By DR. DANN SPADER OUR SHARED MINISTRY PHILOSOPHY

By DR. DANN SPADER OUR SHARED MINISTRY PHILOSOPHY

OUR SHARED MINISTRY PHILOSOPHY By DR. DANN SPADER Preseted for Discussio at the Global Youth Iitiative Forum i Sigapore, April 2006 (Updated 2011) Solife 2013 PO Box 3242, Bloomigto, IL 61702, 309.807.2459 www.solife.com

N MY NEW ROLE AS PRESIDENT OF GLOBAL YOUTH INITIATIVE (GYI) ad with the relauch of Solife Classic i North America, oe of my four priorities is that of developig a deepeed appreciatio ad uderstadig of our shared miistry Christology. Each ew geeratio of youger leaders requires a itetioal effort at passig o this shared miistry philosophy especially that which is biblically-based ad cross-cultural. This paper (a overview of shared miistry philosophy) is my feeble attempt to capture the high poits of this philosophy i writig ad to stimulate discussio. It is my prayer that through discussio Itogether, we ca arrive at a reewed appreciatio for the values that have brought us together. I GYI, our missio statemet is equippig youg leaders for movemets of multiplicatio. Our visio is that of seeig a movemet of God amog the youth of the globe... displayig the woders of God to the ext geeratio (Ps. 78:3 7). This paper was hard to write, because it is a overview, ad ot exhaustive i ay oe area. While this started as a documet emphasizig what we are sure of, it eds with the askig of may questios that I m usure about. Therefore, up frot, I have to admit that my purposes i this paper shifted the more I wrote. Forgive me for this movemet away from simply addressig fixed beliefs to raisig questios for future discussios. I will also admit I vacillated i my writig style. I would like to admit as well that this paper is ot a research paper with extesive documetatio (as most of my previous GYI papers), but istead a reflective paper tryig to capture some of our most firmly held beliefs ad puttig them i writig for more discussio ad clarity for those ew to the cause of Global Youth Iitiative. A CORE CONVICTION From the very begiig i developig a traiig orgaizatio for leaders, I have held the deep covictio that developig emergig leaders ivolves a uique uderstadig of leadership developmet. Equippig leaders differs from equippig workers ad/or believers. Leadership developmet ivolves the uique task of developig thikers ad ot just doers. Leaders eed to ask why questios, workers ted to ask how questios, ad believers ted to thik i terms of what issues (what am I to do ext, etc.). The biblical terms for a New Testamet leader are overseer, shepherd, bishop or elder. These terms are used iterchageably (1 Pet. 5:1 4) i the New Testamet ad are words used to defie New Testamet leadership. A overseer, by very ature of the defiitio, is supposed to oversee a miistry. A overseer must be able to frame up the major why questios: Why are we doig this? Why is this a priority? Why does the Scripture say what it says? Leadership eeds to oversee ad shepherd the critical why questios. Wrapped aroud this uderstadig of leadership is the covictio that we must develop those leaders to be capable of clarifyig ad livig out a biblical philosophy of miistry. A philosophy of miistry seeks to capture the why ad what of our miistries: why we exist ad what we are seekig to accomplish. This philosophy of miistry must be well-balaced, full-orbed ad itesely biblical. To say that it is well-balaced meas that it captures the true meaig of God s callig o our lives i a balaced way, ot overemphasizig oe aspect at the expese of aother. To say full-orbed meas that the total process is emphasized. It meas that each aspect of the disciplemakig madate is captured ad othig is missed. To say that it is itesely biblical meas that it actually iterprets the Scriptures to capture the full itet of God s desires for our lives ad miistries. Leadership eeds to be able to clarify ad commuicate the why ad what of our madate. It eeds to be able to articulate this is what we are doig ad this is why we are doig it. This is a fullorbed biblical philosophy of miistry. I believe Jesus is our primary model for this (but more o this later). After clarifyig ad commuicatig this philosophy of miistry, leadership i each ew geeratio ad cotext must idetify the critical guidig priciples that must be emphasized to accomplish this philosophy. I each chapter of Scripture, there are dozes of miistry priciples, but leadership must idetify the most critical oes eeded to implemet this biblical philosophy i each culture ad cotext. After these priciples have bee idetified ad defied, the programs ad/or activities eed to be developed to implemet these priciples. Curriculum eeds to be chose or writte for these programs. The curriculum cotais the major cotet that eeds to be taught ad trasferred. Curriculum is used i the programs, the programs flesh out the priciples ad the priciples frame up the philosophy. I a liear graph it would look like this: OUR SHARED MINISTRY PHILOSOPHY 1

From Priciples to Philosophy priciples programs curriculum why what how Philosophy A ideal leadership traiig orgaizatio would have all four areas: a balaced biblical philosophy, clearly defied ad trasferable priciples, a well-thought-out program ad a writte curriculum. Ufortuately, i our quick-fix culture, very few leaders have bee traied to thik through the why questios. Havig bee exposed oly to the what or how issues, they ed up tryig to implemet someoe else s key priciples, programs or curriculum versus a biblical philosophy of miistry. They have ever bee equipped to thik why, ad thus move from oe model to the ext, or oe curriculum to the ext. It is my covictio that i developig a ew geeratio of leaders who are biblical thikers, we must focus o the left side of the liear graph above. Forcig leaders to thik about the why ad what questios develops thikers, better tha just traiig i how issues. A biblical philosophy with trasferable priciples is cross-cultural, whereas programs ad curriculum are wrapped up i too may cultural ad cotextual issues. With this framework, let me humbly try to capture some of those critical priciples ad values that frame up the miistry philosophy of GYI. For discussio s sake I have wrapped them ito twelve statemets. They are: Jesus is our model. Disciplemakig is our missio. Love is our motive. The orgaic process is our method. The Holy Spirit is our meas. Fruit is our measure. The Gospel remais our message. The church is the movemet. Youth are our madate. Relatioships are our mometum. Leadig Servats is our motto. Kigdom obediece is our distictive mark. 1. Jesus Is Our Model It almost seems strage to argue for Jesus as our model of miistry. Does t everyoe use Jesus as his or her model? Ufortuately, the aswer to this questio is o. Everyoe does t use Jesus as his or her model for miistry. While it is true that most everyoe will talk about Jesus, quote from Jesus, or teach what Jesus taught, my experiece is that few make the character ad priorities of Jesus their model for miistry. Through the years, I have foud some who believe that Jesus should ot be our model for miistry. The church, they argue, bega i the book of Acts (a ew dispesatio or coveat) ad therefore Jesus should ot be used as our model. Istead, Paul or Peter or the Epistles better explai how to do miistry. Ufortuately, the limited scope of this paper does ot allow me to fully refute this positio, except to simply state that Jesus plated the first church, commissioed His disciples to do what He did, ad the set them out to make disciples of all atios, followig the patter that He gave them. Paul uderstood this whe he told his followers to Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ (1 Cor. 11:1). Through the years, I have also foud may who believe that there are may priciples from Jesus that ca be used i miistry. These priciples are ofte cited ad the a few verses from the life of Christ put behid them. Most i this positio would ot argue with usig the life of Christ as our model, but they would ever thik of makig Jesus their primary model for miistry. For some reaso, this just does t occur to them as the right thig to do mostly because He was God ad we are ot. However, the larger segmet of the body of Christ simply uses the message of Jesus, thikig that by doig this they are followig the model of Jesus. May I suggest that the message of Jesus mius the methods of Jesus does ot reflect the true madate of Jesus? Jesus was very clear, do the works I have bee doig (Joh 14:12), live as [I] did (1 Joh 2:6), ad follow the patter I have give you (as see i the 30+ just as verses i the Gospels). It is my covictio that, while may have focused o the priciples or message of Jesus, most have failed to capture the full-orbed philosophy of miistry that Jesus modeled ad the commaded us to follow. Disciplemakig (ot discipleship), flowig out of a deep love for God ad a love for people, was ot a great idea or suggestio, but the Great Commad (Matt. 22, 28). We are to do what Jesus did extedig this to all people groups, ad the He will retur (Matt. 24:14). Jesus is our model for miistry. I His humaity, Jesus was ma as God iteded ma to be. As Charles Ryrie has said, Never less tha God, He chose to live His life ever more tha ma. Bruce Ware added, His deity was uexpressed, so that His humaity could be fully expressed. Waye Grudem put it this way; Jesus refused to rely o his divie ature to make obediece easier for him. I other words, Jesus i His humaity became our model for miistry. He became what He was ot, so that we could become what we were ot. He modeled how to create a movemet of multiplyig disciples ad the commaded us to do what He did the way He did it. OUR SHARED MINISTRY PHILOSOPHY 2

A proper uderstadig of His persoal callig (dyig for our sis), coupled with His miistry callig (makig disciples who could make disciples) helps us grasp this implicatio. Ufortuately, may have ot uderstood the humaity of Jesus ad have, kowigly or ukowigly, cocluded that we caot do what Jesus did. Therefore, why eve try? Yet He commaded us to do what He did, eve tellig us that we would do greater thigs tha He has doe (Joh 14:12)! I four years, Jesus developed up to 120 disciples, 70 workers ad 11 leaders. By God s grace, we may have up to forty years of makig disciples, havig the capacity of makig eve more disciples because of the greater amout of time available, if we walk as He walked! (I have writte i more detail o the humaity of Jesus ad its implicatios i other articles such as The Humaity of Jesus ad The Life of Christ: The Cost of Leadig Movemets of Multiplicatio. You ca fid these i the store at solifeclassic.com.) To adequately say that Jesus is our model of miistry meas that we capture both the character ad priorities of Jesus. We must cotiually work to go deeper i His philosophy of miistry ad the guidig priciples He lived by. Aythig less would be just quotig from His message or makig a few verses from the Gospels prooftexts to make us feel good about beig like Jesus. Aythig less tha doig what Jesus did the way Jesus did it is doig a disservice to the life ad miistry of Jesus. It is ot the real Jesus of the New Testamet, as He did t give us the optio of just teachig His messages. He commaded us to do what He did ad to do it the way He did it. Aythig less is ot a full-orbed philosophy of miistry that is biblically rooted i the life of Christ. Let me say it agai Jesus is our model for miistry. We must ever tire of callig the ext geeratio to walk as Jesus walked, o matter how basic this may feel at times, especially to those of us who have spet years traiig i these basics. Remember the very first time you heard the life of Christ taught as a biblical philosophy of miistry? We must make sure that each ew geeratio of youg leaders has the chace to clearly grasp the So s life. We caot let these values get lost or it ca take several geeratios to recapture them. For Further Discussio Why are so few ivolved i a study of Christology as it relates to ecclesiology? What ca be distorted i the statemet that Jesus is our model of miistry? What is difficult about defiig the philosophy of miistry Jesus modeled? I the life of Christ, what eeds further discussio ad study? What happes whe your ecclesiology is ot rooted i good Christology? Why is it easy to slip away from teachig the basics of disciplemakig? Other questios 2. Disciplemakig Is Our Missio (The Great Commissio) Step back ito the first cetury for a momet ad place yourselves i the cotext of the iitial followers of Jesus. First, you have the book of James, ad the possibly you are give Galatias. But it is almost twety years after Christ s death before you receive a summary of Christ s life i the Gospel of Matthew (A.D. 50). Oce Matthew is writte, it will be almost te years before you have the Gospel of Luke (A.D. 60), the almost aother te years later for the Gospel of Mark (A.D. 68). The fially, almost twety years after, if you are still alive, you are give the Gospel of Joh (A.D. 85 90). Imagie what it would be like to be give a firsthad story of Jesus for the first time. Imagie readig that accout ad the comig towards the ed of that Gospel ad readig what you have heard others say so ofte: Therefore, go ad make disciples of all atios, baptizig them i the ame of the Father ad of the So ad of the Holy Spirit, ad teachig them to obey everythig I have commaded you. Ad surely I am with you always, to the very ed of the age (Matt. 28:19 20). Matthew captures those emotioal last momets that Jesus has with His disciples. Over the previous forty days, Jesus has appeared to His disciples te times. Five of these appearaces were i Jerusalem behid locked doors. Oly oe of these appearaces was pre-aouced. I Matthew 26:32 ad 28:7, Jesus told His disciples to go ahead ad meet Him at Galilee. Because of this aoucemet, I believe that Matthew 28 was the first pre-aouced appearace of Jesus where five hudred were gathered (1 Cor. 15:6). There was excitemet i the air ad great aticipatio: Whe they saw him they worshipped him (Matt. 28:17). Jesus was clear that all authority had bee give to Him, ad they were to go to all atios ad He would be with them always. This Great Commissio was all-iclusive. I believe that Matthew 28 is a summary of Jesus life. Oe more time, at the ed of His life so that they would ever forget it He told them to do what He had bee doig. He said, Therefore, go ad make disciples of all atios, baptizig them i the ame of the Father ad of the So ad of the Holy Spirit, ad teachig them to obey everythig I have commaded you. The oe commad is clear to make disciples. The three participial phrases (goig, baptizig ad teachig to obey) tell us how to fulfill the commad. I these words, Jesus simply remids them what His life was about, ad the commads His disciples to do what He had doe, to make disciples who ca make disciples. This they uderstood. They had see Jesus do this. They were recipiets of this focused missio. He ow exteds that missio to them ad to us. This Great Commissio clearly frames up our missio. The oe commad of the Great Commissio is to make disciples (the Greek matheteusate, the aorist imperative active). It literally meas to make disciples who ca the make disciples, ad to exted this to all atios. Disciplemakig is differet tha discipleship. Jesus did ot commad us to do discipleship, He commaded us to make disciples. There is a major differece. OUR SHARED MINISTRY PHILOSOPHY 3

I d like to totally do away with the word discipleship. I believe it so ofte distorts our true missio. Discipleship, historically, is the groudig of ew believers i their faith. Disciplemakig ivolves discipleship, but it is more. Disciplemakig ivolves goig, baptizig ad teachig to obey. I other words, it demads the wiig of the lost, the buildig of the believer, ad the equippig of the worker, resultig i the multiplicatio of leaders to all people groups. I call this full-orbed disciplemakig. Disciplemakig is ot just ivestig i the committed few. It is more tha just equippig. It is the full-orbed process of goig, baptizig ad teachig to obey. Disciplemakig is ot just evagelism. Evagelism is goig the wiig of the lost to faith i Christ. While importat, evagelism is just the first step of disciplemakig. Disciplemakig is the whole process of developig fully-traied, reproducig disciples. It recogizes that people are at differet stages of growth ad developmet ad miisters to them at their preset stage always challegig them but givig them grace to grow at their ow pace. Seekers have differet questios ad eed differet activities tha believers. Believers have differet eeds tha seekers, ad workers deal with very differet eeds as well. Jesus recogized these atural levels of growth ad maturity ad desiged His miistry appropriately. Disciplemakig ivolves meetig the eeds of people at various stages of growth ad developmet. While we may debate may of Jesus methods, we ever eed to debate our missio. He clearly gave it to us after modelig it for us first. I firmly believe the key to uderstadig how to fulfill the Great Commissio is foud i a biblical uderstadig of the life of Christ. His life modeled how to do the Great Commissio. That is why, without a good Christology, you will ever have a good ecclesiology. Jesus is still the head of the Church, ad we are still His body. He has told us to do what He did. His life was about creatig a movemet of multiplyig disciples ad we are commaded to fulfill that same missio. For Further Discussio Why is discipleship ot disciplemakig? How do the two differ? What is so hard about disciplemakig? Why is uderstadig the life of Christ essetial to uderstadig the Great Commissio? What are we missig i our uderstadig of disciplemakig? What happes whe we oly see a part of disciplemakig as our missio? Whe is it okay to make just a part of the Great Commissio our missio? Whe is it ot okay? Other questios 3. Love Is Our Motive (The Great Commadmet) Imagie the scee. It s ear the ed of Jesus miistry. The Pharisees just tried to trap Jesus, but He escaped their grasp (Matt. 22:15). The Sadducees also questioed Jesus, who sileced them with His respose: You are i error because you do ot kow the Scriptures or the power of God (Matt. 22:29). Next the Pharisees foud a expert of the law to test Jesus. The expert s questio surely provoked the curiosity of the crowd ad probably of the disciples. Mark 12:28 31 says: Oe of the teachers of the law came ad heard them debatig. Noticig that Jesus had give them a good aswer, he asked him, Of all the commadmets, which is the most importat? The most importat oe, aswered Jesus, is this: Hear, O Israel, The Lord our God, the Lord is oe. Love the Lord your God with all your heart ad with all your soul ad with all your mid ad with all your stregth. The secod is this: Love your eighbor as yourself. There is o commadmet greater tha these. Imagie the amazemet of the crowds, ad eve of perhaps the disciples, whe Jesus said, the most importat oe is this... there is o commadmet greater tha these! I a complex ad demadig world, what beautiful simplicity Jesus offers. Love God ad love people. While the Great Commissio addresses our missio, the Great Commadmet (lovig God, lovig people) addresses our motive. If we get our missio right, but do t have the right motive, we will oly be like clagig symbols. Thikig through these thigs remids me of a guy I oce kew. I will ever forget Tom. Eve though I have t talked with Tom for over six years, I will ever forget him. Tom weighed about 300 pouds. He was a youth pastor i Michiga. I terms of youth miistry, he did almost everythig wrog. He greased his hair straight back (that was before it came back i style). He always wore white baggy shirts, baggy pats, ad white socks. He d bee through all of our traiig, but did very little of it except for the priority of lovig God ad lovig people. Because of his deep love for God, Tom had a deep love for people. He ever had more tha thirty studets i his youth miistry, yet they were studets from all walks of life. Early i his miistry, whe he wet through our advaced traiig, Tom set a faith goal of reproducig himself sixty-fold. He said he was a thirty-fold kid of guy defiitely ot a 100-fold so he asked God for the ability to reproduce himself sixty-fold (Matt. 13:8). So over twety years ago, he set a faith goal of seeig sixty youth pastors developed out of his miistry. The last I talked to Tom over forty-eight studets had goe ito miistry. OUR SHARED MINISTRY PHILOSOPHY 4

Tom s success is ot because of his admiistrative skills, his good looks or his great teachig ability. Tom s success is because he loves God ad loves people. Everyoe says the umber oe thig about Tom is the fact that you kow he loves you. That love is both relatioal ad life-trasformig. That love is tough ad teder. That love is Tom s primary miistry skill it trasforms those who place themselves uder it. Without love, we are like clagig symbols. Love ever fails. Love ever gives up. Love is patiet ad kid. Jesus showed us how to love ad the commaded us, Love oe aother. As I have loved you, so you must love oe aother (Joh 13:34). For this is how everyoe will kow that you are my disciples, He said (Joh 13:35). Ufortuately, or fortuately (based upo your perspective), i the crisis of our postmoder dilemma, love is the oly aswer left. Moders have give the aswers i terms of doctries ad theories, but these have come across as stiff ad urealistic. Ad postmoders, with their hermeeutic of suspicio, have rejected these aswers as formulaic. Masterig the decostructio of aythig that looks like a ma-made formula, yet uable to move beyod decostructio due to the lack of a epistemological framework ad a hermeeutic of suspicio that is essetially ihilistic at its core, the aswer for breakig through ad costructig the post-postmoder world lies more so tha ever i the love of God embodied i people truly lovig oe aother. It is a epistemology revisited by the reality of love. I my experiece, this is a truth we will ever fully master, or will we ever fully miss it. Yet this is a priciple we must keep at the forefrot. Always traiig it, always teachig it, always livig it, always growig i our capacity to bear this type of fruit. For the primary fruit of the Spirit is love (Gal. 5:22). By the very ature of love, this priciple demads that miistry remais relatioal, ot programmatic- or curriculum-drive. All life chage happes through lovig relatioships. I have ot told you aythig ew. You kow this. My prayer i writig this is that it will be a remider to you of the importace of this truth (2 Pet. 1:12). For Further Discussio What would it take for GYI to become kow for its lovig relatioships? Why is love the critical compoet to recostruct a post-postmoder world? As a movemet grows, how does the expressio of a leader s love chage? Who is really doig this well? What would tough love look like i GYI? Could the Great Commadmet be labeled our missio or must it be our motive? Other questios 4. The Orgaic Process Is Our Method After years of studyig the life of Christ, it is my covictio that the geius of Christ s miistry model is that He lived out His miistry i syc with orgaic processes He established as the Creator of the uiverse. Jesus kew that there was a atural way to reap a harvest ad that there were processes that could ot be avoided i bearig lastig fruit. O a miistry level, He laid a foudatio by cultivatig the soil of relatioships (Phase 1 i our traiig). He the ivested i a few by platig deep seeds of truth (Phase 2) ad fially reaped the harvest by mobilizig for outreach (Phase 3). After a period of prayer, He the appoited growig multipliers so that He could sped more time with them (Phase 4). After traiig, they were released to repeat the process throughout Jerusalem, Judea ad Samaria (Acts 1:8). These disciples i tur developed other prove multipliers who could repeat the process i ew fields of miistry (Acts 6). The movemet Jesus created followed a very atural process of orgaic multiplicatio, which i four ad a half years, filled Jerusalem (Acts 5:28), ad withi twety-some years it was said that the gospel is bearig fruit ad growig throughout the whole world (Col. 1:6). O a persoal outreach level, Jesus also ackowledged a God-give process of comig to faith. By workig a process of cultivatig, platig ad the reapig (cultivatig friedships with the lost, platig the seeds of truth i their lives ad the callig for repetace ad reapig the harvest), Jesus modeled a process of wiig of the lost (Luke 15:1 2; Joh 4:34 38; Isa. 28:23 29). Whe followers came to faith, the Scriptures speak of beig rooted ad built up i Christ just as we came to Him (Col. 2:6 7). It is a orgaic process. I time, Jesus ivolved His followers i a series of at least five miistry experieces over a two-year period, givig them ample opportuity to be equipped i miistry (Joh 4, Mark 1, Matt. 10, Luke 9, Luke 10), causig a movemet of multiplyig disciples. Commissioig a few prove multipliers to oversee the process, Jesus left His disciples with aother Couselor who would keep guidig them through the process (Joh 14:26). The atural developmet of His disciples was urtured to multiplicatio health, ot violatig the atural processes ivolved. Jesus uderstood ad worked this atural process. He did ot force-feed the developmet of His disciples, or did He try to shortcircuit the processes. His fruit was real ad atural. He uderstood the seasos of growth ad worked the processes appropriately. He commaded His disciples to do the same ad told them that if they abided i the vie (like He did) they too would icreasigly bear fruit, more fruit ad eve much fruit (Joh 15). Agai, this was a picture of atural ad orgaic processes. The process ivolved addressig viruses, urturig the soil, creatig a healthy eviromet, ad beig patiet with the process. But it was a ogoig oe that could ot be violated. God the Father was free to speed up the process through the miraculous, but He ever violated its aturaless. The fruit was ot plastic; it was real. It yielded a true harvest of righteousess. OUR SHARED MINISTRY PHILOSOPHY 5

Perhaps oe of the most sigificat impacts of the miistries represeted i GYI is the clarity of teachig o the atural processes that Jesus employed i buildig that multiplyig miistry. As a traier of the life of Christ, I ve probably heard a thousad times, You did t tell me somethig I did t already kow, but you showed a process of growig a multiplyig miistry. Followig Jesus meas we must follow the priorities ad processes He established for us. I a postmoder world that is suspicious of ay processes or forced mechaical ivetios, we must go beyod the mechaisms of the moder world ad get back to the orgaic models Jesus created. It is my covictio that followig Jesus meas that we work with Him i the atural processes that He ordaied, created ad abided by. Fruit bearig takes time ad there are processes that must be followed. For Further Discussio What are some examples of violatig atural processes as we eter ito ew coutries? What are some of the dagers of uderstadig the processes Christ abided by? How has our moder world failed here? What hiders orgaic processes from happeig? Where have we gotte this right i GYI? Where have we failed? Other questios 5. The Holy Spirit Is Our Meas Whe I first became a Christia, I was extesively taught about the role of the Holy Spirit i the Christia s life. Participatig actively i Campus Crusade, I studied, taught ad persoally experieced the trasferable cocepts labeled How to be Filled with the Spirit, How to Walk i the Spirit, ad How to Witess i the Spirit. My secod year at Moody Bible Istitute, after studyig the Spirit-filled life ad teachig it extesively, I persoally experieced a aoitig of the Holy Spirit that I could oly defie as superatural i origi ad impact. My life was trasformed. Whe I was ivolved i youth miistry i two differet situatios, I watched the Holy Spirit brig a brokeess ad repetace that trasformed both miistries usually begiig with my ow cofessio of si. It was superatural ad outside of my ability to cotrol, maufacture ad/or create. It was the Spirit s workig. As a result, whe I bega Solife, I assumed that everyoe uderstood the importace ad critical role the Holy Spirit played i a believer s life. I ow believe that was a mistake. I a recet study I coducted o the Holy Spirit as my Couselor i Joh 14, I was impacted by the fresh reality of this truth. Jesus had just told His disciples that He was goig to leave them (Joh 13:36). They would have to go through may troubles but were ot to let their hearts be troubled (Joh 14:1). They were to follow His example doig what He did doig eve greater thigs tha He did (Joh 14:12). To all of this, Jesus stated that it was good that He was goig away (Joh 16:7), because the He would be give a gift that He would pour out o them the gift of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:33). I describig this gift i Joh 14:16, Jesus used a very uique ad iterestig word. He told them that He would sed them aother Couselor (NIV, 1984). Jesus was already called the Woderful Couselor (Isa. 9:6). But the word aother was the uique Greek word allos, rather tha the commo word heteros. It literally meat aother of the exact same kid. I other words, the Holy Spirit would be to the disciples (ad to all future disciples), exactly what Jesus had bee to them. The word for couselor was the word parakaleo, literally meaig comforter, protector, defeder, helper ad couselor. Jesus had bee all of these to His disciples ad ow the Holy Spirit would be aother of the exact same kid. Throughout the Bible, the disciples were called followers, co-workers, servats ad frieds. So Jesus said He would sed them aother fried the Holy Spirit. I have had to ask myself if the Holy Spirit is my best fried. Over 40 times i Acts you see this friedship with the Holy Spirit pictured. Look at some of the followig verses: Acts 1:2 The Holy Spirit gave istructios. Acts 1:8 The Holy Spirit came upo them. Acts 1:16 The Holy Spirit spoke. Acts 2:4 The Holy Spirit eabled. Acts 9:31 The Holy Spirit stregtheed ad ecouraged. Acts 11:28 The Holy Spirit predicted. Acts 13:4 The Holy Spirit set them o their way. Acts 13:52 The Holy Spirit filled them with joy. Acts 16:6 7 The Holy Spirit closed doors. Acts 16:9 The Holy Spirit opeed doors. Acts 20:23 The Holy Spirit wared them. Ad the, my favorite verse i Acts, which so clearly portrays this itimate friedship with the Holy Spirit: Acts 15:28 It seemed good to the Holy Spirit ad to us. The Holy Spirit is our God-give meas of walkig ad livig as Jesus walked ad lived (1 Joh 2:6) ad doig what Jesus did (Joh 14:12). This should t surprise us because Jesus i His humaity leaed upo this same resource of the Holy Spirit. By the Holy Spirit, Jesus: was coceived/bor (Luke 1:35) was aoited (Luke 4:18; Acts 10:38) was filled (Luke 4:1, 14) was sealed (Joh 6:27) was led (Luke 4:1) was full of joy (Luke 10:21) performed miracles (Matt. 12:28; Luke 4:14 15, 18) was raised from the dead (Rom. 8:11) OUR SHARED MINISTRY PHILOSOPHY 6

A Spirit-filled life is ot a additioal luxury to the Christ-follower. It is a essetial elemet of life ad miistry. Without the Holy Spirit, we are doomed to failure. For Further Discussio Is the Holy Spirit your fried? What would eed to chage for that to become a reality? Why is it sigificat that Jesus said He d sed aother Couselor of the exact same kid? What does a reewed emphasis upo the Holy Spirit look like? I what ways is your miistry emphasizig the Holy Spirit? Other questios 6. Fruit Is Our Measure Over 55 times i the Scriptures the word fruit is used. Fruit is always a picture of multiplicatio ad is liked to God s blessig. I Geesis 1:28, we are told that God blessed them ad the said, Be fruitful ad icrease i umber. God s blessig was coected to fruitfuless, ad fruitfuless was liked to multiplicatio. I Joh 13, Jesus kew that His time had come. He washed His disciples feet, predicted His betrayal ad the told His disciples that He would be leavig them. I Joh 14, Jesus has a questioad-aswer time with Thomas, Philip ad Judas. I Joh 14:31, Jesus said, Come ow; let us leave. I their commetary, Wescott ad Hort believe that the rest of Jesus discourse is coducted o His walk from the Upper Room to the Garde of Gethsemae. As Jesus passes through a vieyard, He begis to talk to His disciples about His ageda for their lives. He begis to powerfully describe what He is goig to brig about i their lives ad His desires to see them bear much fruit, showig [themselves] to be my disciples (Joh 15:8). Jesus uderstood the process He graphically describes to His disciples. I chapter 15, it is a four-step process: o fruit (verse 2), fruit (verses 2, 4), more fruit (verse 2) ad the much fruit (verses 5, 8). Each step of the process had barriers, breakthrough poits ad a proper respose. Let me quickly share my uderstadig of this vivid lesso Jesus shared with His disciples o the road to the cross. Graphed, it would look like this: The first barrier was si, which will yield o fruit. We see this i verse 1 whe Jesus speaks of the vie i the brach that yields o fruit. A vie that has falle off of the fece goes dow i the mud; eeds to be washed off, lifted back up ito the sulight, before it ca bear fruit. The barrier is dirty si, the breakthrough is cleasig ad the respose is repetace. The secod barrier is stuff. As a vie grows, ofte te to twelve braches will sprig out of the vie. Without careful pruig by the gardeer, all the sap from the vie will be cosumed by the icreasigly tagled web of braches. A good gardeer carefully studies each idividual plat, carefully prues it back to two to three braches, allowig the sap to flow abudatly to these fewer braches ad produce abudat, rich grapes. But without the pruig, the vie will evetually ed up with a tagled web of multiple braches, little fruit ad, evetually, the death of the plat. The barrier is stuff, the breakthrough is pruig ad the respose is rejoicig (Jam. 1:2). The third barrier is satisfactio. Beig busy with the more fruit we ca become cotet with the icreased harvest. Five times i this passage, Jesus speaks of abidig. It is oly through deep abidig that we are brought ito that place of learig that eeds to be foud for much fruit to happe. The barrier is satisfactio, the breakthrough is deep abidig ad the respose is remaiig. But however you uderstad this passage (perhaps disagreeig with my descriptio of it), it is clear that Jesus stated directly ad powerfully that His ageda i their lives was to get them to the much fruit category. He stated, This is to my Father s glory, that you bear much fruit, showig yourselves to be my disciples (Joh 15:8). There was o questio i the disciples mid what Jesus desires were. They uderstood the vieyard. They uderstood the role of the braches, the gardeer ad the desired fruit. Jesus made it clear this was His ageda for their lives. This was ot somethig ew for the disciples. They had watched Jesus speak to thousads, trai sevety, recruit twelve, graduate eleve ad pour His life ito three. They were slowly comig to uderstad that Jesus missio was ot to reach the world as much as it was to make disciples capable of reachig the world. Soo they would be lauched out ito Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria ad the uttermost parts of the world. Withi two years they would fill Jerusalem with His teachig (Acts 5:28), withi four ad a half Bearig Fruit Si Stuff Satisfactio [Barriers] No Fruit Fruit More Fruit Much Fruit Cleasig Pruig Deep Abidig [Break-Through] repet rejoice remai OUR SHARED MINISTRY PHILOSOPHY 7

years they would have multiplyig churches (Acts 9:31), withi ietee years they would tur the world upside dow (Acts 17:6). Multiplicatio was i God s DNA. Fruit was God s descriptio of that multiplicatio. The implicatios of this for GYI are umerous. First, we ca say with cofidece that God s ageda i each of our lives is to mature us to the much fruit category. This will ivolve various seasos of life both good ad difficult but He desires that we bear much fruit ad prove to be His disciples (Joh 15:8). Secod, we must, without apology, be fruit ispectors. Whe we appoit ad select leaders to oversee miistries, we must ask the tough questios of fruit bearig, questios such as: Is fruit evidet i this leader s life? Is it comig forth? Is it growig? If ot, why? Are we just about the talk or are we also about the walk? If God s ageda is fruit, is it ours? As we ask these questios, we must keep i mid that i the Scriptures, fruit is described as character (Gal. 5:22 23), coduct (Rom. 6:21 22; Phil. 1:11) ad coverts (Rom. 1:13). Third, it is God s desire to see a movemet of multiplicatio out of the impact of our lives ad miistry. Our dream i GYI is to see 100 coutries by 2020 with movemets of multiplicatio amog the youth of that coutry. This is ot a pipe dream it is God s passio. For Further Discussio What are some difficulties i beig a fruit ispector? What are some dagers i ot beig a fruit ispector? Why is uderstadig the seasos of fruit-bearig importat (fruit, more fruit, much fruit, etc.)? How do we usually mess up the fruit ispectio? How do we accurately measure the phase of the movemet i our coutry? Other questios 7. The Gospel Remais Our Message Critical to the developmet of the ext geeratio of leaders capable of becomig fishers of me (Matt. 4:19) is the clear biblical model i Jesus life of helpig His disciples lear to boldly proclaim the message of the Gospel. Assumig that the clarity of the Gospel remais itact that Jesus died for our sis, was buried ad rose agai (1 Cor. 15:3 4; Gal. 1:8 9) the challege that we face, ad every geeratio faces, is the courage ad boldess eeded to keep proclaimig that Gospel. All the pressures of the world, the flesh ad the devil are mobilized to hider that proclamatio. I believe three challeges must be met i every geeratio to keep the Gospel cetral. First ad foremost is the theological challege. Is the Gospel message clearly beig preseted? Does the ext geeratio uderstad the cotet ad the depth of the Gospel message or has it bee lost i the multiplicity of messages set their way? Have we watered dow the Gospel to be about just belief versus repetace? Are we givig that ext geeratio itetioal ad multiple opportuities to be equipped i presetig that Gospel (Phile. 1:6)? This leads to the secod challege. It is a leadership challege that Paul speaks about i Romas 10. Paul presets a six-step process: beig set, proclaimig, hearig, believig, callig out ad beig saved. Two of these steps directly rest i our hads sedig ad proclaimig. Simply put, without sedig ad without proclamatio, the other steps caot happe. Jesus clearly modeled this itetioal developmet of the disciples i this proclamatio process. O at least five differet occasios, approximately every six moths, you see Jesus takig His disciples o a miistry experiece where the Good News was proclaimed (Joh 4 through Samaria, Mark 1:39 throughout Galilee i the syagogues, Luke 8:1 3 throughout the cities ad tows, Matthew 10 where the twelve are set out two by two, Luke 10 where 72 are set out). The last two evets have Jesus very clearly sedig His disciples ad oly i the last evet does Jesus ot participate. At the ed of this process Jesus was full of joy through the Holy Spirit (Luke 10:21). He had strategically ad itetioally developed His disciples to become fishers of me. His passio ad focus was very itetioal. His eergy was very focused. His life modeled the clear priority of developig disciples capable of proclaimig the good ews of the Gospel. The third challege is persoal. Are we as leaders actively egaged i proclamatio ad leadig our miistry i this bold ad risky challege? It is o accidet that Paul ofte ad repeatedly asked for prayers i beig able to boldly proclaim the Gospel (Eph. 6:19 20; Col. 4:4). Failure to ever get to proclamatio, i time has the effect of losig the clarity of the Gospel message. A geeratio that ever proclaims the Gospel is the geeratio that loses the sigificace of that Gospel. As we are active i sharig our faith, we come to a deepeig [of our] uderstadig of every good thig we share for the sake of Christ (Phile. 1:6). I today s culture of political correctess, persoal truth, tolerace of oe aother s viewpoits ad costat emphasis upo belogig versus believig, sactificatio versus justificatio, followig versus repetig, I see a geeratio movig away from the simplicity ad power of boldly proclaimig the Gospel message (Rom. 1:16). The Greek word euaggelizo (evagelism), literally meas the proclamatio (declarig verbally) of the good ews. While outreach is a process of cultivatig ad platig, evagelism is a evet meaig to proclaim. Biblical evagelism has t occurred util proclamatio happes. OUR SHARED MINISTRY PHILOSOPHY 8

I GYI, we have always held to the traiig value of askig tough questios about the ed result of the evagelism ad discipleship process. The ed result of evagelism is measured by askig the tough questio: Is the Gospel beig proclaimed clearly ad cocisely ad to what extet? The ed result of the discipleship process has always bee measured by askig: Is peer-to-peer reproductio happeig ad are we developig fully-traied fishers of me? Both of these questios are rooted i the cocept of proclaimig the Gospel message ad callig others to do what Jesus did. Cetral to this whole process is the clarity ad courage eeded to boldly proclaim the Gospel message which is the power of God that brigs salvatio to everyoe who believes (Rom. 1:16). The Gospel must remai our message, ad, as we seek to develop that ext geeratio, the proclamatio of the Gospel must remai at the core of GYI. Every geeratio must swim upstream i resistace to proclamatio. GYI members eed to be the warriors ad champios that keep leadig the ew geeratio to become fishers of me, ot just keepers of the aquarium. For Further Discussio Why is proclamatio so difficult? Why is proclamatio so ecessary? Is proclamatio ever easy? What happes to a geeratio that sees evagelism as just acts of service, cultivatig or platig? What are some of the additioal pressures i this culture agaist proclamatio? Other questios 8. The Church Is the Movemet It is true that the church is God s chose vehicle for fulfillig the Great Commissio. It is true that Jesus said, I will build my church, ad the gates of Hades will ot overcome it (Matt. 16:18). It is also true that the local church is the visible expressio of God s uiversal Church ad it is the Bride of Christ. Jesus remais the Head of His Body the church. The church is God s movemet (Eph. 3:10 11). We do t eed to create a movemet; we eed to fuel God s existig movemet of healthy local churches. We kow that the missio of the church is disciplemakig. We also kow the ature of the church is defied as a family, a priesthood, a commuity ad a body. These are all terms to describe the church s ature, with family beig the umber oe term. However, we must ot cofuse the ature of the church with the missio of the church. May have wrogly defied the missio of the church as that of beig a family or a commuity. However, that is ot our missio it is our ature. By fuctioig accordig to our ature, we will successfully accomplish our missio. We must ot cofuse the two. However, the questio ofte uaswered is simply this: What is the church? Every resource I have which seeks to defie the church always talks i terms of its missio or ature, ot its defiitio. Whe is a local gatherig of believers a church? Some would argue a gatherig of believers is a church whe it reaches a certai size (most deomiatios call a local gatherig a missio statio util it ca sustai itself at which poit it becomes a church plat at 50 or 75 or 100 people). Some would argue a local gatherig of believers is a church whe it has appoited leaders. Yet Paul said i Titus 1:5 to go back ad do that which is ufiished ad appoit elders i every tow. You ca be a church without havig elders appoited. It may take time to grow biblical leadership. So whe is a local gatherig of believers a local church? What is the defiitio of a biblical church? If we are to fuel a movemet of multiplicatio, it is imperative that we ca defie the local church. For simplicity, let me preset my defiitio of a local church ad the wrestle with some of the problems. I simply defie the local church as two to three people gathered i His ame for the express purpose of glorifyig Him ad fulfillig the Great Commissio. This defiitio cotais two elemets. First is the size factor. Size, I d like to suggest, is ot the factor. A local church ca be just two people who are gathered i His ame. The Lord s presece is what makes it a church. Secodly, it is purposeful, ot just two Christias meetig for Bible study. Its purpose is the furtherace of the Great Commissio. With this defiitio, we the eed to otice that the Great Commissio is ot to go ad plat churches! The Great Commissio is to make disciples ad the cluster them together ito local churches, repeatig the process locally. Our role i GYI is to fuel this movemet of healthy churches, which are to make disciples who ca make disciples. We are ot about workig aroud the church or eve beig parachurch. Our model is that of beig pro-church ad withi the church. We are about movemet buildig ad that movemet is about healthy gatherigs of believers livig ad walkig as Jesus walked. For Further Discussio What is wrog with this defiitio of the church? What are some of the problems of beig church-cetric? Why is the Great Commissio ot go ad plat churches? What is the result of losig the focus of makig disciples versus makig churches? Is a church a church if it is ot about disciplemakig? Other questios 9. Youth Are Our Madate George Sweetig, former presidet of Moody Bible Istitute, used to always say the mai job of leadership is to keep the mai thig the mai thig. OUR SHARED MINISTRY PHILOSOPHY 9

James Stewart, i his classic book, The Life ad Teachig of Jesus Christ, starts the book by sayig, Christiaity bega as a youg people s movemet. I thikig of Jesus ad his disciples, that is the first fact to make quite clear. Ufortuately, it is a fact which Christia art ad Christia preachig have too ofte obscured. But it is quite certai that the origial disciple bad was a youg me s group. Most of the apostles were probably still i their tweties whe they wet out after Jesus. I this coectio otice how the apostle Paul, writig almost a geeratio later, reports that of the five hudred to whom the rise Christ appeared, the greater part remai uto this preset (1 Cor. 15:6); the atural iferece is that the spiritual coquests of Jesus had bee maily amog the youger people (55). He the goes o to argue that we d be foolish if we did ot, at every stage of our lives, devote all of our time, talet ad treasures to mobilize the ext geeratio for the cause of Christ. We believe this i GYI. We kow the truth of these statemets. We kow that the most strategic way to birth a log-term movemet of multiplicatio is through mobilizig that ext geeratio of youg leaders. By doig so, like Jesus did, we esure the log-term ogoig success of the movemet. Why is this so true? Why is it so strategic to focus o that 13 30 widow of potetial youg leaders? Let me suggest some reasos: 1. Youth are the most moldable. They have little to ulear ad, if developed early with the right DNA, they ca become life-log reproducers. 2. They are lookig for a cause. I our postmoder world, it is still the great cause of the God s metaarrative that will rally the ext geeratio, despite what the skeptics may say. Lookig for a cause to which to give their lives, they ca be challeged at a strategic time to refocus their lives calligs ad directios. 3. They have uiversal tedecies. I our MTV culture, they easily commuicate across borders ad atioalities ad truly have become the first global youth culture. 4. The Scripture madates the reachig of that ext geeratio. Not oly did Jesus focus o youger leaders, Psalms 78:3 7 tells us to do the same. 5. They are the most resposive to the Gospel. Over 85 percet of all of those who come to faith do so before their 20th birthday. 6. The world is full of them. By 2020, over 50 percet of the globe will be uder the age of 25. Over 60 percet of may atios are ow uder 20. They are a massive people group to be reached ad mobilized. 7. Jesus modeled this. Jesus ivested i the youg leader. He kew that the most strategic way log-term was through raisig up that ext geeratio of leaders who could leave a legacy of miistry impact. For Further Discussio Are youth our focus or are youg leaders our focus? What would the differece be? What happes as we all grow older (or already have)? How do we keep youth our focus? What are some of the weakesses of this approach? To focus o youth, does this mea i time we have to focus o adults, parets or the church as a whole? Other questios 10. Relatioships Are Our Mometum As we look at the disciplemakig movemet that Jesus modeled, we see that it was developed o the backboe of deep, meaigful relatioships betwee Jesus ad His disciples. Jesus spet itetioal time with His disciples. As He spet time with them, He imparted His character ad priorities to them. Throughout the Gospels we see Jesus ad His disciples doig life together. They lived together, ate together, miistered together Jesus used every opportuity to build meaigful relatioships with His disciples ad to teach them about what it meas to be a Christ-follower. I the book of Acts, we see how this patter of buildig relatioships cotiued. Oe of the pillars of the early church was the depth of relatioship amog believers people who were prepared to sacrifice for oe aother, people who together were devoted to the Apostles teachig, people who together were committed to the cause. Throughout the book of Acts, it ca be see that the impetus ad cotiuity of the movemet was derived from relatioships with oe aother. I Joh 17:11, Jesus prays for the believers ad He asks that they may be oe as [He ad the Father] are oe. It is importat to recogize that beig oe does ot mea beig idetical, but that it meas beig uited i commo purpose. Believers ca be oe i purpose, while recogizig uiqueess ad celebratig the diversity foud withi the body of Christ. This allows people to miister usig their differet talets, gifts ad abilities, while achievig a commo purpose. As a movemet, we believe i developig ad maitaiig meaigful relatioships with the people we miister to ad with. We believe that relatioships are to be held above parterships. For the disciplemakig movemet to cotiue, we eed to recogize that the movemet will derive its impetus, stregth or cotiuity from meaigful relatioships. We eed to be itetioal about developig these with the people we are called to miister to. OUR SHARED MINISTRY PHILOSOPHY 10