Jesus' days tried it and it didn t work. The Lord very clearly did not choose the political system to make a point. He never used it and never wanted it. The only way is the way of the GOSPEL. Definition: what is Christian Persecution? Christian persecution is any hostility experienced from the world as a result of one's identification as a Christian. From verbal harassment to hostile feelings, attitudes and actions, Christians in areas with severe

33 religious restrictions pay a heavy price for their faith. Beatings, physical torture, confinement, isolation, rape, severe punishment, imprisonment, slavery, discrimination in education and employment, and even death are just a few examples of the persecution they experience on a daily basis. Our task today is not to cover the history of persecution or even to survey what is happening across the world today, though the figures are staggering. It is estimated that each month: 322 Christians are killed for their faith 214 Christian churches and properties are destroyed 722 forms of violence are conducted against Christians and their activities What we want to do today is look at what our Lord Jesus Himself tells His disciples. And humbly ask ourselves what this means for you and me. Let us dwell on what Jesus told his disciples in the upper room. Remember these were some of HIS last words as recorded in the Gospel of John and 16: The Gospel comes first. I am so glad that this session is titled the Gospel and persecution and not the other way round. The gospel comes first and foremost. So often we think and talk about persecution and troubles, and forget the Gospel, the amazing news of who JESUS is and HIS amazing love. It puts persecution in its perspective. When the Lord is talking to the disciples He is talking to them as God who knows the end from the beginning and has walked the road himself. Our passage highlights three aspects GOSPEL AND PERSECUTION GOSPEL AND PERSECUTION AND RESURECTION (JOY) GOSPEL, PERSECUTION AND PRAYER (PEACE) Theology of the Gospel and Persecution The theology starts with chapter 15: the WHY of persecution WHY believers are persecuted (vv ) Why the LORD was persecuted Testimony of believers in a world of hatred In chapter 16: 1 4, we read of aspects of persecution and warnings concerning religious persecution In chapter 16: we have the Lord's statements regarding His death and resurrection Chapter 16: speaks of prayer in the name of the Father. We are not the first It is so comforting that nothing happens to us without its having happened to the Lord first: what a solace and comfort. Hebrews 4 :15: "For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin." He has gone before: He is our Pioneer, our perfecter, author. THE WHY OF PERSECUTION depends on our identity: First, we are no longer identified with the world. In 15: 19 Jesus says, If you were of the world [and you re not], the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, because of this the world hates you.

34 A second reason why the world rejects Christians is that we are identified with Christ. In 15: 20 Jesus says, Remember the word that I said to you, A slave is not greater than his master. If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you; if they kept My word, they will keep yours also A third reason why the world rejects Christians is they have no identity with God and are ignorant of God. No identity with God the Father In 15:21 Jesus says, But all these things they will do to you for My name s sake, because they do not know the One who sent ME." V. 25 is the conclusion of the matter: they hated me without a cause. This is also a great lesson for us: we should not give any cause for our persecution, by our life and conduct else the testimony of our LORD will be damaged Persecution arises from wilful hatred of the uniqueness of Jesus Christ: They have seen these miracles and yet they have hated both me and my Father (John 15: 22-23) Miracles are seen in the lives of believers, but still people turn away and against them. E.g. a person who was previously a drunkard and lay-about, but after he trusts Jesus and is freed from alcohol addiction, his relatives are angry because he has converted. The story of the man possessed by demons, they wanted the LORD out. The Gospel is offensive at a certain level it is the absoluteness of Christ that is offensive and that should be brought forth, not one of many, but THE WAY, TRUTH, LIFE. We preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to the Jews and foolishness to the Greeks. (1 Cor. 1: 23) Persecution is a response to the proclamation of the Gospel: Holy Spirit will testify: you also must testify (John 15: 26-27) Every believer is commanded by the Lord Jesus, YOU ALSO MUST TESTIFY (John 15: 27) Note the directing of the testimony: the spirit testifies to the believers and the believers testify to the world (vv 26, 27). Peter says in Acts 5: 32: "We are His witnesses to these things; and so is also the Holy Spirit. This gives us a great responsibility: those who have a knowledge of the Saviour have the responsibility to pass it on to those who have not not just by WORD but by life: preach the Gospel; if necessary use words. Is our comfortable life a result of disobeying Christ s command to testify about Him? Persecution stems from false ideas of service to God. Because they do not really know the True and Living God they are blinded So often persecution is motivated by religious feelings (John 16: 2, Acts 26: 9-11) Jesus knew that He was going to die and that others would die from the hands of people who thought they were doing God a favour: anyone who kills you will think they are offering service to God (John 16: 2b). Saul fulfilled this as he went about persecuting the early Church (Acts 8: 3, Acts 26: 9-11) They will do such things because they have not known the Father or me (John 16: 3) is echoed by Jesus plea for those killing Him Father forgive them, for they know not what they are doing (Luke 23: 34). Persecution will result in social ostracism and may even end in death for the followers of Jesus They will put you out of the synagogue (John 16: 2a). Social boycotts and ostracism are powerful tools that are still used. Fear of others stops many from growing in the Lord even in Jesus time many believed but did not do so openly for fear of others (John 12: 42)

35 Jesus who is about to die at the hands of sinful man talks about death to some of His followers as to be expected: when anyone kills you Death for the Lord is considered a given and is prophesied many times in scripture (Rev. 6: 9 &Heb. 11: 36-38) Persecution is real, but it is also temporary and limited. Very truly I tell you, you will weep and mourn while the world rejoices (John 16: 20a) The follower of Jesus is in for real pain and suffering, which at times may seems unbearable. Jesus uses the image of the intense pain of childbirth to prepare His followers. Though the pain is intense for a mother, it is forgotten once the child is born (John 16: 21). Many saints have testified to this the terrible suffering, but forgetting it as soon as it is over (Richard Wurmbrand etc.): I danced with the rats. Jesus tells us that grief is temporary, and that joy is eternal! Now is your time of grief but when I will see you again, you will rejoice and no one will take away your joy (John 16: 22) Jesus promises a deeper intimate knowledge of the Father and great spiritual power: in that day you will ask in my name and my Father will give you all that you ask (John 16: 23). In chapter 16: 16 22, we have the Lord's statements regarding His death and resurrection. These are the Lord's final words by which he taught his disciples; we have here the little while, referring to two periods: 1) When you shall not see me, between his death and resurrection 2) When you shall see me, between his resurrection and his ascension It is remarkable that throughout the Lord's ministry the disciples displayed a regrettable ignorance concerning his death and resurrection. No wonder the Lord says on the road to Emmaus, O fools and slow of heart to believe. But it is not them this morning: the word of the Lord is contemporary and it is speaking to us. How do we face persecution? We should do so in: The knowledge of HIS resurrection. To elaborate: this is the power that is going to keep us, as Paul says in Philippians 3: 10 Prayer: Ask the father as He will give whatever we ask in Jesus name (look at verses 23-24). In 14:13 when Jesus says I will do whatever you ask in my name and 15:16 when he says...the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name" and now Now again, a promise that we will receive whatever we ask in Jesus name, what does this mean? First, we deal with the obvious. Clearly Jesus does not mean that use of his name works like a magical talisman, to get whatever we desire. If that were the case, why would he promise that we would grieve we could simply use his name to get out of the situation that will cause us grief? No, Jesus isn t that simplistic. But then what did he mean by this statement? In the Old Testament, the name of God was a source of power in itself. The second commandment in Exodus 20: 7 forbids the misuse of the name of the Lord. The Psalms abound with praise for the name of the Lord and it is the name of the Lord that gives power to the prophets. The actual name of God was so sacred that it was not pronounced. Whenever the Jewish scribes read the name, which we transliterate into English as Yahweh or less accurately, Jehovah, they would state Hashem which simply means The Name. They would also say Adonai, which means Lord. If there was so much reverence and respect for God s name, then we may safely assume that such respect should be carried over to Jesus as well. Therefore, praying in his name means to pray under His Lordship, seeking his desires, not our own. We really don t know what to pray

36 You see, asking in Jesus name means asking under his lordship. It means asking, Thy will be done. It means getting our own agendas out of the way and trying to find out what God s agenda is. Thus, this promise isn t so much a promise to fulfil our every whim as it is a promise to bring our desires more in line with God s desires. So Jesus shows that when we re facing troubled times, he turns our grief into joy and he orients our desires to God s desires. In conclusion, Jesus brings the whole discourse full circle in verses 32 and 33. He reminds his disciples once again that they will have trouble in the world, but to take heart because he has overcome the world. It s a dual promise of pain and ultimate victory. It s a promise that encompasses both the cross and the resurrection. Jesus here prepares his disciples and us for the inevitable fact that, to get to Easter, we have to go through good Friday to have the victory, we must follow Jesus as he carries his cross. Victory comes, but only at the price of the broken body and spilt blood of the only innocent man who ever lived. Ultimately, this cross is our only hope for strength in troubled times. It reminds us that on the other side of all the pain and struggle, there is joy unimaginable. It reminds us that our grief is turned into joy and our imperfect desires are brought into line with his perfect will. Take that to heart. Amen. Responses to persecution We should consider (1) the response when we ourselves are persecuted; and (2) the response when others are persecuted When we are persecuted, how do we respond? We have two great examples how did the Lord respond? how did the early church respond we have a beautiful example? How did the LORD (The Word) Gospel respond? "He was oppressed and He was afflicted, yet He did not open His mouth; like a lamb that is led to slaughter, and like a sheep that is silent before its shearers, so He did not open His mouth." Acts 8: 33: In his humiliation he was deprived of justice. Who can speak of his descendants? For his life was taken from the earth." 1 Peter 2:23: "When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly." How did the church respond? How did Stephen Respond? We read of Stephen getting arrested in Acts 6: 10 & 15: "And they were not able to resist the wisdom and the spirit by which he spake.... And all that sat in the council, looking steadfastly on him, saw his face as it had been the face of an angel." And then he gets up and speaks to the Sanhedrin: there was no confrontation; there was a dialogue. Yes, we are called to do that; we have to defend our faith; we have to know our facts; our faith is not built on myths, but on facts. In Luke 1: 1 4, we read: "Many have undertaken to draw up an account of the things that have been fulfilled among us, just as they were handed down to us by those who from the first were eyewitnesses and servants of the Word. With this in mind, since I myself have carefully investigated everything from the beginning, I too decided to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, so that you may know the certainty of the things you have been taught. We have to have an answer for him that asks, and there is no excuse, because we have the written Word. We are reminded of the cost that has been paid to have the written Word in our hands, for example, by William Tyndale. Why did God do it? Because we have to know it. Without it our Christian lives are useless, rudderless, without direction. We have to spend time on these truths not for head knowledge. Stephen did it: look at the orderly account he gives the Sanhedrin. Paul did it, when he spoke to Festus and Agrippa. The Lord did it, when he stood in front of Pontius Pilate.

37 We have to know the gospel, experience it and teach it, defend it, know aspects about it. Even today, many will die for a belief, but none will die for a lie. God allows the deaths of His saints, not because He is a helpless or indifferent Lord, but because their deaths are powerful declarations of the free gift of life that is offered to us through the Person of Jesus Christ. Our Response when others are persecuted PRAY AND STAND ALONGSIDE. As Christians, we are called to take a stand with our persecuted brothers and sisters in Christ. Hebrews 13: 3 says, "Continue to remember those in prison as if you were together with them in prison, and those who are mistreated as if you yourselves were suffering." 1 Corinthians 12: 26 tells us that we are one body when one member suffers, we all suffer. When one member is lifted up, we all rejoice. Persecuted Christians and Christians in the free world are not two separate entities, but rather are one body. The persecuted church needs the free church to support them and, most importantly, to lift them up in prayer. The church in the free world learns lessons from the persecuted, who have stood strong in the face of persecution. Christ is the head of the body and uses the church (both free and persecuted) in unique and powerful ways. PROVIDE. We should Reflect the love of Christ Read about the persecuted church. Revel in persecution What should be our response to persecution? All of us must live a life of discipleship and joy in the Lord anything less is sinful and a disdain of the great love He has shown us Part of this must be an on-going sharing of the Good News of Jesus in word and deed time is short and the Lord Jesus has said He is coming back soon and will be asking us Can we do a personal gospel and persecution audit? o Am I and my family, local fellowship reaching out actively with the Good News of Jesus in word and deed? o Are we facing any hardships because of this witness, because of the fruitfulness that we are experiencing through Christ? o Or is there just a comfortable absence of hardship, because we are not reaching out in the name of Jesus? If we are personally facing trouble from others because of the gospel in our lives then we need to remember that those who are doing so are blinded by the prince of the air We need to love our enemies and pray for those who seek to harm us Paul the apostle was a great foe of the gospel, before the Lord reached out in love and made him into a mighty instrument for the good news. Remember that our troubles are limited even if we have to pay the ultimate price of our lives all eternity with Jesus stretches ahead of us! Remember that God can even use our sorrows for His glory o One of the major factors for changing the Roman view of Christ was the way His followers dealt with their persecution o Paul used his time in chains to promote the Gospel today many around the world are suffering for the sake of the Gospel, are in prison and are being a blessing to others Jesus tells His disciples: o "I have told you these things to that in me you will have peace. In this world you will have troubles, but take heart, I have overcome the world!" (John 16: 33)

38 o o Jesus invites us to have peace in Him despite whatever circumstances we experience as His followers Jesus reminds us that suffering is normal, but that He has conquered everything in this fallen world! And in Him we are more than conquerors. Matthew 5: 10-12: "Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you." There is something about persecution that allows us to know God deeply. When times get really tough, we discover more about who God is and how He works. Christians who have endured persecution for their faith, know this well. There are no easy answers for why God allows his followers to face suffering. However, the lives of persecuted Christians reveal that, even when things look out of control, believers can rest secure, knowing that God is still in control. He is able to give courage, peace and even joy, to stand strong through the storm. It is through these storms that believers discover God's love in new and powerful ways. : Math 24: 13 tests character of our faith. Mark 13:9 10 offers believer s special opportunities Acts 5: 41: persecution as a blessing Acts 11: caused spread of the gospel Rev 13: 10: opportunity to grow 1. Sometimes you need to build yourself a cell Be still, and know that I am God Psalms 46: 10 One Chinese church leader, who spent 23 years in prison, once said to Christians who did not face persecution: "I was pushed into a cell, but you have to push yourself into one. You have no time to know God. You need to build yourself a cell, so you can do for yourself what persecution did for me simplify your life and know God." It is vital that we spend time with God, to grow in Him, so we are prepared to stand strong in the face of persecution. 2. God keeps secrets "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways," declares the LORD. As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts Isaiah 55:8-9 There have been countless stories of persecuted Christians who have died without seeing the fruits of their labor. However, God know all that has been and all that is to come. Our labor is not in vain, it is in His hands. 3. Weakness is a direct path to power "That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong." 2 Corinthians 12: 10 An Egyptian Christian reflected on the way he was treated when he converted to Christ: "In great suffering you discover a different Jesus than you do in normal life Pain and suffering bring up to the surface all the weak points of your personality. In my weakest state, I had an incredible realization that Jesus loved me even right then."

39 True empowerment does not come from human means, but through Christ alone. It often takes being at our weakest point to realize this. 4. Overcoming is greater than deliverance "Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good." Romans 12: 21 Persecuted Christians, no matter what country they are from, do not ask us to pray that persecution would end, but rather ask us to pray that they stand strong through the persecution. They do not wish to be delivered from the persecution, but rather ask us to pray that they would be able to overcome the trials that they are facing in a way that is honoring to God. 5. Extreme hurt requires extreme forgiveness "And Jesus said, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." And they cast lots to divide his garment." Luke 23: 34 A Christian widow from Iran said: "I only had hatred in my heart for my enemies who had murdered my husband. But one day a miracle happened. God taught me how I could love my enemies I had been praying for this, even though on the deepest level I didn't want it to happen. Gradually, through a process of ups and downs, God answered this prayer." The only way we can get through extreme hurt is by forgiving people as Christ did.

40 Strategic Session 3: The Church under pressure In the West Eliseo Casal (Spain) Introduction Christians are the most persecuted religious group worldwide. According to data provided by the organization «Open Doors», "200 million Christians will be persecuted for their faith this year, and another 500 million live in dangerous neighborhoods". The persecution of Christians is not new, but it is staggering how many Christians are killed today. 38 When talking about the Church under pressure, that immediately brings to mind images of the violence and persecution suffered by many of our brothers and sisters in different countries around the world. This is a topic of global interest and has been a matter of debate in Europe. In January this year, the Council of Europe passed a resolution against anti-christian bigotry. In another resolution in the European Parliament, Christians are recognized as the most persecuted religious group, with more than 150,000 people being killed every year, mainly by jihadists.39 Apparently, the subject of pressure, linked to persecution, is usually much more associated with the rest of the globe rather than with a Western world religiously related to Christianity. One cannot deny this reality. Yet the Church also suffers pressure here, even if under more subtle but nonetheless dangerous ways. A portrait of the West: high-pressure situations We are going to start a brief review of these situations acknowledging the existence of physical persecution in the West. While they are not widespread cases, indeed, they do exist. In Mexico, in areas like Oaxaca and Chiapas, Evangelical Christians suffer pressure and persecution in their surroundings. Such persecution goes as far as death in extreme cases, but it is more tangible in everyday life when believers have difficulties to even do business. Threats, assaults or water shutoffs are some of the methods used against those who do not take part in other rites or religious ceremonies. In some villages, Evangelical Christians are not allowed.40 Currently in America the most serious instance is Colombia, where armed groups, particularly drug-related ones, have made Christians the target of their attacks, as they regard the gospel as a menace to their activities. In Europe we cannot forget our history, especially so as not to repeat it. The Evangelical faith has been oppressed and persecuted in the past, principally in countries where a certain confession, even if Christian, has enjoyed the privileges of being the state religion. Another aspect of pressure and violence and, possibly, the most serious situation the West is facing today, has to do with Islamic fundamentalism: the jihad threat. Although their target is the Western society, Christian churches play a very important role in it. This situation may take a more general turn in years to come and become a threat against Christianity. The pressure undergone by the Church in the West takes new shapes, and perhaps more effective in intimidating and discouraging believers from keeping their testimony upright and visible to the world: Social exclusion. The expression of faith is limited in the public spaces, thus secluding the Church inside religious centers and local churches. In secular states, or better secularistic ones, where there is some hostility against faith, the promulgated tolerance is not such when referring to those who disagree with the state's values and moral approach. In other traditionally Catholic countries, only the official religion, regarded as folklore, can display its cultic expressions publicly. There is, therefore, a preferential treatment that prevents Evangelical faith from being more visible, for instance, in official and public events, such as state funerals, in which our presence is overshadowed Quotes by J. Shanon and N. Dodds, respectively. 39 On & 40 There are testimonies of people in El Salvador and Guatemala who in the past underwent violence because of their faith and even lost their lives, such as pastor Max Vásquez. 41 It is interesting to know that in Geneva, the city where Calvin lived and taught for many years, a resolution has been passed allowing religious activities to take place in public areas, something which had been previously restricted.

41 Psychological and intellectual exclusion. The Christian faith is ridiculed. This fact can be especially difficult for children and teenagers who may feel vulnerable and offended because of their beliefs. The new atheism not only ignores God, but it also develops a task of propagandizing with advertisements in the streets and aggressive apologetics against Christianity, like in the case of the so-called "the four horsemen of atheism". Secularism has become a doctrine and, in places like Catalunya, this estrangement from religion is captured in statistics that show how two out of three youngsters consider themselves to be atheists or agnostic. Legal coercion. Legal regulations are, in some places, very strict with Evangelical churches and even hinder freedom of religion. In some cases, several church premises have been closed down; in others, they have been denied opening licenses in city centers, hence being forced to move to the outskirts of town or industrial zones. While this is not generalized, we must constantly watch out that the rights defended by the countries own constitutions are not violated. There is a particularly serious issue in the defence of the marriage model considered to be biblical (heterosexual), and the rejection of other marriage models. Defending this paradigm is regarded as discriminatory and judgmental. How do we answer? An approach to the Bible How should we answer to this reality? First of all, by looking up a biblical reference. This morning we have already considered some important references in the Gospel of John 15: 18-16: 4 & I would like to highlight three more texts: 1 Peter 4: 12-19; 2 Timothy 3: 12 and 2 Corinthians 7: 5. In the text of 1 Peter, I would like to point out an expression related to the testing: do not be surprised. The churches Peter is writing to are under constant pressure, sometimes undergoing physical abuse or accusations that could lead to the loss of properties or social exclusion. Christians are marginalized and forced to live as foreigners and migrants, not only spiritually speaking but also in their social reality. For this reason, the first letter of Peter is one of the texts in the Bible that deals to a greater extent with suffering and the example we must follow in such circumstances. As for Timothy, his letter reminds us that this situation can be expected by all of those who live lives that please God. It is nothing new but the experience of any Christian who endeavours to be faithful. In the First Letter to the Corinthians we are encouraged to live this experience with joy, resting on God s grace. Keys under pressure An appropriate Christian conception of the world and of Christian life. We must remember we are in the world and this, as far as its system of values is concerned, is ruled by evil. There is a particular risk of mistaking Christendom for Christianity. Christendom (a geographic, political, social, cultural and religious space) cannot be identified freely with Christianity. In fact, the view of Christendom as such is rejected by a large part of the world due to its history and the determination to impose its beliefs. Christianity, as a group of believers who profess Christ and obey his teaching, will often disagree with Western ethics, more focused today on materialism and hedonism. This is why Christians in this society will be going against the flow if they want to defend and live out their faith. A second aspect is determination (Rev. 2: 9-10). Christ s call to the church in Smyrna is: be faithful, even to the point of death. The value of what Christ has for us far exceeds the current sufferings so as to give us future victory when He comes (1 Pet. 5: 10). Remember we are agents and ambassadors for peace. It is Peter who urges us in the same direction, answering peacefully to unfair treatments and sufferings (1 Pet. 2: 18-25; 8: 12). Our example is Christ: we must follow in his footsteps; not reacting to violence with more violence, but resting on God instead. We must entrust the situation to him who judges justly (1 Pet. 2: 23): God alone. We are called to avoid seeking power or a good position as means to prevent suffering; instead, we must work for peace and justice, a fundamental attitude for Christian believers in relation to the society they live in (Jer. 29: 7).

42 The practice of the Church under pressure: Forsaking threats (Eph. 6: 9). A non-violent, peaceful response as a reflection of Christ living in us. It is not about an arbitrary action, but the work of the Spirit. Praying. Undoubtedly, prayer is always an essential aspect of Christian life, but it is more apparent when we make the decision not to change things on our own and accept God is the only one who can change them. By doing so, the dynamics of violence and destruction is broken (1 Pet. 2: 23). It is difficult to know our reaction in a precise moment, but we can work from its principles. E.g. kidnapping in Guatemala. Interceding. Prayer does not exclude action. We are peacemakers (Mt. 5: 9) in any circumstance, as children of God. A peace that does not give up truth, but which moves in the area of forgiveness and reconciliation with our antagonists despite any personal and emotional cost. Unity and leadership, one of the keys introduced in the New Testament and its history. Wherever persecution was present, the true church experienced unity. The Western Church must delve deeper into this reality and make the suffering of our brothers in other places its own. A church which is not focused on either comfort nor hedonism, on self-indulgence nor irrelevant arguments. An exemplary and committed leadership (1 Pet. 5: 1-4) is one of the Lord's proposals to the afflicted churches. Not an institutional leadership exclusively, but one with servants prepared to sacrifice their own lives. A church in favor of people and truth. The Church has to go against evil, not against people. Bearing in mind that we are all sinners and we all need God's grace, therefore not having an ethnocentric view of Christian faith (Jonah). Reporting and reproving evil but also working for justice. A church committed to the expansion of the Kingdom of God. A church which does not impose itself, but which convinces by means of lives transformed by the gospel. The Church under pressure is a church that purifies its faith in the testing (1 Pet. 1: 7) by clinging on to Jesus as its Saviour, Lord and role model. It is a supportive church, caring about our brothers and sisters who suffer (1 Pet. 1: 22; Heb. 13: 3). Persecution may be a sign of our faithfulness to God. May he strengthen us to be faithful and steadfast in bearing witness of our faith in the One: Christ. In the majority world Ooi Chin Aik (Malaysia) Introduction The intensification of spiritual warfare and increase of pressure on the Church in the End-times. Pressure Points I. Religious Resurgence and Militancy 1. Militant Islam: Iraq, Syria, Africa, Pakistan, etc: Intense persecution Islamisation in Malaysia: Ban on use of Allah Burning of churches Hudud laws Display of the cross deemed offensive Aggressive Islamic dakwah 2. Militant Buddhism: Bhutan- Closure of church meetings Impounding of passports for believers Expulsion of converts from Bhutan.

43 Beatings and imprisonment of evangelists. Restriction on import of Christian literature. 1. Militant Hinduism: India Persecution of Christians especially in Orissa by Hindu extremists. After a prominent Hindu swami was murdered in 2008, Hindus vented their wrath against Christians over 120 Christians were murdered, hundreds of churches destroyed, and around 52,000 Christians displaced. (Jason Mandryk, Operation World, Colorado Springs, Biblica Publishing, 2010, p. 436) Also similar tensions in Gujarat and other parts of India. II. Militant Atheism and Persecution China Today: Extreme Pressure on the House Churches. 1. Closure of Christian meetings, and tearing down of churches and facilities. E.g., Daqing, North China 2. Forbidden to have any contact with other believers, especially outsiders and foreigners. 3. Beatings, intimidation, fines and imprisonments. E.g. Daqing, Beijing, Yangzhou. 4. The spread and infiltration of cults affecting the flock, e.g. Eastern Lightning Cult. 5. Forced removal of hundreds of rooftop crosses in Wenzhou, Zhejiang Province, attacks on church buildings and a recent proposed ban on any further placement of rooftop crosses do not portend well for religious freedom in China. (cf. The Star, 9 May 2015) III. The Call for Strategic Partnership with the Church Under Pressure. 1. Prayer Support (Phil. 1: 19) 2. Pastoral Care of Workers and Leaders (Phil. 2: 25) 3. Providing Financial Assistance (Phil. 4: 14-16) Conclusion: Get Connected, Get Going!

44 Bible Reading 4: The Holy Spirit and the Church (John: 14: 15-31; 15 :26-16: 15) Adrian Thomas (Jamaica) Summary The main point of this message is to show that the work of the Spirit in these passages has to do with the mission of the church to the world. The promise of the Spirit-Helper is not so much about the personal, private, blessing of believers, but mainly about preparing and equipping the church to continue the mission of Jesus to the world. This understanding of these passages is well in keeping with the missionary theme of this conference what the world must come to know is that the death of Jesus was not his just deserts for being a Messianic pretender or political rival to Caesar s kingship [the charge on which Pilate convicted him], but the supreme expression of his love for the Father [14: 30-31]. But the world can only come to know this through the work of the Spirit in the church. This is because there is an organic continuity between the mission of Jesus and that of the church. The mission of Jesus is to testify to the truth (18: 37) that he is truly the one sent to reveal the Father s glory to the world this glory was supremely revealed in the cross. The mission of the church, then, is to continue to testify to this truth. John s Gospel is about God s mission to the world (3: 6) this entire gospel is pervaded by the divine mission of Jesus as the one whom the Father sends and who in turn sends his follower (20: 21). In John the mission of Jesus is summarized in terms of bearing witness to the truth (3: 11, 32; 5: 30-47; 7: 7; 8: 14). Throughout his ministry, Jesus is presented as being on trial for his claim to be the truth (14: 6). It is in light of this mission, therefore, that the work of the Spirit in John must be viewed. In light of Jesus soon departure, the Spirit is sent to continue to testify to the truthfulness of Jesus claims through the church. The Spirit s work is defined by four specific tasks that concern the ongoing mission of the church: (1) The Spirit mediates the presence of Christ; (2) The Spirit confronts the world with the Claims of Christ; (3) The Spirit testifies about the person of Christ; (4) The Spirit guides the church in all truth. With the imminent departure of Jesus in view, the trial of Jesus will continue by the world, and it will be the Spirit s task to continue where Jesus left off by supporting the church in its witness as it confronts the world with the claims of Christ. Introduction It is hard to imagine that the first thing that comes to mind when we think about the mission of the church is the work of the Spirit. Imagine for a minute what goes on in a meeting when we get together to talk about missions or to plan an evangelistic outreach. What are the kinds of things that we include on the agenda? I suspect that the list would include the following items: (1) Project: what are we going to do? (2) Personnel: who will do it? (3) Strategies: how will we approach the project? (4) Finance: how will we pay for the operation? (5) Timeframe: how long will this last? (6) Goals: what do we hope to achieve? (8) Results: how will we measure success? Notice anything important missing from this list? Probably not! I suggest though that what is missing is a discussion of the role of the Holy Spirit in the work of missions. Christian Missions is first and foremost an extension of the mission of Christ to the world that can only be achieved through the work of the Spirit for this reason, the work of the Spirit should become a strategic part of our biblical theology and practice of missions. It is significant, therefore, that a Brethren Conference on the mission of the church includes a presentation on The Work of the Spirit in the Church. This is a true reflection of our Brethren heritage that has long emphasized the need to be led and guided by the Spirit. Brethren, however, typically read these texts as the Spirit s private ministry to believers. But, as I will attempt to show, the roles assigned to the Spirit by Jesus in these passages have to do with the mission of the church to the world. No one understands better than our Lord Jesus how essential the work of the Spirit is in accomplishing the church s mission. This is because the mission of the church is one and the same with Jesus own mission. From the perspective of John s gospel, the mission of the church is not a separate mission, but the continuation of Jesus own mission. As the Spirit was present and active in the ministry of Jesus, so he will be in the ongoing ministry of the church. This is obvious in Jesus final commissioning of the disciples on Resurrection Sunday (20: 21-23). It is to be noticed that the giving and receiving of the Spirit (v. 22) is sandwiched between the actual commissioning of

45 the disciples as my Father has sent me, so I am sending you (v. 21) and the explanation of what is involved in their commissioning forgive sins withhold forgiveness (v. 23). The point cannot be missed the giving of the Spirit here is to empower the disciples to continue the mission of Jesus. As James Dunn has noted, the life-giving breath [of the Spirit] was also the commissioning of the disciples for mission, the bestowing on them of ministry. In the same way that Jesus was loved by the Father, anointed by the Spirit, and sent into the world, so too Jesus loved his disciples, anointed them with the Spirit, and sent them into the world. The mission of Jesus, therefore, serves as a paradigm for the mission of the Church as the Father has sent Jesus anointed by the Spirit into the world, so Jesus now sends the church into the world anointed by the Spirit. The context of the promise of the Spirit, then, is clearly the context of mission, and this is what defines the role of the Spirit in these passages. So what are the specific works of the Spirit in the church? These passages outline four tasks of the Spirit. Four Specific Works of the Spirit I. The Spirit Mediates Christ s Presence (14: 16-18) At the end of Matthew s Great Commission, Jesus promises that he will be with his church always, to the end of the age (28: 20). In John we learn that Jesus presence is mediated by the Spirit. In anticipation of the accomplishment of his mission (John 17: 4; 19: 30), Jesus announced his soon departure back to the Father (14: 1-14). In his absence, Jesus assures the disciples, I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you (14: 18). But it is the Spirit whom Jesus will ask the Father to send in his absence to convey his presence (14: 15-16). Jesus assigns the Spirit, then, to serve in a special role as his personal presence in believers, and by extension the church. It is in this sense that Jesus can refer to the Spirit as another Helper or Advocate (14: 16). This implies that Jesus himself is a Helper (cf. 1 John 2: 1) and that there is continuity between the ministry of Jesus and that of the Spirit. The Spirit is one with Jesus, and his presence will be to the disciples what Jesus presence was to them. The reason why the disciples will not be left as orphans is that, like Jesus, the Spirit will be their advocate. His presence serves as a defense attorney for the disciples as they make their case for Christ before the world. This is critical to the church s mission, for the Spirit s work in mediating the presence of Christ ensures that the case for Christ before the world is kept as the central proclamation. Thus, to quote Antony Billington, The reception of the Spirit finds its primary focus in mission to the world through the agents of the disciples. The Spirit s presence, then, provides comfort for the disciples. With Jesus departure, they will not be left alone as they confront the world with the claims of Christ. II. The Spirit Confronts the World with the Claims of Christ (John 16:7-11) The second work of the Spirit is to confront the world about its decision about Jesus. When the Spirit comes, Jesus says, he will convict the world concerning sin, and righteous, and judgment (16: 8). The word convict in this context is best understood in the sense of bringing conviction about something. The Spirit, then, will serve as a prosecuting counsel actively pressing charges against the world. Why will the Spirit need to do this? By the time Jesus spoke these words, the world had already come to a decision that the claims Jesus made about himself were wrong (see 12: 36b - 43), and in a short while he will be convicted and killed. It is about this wrong decision about Jesus that the Spirit will press charges against the world. John presents the entire ministry of Jesus as a trail in which Jesus has been tried and condemned as a Messianic pretender and political rival to Caesar s kingship. The central question is whether Jesus is the Son of God and Messiah. The world Judged Jesus to be wrong about his claims and it will be the Spirit s work to reverse the situation by declaring this decision to be wrong on three counts the Spirit will convict the world that it [not Jesus] is sinful, that Jesus is vindicated as righteous, and that indeed the world is already under judgment (16: 9-10). This particular work of the Spirit is clearly at the heart of the Church s missionary encounter with the world. III. The Spirit Testifies about Christ (15:26-27) The third work of the Spirit is to testify about Christ. As the bearer of the presence of Christ among his people, the Spirit is most qualified to testify about Christ. In 15: 26, Jesus refers to the Spirit as the Spirit of truth who will testify about me. It is interesting that this verse immediately follows Jesus denunciation of the world s hatred for his disciples and himself (15: 18-25). If the world hates us, we must remember that it is because it hated our Lord first (15: 18). This indicates two things. First, the witness that the Spirit bears about Jesus is directed against the world. The world s hatred for Jesus is baseless they hated me without a

46 cause (15: 24). The world leaves no room for validating the truthfulness of Jesus claims about himself. His claims were simply rejected out of malice. But the Spirit will not be silent about the world; he will continue to testify to its evil. Second, the testimony of the Spirit, however, is about the truthfulness of Christ s claim. This is why he is referred to as the Spirit of truth. By testifying about Christ, the Spirit presents evidence to substantiate the case for Christ. This means, contrary to the conviction of the world, that the trial of Jesus is not over. Jesus claim to be the truth (14: 6), that the purpose for which he came into the world was to testify to the truth (18: 37), must be given fair trial. The case must be appealed. But how does the Spirit testify to the world about Christ? The answer is found in 15: 27: And you also will testify. In other words, the witnessing task of the Spirit and the disciples come together into the one mission of the church indeed, the Spirit engages the world through the mission of the church. The church s mission, then, is the Spirit s mission. IV. The Spirit Guides in all Truth (16: 13-15; 14: 25-26). The fourth work of the Spirit is that he will guide the disciples in all truth (16: 13). This guidance is not about receiving new revelation but about the truth that Jesus has already revealed to the disciples through his words. In 17: 7 Jesus says that the disciples know that everything that you have given me is from you, and in the following verse he explained the everything as the words that you gave me (17: 8a). This means that Jesus has fully disclosed himself to the disciples by giving to them all the words that God has given him. As a result, the disciples accepted his words and came to know with certainty that Jesus came from God as the sent one (17: 8b). In principle, then, the revelation that Jesus brought is full and complete. So even when Jesus says that I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now (16: 12), he is not implying that when the Spirit comes he will add new and independent revelation to that already found in Jesus. The reason is that the Spirit will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak (16: 13). The supreme work of the Spirit is to glorify Jesus by taking what is mine and declaring it to you (16: 14). All of this means that it will be the Spirit s work to unpack and interpret the revelation of the Father unveiled in the person and work of Jesus. In other words, all truth is truth already revealed, and that truth is none other than Jesus himself (14: 6). Although the disciples did not understand everything that Jesus told them, they accepted all his words and understood that he is truly the one send by God. But it will be the Spirit s work to guide the disciples into all the implications of this truth as revealed in our Lord Jesus Christ. This is precisely the same thing Jesus implies when he says that the Spirit will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you (14: 26). To be guided into all truth, then, has nothing to do with privileged information pertaining to one s choice of vocation or mate, [etc.], but with understanding God as he has revealed himself [in Jesus Christ] (Carson). In all of this though, it must be remembered that the context is about the ongoing mission of the church. Jesus spoke all these things to the disciples while he was still with them (14: 25). But in his absence, it will be their task to continue his mission. This is why they need the Spirit to remind them of what Jesus taught them and to guide them into the implications of the revelation of God in Jesus as they face the world. It is precisely as their teacher and interpreter of the person and work of Christ that the Spirit serves as the church s advocate. By illuminating the significance of the person and work of Christ, the Spirit will continue to press charges against the world regarding the claims of Christ through the church. If we are to testify of Christ, then, we must understand what we are testifying about, and it is the Spirit who will help us do so. Four Implications The importance of including a discussion on the work of the Spirit in mission is fourfold: I. Consciousness of the work of the Spirit in missions keeps our mission Christ-centered. Every function assigned to the Spirit in these passages is directed toward promoting the person and work of Christ. Spirit-conscious mission is Christ-centered mission. II. This means first that Christian mission is Christ-centered proclamation: We preach Christ crucified (1 Cor. 1:2 3). There is a growing trend to supplement this proclamation with mercy missions, social justice, lifestyle evangelism and community transformation, etc. The result of this is a Christ-less

47 Christianity that is prevalent among us today. This is all well and good, but none of this should supplant the Spirit s testimony that the death of Jesus is the final and fullest revelation of God s love for the world this is what the world must know! III. Since it is through our testimony that the Spirit convicts the world, it is important that our testimony about the claims of Christ is very clear the Spirit can only bear witness to the truth about Christ. Neither Christ nor the message of the cross can be domesticated. If it is through our witness that the Spirit prosecutes the world about the truth of Jesus claims, then it is imperative that [we] have as comprehensive an insight into this truth as possible (Lincoln). Our preaching will lack conviction because the Spirit cannot affirm testimony that is inconsistent with the person and work of Christ. IV. It is inevitable that when our witness to the truthfulness of Jesus claims confronts the world that persecution will arise. This is something we are not prepared for in the west. Jesus claims will pose a challenge to the powers that be. The temptation will be to compromise or to fall away. This is why Jesus says that I have said these things to you to keep you from falling away (16: 1), so that when their hour comes you may remember that I told them to you (16: 4). Persecution, then, should remind us of the truthfulness of Jesus words. Adrian Thomas Jamaica/USA

48 Strategic Session 4: The Holy Spirit and the Growth of the Church Kos Umion (PNG) Mulugeta Ashagrie (Ethiopia) Introduction I request your tolerance as I share and that you do what the early Christians from Berea did in Acts 17: 11;.they examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true. I will mostly reflect on the Melanesian experience of the Holy Spirit and His work in and through our churches and individual believers, and the relationships He is fostering in God s work in PNG. I was born into an animistic society one year after our first Brethren missionary arrived in my place in 1954 and 4 years after the first Australian Colonial Government white man made contact with my Stone Age forefathers in The lives of my forefathers in those days revolved around the spirit world. The fear of evil spirits haunted and intimidated us to cower in fear and inward paralysis with restrictions and limited freedom. We really had no freedom, we couldn t do this or that, go here or there without fear of disturbing or displeasing elemental or ancestral spirits and suffer consequential attacks. The success of hunting, fishing, gardening and health were governed by local beliefs relating to the spirit world. If we displeased them, then yields could be nothing or not be plentiful, or we would get sick. Today, if bodily sickness doesn t respond to treatment given at health centers or hospitals over a long period of time, we discuss the sickness in village meetings into possible causes and the root cause will be exposed prayed over and rebuked in the Name of Jesus and the sick person healed. Yet despite that, there was also the belief that there was an unknown Spirit who was so very powerful that we, the Abau people, could just not mention his name. Some tribes called him Anutu some Dirava and the Huli people Datagaliwabe. That powerful Spirit we now know is our Omnipotent God, the creator of the world and universe, the One Who was, Who is and Who is to come, the Alpha and the Omega and the one who so loved us that He gave Jesus His Son to us. This is now the God that many of us have come to accept, embrace and believe in. He is the one with outstretched hands calling and beckoning us to go to Him. Why is it important to discuss The Holy Spirit and the Growth of the Church? Is there a connection between the Holy Spirit and the Church and its ministries and the life of Christians so to speak? Is the connection vital? Can the church function effectively and grow without the involvement of the Holy Spirit? Can preachers preach the Word of God to penetrate to where the joints and marrow meet in the heart without the enablement of the Holy Spirit? Can Christians pray for the sick, tread on serpents and scorpions and cast out demonic spirits without the empowerment of the Holy Spirit and realization from those spirits that He who is in the believer confronting them is greater than them (1 John 4:4)? I do not know about your churches in your countries but it took us a long while to come to realize about the VITALITY of the Holy Spirit in the life and growth of the Church. MY FRIENDS, THE TOPIC ON THE WORK OF THE HOLY SPIRIT IS MORE SO IMPORTANT THAT IT CANNOT BE COVERED IN A SESSION OR TWO OR IN ONE DAY. When the missionaries left in large numbers after we gained independence from Australia, they only left us the Bible and Christianity on the surface and just skin deep faith. They told us; Everything you need to know about God and for your Christian life is in the Bible. Read it and feed on it and you will discover the secrets and power of God. They had up to that time introduced us to Christianity, to turn away from our sins and accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior, give up worshipping evil spirits and use of magic potions, not to give up the habit of meeting together, be baptized, regularly take communion, go to church regularly. They told us that believers were indwelt by the Spirit, that we could either offend or please Him and that we needed His empowering for effective service. They did tell us about the need to be filled with the Spirit, but, for most of us, it was white man s talk. But the reality of the Holy Spirit in our spirit world context, most of us did not discover. We were taught about God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit and the pronouncements during baptism I baptize you in the Name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

49 My fellow brethren, we do not have to become Pentecostals to experience church growth nor the outworking nor the outpouring of the Holy Spirit in our churches as it did on the day of Pentecost that drew onlookers running to see what was happening nor the mass conversion that resulted. The brethren among other evangelical churches in my country were once dubbed as a dead church and a lifeless church and it pained my heart to hear that. My stand and involvement was tested and I questioned God, Father, am I in the wrong Church group? I went through a period of doubt until a very personal encounter with the Spirit of the Lord on s September 1980 while in college training to become an Air Traffic Controller. Little did I know then that was a fulfilment of the Lord Jesus' promise to His disciples that... He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him and show myself to him. (John 14: 21). That was a phenomenal encounter after I recommitted myself to the Lord. There was a special prayer I had prayed for over four months. The prayer was Lord, you know that I am a proud man who always wants to be first in everything I do. I am now in my last course through which success means I will graduate to become a licensed Air Traffic Controller just like the white man. I want you to cause a miracle in my life, I don t want to become first but last just above the pass mark but give me that contentment because I am going to study the Bible instead to know more about you. I want you to increase in my life and I to decrease (John 3:30). One Sunday after church in 1984 while on afternoon shift alone in the control tower standing looking south at the beauty of the mountains, a very clear compulsive quiet whisper said to me; Kos, what is going to happen to your churches when all the CMML missionaries leave Papua New Guinea? On hearing that voice I prayed Lord, if you find any worth in my life that could be of value to your kingdom work, then I give myself to you. Strangely, I attended a Baptist church at that time because there was no Brethren church in the city. One year later I was ordered at short notice to transfer to another city by the Civil Aviation Authorities. Five months later in the 3 rd week of January 1986, I was shaken awake by the Lord who clearly gave me this command with an outstretched hand pointing to the direction I was to take; Kos, tomorrow you are to go to Erima a suburb of the city I had not yet set foot in. That was the entry point for me to reconnect with the CMML missionaries and their church work. The subsequent church plant grew a membership from ten to a thousand with 3 church services each Sunday in three different languages. Today in many Brethren circles when talking about the Holy Spirit and His gifts, we seem to be selective in which of the gifts we feel comfortable with and acceptable to us. That is where we are wrong. All gifts of the Holy Spirit for the edification of His ministry are still as applicable, relevant and fresh as they were in the early missionary work of the New Testament. The Brethren must not be mistaken that only some gifts of the Holy Spirit can be manifestly employed, with others not. Our Conference planners I believe under the guidance of the Holy Spirit selected and lined up the Strategic discussions to this key discussion; The Holy Spirit and the Growth of the Church. Relationship with Christ We Christian Brethren must realize, believe and accept the fact that the Holy Spirit cannot indwell us and work through us as far as mission and church growth is concerned without us first having a relationship with Christ. That relationship must be that we are glued or joined in nature to him and him to us. We must remain in him and him in us. (John 15:5, Ps 1:3). Servant Leadership We must be church leaders who are prepared to intentionally come down from our position of leadership in the church and wash the feet of others just Jesus our King did when needed. There are two applications here; first, we must let Jesus wash us with His Blood and, secondly, we must see others as Jesus saw his disciples and humbled him before them by washing their feet. Jn. 13: Servant leadership in practice We must be prepared to come down to the same level as our congregation members or co-workers when needed. Jesus the Lord, the King, did not live and rule from a royal palace, but walked the dusty paths of the Judea and Israel with his disciples, ate with them, thirsted like them, was hungry like them, tired like them and shared the same roof with them to sleep. That was how he got to be an

50 effective leader, shepherd and teacher by becoming part of their inner circle. Only as we allow the Holy Spirit to work in us, can we in practice do what Jesus did without losing face. The Church under pressure The church today is being thrust into the modern world with all its new tests and temptations that come with the world of many cultures, internet communications, political pressures, and moral decline. The church is under enormous pressure from many opposing tensions today to turn a blind eye, affirm and accept or even compromise with the bad things and controversial issues within the church and society around it. In our PNG churches, we still bring old tribal and local leader loyalties, big man rivalries, with potential for corruption and breakdown of society, lack of opportunity for education, business development and so forth into the mix as well. What place does the Holy Spirit have in this mission world today for us Melanesians or for the general wider world perspective? How has the Holy Spirit led the national church leaders in CBCPNG or in your own churches? What is the Holy Spirit saying to our Christian Brethren churches today? The Holy Spirit can give us discernment, make us bold and strong to be able to stand for what is right and speak into these controversies. The Holy Spirit and the Church Jn. 14: & 16: 5 We see something interesting here. In the Garden of Eden, the Lord commanded Adam and Eve not to eat fruit from the tree that was in the middle of the Garden that would open the eyes of their minds to know good and evil. God demands obedience from us and His church but we cannot obey Him by the strength of our will power or inner personal strength. Adam and Eve could not say 'no' to Satan because the pull of the eye was too strong even though they knew of the Lord's direction. Peter and the other disciples vowed that they would not fall away and leave Jesus by himself when arrested in the Garden of Gethsemane, but Peter denied the Lord three times initially through the words of a servant girl. But we see a different Peter and the disciples on the day of Pentecost. What transformed them just after forty days that they were able to take to start obeying the Lords command, Go into the entire world and preach the good news to all creation (Mk. 16: 15)? How was it that these unschooled, ordinary men who had been with Jesus were able to place their hands on the sick and heal (Mk. 16: 18) that lame beggar outside the temple courts? (Acts 3: 1-8). Where did Peter get his boldness from?(acts 4: 8). IT WAS BECAUSE THEY WERE CLOTHED WITH POWER FROM ABOVE AND INFILLED BY THE HOLY SPIRIT THAT THEY WERE ABLE TO OBEY WHERE AS ADAM AND EVE DID NOT HAVE AND COULD NOT OBEY. Today, our church workers and evangelists, pastors, Sunday School Teachers, youth workers, social services ministries workers, religious instruction teachers, chaplains, women ministries workers, Bible School teachers need to be clothed with power from heaven and indwelt and in filled by the Holy Spirit, to enable us to see our churches grow and to continue to send workers out to gather the harvest. The Holy Spirit and the Growth of the Church A twofold mission field is ever before us today, as it was in the past and it will be for our future generation. The first is our current church congregations today and the second is the unsaved world. For both fields the Holy Spirit must be involved. A stagnant, aging or dying church does not need to be stagnant, age or die out because the Holy Spirit will give new life, strength, revive and renew. No church needs to close down, for our God has power to open closed doors, melt down closed harden hearts, dull years. We need to let the Holy Spirit free to work within us for the church to grow and our mission workers to gather harvest in unsaved world. I have sent them into the world Jn. 17: The Holy Spirit and Church Growth from our Melanesian Perspective. Now I want to share with you the Melanesian experience of the Holy Spirit and His work since the missionaries first came and after they left. Missionary evangelism Many of the missionaries who came to work in PNG (and maybe elsewhere in the world) came with knowledge of the Holy Spirit at work in their own lives and in some aspects of their church life in their home countries. But this was a one-sided and impoverished knowledge of the Holy Spirit s work. In some areas

51 they had limited or no experience so they struggled to understand the reality of our Melanesian spiritworld. Don McGregor s The Fish and the Cross was a good example of that struggle. Their gospel sought personal conversion, but they had few answers to the deeper questions of how to deal with the world of the spirits, of power encounters, of the deeper changes in personal loyalty to Jesus Christ at the individual and communal levels. As a result, for many PNG people, the Christian life was, we believe, lived on two levels the level of conformity to expectations as taught by the missionaries and as understood from the Good News, on the one hand, and the deeper level of health and communal life crises. At this deeper level, some early Melanesian Christians returned to spirit dances (singsing), sorcery (sanguma), spells and charms (marila), and spirit diviner (glassman) mentality to solve these deeper crises. In some cases this is still true today. I invited two of our pioneer missionaries, Kay Liddle and Ossie Fountain, to share some of their early experiences of the working of the Holy Spirit which were similar to those of apostles Peter and Paul as recorded in Acts. Space precludes the inclusion of their very interesting contributions but they can be made available along with details of Kay s two ebooks which illustrate the points he makes. Time and space do not allow me to discuss in depth matters relating to this subject. The Holy Spirit and the Growth of the Church Brother Kelvin Samwata is going to give us the concluding address and remind us of the Commission of our Lord for his disciples. The mission of the churches still remains today and will remain as each generation is succeeded by another and newer challenges in the mission field not faced by earlier generations come up. Do Brethren churches have to die out, close and close doors because of no numbers or aging membership population? Why is there a drain in the congregations with people leaving or going back to their former ways of living? Do the people in our communities shun coming to church because the church service is boring and songs sung are dull and the preaching blunt and unable to penetrate even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow and judging the thoughts and attitudes of the hearts (Heb 4:12) of the hearers and observers? Many of the churches in my own Brethren Assemblies are like that. Why is that? What can be done to change that? I believe there is no magic wand to wave, nor would a formula or program to use that revive our churches, or make our outreaches effective. There simply is NOT. OUR CHURCHES NEED TO DO TWO THINGS; a. We need intentionally as church congregations to get together to pray, like the apostles did in Jerusalem just before Pentecost AND WAIT FOR POWER FROM ON HIGH. EVEN IF WE HAVE TO FAST, THEN WE HAVE TO FAST. Many times we do not know what to pray for or to know the mind and will of the Lord concerning His work. The Holy Spirit who dwells in us knows the will of God and will be able to reveal to us what He wants us to do, where to go, how to do it, who to involve and what resources to give us to use. In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. And He who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes (for us) saints in accordance with God s will (Heb. 8: 26-27). b. We need to intentionally let the Holy Spirit fill us, guide us, counsel us, tell us, warn us, reveal God s plans and wills to us, strengthen us, enable us, involve with us in our church activities, our singing, our prayer meetings, our planning meetings, our preaching. Something I have come to realize now is not to decide myself what I am going to preach, but ask the Holy Spirit to reveal to me what He wants me to talk about; to meet the current need of the church or situation. To see the effectiveness of the involvement of the Holy Spirit in our ministries we must first deny ourselves, in that I must first let Him increase and I decrease (Jn. 3: 30) and acknowledge that I can do nothing on my own;.for apart from me you can do nothing (Jn. 15: 5). Then pray as an individual, as a husband and wife, as a family as a leadership group, as a congregational group. Church Growth What do the Brethren need today for our stagnating churches, our struggling churches, dying churches, gasping churches, non-visionary churches, aging churches? We as Kingdom workers need

52 to be refilled and refreshed, re-motivated, re-generated with Fresh Wind and Fresh Fire from above to burn within us. What Happens When God s Spirit Invades the Hearts of His People?" Fresh Wind Comes upon His People and Fresh Fire Burns within them [Jim Cymbala pastor of Brooklyn Tabernacle (New York) with and Dean Merrill]. Secret Sources of Power is a road less travelled. You will discover that the way up is down; to lay hold you must let go; to be filled you must become empty [Tommy Teenney, Lousiana USA]. We are just gloves. The Holy Spirit is the hand that fills it, empowers it and makes it function. Without Him, we are sunk! The Christian life isn t hard; it s impossible without God s indwelling Spirit. What will the Holy Spirit do for me? you ask. (1) Move you forward. The earth was without form, and void.the Spirit of God moved.and God said, Let there be light: and there was light (Gen. 1: 2-3). The first thing God s Spirit will do for you is to move you out of darkness and into light [understanding]. You can t be filled with God s Spirit and stay where you are; He will move you forward. (2) He will reveal "He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him and show myself to him." (Jn. 14: 21). (3) He will guide you into all the truth (John 16: 13a), He will speak to you or tell you what he has heard from the throne room (John 16: 13b) (4) He will bring glory to Jesus by taking from what belongs to the Lord Jesus and making it known to you (Jn. 16: 14) (5) He will enable you to know of God s secret wisdom that has been hidden, which no eye has seen, no ear has heard or what no mind has conceived (Rom 2: 9 11). He will reveal the thoughts of God or plans of God (Rom 2: 11) (6) He will help us to understand what God has freely given us (Rom. 2: 12) (7) He will help us as we minister through our different ministries of involvement to speak words not taught or planned by man to speak to express spiritual truths in spiritual words that the person who hears will have itchy ears to want to hear and to understand its meaning. (8) Give you inner strength to exercise your authority He will give you the power or authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy (Lk. 10: 19) because He who is living in you is greater than he who is in this world (1 Jn. 4: 4) (9) Protect you and Comfort you. Jesus referred to the Holy Spirit as the Comforter who would never leave us (see Jn. 14: 16). When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord shall lift up a standard against him (Is. 59: 19). When the enemy moves against you all you have to do is pray; Holy Spirit, be my standard bearer and my defender. Those who did it in Bible days saw their foes scattered and took home the spoils of battle and enjoyed God s richest blessings and you will too! The Christian Brethren though not a large denomination, are widely known as one of the largest mission sending groups in the world, not only through its own agencies but through other para church organizations and missions. They are still active in missions, conferences and camps. We need the power, leading and enablement of the Holy Spirit to be the mainstay to undergird our mission. Jesus in his final words to his disciples told them to, Go into the entire world and preach the Good News to all creation. Whoever believe and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. And these

53 signs will accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons, they will speak in new tongues (languages); they will pick up snakes with their hands; and when they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt them at all; they will place their hands on sick people, and they will get well. (Mk. 16: 15-18) SO THE GREAT COMMISSION STILL REMAINS THERE FOR THE CHURCH THROUGH OUR GENERATION OF TODAY AND OUR CHILDREN AND GRAND CHILDREN AND GENERATIONS TO COME THEREAFTER UNTIL THE LORD RETURNS TO GATHER HIS OWN UNTO HIMSELF.

54 Concluding Address: I have sent them into the world (Jn. 17: 1 19) Kelvin Samwata (Zambia) Matthew 28:18-20 THE GREAT COMMISSION All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age. As we come to the end of this great gathering of the brethren here in Rome and as we reflect on our Christian journey, we must be the people of God with a passion to reach out to the unsaved in our generation. What legacy will we leave when the Lord calls us home? Many areas of our world today were, and in some ways still are, the ends of the earth and it is our God given task to spread the good news to the billions of people who are still in darkness under the shackles of the evil one. It is our responsibility to let the ends of the earth know that there is a redeemer, Jesus Christ, God s only Son! Great Commission in Matthew 28:19-20 Jesus Christ charges us, the Body of Christ, to go into all the World and do two things: 1. Share the gospel and lead others to Him in love. 2. Disciple them and help them grow and mature in the faith. Yet, 2000 years later, half the world s population has still yet to hear the name of Jesus Christ. Today businesses and many other organisations consider it essential to draw up a Mission Statement. After the events of Easter, the Lord Jesus met with his disciples on a number of occasions. One of the most significant was when he gave them this Great Commission. He didn t tell them to form sound doctrine, or to gather people into big churches, or to solve the social and political problems of the world. They were to go to all nations. Their mission was not to get the Jewish religion purged of its worst features, nor to tell the Roman authorities how badly they were treating the slaves of the Empire. The command was to go out. There were only eleven of them, and, if they had sat and tried to work out a strategy by which they would put this command into practice they might have deemed the project too big for them. But it was given them by the one who had all authority. And he had his eyes on all the nations whether they did or not. The Christian community always faces the temptation to limit its horizon to the immediate closed circle of those who are visible and reachable. It leads to the local church becoming a cosy club, or a social club. Again and again the Holy Spirit has to remind the disciples of the Lord Jesus that He called them to a global mission that had to cross oceans and cultures, language barriers and national boundaries. It is still the great commission. May the Lord prompt us to reach outwards with the gospel. Matthew 28:19 Some people, in trying to be precise about what being a Christian is, use the phrase Christfollower. Others refer to such a person as a believer. But the word Christian has been emptied of much of its meaning, especially since in some countries it frequently means someone who is not a Muslim, Hindu or Jew. In commissioning his close followers to Go and make disciples of all nations Jesus promoted them, so to speak, and made them into Apostles. The word apostle simply means One who is sent. The task he gave them was to make disciples. Making disciples, as the eleven knew, involved far more than making converts. Jesus had worked on their character, trained them to minister, sent them out, reflected on their experience, helped them see how to do it better next time. He prayed with them and for them, he had eaten with them, and sung with them, and served them, and washed their feet. Yes, Jesus spoke to thousands of people, and died for the sins of the whole world, but, in his three years of public ministry, he invested significantly in the development and training of disciples who would in turn be able to make disciples because they had been shown how. Jesus Christ had a train and release strategy. Today in many of our churches, however, we have a train and retain strategy. We have put a huge amount of focus on helping people come to know Christ but much less on helping people grow in Christ.

55 Jesus did not say, Convert them, although that may well have been implied. He wanted the people who came to believe to become disciples. The basic meaning of disciple is learner. The apostles were to spread out into the world and get people to become learners of the Lord Jesus. This involved telling them about the life, teaching, death and resurrection of Jesus. It is a life-long task. People who have been disciples of the Lord Jesus for eighty years or more are still learning. Learning of the Lord Jesus is not like studying a school subject. It includes intellectual growth, but it means growing a relationship as well. These new Christian disciples the apostles were to make also had to draw close to Jesus. The twelve disciples had lived as a close-knit band around the Lord Jesus for three years. And the Pentecostal gift of the Spirit drew them closer still. But eventually learners may become teachers, and the apostles task was also to hand on some of the new disciples the mission they had been given to make others also. All of us believers have to realise that the core of our calling is to be disciple-making Christians whatever else we do. How strong a disciple are you? Do I go on learning and discipling others. May the Lord make me ever a learner. Matthew 28:19 Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father, the Son and of the Holy Spirit. What the Lord Jesus emphasises here in his commission to his disciples is that the new disciples they are to make are to be baptised in the name of the Father, the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Their coming into the Christian community is not to be merely a common human. It is by the authority and the working of God that disciples become disciples. People are not joining a club when they become members of the Christian community. When we lead people to faith in Christ we must trust in the power of the Holy Spirit, as Paul did, to transform idol-worshippers, sorcerers, drunkards and adulterers into true disciples of Jesus Christ washed, sanctified and justified in his name (1 Cor 6:9-11). It is all about God the Father who created us, the Son who died for us and the Holy Spirit who works in us to do the will of God. They become part of the community that is the people of God, the body of Christ and the temple of the Holy Spirit. John 17:15-19 My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. They are not of this world, even as I am not of it. Sanctify them by the truth; your Word is truth. As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world. For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified. The Good News There is surely no more urgent issue for today s church than how to motivate, encourage and equip every Christian to work and witness for God s Kingdom. Our dream must be that every Christian would go out into their bit of God s world confident that God can work through them, confident that Jesus is good news for all the people they meet, good news for the things they do, good news for the organisations they engage in. Every Christian must go out onto their frontline discipled by the local church, supported in wisdom and prayer, honoured and celebrated for their service for the King wherever they are. Colossians 1:19-20 The gospel is not a set of good instructions or a piece of Good advice, but the Good News of what God Himself has achieved for me, for us, for the world in Christ. And the gospel is not only an offer of personal forgiveness, not only the rescue of men and women from judgement, but the renewal of God s relationship with his people, and the beginning of the restoration of all creation. (Anthony Billington). Always the triune God, and not any human personality, is the central person in any Christian community. Many times the Lord Jesus gets crowded out in our communities by people who want to hold centre-stage. We must make sure the Lord Jesus is central in our communities. May the Lord help us to keep focused on the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. CONCLUSION Matthew 28: 20b...And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age. How else would good order prevail, life continue and all things working together for harmony and wholeness? I don t understand how it all fits together and where my tiny little place is in the whole vast system, but I accept that He is God and He has ordered the whole universe to work!

56 As long as there is evil, suffering, pain, death, poverty, hunger, war, persecution and all the rest of the evils we are living with, Christ has promised to be with us. There is evil, pain, suffering and wickedness beyond measure in our world today. However, let us all be encouraged: When the curtain finally falls on all this mess, the Lord Jesus is here with us. He is our friend and Lord, our Saviour, Shepherd and Guide. He is supreme over planets, galaxies, comets, stars and satellites. And with all that is going on, it just could be TODAY that He comes. Yes, we are imperfect disciples, but nevertheless we are what it looks like to follow Jesus. If people join the band they become one of us, learning to do the work and to live the life that Jesus has taught us to live. Jesus chose his disciples in a way that showed his intention to launch a movement. We are that movement the very thing that Jesus Christ lived for and died for. Finally, it is important to be very gentle with people who have lived all their lives in ignorance. Although Jesus and Paul both argued with the Jews (because the Jews were stubbornly rejecting the grace of God), both were very gentle with people following other religions the woman of Samaria, the man with a legion of demons, the Canaanite woman, the Athenians and Iconians. If I am an evangelist among people who have already heard the gospel many times and still fail to respond, I should confront and challenge them. But if I am a cross-cultural missionary among people who have never had a chance to hear, I should persuade them gently and patiently and with much prayer until finally they put their trust in Jesus. THEY WILL BE WON NOT BY CONDEMANTION BUT BY LOVE. (Rob Dunn) Our Mission Our mission, our task, our calling is to prepare men, women and children from every tribe and tongue for that great day. We know that Christ, having offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him (Hebrews 9: 28). A Prayer of Paul of Tarsus, Philippians 1: 9-11 And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ to the glory and praise of God." The death and resurrection: Jesus went to his death on a charge of which he was innocent actual rebellion against Rome. Barabbas, a rebel leader went free. A centurion, looking up at his victim, saw and heard something he hadn t expected and muttered that this man was God s son after all. The pain and tears of all the years were met together on Calvary. The sorrow of heaven joined with the anguish of earth; the forgiving love stored up in God s future was poured out into the present; the voices that echo in a million human hearts, crying for justice, longing for spirituality, eager for relationship, yearning for beauty, drew themselves to gather into a final scream of desolation. The death of Jesus as the King of the Jews, the bearer of Israel s destiny, is the fulfilment of God s promises to his people of old, and it is the fulcrum around which world history turns. God s kingdom had finally arrived, it is the time for a mission to tell the world that Jesus was its rightful Lord and Saviour that the human heart longs for! Isaiah s witness to Jesus 42 In the book of Acts (8: 26-35) we are given an example of how understanding Isaiah s vision would inspire the great missionary drive of the gospel from Jerusalem to the ends of the earth when, in the middle of his evangelistic ministry, Philip is told to go southward to the desert road that leads from Jerusalem to Gaza. There, in one of those amazing evangelistic moments made by God, Philip met an Ethiopian official returning home from Jerusalem and reading Isaiah 53 and its story of the Servant being led like a lamb to the slaughter. Fascinated and puzzled by what he is reading the eunuch asked Philip, tell me, please, who is the prophet talking about, himself or someone else? (Acts 8: 34), and Luke gives Philip s response in words of 1 Hugh Hill A Journey through the Bible

57 immortal simplicity. Then Philip began with that very passage of Scripture and told him the good news about Jesus (Acts 8: 35). The eunuch was then baptised and became the means of the gospel being taken to Africa. LOVE IS A WAR! Thank you and God bless us all, Amen.

58 WORKSHOP NOTES G. THE BRETHREN MOVEMENT AND CHURCH GROWTH G1. What can be learned from church growth thinking and practice? Chair: Ieremia Rusu (Romania) What are the keys to church growth? Revival Prayer, Individual and group prayer in the church, Good leadership. Willing even to die for Christ. Teaching, hunger for the word of God. We were walking to attend a church for one or two hours in Addis. Commitment of the leaders, Devotion of the believers to serve the lord in any kind even in Persecution, The work of the Holy Spirit, totally depending on the work of the Holy work. Preaching is vital in those days. The quality of life. The willingness of the believers to live holy life. Is church growth to be considered normal or automatic? Does God want the growth of the Church, or any particular church? I believe the church growth is for all churches. Growth is for all the Church. The growth may differ in number but, it is for all. What are the main hindrances to growth in particular congregations? Lack of commitment Lack of mission, vision and strategy Lack of focussed and committed leaders Lack of resource Division in the church Is there a formula, or are attitudes, culture and spiritual conditions more important? responsibility to help and lead Batie Church. The missionaries were forced to leave the country. Gofa sefer planted Akaki and Saries. Now Akaki planted Kality, Kilinto, Gelan and Dukem. Saris has planted Spiritual condition is more important. All the members who are in fellowship are part of this work. Their spiritual condition is attracting people to the church. But in addition to that, as you know we have community way of life and it is easy to share the gospel. This culture helped us a lot to share the gospel easily. Shifting congregational culture from maintenance to mission This is very very important. The Church should be mission oriented. The culture of the church should be mission. let me give an example from my church experience. My home church in Addis Gofa Sefer Church took a responsibility of leading its self and the national Lafto. Kality has planted Sirty. Gofa continued to plant and planted Alemgena, Mekanisa and Bethel. This is all in Addis. Burayu and Ashewa Meda were also planted with the help of the office. In the last 25 years only in Addis we were able to plant 14 churches. These churches did not have enough resources. What they have is a burden to plant a Church. And God helped them to plant a church. Mulugeta Ashagrie Ethiopia Introduction The overall decline of church influence in society, and the steady shift from Christendom to secular pluralism in the western world is a wake-up call for the church. The need for church growth has become increasingly evident as has the need to switch from the maintenance mode of church life to being mission centred.

59 One significant response to this need is the church planting movement, and over the last few decades, much has been said and done on this topic. The term itself is not an historic one, but it does refer to what is at the heart of God's mission, the creation of a community and communities of God's redeemed people (1 Cor. 3: 6). For the purpose of church growth, the 1990s was a time in which goals were set to plant churches with a view to achieve set objectives by the year Many of these objectives were not achieved and in the case of the United Kingdom, Together in Mission 43 put together an interdenominational consultation to review what had transpired and to learn lessons for the future. I wish to give a structure to our discussion on church growth by referring to some of their conclusions. 1. Ecclesiology and Missiology come before Methodology. 1. A high failure rate of church plants due in part to replicating existing "Christendom" models or cultural models of church which are obsolescent or inappropriate in different contexts and changing culture. a. In what ways could this problem be hampering the growth of the assemblies? b. What has been done about it? What can be done about it? c. In what ways can Biblical pre-christendom church life and practices, help us identify a more effective ecclesiology? 2. Often churches were planted in settings where churches were already strong and became pastorally focused with little further interest in attempts to reach out to culturally diverse environments. a. In what ways can legitimate concerns deviate the church from being truly mission oriented? b. What can be done about it? c. Whether the objective is planting or transforming churches, how can we best live out the dual responsibility of faithfulness to the Gospel Word and the centrality to the Gospel community? Comments: 1. In response to some of these issues there has been considerable reflection on being "missional" d. Missional ecclesiology attempts to define and apply the centrality of mission to the life of the church. e. Alan Hirsch defines the church thus: "a community of God's people that defines itself, and organises its life around its real purpose of being an agent of God's mission to the world" 44. f. Leslie Newbigin defines the local congregation as the "hermeneutic of the Gospel" i. This means a community that with intentionality lives the Gospel in all the spheres of its collective existence, with an on going "trialogue" between Gospel, culture and church. ii. The local congregation identifies itself as a missionary people, simply because we serve a missionary God. iii. Even our worship is rooted in mission, mission is not just a means to an end, it defines worship; the God we worship is a missionary God! 2. Drew Goodmanson has used three streams to identify a missional ecclesiology. 45 a. Missio Dei (Normative): The mission of God is the reason the church is on a mission, His mission is greater than the church itself, but the church is central to it. (Rev. 21: 1-5) b. Missionary (Existential): Individuals are sent on mission (2 Cor. 5: 14-21) c. Mission (Situational): The church exists for God and for others. This means tangible signs and activities of the church which point to the kingdom of God. (1 Peter 2: 9-12: 2 Peter 3: 11-14) 2. The need of both local and translocal approaches 1. Over-reliance on local initiatives for church planting and growth a. Can produce immediate results, but can be less strategic in the long run. 43 George Lings, Stuart Murray, Church Planting: Past, Present and Future, Grove Books Limited Alan Hirsch, The Forgotten Ways, Brazos, 2007, p

60 b. Errors can be repeated due to not learning from one another. c. Missed opportunities due to inadequate: training, cross-fertilisation, and missiological reflection. d. Church planting is limited to larger churches. 2. Over-reliance on central planning a. Stifles local initiative b. Delays on opportunities being grasped c. Frustrating to the pioneering spirit d. Establishment of clones e. Unrealistic goals 3. How can we create a balance between local and translocal approaches? What instruments can we use? 3. Leadership and Training are crucial 1. Training alone cannot produce effective leaders, but lack of training exacerbates the situation. 2. In-house training a. has a big advantage of practical training in a relational context, b. but draws on limited expertise. c. does not usually expose trainees to alternative models or ways of thinking. 3. Theological College training a. can give a thorough academic approach to training b. but is easily detached from specific contexts, and practical application c. on completion can lead to the false assumptions of being fully equipped, and can be ill adapted to re-integrate into the changed relational situation of the local church. 4. How can we better forge partnerships between these two modes of training? 4. Starting new churches is not enough 1. A worrying number of church plants do not survive for a significant time. a. Lack of long-term sowing means some quick harvesting growth, then a plateau that blunts mission, motivation and progress. b. Finding an enabling leader, after the pioneer leaves, proves difficult. c. It is easy for a personality cult to develop. d. Ecclesiastical power can be too controlling, not willing to enable, trust and release. 2. How best can we work towards generational transfer of leadership and responsibility? 3. How can we work towards long-term sowing, with long-term results? 5. Why diversity might be right 1. With the attention given to church growth and church planting in recent times, the reality has been an increase in diversity in expressions of what it means to be church, more than a numerical increase. "Diversity has elbowed its way to the table" 46. House group churches, Mega churches, purpose-driven or seeker churches, multi-site churches, various ethnic churches are now part of the scenery. Certainly the Brethren movement is not immune, either, from the widening streams of expressions of church. a. Can these widening streams of expressing church connect with each other and learn from each other? b. How can meaningful unity across diversity be expressed and held? c. Will advocacy of one approach be damaging to contextualised mission? d. How can we deal with the diverse expressions of church life in view of our missiological commitments? Bibliography Tim Chester and Steve Timmis, Total Church: A radical reshaping around gospel and community, IVP George Lings & Stuart Murray, Church Planting: Past, Present and Future, Grove Books Limited 2003, p. 24.

61 Stuart Murray, Church Planting: Laying foundations, Paternoster Press 1998 Timothy Keller, Center Church, Zondervan 2012 George Lings & Stuart Murray, Church Planting: Past, Present and Future, Grove Books Limited, 2003 Matt Chandler, Josh Patterson & Eric Geiger, Creature of the Word, B&H Publishing Group 2012 Michael Eastman & Steve Latham, Urban Church: A Practitioner's Resource Book, SPCK 2004 Rod Jones Italy

62 G2. Growing the church in the majority world Chair: José Neto (Angola) 1. The Church has always been a growing organism and we find such an emphasis everywhere in the New Testament. (Acts 2:4, 47, 5:14 and numerous similar historical references in the New Testament). 2. Church history makes clear that the highest growth of church has shifted from location to location in the last 2000 years. 3. Today the highest growth takes place in the Majority World (a term somewhat synonymous with Third World). 4. Thus it is prudent that we focus the bulk of our time and resources to preach the gospel and disciple people in the Majority World. Challenges To Church Growth The following factors pose serious challenges to church growth in the Majority World: 1. There is high level of illiteracy. 2. Believers are scattered over large areas, but they lack easy transportation and communication facilities. 3. A large number of these countries and their constitution are hostile to Christians. 4. Many of them persecute Christians and do not allow building of churches. 5. Poverty is very high. Most families have less than $8 per day for survival Growing The Church Spiritually As Well As Numerically The following factors can help the spiritual and numerical growth of the church in the Majority World 1. There needs to be better availability of Christian literature. 2. Larger number of men and women need to be trained in evangelism and discipling. 3. Better places (better location, better buildings) for gathering are needed. 4. More coordinated evangelistic and teaching ministries are needed. 5. There are an estimated 1 billion children in the Majority World. Compared to others, they are much more open to the gospel and Assemblies must make it a point to target them at all costs with the help of Child Evangelism approaches. Evangelism And Discipleship The church can grow in Majority World only if there is systematic evangelism followed by systematic and coordinated discipling of those who come to the Lord. The following things can help: 1. Evangelism needs to be coordinated so that duplication and waste of resources is avoided. 2. Radio, TV, and modern media need to be exploited for these purposes. 3. Evangelistic literature needs to be printed using latest insights into communication. 4. Discipleship and teaching materials need to be upgraded and expanded. They are insufficient in most of the Majority World. 5. Legal help should be made available to those who suffer at the hand of the law because of their faith which is very common in Majority World. Funding Growth Evangelism and Church planting requires substantial amount of funds. Literature needs to be printed, churches have to be built. Thus the following things need to be kept in mind about the finding of Church Growth in Majority World. 1. Of the total number of Christians 70% lives in the Majority World, but they have only 20% of the financial resource of Christians worldwide. 2. Thus contributions from Majority World alone cannot support evangelism or church growth in Majority World. 3. Christian believers from the more affluent countries need to come forward to fund and support the evangelistic efforts of their poorer brethren in the Majority World.

63 4. Micro loans for starting cottage industries, educational scholarships, and scholarships for studying in Bible-schools must be made available. 5. Such efforts should be done after studying the local cultural situation so that there is minimum disruption of culture and unity of the church, while it brings maximum growth. Abraham Thomas India

64 G3. Growing the church in sceptical, consumerist societies

65 G4. Meeting the secularist challenge Chair: Reynald Kozycki (France) The word secularism is derived from the Latin word for world. Secularism refers to a system of thought and belief which explicitly or implicitly excludes God from human affairs. In short secularism proclaims that the world we live in is all there is there is no God. Or, if there is, He is too far beyond our understanding to be of any relevance to human life today. Gerard Beigel Origins: *In the medieval world church and state acted in unity. *The reformation of the 16th century brought about significant changes although initially the emerging Lutheran and Calvinistic systems continued the marriage of church and state. * However, soon other church movements arose and, in the pluralism which developed, it was no longer possible to maintain a direct link between church and state. Thus local governing bodies began to determine social structures apart from church authority. Development: The Bible had always been the depository from which societal rules were formulated. But the freedom which the reformation engendered allowed a range of interpretations which shaped both theological and social norms. Initially, It was held that there existed truth which was universal words from God - and that this was spelt out in the scriptures. However, it was discovered that the Bible could be used to support even contradictory social norms. Enter the era of the enlightenment when a shift came from recognising the authority of the Bible to emphasising human reasoning. Humanity replaces God as the centre of decision making. Critical Biblical scholarship began to create doubts in the minds of believers concerning the reliability of the scriptures. Christians need to be able to address this issue of the Bible s relevance to contemporary decision making. This also was the age when the notion of a universal God began to be put to one side or eliminated altogether. Deism, where God was no longer seen as guiding human affairs, ( the cosmic clock winding down), and creation (God s crowning action) downplayed, even denied, with Darwin s theory of evolution which becomes a new truth not to be challenged. The church has to address this new given, to be convinced as to God s activity in creation, and to be able to articulate this position. A further element of secularism is evident in the call to freedom. No longer the freedom, in Christ, to choose the good, but the freedom to make any choice. Moreover, in a pluralist society, one no longer has the right to challenge or even question another s choice. To do so one is regarded as a bigot! Thus currently, religion is almost a taboo subject, seen to be divisive and intolerant. In the secular world man becomes the centre of the universe and his wellbeing and pleasure the primary goals. Secularism has shaped our desire for a larger and better furnished residence. Retirement plans and social welfare are front and centre of the political agenda. This is contrary to Biblical eschatology where the focus is on another world. Has secularism dulled the contemporary Church s preaching of the second coming and the reality of heaven? It may be time to ask questions about church music which today in many churches matches the music of the rock bands with the endless repetition of lines: and to ask how much has this element of our church service been influenced by secularism. A more recent secularist challenge is the movement to endorse same sex marriages. On the issue of homosexuality the Bible has a very clear stance. Christians are going to have to address this issue personally and in their churches. It remains much easier to identify the emergence of secularism than to provide Biblical responses, which may vary from culture to culture. However, I conclude with words I found helpful.

66 Christianity proposed as an alternative or complement to life in a secularist society must be both vibrant and plausible. Above all it must be substantively different and propose a difference in how people live Wolfhart Pannenberg. Our individual and corporate challenge is to identify where we have been corrupted by secularism and find plausible responses and subsequent lifestyle changes. Two articles I found helpful and which have shaped these notes are How to think about Secularism by Wolfhart Pannenberg and The Challenge of Secularism by Gerard Beigel. Both articles are available on the internet. Ken Newton Australia Engaging spiritually with atheists and agnostics Many in my past if offered the opportunity to engage with an atheist or agnostic would view this as an opportunity to engage with evil itself. Perhaps over time we have become a little more enlightened or at the very least tolerant of the fact that though with a title these people fall into the category of those who are not yet part of the Kingdom of God as opposed to those that have by accepting Christ as savior become part of His kingdom and as such under His authority and grace. It is important to understand, however, that agnostics or atheists are not a sect of similar views and interpretations of life and all things spiritual. They unlike formed religions many vary as much between themselves as they do in comparison to those of us who are Christian. What we learn from this then is that when engaging with people we first see them as those as ourselves are whom Christ came to save. Those whom he gave His life for and those whom we are to serve and attempt to reach as potential joint heirs of His Kingdom. When associating or engaging with people it is important not to sum them up as a group even though they may have similarities of beliefs and or worldviews. With this in mind, however, the Oxford Dictionary definitions may be helpful in framing what we are discussing and be helpful in informing our response when we engage in conversation. atheist, noun, a person who disbelieves or lacks belief in the existence of God or gods: "he is a committed atheist". Synonyms: non-believer, non-theist disbeliever unbeliever heretic agnostic, noun, a person who believes that nothing is known or can be known of the existence or nature of God or of anything beyond material phenomena; a person who claims neither faith nor disbelief in God. Synonyms: skeptic doubter doubting Thomas cynic unbeliever A quick internet search provides a plethora of ideas and imperatives as to the dos and don ts of engagement for those that are doubters of sceptics and those who have determined for their own understanding that there is no God. However, in relating to people along the spectrum of belief to doubt to unbelief, the simple facts remain the same. Don t write them off or patronise them because they don t believe as you do. And, as for all people yet to believe, choose your words carefully. There are articles and explanations as to the benefits and problems with being logical or rational or for providing statements of fact and arguments which if this be true then therefore or urging us not present the outrageous behaviours and examples which we as believers have come to accept as beautiful revelations of a loving God through the miraculous.

67 It is important to keep in mind it is the meaning behind the message that is important not the chapter and verse. The truth is the Gospel speaks for itself. Your responsibility is to know the author and best example of the Gospel story intimately. We are called to love our neighbours. Be prepared to give account. Live out your faith. Pray. Don t judge, serve. Listen and wait for the words as the Holy Spirit provides. Trust in your God to make your words live in the hearts of those who have heard it. Leonard Smith Australia

68 G5. Growth and decline in the Brethren context Chair: Marco Vedder (Germany) A Majority World perspective: Are there features of growth and decline which are special to Brethren churches? All classic evangelical churches, also the Roman Catholic Church, are facing both growth and decline in our context in Angola, Africa, not only Brethren churches. The Pentecostal and Charismatic churches are facing growth and decline also, but in the last 20 years those were the movements with the highest numerical growth in my country. You can see it in Operation World. If so, how are they best addressed, without causing division and dispersion? Because of, historically, different styles and emphasis of missionaries among the Brethren in past and present, we learned that we will have different styles or flavour among us: some more progressive assemblies, and others more classic (traditional). But we learn to debate less, and we put more emphasis on essential biblical doctrines and work together in some projects that we agreed upon. The maturity of leadership has a key role to avoid division and dispersion. Communication among leadership needs to be cultivated. Why are some Brethren churches growing in the West and elsewhere? What are the special features of growth in those particular churches? The main reason for me in my observation is the way we communicate the gospel to the new generation. For example in Angola in the city of Kuito, the local assembly called Piloto now has two services on Sunday, more than 400 people attending each service. This is one of the fastest growing churches among all the evangelical churches in that city in central Angola. They started a Sunday school class less than 10 years ago, watching Christian movies and discussing it with the goal to present the gospel. This was the main way to attract youth, teenagers and kids and communicate the gospel to them. In this local assembly they do not use Hymnbooks any more, they clap hands, they dance more etc. On the other hand, you find some assemblies declining in the same city. The reason for that is only the way we communicate the gospel to the new generation today. Most of the time we keep communicating the gospel in the same ways as were developed 100 years ago although the majority of the population in our countries are young people and kids. In our local, more classic-style assembly in Luanda, the capital of the country, our main attention as department of Christian Education is on youth, teenagers and kids, and we saw our Sunday Bible school growing from 10 to 250 kids who live around our local assembly. What is the role of distinctive features of Brethren ecclesiology? The majority of Christians attending Brethren local churches do not know too much about distinctive features of Brethren ecclesiology. They see brethren assemblies as any other evangelical churches, and they are not interested to have long discussions about it. I found the same among students of theology who study in interdenominational environments. In our context, one of the reasons is that we do not have too much literature in Portuguese about distinctives of Brethren ecclesiology which could help the new generation to gain a deeper understanding of those features. But I think it is important to keep the distinctives of brethren ecclesiology. This is our identity, our DNA. The question is: which of these distinctives could be considered relevant in our days? José Neto Angola A European perspective: Are there features of growth and decline, which are special to Brethren churches? The following features are critical for the health of the church and have been particular challenges for Brethren churches in Western Europe in the past two decades.

69 Leadership and vision. In many churches there is still difficulty in understanding and recognizing the role of elders. In those churches, the elders may be fulfilling the role of shepherds who take care of the spiritual aspects of the flock but they shouldn t exercise their leadership within the meetings or direct the church forward. In a number of churches, elders just maintain the status quo, but they don t have a vision for the future. Clearly recognized visionary leadership is a condition to bring the church to the next stage. Identity. Churches that have gone through divisions and change often lack a clear identity. Questions about the value of the heritage, the current convictions and the core practices are now answered in different ways. In addition to this, the role of woman in the church and ethical questions about marriage and homosexuality bring confusion and division. The church has to make a conscious effort to define what it stands for on this day. The fivefold ministry. In Ephesians 4: Paul teaches that all the five core ministries are necessary to build up the Church. After the reformation, the churches have mainly become pastor-teacher churches, neglecting the apostolic, the prophetic and the evangelistic gifts. A pastor-teacher church will never be able to reach beyond it church walls. It is only inward focused. It has been taught that the church as a body isn t called to reach out. The Great Commission has been understood as something for those who have the gift of evangelism. This lack of an outward focus not only leads to decline, but also sooner or later to division as believers only focus on the right teaching. A church without a mission outside of itself is getting nowhere. Change. To encounter God is to change (Dietrich Bonhoeffer). People normally resist change: We know what we have, we don t know what we will get. Many people only allow change to happen when there is a crisis or a sense of urgency. However, at this stage it may be already too late to make steps that lead to growth. The rapidly changing world around us not only demands that we look for new answers, but also that we dare to ask new questions. Leaders need to guide people through the process of change, building confidence at every step. To avoid divisions, the visionaries bring their proposals to the early adopters, the early adopters to the majority and the majority can communicate confidence to the late adopters. Structure. In the past there has been a resistance to organize church life. A healthy balance needs to be kept between no structure at all and a too tight structure where life is no longer possible. A healthy structure doesn t oppose the working of the Spirit. It rather facilitates growth. What is the role of distinctive features of Brethren ecclesiology? The younger generations (30-50) have seen the disastrous effect of divisions in the past decennia. Today these future leaders are more open towards other Christians and often they no longer embrace the distinctive features of Brethren ecclesiology as the only right teaching. Under the influence of postmodernism, they move from thinking to experiencing, from exclusivism to openness towards others. The focus is no longer on our differences with other Christians, but on common ground in order to seek fellowship. Why are some Brethren churches growing in the West and elsewhere? What are the special features of growth in those particular churches? There is no golden key to growth. God blesses in many ways. See the examples in Acts about growth of the church. But there are some common factors that can be recognized as ingredients for growth: Recognize courageous leaders who have a vision to know where to go and how to get there. Embrace God s calling for His church in making disciples of all nations. Create a gracious learning environment instead of a legalistic (right/wrong) environment Openness to change. Every organism changes over time. Where change is resisted life disappears. Openness to review Brethren ecclesiology. Some features are of great value: others may need revision. Being on a journey we need wisdom to discern what to take with us to the next stage and what to leave behind. Frederic Walraven Netherlands

70 G6. Learning from growth among others Chair: Guy Bourassa (Canada) Introduction: Definition of GROWTH beyond sheer numbers! Key Considerations The Great Commission in Mt would include: a) Making disciples of all nations - evangelism towards conversion, nurture towards Christian maturity, and missions are implied, b) Baptism in the Trinitarian name of God initiation into the fellowship of the local church and an open confession to faith are implied, and c) Teaching towards obedience in all of Christ s commandments not just the comfortable ones! (cf. The Greatest Commandment in Mk. 12: 29-31, and the costs of following Jesus in Lk. 9: 57-62) Key Words to Consider Making disciples, all nations, open confession and witness, church fellowship, obedience to Christ s commandments. Key Questions: 1. What can we learn from churches of Brethren background? What are the positives and negatives? 2. What can we learn from other groups whose churches are growing strongly? (for example: Borneo Evangelical Churches (BEM) in Malaysia) Are there negative lessons? 3. What can we learn from the house churches in China that are experiencing phenomenal growth? (examples include: simple home gatherings, emphases on Word, Prayer and Obedience) 4. What are the key ingredients towards healthy growing churches? 5. Which ingredient, in your opinion, is the greatest contributor in growth of churches? 6. Churches are decimating because of lack of faithful gospel proclamation and cultural relevance. Do you agree? Give reasons. 7. Leadership can either help or hinder growth in churches. Do you agree? Give reasons. 8. Revival is the common ingredient in growth amongst churches e.g. Brethren, Methodist, Pentecostal movements etc. How can we then prepare churches for revival? 9. What can we learn from the movement s own experience of growth worldwide under God? 10. What can we learn from the other movements with growth worldwide? Examples include: Methodist movement, Pentecostal movement etc Further Reading Roland Allen, Missionary Methods: St. Paul s or Ours?, Grand Rapids, William B. Eerdmans, 1962 Fares Marzone ed., New Horizons in Mission, Casella Postale, UCEB, 1997 Oswald J. Smith, The Challenge of Missions, Basingstoke, Marshall Morgan & Scott, 1959 Ralph D. Winter and Steven C. Hawthorne eds., Perspectives on the World Christian Movement, Pasadena, William Carey Library, 1992 J.D. Allan, The Evangelicals: An Illustrated History, Exeter, The Paternoster Press, 1989

71 Donald A Mc Gavran, Understanding Church Growth, Grand Rapids, William B. Eerdmans,1980 John Stott, The Contemporary Christian, Leicester, Inter-Varsity Press, 1992 J.I. Packer, Keep in Step with the Spirit, Leicester, Inter-Varsity Press, 1984 Ooi Chin Aik, Turning Faces Towards Heaven, Kuala Lumpur, MAP Partners Berhad, 2010 Ooi Chin Aik and Tan Jin Huat, eds., The Pursuit of God s Cause, Petaling Jaya, NECF Malaysia, 1998 Ooi Chin Aik Malaysia

72 G7. Growth through immigrant and ethnic churches Chair: P. Joseph Raju (USA/India)

73 G8. Church planting and growth Chair: Questions to consider: What steps are involved in planting a church? Why is there a need to plant a church in the first place? What exactly is involved in planting a church? Prayer Bask this idea in prayer. Why do you want to plant a church? What is the reason for it? Are churches in your area not preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ and teaching right out of the Bible and not elevating the holiness and glory of God? Prayer is essential to anything and the purpose must always be to glorify Christ. There should be no other reason to plant a church than to bring glory to Jesus Christ and that there are no biblically-centered churches in that area. According to the Barna Study (2011, U.S. Study), almost 4,000 churches close their doors each year. This means 2,765,000 people have no place to worship. From 2005 to 2011, church attendance has dropped nearly 50%! So the reasons to plant churches are plenty. The demographics change, the population shifts, and sometimes churches begin to teach watered-down theology and grow seeker sensitive. Prayer is the number one thing, the first thing, the ongoing thing, and the last thing that needs to occur. Unless you are a prayer warrior, you will unlikely be able to plant a church with any type of success. God must be involved in this process. Psalm 127: 1 says, Unless the Lord builds the house, the builders labor in vain. Jesus said, I will build my church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it (Mt. 16: 18). You are going to face the Enemy in the church planting process but remember it is the Lord Who builds and when He is involved in the building of a church, nothing can stop it. Anytime you decide to plant a Godcentered, God-glorifying church that is evangelistic, you will get spiritual attacks. Understanding that will enable you to confront the enemy because you are encroaching upon his territory and he most certainly does not like it. You are going to face the Enemy in the church planting process but remember it is the Lord Who builds and when He is involved in the building of a church, nothing can stop it. Research Do your homework. Talk to neighbours, talk to local citizens, talk to the local businesses, talk to anyone and everyone and ask if they have a home church. If not, ask them why? What is the reason that they don t attend a church? Sadly, the majority of people who don t attend church have never been asked! What you find is that many people who do not attend church have had bad experiences with a church or they are dissatisfied with organized religion. A church often times starts as a house-church. Some of the largest churches today started in someone s living room. Eventually it outgrew the premises and had to find a larger facility. Of course, that is a good problem to have. The more you know about the people, the more you will see the need to plant a church there or see the need to move onto a different area. When you plant young, tender transplants in a garden, you need fertile ground, you need ground that is softened up or tilled, you need fertilizer, and lots of water. This means that you will need ongoing support. You ll need to network with other church leaders in this area. You will also need to look at financial support. The average church plant needs from US$2,000 to US$5,000 (Malaysian local estimate) to operate monthly and that assumes you don t have any full time staff! God owns everything and so if it is His will to plant a church there, the gates of hell is not going to stop it. Preaching The Word Of God Many churches begin as house-churches and they grow into larger churches only because they are glorifying Christ in the services and that the Word of God is taught expository-style. That is, the sermons are not topological, but go through the Bible, verse by verse, and are expounded by subject as they go. Sermon subjects that have been advertised lately include Would Jesus Use Facebook? while another was Would Jesus Tweet? These are not bad in themselves, but what is missing is: Is Jesus being glorified? Is the Word of God being read and taught out of? Is the centrality of the cross spoken of? What about the subjects of sin, repentance, faith, growing in holiness, and living a life of ongoing sanctification? The real-good, feel-good

74 gospel that is watered down gospel, as Charles Swindoll once said, If there s a mist behind the pulpit, there s a fog in the pew. Purpose or Mission Statement What is your vision for this church? You need a purpose, a mission statement, a goal-oriented focus for this church. Our church has a mission statement to the effect that we want members to take God s love to the ends of the earth. Our Mission is to establish a Christian community who believe that small things done with great love will change the world and turn people to Jesus Christ. A vision or mission statement is vital to keep a focus on what is important to God and what is important to God is to The church s mission statement or their vision must necessarily seek to glorify God and to elevate His Word as the final authority in all things He is Truth. There is no other like our God. Evangelism A church that grows is one that goes! That is they go into their own part of the world to evangelize and they share the gospel with the local citizens. This involves going door to door, going into the streets, into the market place, into local sports activities, into convenience stores, city parks, wherever there are people. Jesus gave the church an imperative command to go into all the world to preach the gospel and to make disciples. An imperative command is not a helpful hint, but a direct order from Christ Himself. The Great Commission is given by Christ to Go! In Matthew 28: it says, Then Jesus came to them and said, All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age. Notice that Jesus says that he has give us all authority in heaven and on earth and that we are to make disciples of all nations and that we should be teaching them to obey everything [Jesus has] commanded and that He is with you always. Network Networking is essential. You need to talk to local church leaders. You will need the full support of your own church. Not just for prayer warriors, although you cannot possibly succeed without prayer, but you will need church members with financial backing and partners in the gospel. Networking also involves reaching out to local leaders of established churches and coming together with church planters to discuss how they could form an effective partnership. Together with these churches, we need to ask, what if we could further the Gospel by combining the resources of established churches with the passion and potential of church planters? What if established churches and church planters created an inclusive kingdom culture that allowed for multiple strategies and structures for planting churches? What if together, the church leaders and church planters embraced diversity instead of further fracturing the Body of Christ over insignificant doctrinal or cultural differences? And what if out of this strategic partnership came healthy churches that thrived in the rich soil of the Gospel? The Band of Brother (Sisters included) Relationships require cultivation. You will need a team of fellow church planters with a common philosophy of ministry and theology. You need to spend time with like-minded church members and prospective planters, which will yield a lifetime of relational dividends. The face-to-face time with this band of brother and sisters provides encouragement, equipping and empathy as we share our common experiences of challenges and celebrations. Existing relationships will be strengthened and new relationships shall be formed. Church planters need the opportunity to cultivate relationships with a band of brothers (sisters) who are embarking on the epic quest of church planting. Establishing this team and meeting regularly provides these opportunities. During the early years of the planting I ve been blessed with the experience of having met as a team praying, studying God s Word, strategizing, exploring possible locations for the church plant but most of all sharing our lives together. Learning to laugh together and cry together made us stronger for the challenges ahead as church planters. Your Suggestions I wanted to leave room for your suggestion. You can be creative in your church planting endeavours or you can seek expert advice, much of which is free on the Internet. So what do you think? What ideas can you

75 contribute to planting a church? What can you contribute to this discussion? No one should do this alone. The Bible is clear that in the multitude of counselors there is safety (Proverbs 11:14). We welcome your ideas or ways to improve on what we have shared here. I could never try to plant a church alone. It takes prayer, God, and fellow believers. And the passionate desire to glorify God and elevate the Word of God, the Bible. Peter Tan Malaysia

76 G9. Emergent and missional church: can we learn from it? Chair: Dan Proctor (Australia) When we talk about the Emergent and Missional churches we are dealing with two different things which are conceptually related. Both are movements that emerged from within mainstream evangelicalism and have taken the form of protest movements. They share the same antipathy towards mainstream evangelicalism (especially in its traditional expressions). However, there is a spectrum of belief and practice; some of the key emergents have become much more radical than missional thinkers and are now considered by many to be dangerous and even heretical. Emergent Church Key leaders in the movement would include well-known names such as Mark Driscoll, Brian McLaren, Francis Chan, Tony Jones and Rob Bell. Emergent churches claim that they are trying to express their faith relevantly within a post-modern society and believe that their expression of Christianity is more satisfying for today s Christians than traditional strands of evangelicalism. It is quite difficult to categorize emergents, not just because they reject labels and categorization, but also because the movement is so diverse. They oppose the perceived sterility, calcification and formality of traditional evangelicalism, but celebrate creativity and find new and relevant ways of being church. Some are more radical again and seek out new directions for Christianity. One way of understanding the emergent church is to understand the spectrum(s) which this movement represents. There are two different spectrums that can be used to measure emergent churches. One measurement relates to innovation in practice. That is, some emergent churches hold to theologically orthodox beliefs, but in the way they conduct themselves they look very different from standard evangelical churches. For example they are creative and experimental in worship, relaxed in dress style and presentation and preach in a less formal way or perhaps not at all. They might reject pews in favor of café style seating. They will often prefer to incorporate Q&A sessions in their teaching programme and emphasize the importance of the visual, the sensory and the emotional in their church services. When they get together they make a big issue out of community and authenticity, but are still orthodox in their theological stance. The other spectrum by which they can be measured is that of theology. Some emergent churches are not only innovative in their practice; they are also innovative in their theology. They tend to feel that traditional evangelicalism is too dogmatic and narrow in its focus and that in a post-modern world there needs to be a greater flexibility and tolerance. Such emergents are cautious about reading the Bible too literally and feel that the church has often used scripture to oppress rather than help. Indeed some emergent writers have claimed that the church has misread the Bible for centuries and that they are trying to recapture the spirit of what the Bible is trying to say. They resist dogmatic statements and express a contentment with ambiguity. Their slightly fuzzy approach to theology, which is of course deliberate, also spills over into ethics. For example, they might state that the Bible is unclear on the issues such as homosexuality, so they are happy to take a flexible approach when dealing with it pastorally. Some have even supported and affirmed same sex marriage for Christians. The biggest concern that many mainstream evangelicals have with the emergent church is not actually with the movement as a whole, but with those parts of the movement that are very theologically innovative. There is a genuine concern that some segments of the emergent church play fast and loose with truth and seem unwilling to be categorical about even the simplest claims of scripture and that the gospel is not proclaimed clearly in all its fullness. Indeed, questions can be asked as to whether some emergent leaders really understand the true nature of the gospel, especially when they turn away from doctrines such as the atonement. A second concern is that some emergents are so quick to criticize church (though of course they thoroughly endorse their form of church) and so ready to use straw men in their denunciation of evangelicalism. Moreover some of them are by nature anti-establishment and consequently suspicious of authority structures within church.

77 Criticism aside, there are certainly positive lessons that we can learn from the emerging church movement: First, there is a willingness to try new and innovative forms of church which can be a huge benefit, especially in church planting. It is the boldness of emergents to experiment that has resulted in much of their success. Secondly, there is a desire which many emergents exemplify, to be truly relevant to culture and listen to the heartfelt cries of our age. This too is helpful. Evangelicals have often been accused of not listening to others and of being so dogmatic and forceful in preaching that they alienate rather than attract. Seeking cultural relevance is an important thing, provided scripture and not culture forms the guiding principle by which we operate. The emergent church helpfully emphasizes the importance of listening to culture and lessons can be learned there. Thirdly, emergent churches tend to have a refreshing honesty about them and a willingness to strip down church life to its bare bones. This approach helps church planters to see what is really important in church life. Missional Church Ed Stetzer, Alan Hirsch & Michael Frost are three of the key thinkers here. They are in turn influenced among others by Leslie Newbigin. It is more mainstream than the emergent church but shares some of the same concerns. There is a focus on the holistic ministry of Jesus and a desire to do kingdom work by being concerned about the marginalised. There is also a desire to combine gospel proclamation with gospel demonstration. There is a concern about evangelicalism and a belief that the church has withdrawn too much from the world. Moreover missional Christians express a concern that the attractional model of church will no longer reach people in our world. Missional Christians do not just want to proclaim truth, they want to join Jesus by healing the broken and tending to the hurting book titled Missional Church: A Vision for the Sending of the Church in North America was the first work to introduce the concept of a missional church. The multi-authored book grew out of a group of professors and pastors that sought to bring the World Council of Churches' discussions of missio dei ("the mission of God") to bear on North America. Missional Church emphasizes that everything the church ought to be and do is mission: Missions should not be one church program among many, but the church's core identity as witnesses sent by God into the world. They claim that the church s obsession with marketing and technique is a cultural captivity from which it needs to be released. The Idea of the Kingdom of God plays a huge role in missional thinking. They see the Kingdom of God as something larger than the church of which the church provides a foretaste. Among the commonly cited deficiencies of Christendom are the Reformational marks of the church. Missional leaders express concern that the over-emphasis on the true preaching of the Word and correct administration of the sacraments leads to an unhealthy focus on the church's internal life too much introspection. They opt for a vaguer attitude to the sacraments which has led to some strange experiments. For example, in an attempt to be on the cutting edge of being missional, one church gave an indiscriminate invitation to baptism, literally asking anyone, infant or adult, to come forward for baptism. Secondly they combine a good understanding of cultural trends with a creative and flexibly methodology for reaching out. There are some weakness also: Certain missional-church authors have also developed a dismissive view of church history. For example, Alan Hirsch claims that from A.D. 313 to 1996, the church was dominated by a sterile and unbiblical Christendom mode (ignoring the great monastic missionary movements of the Middle Ages, or the bold

78 cross-cultural efforts by people like Matteo Ricci and Francis Xavier, the modern missionary movement or vibrant contemporary evangelicalism). They also wrongly hail the end of the attractional model of church and make exaggerated claims that only missional models will work in our contemporary society. The success of Pentecostalism (which is often attractional) and also mega-churches like Willow Creek, suggest that this critique is badly wrong. The above has also led to a lack of emphasis on the idea of a gathered church and a fairly shallow ecclesiology as well as an attitude that church in itself lacks significance. Often the justification for this is that the church has hurt people and its history is littered with stories of oppression and abuse. Given the central role of the church in discipling Christians, this could prove problematic. Stephen McQuoid UK

79 G10. Sports ministry and growth Ministering through sports and to professional athletes Our experiences: Danny and Mario Ministering through sports Why sports for the Gospel? Who is the target? How should one engage in sports ministries? What forms of sports ministries? Ministering to professional athletes Why evangelize professional athletes? Risks and opportunities in having a professional athlete in the local church How to disciple a professional athlete

80 Resources: Daniele P. Pasquale Italy Mario Eizagas Uruguay

81 G11. Development of camps work Chair: Alva Corbin (Trinidad and Tobago) Objective: To be inspired and challenged about the Kingdom potential of camping, as we share our experience, practice and questions. A question to start Think back on your camp experience (past and present) In terms of the campers, the leaders and your church expectations: 1. What contributes to a great camp experience? 2. What contributes to an unsatisfactory camp experience? A Community Experience in the Old Testament The Festival of Shelters: Deuteronomy 16: After you have finished the grain harvest and the grape harvest, take your sons and daughters and all your servants to the place where the LORD chooses to be worshiped. Celebrate the Festival of Shelters for seven days. Also invite the poor, including Levites, foreigners, orphans, and widows. The LORD will give you big harvests and make you successful in everything you do. You will be completely happy, so celebrate this festival in honour of the LORD your God. Nehemiah 8:14-18 They learned from the Law that the people of Israel were to live in shelters when they celebrated the festival in the seventh month of the year. They also learned that they were to go into the woods and gather branches of leafy trees such as olives, myrtles, and palms for making these shelters. So the people gathered branches and made shelters on the flat roofs of their houses, in their yards, in the courtyard of the temple, and in the open areas around the Water Gate and Ephraim Gate. Everyone who had returned from Babylonia built shelters. They lived in them and joyfully celebrated the Festival of Shelters for the first time since the days of Joshua son of Nun. On each of the first seven days of the festival, Ezra read to the people from God s Law. Then on the eighth day, everyone gathered for worship, just as the Law had said they must. A: Expectations: What outcomes we would like to see under God s hand in relation to 1. the individual 2. the local church 3. Kingdom living in the community B: Context: How well do we understand the context in which children and young people live? To what extent have we researched such things as: 1. their faith background 2. other shapers of their worldview 3. the social and economic elements of their community: incidence of poverty, abuse, unemployment, HIV 4. rural/urban/village 5. special interests 6. learning preferences and styles Group discussion In what ways do we adapted our camping programs to suit the context of the children and young people who participate? Share camping models that have worked. Share camping models that have failed. C Planning: Four Quick Questions 1. What are we doing? 2. Why are we doing it? 3. What could/should we be doing? 4. How do we do it?

82 D: The essentials : what is an integrated camping experience? Playing sports and games reduces our opportunities to share the Gospel with young people Agree Disagree What elements are non-negotiable as we develop our camping strategies? E: Challenges 1. Cost If our camps are beyond the means of the young people we are inviting, what are the alternatives? 2. Safety, Protection, Risk management: Physical safety made simple What is the danger? Who could be hurt? How can we control it? Child protection policies and government regulations (check one) An unnecessary burden A legal requirement A Kingdom responsibility Scenario The very angry parent of a 13 year old girl who attended your church youth camp tells you that since his daughter came home from camp, she has been receiving a lot of messages from one of the male leaders. Today she has told him that during the camp, this same leader kept wanting to talk with her alone. He is very upset that such a thing could happen on a church event and is threatening to take this further. Group Discussion according to situation Avoiding the situation: Essentials of child protection for those who have no child protection policy for those without child protection policies Responding to the situation: Challenges of technology and/or litigation for those who have child protection policies Resources Websites Christian Camping International: Free-to-download resources available at: (see sports-based whole-life coaching program at Books Tom Slater: The New Camping Book: an Introduction to Christian camping

83 S. STRENGTHENING THE LOCAL CHURCH S1. Improving local church leadership Chair: Alistair Hornal (UK) 1. LEADERSHIP INTRODUCTION Improving local church leadership: i. Strengths and weaknesses of the Brethren model of plural leadership for encouraging local church life. ii. Key ways in which plural leadership can be improved iii. Training for (unpaid) local church leadership iv. Integrating paid and unpaid local church leadership successfully. Leadership is one of the main keys to successful church life (cp. The Bible; Church Growth research). Leaders are made as well as born (i.e. gifting needs training). 2. WHAT IS THE AIM OF LEADERSHIP? Help you become the sort of person that God can use to lead others (especially in the church). 3. WHAT ARE THE OBJECTIVES OF LEADERSHIP? Help to understand the principles involved in spiritual leadership (church, etc.) Help to inculcate the necessary attitudes for successful spiritual leadership. Provide guidance on some methods of spiritual leadership. 4. WHY LEADERSHIP? LEADERSHIP IN THE SECULAR WORLD Examples from various areas of life: Kings, presidents, prime ministers, managing directors, employers, generals, officers, judges, foreman of a jury, principal of a college, head teacher, school teacher, captain of a sports team, conductor of an orchestra, leader of an expedition, etc., etc. The purposes of leadership Give direction (policy, goals, strategy etc.) Enable co-operation (co-ordinate & direct the variety of roles) Facilitate production (achieve the goals, produce the goods) Promote motivation (explain, encourage, reward) 5. Definitions Leader a person who rules, guides, or inspires others (Collins English Dictionary) a person who has the ability to get others to do what they don t want to do, and to like it. (Harry Truman) 6. HOW/WHAT IS LEADERSHIP IN THE BIBLE Jesus appoints and uses human leaders in his Church: Builder (Matthew. 16: 18) builders (1 Cor. 3: 10-15) Shepherd (John 10) shepherds (Jn. 21: 15-17; Atsc. 20: 28; 1 Pet. 5: 1-4) Bridegroom (Eph. 5: 25-27) marriage broker (2 Cor. 11: 2-3) Head (Eph. 4: 15-16) leaders (Eph. 4: 11-12) 7. HOW/WHAT IS LEADERSHIP IN THE NEW TESTAMENT CHURCH DESCRIPTIONS Apostles (Mk. 3: 14; Gal. 1: 1; 2: 9; Eph. 4: 11) Apostolic delegates (1 Tim. 1: 3; Tit. 1: 5) Evangelists (Ac. 21: 8; Eph. 4: 11; 2 Tim. 4: 5) Prophets & teachers (Ac. 13: 1; Eph. 4: 11)

84 Pastors [ shepherds ] & teachers (Eph. 4: 11) Elders [ presbyters ] (Ac. 14: 23; 20: 17; Tit. 1: 5) Overseers [ bishops ] (Ac. 20: 28; Phil. 1: 1; 1 Tim. 3: 1; Tit. 1: 7) Leaders (Heb. 13: 7, 17) those who labour among you and have charge in the Lord (1 Thess. 5: 12) devoted to the service of the saints (1 Cor. 16: 15-18) Deacons [ servants ] (Phil. 1: 1; 1 Tim. 3: 8-13; Rom. 16: 1) 8. WHAT ARE THE ROLES & TASKS (of local church leaders) ROLES Shepherd (Acts 20: 28; Eph. 4: 11; 1 Pet. 5: 1-4; cp. Jn. 21: 15-17) Father (1 Tim. 3: 4-5; cp. 1 Cor. 4: 15; Thess. 2: 7, 11) TASKS Teaching (feeding) & training (Mt. 28: 20; Eph. 4: 11-16; Col. 1: 28-29; 1 Tim. 3: 2; Tit. 1: 9) Modelling (Heb. 13: 7; 1 Pet. 5: 3; cp. Ac. 20: 28) Guarding (Ac. 20: 28-31; 1 Tim. 1: 3-7; Tit. 1 :9-16; 2 Jn. 7-11) Disciplining (1 Cor. 5: 1-13) Managing (1 Tim. 3: 5; 5: 17; cp. Acts 6: 1-6) Caring (Acts 20: 28; 1 Thess. 5: 12; Heb. 13: 17; James 5: 14-16; Acts 4: 32-35; 6: 1-7) Praying (Acts 20: 28; Heb. 13: 17; James 5: 14-16; cp. Paul: Eph. 1: 15-19; 3: 14-21; Phil. 1: 9-11; Col. 1: 9-14, etc.) Evangelism (?) (cp. Mt. 28: 19-20; Eph. 4: 11) GOALS To enable church members to fulfil their God-given functions in the church and in the world and be ready for the return of Jesus (Phil. 1: 9-11; Eph. 5: 25-27; Col. 1: 28-29; 1 Thess. 3: 12-13) To worship & glorify God (1 Pet. 2: 5; Rom. 15: 5-6; Heb. 13: 15-16) To build up one another (1 Cor. 12: 7; 14: 26; Heb. 10: 24-25; 1 Pet. 4: 10-11) To witness to the world (Matt. 5: 13-16; 28: 19-20; Phil. 2: 15-16) 9. WHAT KIND OF LEADERSHIP? THE TEACHING OF JESUS (Matthew 20:20-28) 10. What is SERVANT LEADERSHIP Whose servants are they? 1 Cor.3: 5-9; 4: 1-2 (God s/christ s) Col. 1: 23 (The Gospels) 2 Cor. 4: 5; Col. 1: 24-2 (The Church s) Kelvin Samwata Zambia

85 S2. Improving pastoral care Chair: Introduction What does pastoral care mean? It will be helpful for our discussion if we can have a working definition of pastoral care. Wikipedia offers the following explanation. Pastoral care is the ministry of care and counselling provided by pastors, chaplains and other religious leaders to members of their church or congregation, or to anyone within institutional settings, with a focus on healing, reconciling, guiding and sustaining. 47 These four areas must be held in balance because sometimes one is emphasised more than the others. It is often considered to be just for healing and hence the emphasis is on counselling. This could be the reason the pastor I met in Namibia last December was saying he does not like counselling people because it is not his calling and he did not like getting involved with people who have messed up their lives and then they demand so much of your time and energy to try sort out their lives. However, the four words Wikipedia offers namely, healing, reconciling, guiding and sustaining constitute what pastoral care is. The broad nature of what pastoral care involves could be the reason God in His sovereign wisdom has used the picture of the Shepherd and sheep. The leaders among God s people are to be shepherds of God s people. The apostle Peter addressing his fellow elders he charges them to Be shepherds of God s flock that is under your care, serving as overseers not because you must, but because you are willing, as God wants you to be; not greedy for money, but eager to serve; not lording it over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock. (1 Pet. 5: 2-3) Most likely Peter may have been remembering the charge he received from the Master when he was reinstated. When they had finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter, Simon son of John, do you truly love me more than these? Yes, Lord, he said, you know that I love you. Jesus said, Feed my lambs. Again Jesus said, Simon son of John, do you truly love me? He answered, Yes, Lord, you know that I love you. Jesus said, Take care of my sheep. The third time he said to him, Simon son of John, do you love me? Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time, Do you love me? He said, Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you. Jesus said, Feed my sheep ( Jn. 21: 15-17) The charge the Lord Jesus gave to Peter, shows that pastoral care is at the heart of the Lord s concern for his people. And therefore it must be a priority in our lives and ministry. Improving pastoral care With these thoughts in mind about pastoral care we can discuss the subject of improving pastoral care in our local churches. In what ways has Pastoral Care in Brethren churches tended to be weak and why? Practising the biblical truth of the rule by the elders has turned against us because the elders have become too busy and are unable to provide quality time to pastoral care. It is unattended to without realising it or deliberately avoiding it because most elders have not bothered to equip themselves for this task through training. Sometimes the task is carried out as firefighting or reacting to problems rather than being proactive in working at preventing them. In what ways has pastoral care been strong? Where the priesthood of all believers has been effectively practised and the NT one another injunctions have been embraced. So believers have looked and cared for each other Plurality of eldership has helped to share the load where all the elders are available Practical ways of strengthening pastoral care within the traditional Brethren model of church life Elders are supposed to care for all the flock in their charge Acts 20: 28. This calls upon the elders to be concerned about the individual members and corporately the whole assembly. There are programs that can be put in place to provide the care that is necessary. 47

86 Eating meals together to enhance fellowship Sunday services for teaching, worship and fellowship Home Group meetings Social activities (games, outings etc.) There are special groups that should be cared for separately. In Titus 2: 1-7 we read of the injunction to older men and women to take seriously their responsibility to teach the younger men and women. The following are some of the organised groupings that could be used to cater for their particular needs: Children cared for using Sunday school, Holiday Bible Week, and Children s Camps etc. Young People s fellowship (YP Meetings, Camps etc.) Singles Fellowship Couples Fellowship Men s Fellowship Family events (i.e. Church social) Women s Fellowship 48 Young mothers Widows Pastoral Care of men The demands on men in their role as head of the home and traditionally as the bread winner (though this is changing), leaves most men with a lot of pressure. The nature of man of not opening up easily on issues that are troubling him demands a conducive environment is created for him to be secure and bring out issues at a time when they can be dealt with. 1. Organise a men s fellowship that has a focus on projects to be carried out. In the process of work men will open up on some issues affecting their lives and so the opportunity for counselling rends itself. (Assuming able elders will be on hand to do the counselling) 2. Leaders arrange informal unthreatening environment like invite the man for a cup of tea at a café or restaurant. 3. The leaders must work at creating an atmosphere of loving acceptance in the Christian fellowship. This could be done through a. Leaders setting an example of positive attitudes of being open and real b. Organise sporting events c. Organise work parties Relationships can develop where pastoral care will be effective to men. 49 Key elements of more effective pastoral care Relationship: Shepherd and sheep (John 10: 27-28) Teaching (Acts 20: 20) Home visitation (Acts 20: 20 The apostle Peter s exhortation of developing positive attitudes which he exemplifies in 1 Peter 5: 1-4 o Willingness to serve o Eagerness to serve o Exemplary life o Serve honestly o Serve contentedly o Serve generously Gwen Purdie provides some helpful principles which include shepherding, love for Jesus. love for the served etc. in the article in Church Leaders Handbook Notes adapted from Jay E. Adams, Shepherding God s Flock, pp H. Rowdon, Church Leaders Handbook, p G. Purdie, 'General principles of Pastoral Care', in H. Rowdon (ed.) Church Leaders Handbook, pp

87 Is pastoral care confused with psychological counselling? When pastoral care is confined to counselling situation it can easily be confused with psychological counselling. There is much more to pastoral care than just counselling. However counselling is a big part of pastoral care. It is at this point where there is contention among Christian counsellors. There are those who will not use psychological insights but will only use the Bible. There others who find that you can make use of psychology in counselling. Among them are N T Anderson, T E Zuehlke and J S Zuehlke, who have jointly written a book entitled Christ Centred Therapy in which they show the Practical Integration of Theology and Psychology. FOR FURTHER READING H.H. Rowdon (ed.), Church Leaders Handbook, Paternoster for Partnership, Carlisle, 2002 J.E. Adams, Shepherding God s flock, Zondervan Publishing House, Grand Rapids, 1974 N.T. Anderson, T.E. Zuehlke and J.S. Zuehlke, Christ Centered Therapy, Zondervan Publishing House, Grand Rapids, 2000 Gershom Chioni Zambia While the workshop is covering all aspects of pastoral care, in my analysis I will give particular focus on pastoral care of women. Therefore, some of the sub-questions I will be looking at are:- a) How well has pastoral care been delivered for women in the past (strengths/weaknesses)? b) What were the opportunities for women to deliver pastoral care in the past? c) What should be the role of women in delivering pastoral care to improve effectiveness 1. Understanding the past 1.1 In what ways has pastoral care in Brethren Churches tended to be weak and why? General issues include:- Informal and not systematic, pastoral care tends to be ad hoc. No mechanism or structure in place to improve it Largely focused on the elders of the church who are the key players, so it depends heavily on gifting and spirituality of the elders of the church The elders can then be a block to pastoral care as they assume all responsibility for the members 'Attendance at Meetings' culture was largely the measure of a person's spirituality and masked the reality of a person's spirituality Challenges from the past in the pastoral care of women Elders seem to assume the pastoral care equally of both men and women. Since elders are all male then the care of women was often not done well nor appropriately. There's a tendency for elders to get into a defensive mind-set when short comings are pointed out, and/or have a controlling mentality due to the fear that if others are dealing with pastoral issues they may not do it properly. In not recognising pastoral gifting in women and using it, has often resulted in women being limited, in the most part, to teaching children, run a crèche or serve tea, or discuss fashion or interior design! Women became fearful of getting involved pastorally for fear of giving wrong counsel, or being in someone else's patch. 1.2 The strengths of Brethren Churches in pastoral care The strong family aspect to the traditional Brethren church. Plurality of leadership rather than a single central pastor, priest or minister. Priesthood of all believers meaning that potentially all members could exercise their God-given gift providing the environment lent itself to freedom. Some strengths with respect to women

88 Under the priesthood of all believers women can, in a natural and very effective way, deliver pastoral care to one another. Effectiveness of highly organised work of women amongst women both for pastoral care and outreach into the community. E.g. In Zambia the 'banamakombe ' (Cibemba) who are key women both in the community and in the church. Culturally women look after women so there's a safe network for women in the church 2. Key elements of effective pastoral care Encourage and promote through teaching, training and modelling, genuine love for each other, which will go a very long way in helping each other Recognise potential pastoral gift within the membership and not just within the eldership. Encourage openness and honesty and a willingness to be vulnerable towards each other Get involved in each other's lives, this is a biblical mandate Facilitate seminars on pastoral care and /or encourage members to attend events in the area whether they be Christian or secular. Identify gifted pastors and send them to training courses Give equal opportunities to both men and women and also young people where appropriate Promote care groups, implementing them as a separate entity from groups for bible study 3 Practical Ways of Strengthening Pastoral Care 3.1 General points Establish the priority of pastoral care. View Pastoral care more holistically as both personal, practical and spiritual development. Elders should identify their own individual gifting, and assign only appropriately gifted elders to develop pastoral care in the church. Identify potential pastoral gifting within the membership and implement training. Care/House/cell groups can be introduced especially in larger churches (50+ membership) Set up prayer partners and prayer triplets. 3.2 With specific focus on women Quite a few of the above can be applied to work among women, but also consider:- Use of positive discrimination by giving responsibility to women to lead in appropriate areas of pastoral care. In a complementarian type church, full permission and reign should be given for mature, godly and gifted women to develop the work among women. In an egalitarian type church, crucial to ensure that opportunities for women gifted to lead in pastoral care are given. Also space should be created for a ladies pastoral group to which women may feel free to go rather than to a mixed group. 4. Pastoral Care and Psychological Counselling Some definitions; Let us first clarify some terms that relate to pastoral care Pastoral Care The broad range of inclusive ministry of mutual healing and growth within a congregation and its community through all the cycles and situations of life. Providing the support to enable God-honouring liberation, healing empowerment and nurturing growth in wholeness within individuals and their relationships with God and others. Pastoral Counselling Specific times/session of listening and/or directed discussion dealing with identified areas of concern. Psychology - The science of behaviour and mental processes The rigorous attempt to understand human character and behaviour, grounded in philosophical reflection and examination of the data of human experience. Ancient Psychology includes books like Proverbs in the Judeo-Christian context. Modern Psychology

89 Most introductory text books to Psychology speak of it as being developed from the nineteenth century onwards. Many early Christian philosophers and scientists of the period around the development of modern Psychology saw no inherent conflict between their philosophy of life, which was essentially of a Biblical foundation, and the systematic study, theorising and describing of human behaviour and thought processes. Contemporary Psychology is perceived as a science, a natural science rooted in Enlightenment thinking Significantly influenced by Modernism & Secularism Sceptical of traditional concepts (including ideas based on revelation e.g. Bible). Sees itself as more empirical, less ideological, at roots it is a study of behaviour, attempts to analyse and explain the mental processes associated with observed behavioural patterns. There is clearly potential conflict now between contemporary psychology and Biblical pastoral care, where the philosophical basis for certain techniques and approaches is based on assumptions that are clearly not Biblical (no reference to God, failure to acknowledge the concept of sin and inherent evil in people, etc.) How do we relate perceived Psychological techniques to Biblical faith? Four Views (Suggested by Johnson E & Stanton J, Psychology & Christianity Four Views, IVP Illinois, See also Atkinson D & Field D, New Dictionary of Christian Ethics and Pastoral theology, IVP, Leicester, 1995) A Biblical Counselling View, genuine Christian counsel to be based solely on the Bible and focused on sin as the cause of most psychological problems. A Levels of Explanation View: That psychology and theology are both valid but should be kept separate (mainly a theory propounded by some Christian academics!) An Integration View: A more pragmatic acceptance of both the valid scientifically clear sides of Psychology and Biblical theology, with an integrated use of both in life situations A Christian Psychology View: Either a reinterpretation of secular psychology from a Biblical perspective or a complete re-write of psychology from a Biblical worldview. Can pastoral care be confused with psychological counselling? Pastoral care is the ongoing process of helping another through life's journey and, as we have seen already, may be given by a range of both trained and untrained people in both formal and informal ways. Psychological counselling is the use of specific techniques to help clients come to terms with issues in their life and change key aspects of behaviour to improve their well-being. Almost by definition, psychological counselling is delivered by trained persons in formal sessions, and requires the informed consent and corporation of the client. Such counselling can, where needed, be part of pastoral care, and can be implemented with suitably trained professionals at a specific point in a person s journey. a) Values of Psychological Counselling b) Dangers of Psychological Counselling c) Practical Ways to combine Psychological Counselling within good pastoral care practices Bibliography Shirley Davies UK Adams J E 1970 Competent to Counsel New Jersey: Presbyterian and Reformed Anderson Neil T, 1999, Finding hope again, California: Regal Books: Benner David G, 1992, Strategic Pastoral Counselling, Michigan: Baker Academic Capps D, 1981, Biblical Approach to Pastoral Counselling, Oregon: Wipf and Stock Pub.

90 Carter J D & Narramore B, 1979, The Integration of Psychology and Theology: An Introduction, Grand Rapids: Zondervan Gerkin C V, 1984 The Living Human Document, Nashville: Abingdon Press Goodliff P, 1998, Care in a confused climate Pastoral care in postmodern culture, London: Darton, Longman and Todd Jeeves M A, 1976, Psychology and Christianity: the view both ways, London IVP Johnson E L & Jones S L, 2000, Psychology and Christianity, Illinois: IVP Long Ann, Listening, 1990, London: Darton, Longman and Todd Pattison Stephen, 2000, A critique of pastoral care, Guildford and Kings Lynn: Biddles Ltd Tidball D, 1997 Skilful Shepherd: Explorations in Pastoral Theology Leicester: Apollos Vitz P C, 2002 Psychology and Religion: The cult of self-worship, Grand Rapids: Eerdmans Watts Fraser, Nye Rebecca & Savage Sarah, 2002, Psychology for Christian Ministry, London: Routledge

91 S3. Care for the sick and dying Chair: Antonio Calaim (Portugal) This session explores spiritual issues and concerns of: The terminally ill with their families and identifies The importance of pastoral care Finding meaning in sickness and death Key elements of pastoral care for the sick and dying Practical do's and don'ts in caring for the sick Objectives Identify spiritual needs and concerns of the sick and dying Discuss ways of how the sick and dying can find hope in Jesus Christ Explore the practical do s and don ts while caring for the sick and dying. Understand the importance of counseling and pastoral care to the terminally ill and dying Discussion points What are the spiritual needs of patients with life limiting illnesses? What gives their lives meaning? Physical healing may not be possible what else would help a patient to heal spiritually and emotionally? How important is it to worship God during sickness and death? What are key elements of pastoral care for the sick and dying What are the practical do's and don'ts while caring for the sick? Counselling and pastoral care for the sick and dying Counseling and pastoral care is an integral part of patients comprehensive care. Exploring pain among the sick and dying is a very important aspect in pastoral work However, it is the least understood and the most neglected Unresolved spiritual issues, frequently cause emotional distress to patients Dying patients want to explore whys, why now, for what purpose during terminal illness Meaning of terminal and end of life care? Terminal Care -This refers to care provided when a patient is thought to be in the dying phase and usually refers to the last days or hours of life. End of Life Care -This refers to the period when a patient with advanced disease lives with the condition from which they will die. It includes those with any chronic, progressive, eventually fatal illness and could be a period of weeks, months or years. (West Midlands Children s and Young Peoples Toolkit 2011) Spiritual questions patients ask during terminal illness Why me? What will happen? Is God angry with me? Has somebody bewitched me? What have I done to deserve this? What will happen to me when I die? Practical support towards the terminally ill and dying Be there To be alongside the sick and dying is the first and most elementary step in the process of helping. Being there is the natural way to express sympathy or compassion ( Rom.12: 15) I m with you or I m for you is the supreme way to communicate love. Being present and comforting is beautifully portrayed in the narrative of the resurrection of Lazarus Three times we find the sentence which refers to the presence of the village friends ( John 11: 19, 31, 33) Don't stay too much Many people don t like visiting those who are sick because they don t know what to say If you feel this way, you are the right person to offer help. Support doesn t necessarily mean that you express yourself in words We are called not to preach to the sick but to sympathize The sick doesn t need the eloquence of a long discourse but the warmth of a caring hand Be sensitive and careful in choosing words Remember that in times of suffering, words can be silver but silence is golden

92 Talking too much was the mistake made by friends of Job Sitting on the ground for seven days and seven night was the right thing When they started speaking they talked nonsense God rebuked them because they hadn t spoken what as right ( Job 42: 7) How long should you be available? Don t stop your help too early The sick and dying becomes fully aware of the reality of sickness when everybody goes back home Need for company is felt more intensely in the first two weeks ( still in shock and denial) If you are not available for a personal visit, tokens of affection, such as gifts or a phone call are highly appreciated Practical do's and don'ts in caring for the sick Discussions with the family are important Individuals are important Offering help and being able to accept refusal of help is important Allowing time is important Patients should if possible be given the choice for where they want to die. Patients must be accepted exactly as they are in a caring and non-judgmental way Use effective communication in a non-judgmental way Allow appropriate adjustment (practical and emotions so that the patient makes informed decision) Don t try to give easy solutions Don t dictate your own personal point of view Maintain trust Reduce uncertainty (the hardest of emotions to bear) Pray for the patient and family Active listening is a valuable component of spiritual care Use encouraging and open ended questions Prevent instilling false promises to questions regarding life, death and suffering Never block a patient from talking about matters concerning death Counselling and pastoral care to the patient and family The ultimate goal of counseling and pastoral care is to help the family accept that death is not final. Encourage patients and family to talk about their fears and how they can be eased or the gap filled. Let them express what wishes need to be fulfilled Help the patient remember, talk about achievements, and good times spent in past Help the sick and family members to identify people or organizations who can provide support e.g. friends, relatives or the church or health worker in case of death. Encourage the patient to talk about what will happen to the family after his /her death Find out if the patient has discussed what will happen to his/her possessions. Does the dying patient need help to make a will? Help to ensure that the sick person is allowed to remain in control of decisions even when they have lost consciousness, Encourage family members to hold discussions in presence of the dying person Counselling and pastoral care after death of the patient Bereavement counselling and care is also part of pastoral care for the sick and dying. Encourage the family to think about the deceased, using photographs and memories Involve extended family members and friends to keep visiting the bereaved. Encourage the family to keep a diary about feelings and memories of the loved one Discourage family members from making major decisions like selling the house or land. Support the family members in legal matters e.g. inheritance Encourage the bereaved family to have enough rest Help them to exercise relaxation, and socialization Encourage them to avoid seeking relief from alcohol, smoking, medication and other drugs Encourage the bereaved family to be patient, tolerant, and gentle with one another during grief. Johnson Mwebenbezi Uganda

93 S4 Improving worship and music Chair: Antonella Cicerale (Italy) I grew up in a large assembly in the Faroe Islands. My wife grew up in a small tribe in the Philippines to American Faroese parents. Our son was born in England, where we studied at an international Bible training center, and by the time he was 10 months old we had been in 10 different countries. Our daughters were born in the Philippines and now we all live in Italy, working in a small assembly with Italians and refugees from Africa! Traveling the world and meeting so many wonderful believers from so many different cultures has taught me how differently God is being praised in worship. It has also made it clear that our style of worship is something that divides many believers. In fact, any servant of God who serves in eldership or leadership in the local assembly is forced to deal with it at one stage or another. As a musician and elder this is an issue I have often wrestled with and I continue to return to Psalm 150. This psalm deals with our highest calling as human beings: to praise and worship our Creator. It also answers several fundamental questions about worship: Who? Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. (6) What? Praise the Lord. (1) Praise the Lord. (6) Where? Praise God in his sanctuary; praise him in his mighty heavens. (2) Why? Praise him for his acts of power; praise him for his surpassing greatness. (3) How? Praise him with the sounding of the trumpet, praise him with the harp and lyre, praise him with tambourine and dancing, praise him with the strings and pipe, praise him with the clash of cymbals, praise him with resounding cymbals. (4-5) The who, what, where and why questions are pretty straightforward and tend to bring little controversy. It is more in the how that we find contention. How should we worship the Lord? How do we choose a worship style and is there a right style? How do we decide which instruments can or cannot be used? How much emphasis should we put on music altogether? How does worship in the Old Testament apply to us today? Worshipping There are as many opinions about worship style as there are believers in the assembly. It is understandable, in that the Bible itself shows us such a variety in worship! Various instruments: instruments are often grouped into four instrumental families (brass, woodwinds, strings and percussion). All four families are represented in Psalm 150. Various volumes: pianissimo (Mark 14: 26); fortissimo (Revelation 14: 2) Various styles: Solos: Mary (Luke 1: 46-55); Zachariah (Luke 1: 67-79) Duets: Moses and Miriam (Exodus 15: 1-21); Deborah & Barak (Judges 5) Small groups: Jesus and the disciples (Mark 14: 26) Large groups: Four thousand worshippers (1 Chronicles 23: 5) Various postures: Kneeling (Psalm 95: 6); standing (1 Chronicles 23: 30); walking (2 Chronicles 20: 21) Various gestures: Clapping (Psalm 47: 1); lifting hands (Psalm 134: 2); dancing (Psalm 149: 3) Various locations: In the temple (1 Chronicles 25: 6); at work (Nehemiah 12: 27-47); in the assembly (1 Corinthians 14: 26); in prison (Acts 16: 25); at home (Psalm101:1-2); at the table (Mark 14:26); in bed (Psalm 149:5) Various times: In the morning (1 Chronicles 23:30); in the evening (1 Chronicles 23: 30); the day (Psalm 113: 3); during the night (Psalm 92: 2) Various moods: Rejoicing (Psalm 33: 3); lamenting (2 Chronicles 35: 25)

94 A common objection from those who prefer a more traditional style of worship is that the New Testament doesn t speak about music. Though this view can be challenged, one thing seems to be clear the New Testament is silent when it comes to style. Paul, however, in his letters to the most disorderly church in the New Testament, gives us two general principles, that we can apply to our choice of music in worship: God is not a God of disorder but of peace (1 Corinthians 14:33) where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom (2 Corinthians 3:17) We are sometimes quick to point out to eager, young musicians, who tend to make too much noise with their instruments or in singing, that God is not a God of disorder but of peace! Paul, however, gives us a more balanced view of the issue by not stopping with instructions for order. He also decrees that there should be freedom. If a worship service in an Icelandic and an Ethiopian assembly are identical, then we know that one or both have failed to apply Paul s principles. The two assemblies cannot look the same, for the Icelandic s and the Ethiopian s concept of order and freedom are literally worlds apart. Order and freedom are culturally relative terms. Things like volume, tempo, gestures, instruments, and time will be vastly different within the two cultures. How these two principles apply to different assemblies, that exist within different cultures, and are made up of different age groups, needs to be carefully, humbly, and prayerfully worked out in each local assembly. Worshippers An over-emphasis on the how can cause us to neglect other crucial aspects of worship. Music style and our choice of psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs (Colossians 3:16) often become our primary focus, while the spiritual welfare of those conducting worship is almost an afterthought. I think we might have it up side down. If the people who are involved in playing, singing, and leading worship in the church are mature believers who walk closely with the Lord, then the choice of songs and music style becomes secondary. The Bible not only has a lot to say about music, it also speaks about musicians the leading worshippers. Heman, Asaph and Ethan are good examples of this: They were leading musicians (1 Chronicles 15: 19) They were inspired songwriters (Psalm 73, 88, 89) They were serious bible students (1 Chronicles 15: 16-17) They were full of wisdom (1 Kings 4: 31) I often hear musicians say: I m just a musician, so I don t have to worry about studying the Bible. I ll concentrate on becoming a better musician and let the elders worry about the Bible. Well, Heman, Asaph and Ethan took their music very seriously, but they also took their God and His Word very seriously. They were counted among the wisest men in the world (1 Kings 4: 31). They weren t just musicians. One of my mentors in the Faroese assembly used to say: If you are spiritual, then you can make all the changes you want. In his book On Being a Servant of God Warren W. Wiersbe says: I would summarize in four sentences what I want to say to my younger friends serving the Lord. I think his four life lessons are very applicable to us younger musicians who want to serve in worship: Never take down a fence until you know why it was put up If you get too far ahead of the army, your soldiers may mistake you for the enemy

95 Don t complain about the bottom rungs of the ladder; they helped to get you higher If you want to enjoy the rainbow, be prepared to endure the storm Regin Guttesen Faroes/Italy Recommended reading: Warren W. Wiersbe, On Being a Servant of God J. Oswald Sanders, Spiritual Leadership Warren W. Wiersbe, Real Worship RC Sproul, The Holiness of God

96 S5. Youth ministry in the local church Chair: Lothar Jung (Germany) Understanding young people Today working with young people requires great understanding of them. Youth ministry starts with understanding the nature of the young people, their needs, characteristics, desires, and interests. When Jesus was doing ministry he encountered people with all backgrounds and age groups. His ministry was effective because he knew the people to whom He was ministering and He met their needs personally. Why work with young people? Working with young people is normally very satisfying. Being with young people who are experiencing crisis can also be a privilege and it is often humbling to see the change they bring about. But the reason behind for youth ministry is, God is so passionate about young people. And the other important reason is they are the future generation. God values the young people Like adults and children, they are made in the image of God (Gen. 1: 27). Paul describes people as being God s work of art (Eph. 2: 10): literally everyone, young people included, is a masterpiece, a priceless art treasure. Youth work and ministry demonstrates to them their inherent worth and offers them an opportunity to experience God s love as conducted through one s life and witness. God understands young people Strange as it may sound, God was once a teenager. God the son was born as a baby and grew into adult. Biologically, there is no way to achieve this without passing through adolescence even for God the son. Jesus parents did not always understand him (Lk. 2: 28) Despite this, Luke tells us that Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and men (Lk. 2: 52). God empowers young people The Bible is full of young people whom God empowered to do remarkable things. For example, Joseph was a young man with an outlandish sense of fashion who went on to achieve high office and rescue his fellow people. Moses was hot-tempered young man who went on to lead the Israelites from captivity into freedom. Today s Young people are the future The betterment of the world depends upon this younger generation. If the present youth are not taught in the manner supposed to be, the future of the globe is bleak. The truth of the Bible must be made known to them. The future of the church depends on how the present church treats the youth of our day. Knowing young people The Bible teaches that all people young and old are made in the image of God (Gen.1: 27) As such, they have inherent value and spiritual capacity. God created the natural order to facilitate the development of His creation. Built into creation is the natural process of reproduction, growth and development. The physiological Change The physical aspect is one of the most important areas, because most of the significant development struggles of adolescents are associated with the radical changes in their bodies. The psychological change Young people are in a critical stage and insist that all things pass the test of one s reasoning power and judgment. Their intellectual power is growing, so they are capable of serious thinking and solve complex problems and also have a sharp memory power. Along with physical development and changes, there are emotional, and social changes. Identity crisis The question today s youth ask most consistently is who am I? They are a searching generation. They are not willing to accept traditional answers and roles just because that's the way it s always been done. They want meaningful answers, answers that can stand the test of careful scrutiny, answers to build their lives and futures on. The cultural aspect One has to take a good look at culture while discussing youth culture. And that look has to be especially directed toward contemporary youth culture. One cannot overlook the impact of internet and technology on contemporary youth culture. This generation is entertainment oriented.

97 Moral choice Young people go on drugs both as an escape and search. They are escaping from reality of this world, and sometimes they are searching for new thrill or a new experience. For most drugs are energies. Peer pressure is a significant influence on the young person who tests drugs. Making the Connection with Young People Think for a moment how Christ went about convincing people to follow Him as the way and the truth and the life (John 14: 6). Jesus did not simply command left and right in an effort to persuade the masses to forsake their sin and obey God. Jesus life was not consumed only with teaching, preaching, and instructing people on the fine points of God s law. Affirmation Affirming their feeling tell them that they are real individuals with valid feeling. Identifying with young people s feeling of excitement or disappointment make them understand their values of worth. Affirming young people star with listening to them. The bible says Be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry (James 1: 19). Acceptance When we accept young people for who they are, they have a sense of security. Acceptance deals more with embracing people for who they are rather than for what they do. When young people feel accepted by you, they are more transparent, opening up greater trust. Paul exhorts us, Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you (Rom. 15: 7). Appreciation Expressing appreciation to young people gives them a sense of significance. While acceptance is the foundation for a secure relationship, appreciation can be considered a cornerstone. Our acceptance tells them their being matters. Affection One of the most important things to connect with young people is to show them a sense of lovability. Expressing affection to our youth with loving words as appropriate touch communicates to them that they are worth loving. Accountability Scripture says in (Rom. 14: 12) Each one of us shall give an account of himself to God. Providing loving accountability to young give them a sense of responsibility. Young people need the loving authority of parents and caring adults as a solid basis on which to make responsible, right choices. Without parameters there is always confusion and chaos Understanding Urban Youth young people in cities are different from the previous generations. This generation is defining themselves by their lifestyle. With the coming of television, internet, they have begun to follow global lifestyles. Affluence Present day parents are more liberal toward their children. After three generations of aspiring to affluence, successful middle-class family sees a generation that does not need to struggle to achieve what it has. The youngster don t mind spending money. They not only spend, but they also earn money. Marriage For a majority of modern youngsters marriage is not a scared covenant but just a contract. Urban young people thirst for adult pleasures. And this has led to immoral life styles. Have fun It s the motto of the youngsters Have Fun and having fun spending lots of money a night is cool. This generation is a fun loving generation. While they work hard, the young don t miss a chance to have fun. Making money and splurging it happens to be the biggest fun. Entertainment and eating hang out are the options of present youngsters. Become famous There is a strong urge to become famous. And beauty and glamour are suddenly great career options as beauty queens like Miss Universe. The youngsters will do anything to become famous. Fashion designing and fashion modeling are some of the new career options. Many young people are running after famous people of the world.

98 Increase in violence There has been sharp rise in urban violence as well as greater referrals to the psychiatrist. Violence among young people is becoming common feature. This post-modern society has produced more murderers, alcoholics and hedonists. 1. Digital Generation The world is at their finger tip. 2. Disconnected generation No family bindings.3. Decadent generation we are educated to be more wicked. 4. Disappointed Generation In spite of all amusement, no satisfaction in life. Summary God the heavenly Father looks down upon young people as a source of His glory for future generations. God is so much concerned about these youth. The young people have lot of potential and talents that can be used and utilized for the glory of God and for the betterment of the society. Today youth are responsible for tomorrow s peace and security. Each individual has a great responsibility toward society and God. These young people must be understood by the leader, senior, parents and society. Give enough time for them to change themselves at the same time the principle and values of life should be exposed to them. Understanding them as who they are and accepting them though it is hard, will bring lot of unexpected change in the young people lives and churches. Santhosh Thomas India

99 S6. Children's ministry in the local church Chair: Abraham Thomas (India) 1. What is God s Word for children? God s Word is life! It is a living Word that regenerates the hearer. The new birth comes from the Word. Living faith comes by hearing the living Word! (Deut. 8: 3; John 6: 63; Rom. 10: 17; Phil. 2: 16; James 1: 18-21; 1 Peter 1: 23). God s Word is power! It is a burning Word, consuming the dross in the hearer. It is both convicting and breaking down the resistance of the hearer (Jer. 20: 9; 23: 29; John 15: 3, 7; Rom. 1: 16; 10: 17; Eph. 6: 17). God s Word is light! It is an illuminating Word guiding the believer. Without the Word a believer does not know how to live. Apart from the Word we could only grope about in the darkness (Psalm 119: 105; 2 Cor. 3 :5-6; 2 Peter 1: 20-21; 1 Tim. 4: 13-16). God s Word is food! We are to eat God s Word, digest it and assimilate it. The Word has to become a part of our lives. It has to be applied. No food means no growth! (Jer. 15: 16; Ezek. 2: 8-3 :3). 2. What does God s Word do for children? God s Word searches them This dynamic Word of God is active in accomplishing God s purpose. It is a living power that searches us as with an all-seeing eye, penetrating our innermost being (Heb. 4:12; Psalm 147:18; Isa. 40:8; 55:11; Gal. 3:8; Eph. 5:26; James 1:18). God s Word judges them The main purpose of the Word of God is to present the only Saviour. His purpose in the Saviour s coming was not to judge a sinner, but to bring salvation. Judgment is the other part of salvation. The same way as the purpose of the sun is to shine, but when the sun shines, shadows are to be expected (John 12:48). God s Word testifies to them about the Lord Jesus Though God s Word speaks about many things but the main purpose is to show us the Lord Jesus. He must remain the main Person of the Bible (John 3: ; 5:39; 6:63; Luke 24:44; Acts 28:23). God s Word cleanses them and gives them growth Through God s Word we are cleansed and we receive power to live for God. Pruning produces fruitfulness. Good fruit can be produced only by the Word of God (Jer. 15:16; Psalm 107:20; 119:9; John 15:3; Eph. 5:26; 2 Thess. 2:13; 1 Peter 1:23.25; 2:2; 2 Peter 3:18). Our main responsibility for today s children is to proclaim the Word of God to them! Reaching postmodern children (1 Chronicles 12: 32) 1. What is different about the time our children live in? The postmodern generation assume that every point of view is a view from a point. To some extent, that is true. We often tend to see things only from our perspective. The postmodern generation has a healthy skepticism regarding modernism s analytical rationality and previous claims of knowledge and certainty. 2. Three models of thinking: 2.1 Theocentrism 2.2 Modernism

100 2.3 Postmodernism 3. Presenting the Gospel to the postmodern generation We need to broaden what we understand by evangelism. Postmoderns are not receptive to traditional evidential apologetics and presentations. They have questions based on postmodern assumptions about life and reality. Addressing postmodernism must play a part in our introduction of Christ s claims. The goal of any ministry will be to help people move from hostility toward God to love for Him (Deut. 6: 5). We need to appreciate our common ground with the postmodern generation. We need to comprehend the large amount of common ground we can share with the postmodern generation. There are several beliefs and values in postmodern culture that correspond partly or completely with a historical Christian worldview. These form a common ground where we can establish connection. For example: Western culture is not progressing. We, as biblical Christians, have never believed that human society will usher in a perfect world. Evangelicals can agree with the postmodern generation on this theory. We can ask people, if technology is not taking us towards utopia, where are we heading? Modernism was very optimistic, postmodernism is not. Concern about racism and fairness. The postmodern generation is concerned about issues of race and gender. We too want these issues addressed, but what will be the standard for fairness and equality? Concern for the ecology. The postmodern generation is leading the charge against pollution. Christians should feel an even stronger stewardship of the planet. We can share in their desire for a cleaner and better world. Emphasis on artistic creativity. We can see that on Mars Hill, the Apostle Paul quoted the local culture s poets, rather than from their prophets (Acts 17). Christians should employ creativity in seeing how voices from the culture can display the image of God, even if they don t know it. Relationship is all-important. Postmodern generation highly value authentic community if they can find it. With our belief in a Triune God, we also see relationships at the heart of human experience. Czesław Bassara Poland

101 S7. Moving a local church forward in evangelism Chair: Enoch Muniah (South Africa) The lack of growth, or even decline, which can be seen in some Brethren churches suggests that there is need for improvement in outreach and evangelism. In view of this, I wish to invite us to reflect on how we do outreach and evangelism as Brethren churches. I shall be raising some questions to which we shall seek to provide answers. It is my hope that, out of our collective wisdom, there will emerge some principles and practices that can help us to do a better job of outreach and evangelism in our respective contexts. 1. WHY SHOULD THE LOCAL CHURCH BE INVOLVED IN OUTREACH AND EVANGELISM? The Lord commands it Matthew 28: 18-20, John 20: 21, Acts 1: 8 (Has the Great Commission become the Great Omission?) The human condition demands it Acts 26: 16-18, Matthew 9: 36-38, John 4: 35 (People need the Lord) The growth of the church depends on it Acts 2: 47, 1 Corinthians 3: 5-6 (Evangelize or fossilize!) 2. WHAT ARE SOME OF THE POSSIBLE REASONS FOR LACK OF EFFECTIVENESS IN OUTREACH AND EVANGELISM IN SOME BRETHREN CHURCHES? Elitism ( We are God s special people so it does not matter if we are a few ). The fortress mentality ( We have to guard against those who are trying to break in ) Negative thinking ( This is the day of small things ). Fear of outsiders ( If the children of believers get saved, we will not need anybody else ) Traditionalism ( This the way we have always done it ). To the above, we can add feelings of incompetence, complacency, lack of a burden for the lost, etc. 3. WHAT ARE SOME ACTIVITIES/EVENTS/PROGRAMMES A LOCAL CHURCH CAN SPONSOR/PROMOTE IN ORDER TO CONNECT WITH PEOPLE AND BUILD BRIDGES FOR EVANGELISM? Homework programmes Skills training, Medical clinics Games evenings Taking care of the elderly 4. WHAT ARE SOME OF THE INDICATORS THAT A PARTICULAR BELIEVER MAY HAVE THE GIFT OF EVANGELISM? Passion for souls Ability to relate to non-christians, Love for people, demonstrated by warmth Ability to articulate the gospel Unswerving belief in the transforming power of Christ Positive outlook, that is, he/she expects results. 5. HOW DO WE PROVIDE OPPORTUNITIES FOR THOSE WITH THE GIFT OF EVANGELISM TO MAXIMIZE THEIR POTENTIAL IN THE LOCAL CHURCH? Make services more seeker-friendly, Ask for ideas as to how we might evangelize more effectively Set growth targets Change service formats to allow for more interaction Organize small group meetings

102 6. HOW CAN ALL MEMBERS OF THE CHURCH BE INVOLVED IN EVANGELISM? Praying (Prayer is a critical component of any successful evangelistic event) Providing transportation (Most people who attend evangelistic events are brought) Giving to support the effort (There will be costs involved) Sharing personal testimonies (I Peter 3: 15) Showing hospitality Sending evangelistic messages and promoting evangelistic events through social media 7. HOW CAN LEADERS HELP CONGREGATIONS TO BECOME MORE OUTREACH ORIENTED? o Preach often from passages that emphasize outreach (I Corinthians 9: 19-22, Luke 5: 1-11, etc.). o Model outreach as leaders (I Thessalonians 1: 5-6) o Provide training in evangelism for members (Ephesians 4: 11-12) o Celebrate successes in outreach efforts. o Share examples of successful outreach programmes in other churches. 8. WHAT ARE SOME OF THE KEY CHARACTERISTICS OF OUTREACHING CHURCHES? o o o o o o Leadership with a clear vision for outreach, Belief in the power of God to make a difference in the most hopeless of situations, Membership with a sense of mission Willingness to spend money to see the work of God go forward (Too many churches do nothing while they boast of how much money they have in the bank), Willingness to make adjustments in order to reach people Concern for people s physical and emotional needs as well as their spiritual needs. Hadyn Marshall St Vincent and the Grenadines Though the title for our meeting here has to do specifically with evangelism, it would be revealing to know how many present in the room consider your ministry to be mostly evangelistic in nature, and how many of you spend more of your energy doing discipleship-related activities. At the end and after having identified our two parties, we need to consider that, besides our animated shaking of hands, we purposefully open our hearts to exchange experiences in order to strengthen our vision on evangelism and outreach. The reason why this exercise might be helpful is because in our context of ministry (in Northern Peru), rarely have we seen assemblies with a balanced approach on evangelism, outreach and discipleship. Evangelism and outreach the poor relation and neglected duty in many local churches: why and how to shift the focus, if it should be? Perhaps we have a unique problem in northern Peru amongst the assemblies we seek to assist; traditionally our efforts have been and continue to be mostly evangelistic and outreaching in nature. Our greatest challenge has been the preservation of believers to maintain a humble desire to reach the lost and a propagation of that vision to every member of the local assembly. Preservation of the desire to evangelize and reach out: In Peru, we are facing an ever-growing secularized mentality that is continually fed with the relativistic mindset of a globalized world. Each time there are less and less hearts willing to accept the truth as the absolute standard for the conviction of sins. The invisible transition of rural communities from no phones to smart phones, from no TV to smart screens and HD cable programming 24 hours a day, has caused many local churches to retreat and regroup in many cases we are still waiting for them to come out. The initial joy of many to go out and share the Good News becomes a discouraging effort. Propagation of the vision to evangelize and reach out the lost: Something must be done in order for the congregation to come out of its spiritual retreat and win the world over for Christ. We have been given the promise that He will build His church and that the Gates of Hell will not prevail. Secularization and

103 globalization are human challenges that unmask the spiritual reality of many of our churches. Something must be done so that the passion of those ready to reach out and evangelize does not end up in a spiritual retreat but rather be passed on to every member of the Lord s church. Identifying gifts of evangelism and liberating them in the local congregation Promote regular evangelistic and outreach ministries: In our assembly our college and career group has made the habit to go out and do open air evangelism every Sunday afternoon. The leadership of the assembly is fully aware of the ones going and we participate of these activities with the desire to scout out the potential of the folks involved. As most new believers, many come with a tremendous passion until they come across a sophisticated skeptic that questions them and not being completely prepared with the right answers, end up losing their joy and passion. Prepare mature leaders to lead those ministries: We need to notice the demoralized evangelist losing his passion due to lack of instruction and preparation in the Word. When our outreach and evangelistic efforts receive an echo from our congregation, we need to look at each of those coming as a potential tool to propagate the GUSTO of evangelism to others. The GUSTO can only become a permanent experience if we have mature leaders preparing the young ones to keep savoring the GUSTO of fishing for souls through the living Word. Then their joy shall be permanent despite the apparent setbacks! Encourage the gifted ones to take more responsibilities: Jeremiah declared that It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth. With prepared leaders on sight, we encourage our young people to take more direct responsibilities in leading evangelistic and outreach efforts. Encouraging all church members to use their social networks in evangelism and outreach With a natural bend not to make ourselves available to reach out and evangelize, our tendency might be to applaud the efforts of those recognized as evangelists in the congregation, and gladly pass on our God given responsibilities over to them. Our evangelism and outreach efforts in northern Peru are mostly done in the context of home Bible studies. Out of this we have learned that: A solo leader in a Bible study creates the expectation that he alone can do evangelism and outreach. Many feel that their salvation is too little to share the Gospel message with others. It takes persistence and guidance to instill in someone the courage to share the Good News. Overall, each church member ought to be convicted, encouraged and prepared to carry on with the responsibility of evangelizing and reaching out others. Equipping congregations for outreach Our Lord gave us the great commission after having spent 3 years preparing His disciples and after His resurrection. And then He told them to wait for the Holy Spirit before going into Judea, Jerusalem, Samaria and to the ends of the earth. That seems and should be the pattern for a harmonious focus on evangelismoutreach and discipleship, even today. Based on this pattern, each church leader ought to actively search for and implement outlets that allow the corporal body of believers to see the pattern of Scripture put into practice. Examples of outreaching churches in different cultures. Key features Within our immediate context, some cultural outlets for evangelism and outreach might be: Home Bible studies. As a Catholic nation, Peru is by tradition a very religious country, a proud Catholic country. As such, many of our neighbors will never step into an evangelical church, but gladly consider coming to our home. Family based relationships: Peruvians keep close ties with the immediate family. This is a tremendous blessing to consider and take advantage of in outreach and evangelism if you get the attention of a key member in the family, most likely one will have a chance to get the whole family to listen. Soccer based relationships: Peruvians grow up playing soccer at least once or twice a week, especially on weekends. After a long week of school or work, close friends go around the neighborhood looking

104 around for more friends to have an afternoon of soccer. We have a soccer facility that allows us to invite any soccer player to play with us but before doing so, must listen the Gospel message. Door to door still works: Unfortunately, Jehovah's Witnesses have made themselves famous for using this method as their preferred evangelistic tool. Even so, door to door visitation in Peru still works, much more so in the rural communities. Open Air preaching still works: In recent years, local authorities have begun to regulate our open efforts to evangelize in the main square of major cities. Thankfully, their regulation is mostly associated to where we do our evangelism and how we do it. These can easily be adjusted as long as they don t require us to change the message of the Cross. Missions Trips to the coast, mountains and jungle. Pablo Cenepo-Torres Peru

105 S8. Independence and inter-dependence of local congregations Chair: Organization in the New Testament Church The word ecclesia is used in 3 senses in the NT: it refers to A local congregation. A common expression of local congregation is known as house church (Rom. 16: 3, 1 Cor. 16: 15). A congregation is an ecclesia, a called out community for the purpose of being the people of God in a particular place. A regional cluster of local congregations (Acts 9: 1, 2 Cor. 8: 1). Ecclesia is used in both the singular and plural to identify believers who lived in a general region. The church is more than just a congregation, believers think of church being congregations, and these congregations had a collective identity designated by the term ecclesia, e.g. collective city congregations like the church in Antioch (Acts 13.1), church in Thessalonica (1 Thess. 1: 1), Corinth (1 Cor. 1: 2, appear to have joined together in some forms of collective life (contra Paul did not write to the church in Rome, see Rom. 1: 7). The Whole Church regardless of where they lived in the world (Eph 3: 10, Romans 16: 16) Summary: These expressions of the church are to relate in fellowship (coming together), engage in cooperation actions, and make collective choices regarding the ministry of the church (Gelder) LOCAL & MOBILE STRUCTURES AND CONNECTIONAL PROCESSESS (see diagram) in the VISIBLE CHURCH VISIBLE CHURCH Local Missional Connectional Mobile Congregations Processes Missional Structures (doctrines, Local Confession of Faith, governing Forms & practises shared decision-making) The rapid growth of the NT Church evolved quickly into two distinct structures local missional congregations (local churches) and mobile (but not ad-hoc) missional structures (agencies). Mobile missional structures are an essential part of the NT Church and enhance the church s mission, contributing to cooperation & coordination between congregations. Both local missional structures and mobile missional structures are linked to each other through a series of dynamic connectional processes (shaped by local challenges and situational needs). Connectional Processes & the Local Assembly/Congregation Beyond the local congregation(s), we take note of the developing of mobile missional structures in the NT Church. There seem to be two main types of mobile missional structure seen in the Early Church: 1. Apostolic leaders/the early missionaries (eg. Peter, Paul, Barnabas) 2. Apostolic mobile teams (e.g. Paul and his team of co-workers) Such mobile missional structures always exist in relation to local congregations, and they function to strengthen existing local congregations (Titus 1: 5), or to assist/support in their development of church growth or plant new congregations church-multiplication thru planting of churches (Acts 13, or more importantly the Paul s training model in Act 19: 9-10).

106 Mobile missional structures are made up of leaders who have gifts, skills, experiences for broader ministry in the wider church. Often, these leaders function as representatives of their local congregations (e.g., Barnabas being sent to Antioch by the Jerusalem s leaders), and are accountable to their own respective local congregations. Processes that governed our beliefs and our confession of our faith (e.g. the meeting of the Gentle church leaders and the Jerusalem Jewish leaders in Acts 15, in shared decision-making) for governing local church practises (particularly when both Jewish believers worship alongside Gentile believers, e.g. Rom. 14: 19-21). that provides for shared decision-making (Acts 15: 22-23, 28) on the one hand, and mutual accountability (Acts 14: 27) on the other hand, between leaders of the local congregations and the mobile structures. QUESTIONS FOR INTERACTION 1. Share one or two key mobile missional structure in your country. Malaysia The mobile missional structures that connect the local assemblies in fellowship and co-operative actions, shared decision-makings are Christian Brethren Secretariat of Malaysia (representing most Englishspeaking assemblies since 1998), Partners in the Harvest (transnational mobile missional structure since 2009) as well as The Klang Valley Assemblies Elders Committee (Representing regional cluster of 26 assemblies since 1994). All three have also have agreement on a set of shared doctrinal beliefs to govern our fellowship, and our co-operative actions, as well as maintenance of membership within the mobile missional structures. Each serve specific roles and functions. 2. Do your assemblies/mobile missional Brethren structures in your country have a shared doctrinal beliefs (statements of beliefs)? What are these? 3. What are the practices of the mobile missional structures in your country that will strengthen the existing churches, lead to shared decision-makings, and encourage mutual accountability, and ignite the planting of new assemblies? 4. How are the leaders of these mobile missional structures chosen in your countries? Is there a term of office? What is the accountability like? 5. How do we assess/ascertain the effectiveness of these Brethren agencies in strengthening existing churches (extension growth), and starting new ministry/churches (expansion growth)? 6. What is the decision-making process between the mobile missional agencies and the local churches? What about the way decisions are made within the agency? 7. How do the assembly go about setting up a new mobile missional structure to serve the interests of the local assemblies (in both extension and expansion growth)? --Clarify of purpose/goals, roles and functions, core values --Communication and accountability needed Chris Leong Malaysia

107 S9. Using media and technology in the local church Chair: Carl Scharschmidt (Jamaica)

108 S10. Engaging with Roman Catholicism in different contexts Chair: Damaris Playa (Spain)

109 M. MISSION TODAY M1. The changing face of cross-cultural mission Chair: Keith Cruickshank (Australia)

110 M2. The responsibilities of sending churches Chair: The earliest mention of workers being sent out (Acts 13) established that God has ordained a central role for the church in the great work of mission. The Holy Spirit called Barnabas and Saul to a particular work and the church joined in the work by sending them out. Further, the text records in verse 4 that the Holy Spirit sent them out. The Holy Spirit, the workers and the local church were joined together in the great evangelical enterprise. Throughout church history and down to our day, godly people have sought wisdom to understand the practical responsibilities of being a sending church. While practices have changed and been modified to meet various circumstances, there can be no doubt that the local church and its leadership have major responsibilities before the Lord when sending workers. The purpose of this workshop is to examine together what those responsibilities are. We need first to ask ourselves what the Bible actually teaches, and then to ask what practices exist which have been proved useful. We should also consider trends that may require adopting different approaches as we go forward. It is recommended that we focus our discussion around the major issues for sending churches connected with these four steps of service: preparation for the work; sending out into the work; working in a crosscultural setting; and, finally, returning from the work back to the local church. The following are questions for consideration. It is not expected that all these can be covered but they will be useful to guide our discussion. Preparation for the Work What role does the church have in preparing the worker? What is the role of further theological education and missionary training? To what extent do workers need to demonstrate both willingness and ability to support themselves? How long a period should be required serving in the local church to demonstrate spirituality, emotional stability, family values, and fitness for the work? Sending Out Into the Work What does the commendation process look like? How does the congregation become part of the sending process? What is the sending church s responsibility for financial support? How does the principle of faith work with the commitment for financial support? What is the role of a missionary service organization? How do the elders relate to the service organization? Working in a Cross- Cultural Setting Who is the worker accountable to: the Lord; the sending church elders; the missionary service organization; co-workers in the field? What is the sending church's responsibility for communication? For visits to the field? For evaluating the work? What process does the sending church have for addressing problems as they arise? Returning from the Field What is the responsibility of the sending church when it is time to return home? Robert Dadd USA

111 M3. From everywhere to everywhere: Missions in the age of globalization and worldwide migration Chair

112 M4. Faith mission today Chair: Peter Andrews (UK/Rwanda) Quote. When I get out to China I shall have no claim on anyone for anything. How important, therefore, to learn before leaving England to move man, through God, by prayer alone. He therefore broke the connection, and began to live by faith, He developed the principles by which he afterward guided his own mission, never appealing for funds except to God. Depend upon it, he would say, God s work done in God s way, will never lack for supplies. J. Hudson Taylor History: J. Hudson Taylor, missionary to China, and founder of the China Inland Mission, first developed the policy of telling God only of his needs. He asked God for specific numbers of missionaries and God always supplied what he asked for. His became the first Faith Mission. Each missionary was required to trust God to supply all their needs for travel expenses and monthly missionary support. Within thirty years after its founding, (1895) his China Inland Mission became the largest Protestant Mission in China. Accomplishment: One hundred and fifty years after the founding of the China Inland Mission, in 1865, most of the largest and leading missions agencies have been the non-denominational faith missions, such as the Sudan Interior Mission (S.I.M.); C.T. Studd s Heart of Africa Missions, now World-Wide Evangelistic Crusade (W.E.C.); The Wycliffe Bible Translators; Operation Mobilisation (O.M.); and Youth With A Mission (YWAM). Inspiration: Hudson Taylor, and others who advocate Living by Faith often refer to George Mueller, of Bristol, as their inspiration. William Conrad, in Family Matters, pp. 53, 54, tells us that Mueller made it a firm rule that neither he nor his helpers should ever ask any individual for anything so that the Lord s hand might be clearly seen. But he did ask God to move people to give. Once when a man made a large donation, a delighted Mueller visited him to give thanks, then showed the man the entry in his diary when months before Mueller began requesting of God that that man would give that specific amount! Brethren Writer on the Issue: It is hardly becoming in servants of the Lord to advertise personal needs. Paul and the other apostles did not do so,... Information is frequently desirable but solicitation is not. Servants of Christ look to their Master alone for support. Arthur G. Clarke. In chapter 9 of his book New Testament Church Principles, Clarke says Nowhere in the N.T. are we given the slightest hint that the world is to be appealed to for funds in carrying on the Lord s work.giving to the Lord is a privilege belonging to His people, whose offerings alone, spiritual and material, are acceptable to Him. He then goes on to do an excellent job of showing from Scripture how God s work is to be supported by God s people. He touches on various types of Scriptural, and advocates tithing; and lists the numerous sacrifices and offerings expected of God s people. With all of his points we can have no quibble. He expresses the belief that There will be abundant supply for all needs in the Lord s work if Christians recognize their privilege and rise to their responsibility in accordance with the precepts of God s word. Importunate solicitation, burdensome exactions, worldly expedients and elaborate financial organization all will then be unnecessary. At the end of the chapter he summarised his teachings with the statement above. Communication of Financial Needs: Brethren historian William Conrad, in Family Matters, on p. 53, references another Brethren historian, Roy Coad, to the effect that popular legend has concealed some of Mueller s practicality. The legend emphasizes one side of the coin: the intensity of Mueller s trust. It has often forgotten the other side that the funds to supply the need came from men and women who were partners in Mueller s faith in God.

113 He says that Mueller used various reporting systems to keep them, and others, informed of what transpired: He then goes on to list four examples of this system of reporting. He says in item number 3 that Many people sent donations, and in accompanying letters told Mueller they learned of his need through reading the Annual Reports or the Narrative. Mueller, therefore, did not hold to a wooden interpretation of living by faith, and never ever telling anyone but God about his needs. Questions: (1) Living by Faith is it Biblically valid? (2) Living by Faith, is it Practical? Topics for Discussion: (1) The Workers Perspective/Responsibility? (2) The Assembly s Perspective/Responsibility? (3) The Antiochian Church: Acts. 13: 1-4. (4) The Philippian Church: Phil. 4: 6-7, 9-20 Summary: The Concept of Team. The responsibility to reach the lost is the responsibility of every believer. Only a relative few will ever heed the call to make disciples of all nations. All should offer themselves to go, if the Lord will have them. But those who remain should help those who go. They must also live by faith by helping. William Carey: Yonder in India is a gold mine, I will descend to dig, but you at home must hold the ropes. Jack Popjes: How to Raise a Missions Support Partnership Team. In this work of God we are either GOERS or SENDERS. Lloyd A. Cooke Jamaica

114 M5. The role of mission service agencies today Chair: Raju Koshy (India)

115 M6. Contemporary missions challenges in Asia Chair: Abraham Parail (Bahrain) Introduction The shift in Demographics and the Centre of Gravity from the Western Church to the 2/3 world. 1. The Shift in the Centre of Gravity of the Church from the Western to the non-western World. Demographics Europe and North America : 750 Million (39%) Non-Western World 1162 Million (61%) Source: David Barrett (IBMR, January 2001: 24) Spiritual Vitality and Missions The background of missionaries is now evenly split between the West (North America, Europe and the Pacific) and the majority World (Asia, Latin America, Africa) Source of Missionaries, 2000 (Momentum, November / December Page 49) I. The Challenges of China and Partnership with the Chinese Church. China today has the fastest church growth numerically each year (Approximation of 20,000 conversions per day or 7 million new believers every year) The challenges are: 1. Official religion: Atheism, with 1.4 billion people and over 800 million rural unreached. 2. Lack of support for rural evangelists E.g. MAP has over 100 evangelists waiting for support to go into the ripe harvest fields. Support per evangelist per year = USD 840 or USD 70 per month. 3. Lack of Bible teachers and good Christian literature and bibles, thus the proliferation of cults e.g. Eastern Lightning Cult, false teachings and superstition. MAP sends 2500 Chinese bibles every year but needs to speed up to match conversions. 4. Persecution of house churches is widespread. We need to have strategies for training and support ministries.