Planting Churches/Living Lives of Intentionality

Over the past months, including the last few months in the US and the first 6 weeks here we have been undergoing a change in paradigm that is a growing trend among missionaries of many denominations. We are working on a biblical model known as CPM (cpmtr.org) that in the end we pray we will see the establishment of not one church but many churches in our region and possibly even hundreds of churches in Rwanda. The first thing we have to deal with among our team is culture. We have all struggled to rid ourselves of the culture of building church and training leaders. We realize that Jesus sent out his followers into the region before they were "well trained". He did not give them money and he did not send them to school before allowing them to speak in his name. He sent them out a little at time. He rejoiced in their success and taught them when they failed.

Our paradigm shift is first to stop using the word church planters and start using disciple makers. The term church planting has so many images associated with it that it is more of a burden than a job. In America and in Rwanda the word church has two meanings. One for those on the inside and one for those on the outside. Unfortunately those on the outside see church as restrictive and suffocating or even false. They don't see church and God as being the same and they cannot understand why they are different. Our goal here is not to bring those around us into contact with "church people" and conform them but to take those around us into a relationship with God in a peaceful and comfortable surrounding in which they already live and transform them. Conforming is teaching church culture. Transforming is disciple making. One statement we hear around here often is churches don't replicate, disciples replicate. So you have to ask yourself, "Am I a church goer or a disciple"? Here in Rwanda they are not the same.

I say all of this as a preface to a prayer request and a challenge. Here in Rwanda we commit ourselves to living intentional lives. By this I mean that every person we meet is a potential disciple and may be that one person who is willing to start a discovery bible study (DBS) in his neighborhood. We try to go into every conversation and relationship with the intent of finding out how peaceful a person is and whether they are spiritually oriented. There are plenty of spiritual people who don't know God and who don't go to church. This takes much prayer. So my first challenge to each of you is to be intentional about your prayers for those around you such as your neighbors and your co-workers.

My prayer request is that you pray for Kristin and I this week because we have been inviting our neighbors to come to our home on Saturday for a sort of block party. It is our purposeful intent to have them in our home and find out which of them (singular or plural) are people of peace who could host a bible study in their home. We cannot have it in our home because again we are white and they will come if simply for the opportunity to come to a Mzungu home and to have the social clout that comes with that. We ask that you pray for us as we go around and invite them because they all speak different amounts of English and this will tax our rudimentary knowledge of Kinyarwanda. Pray for the person of peace that I know God has already prepared and pray that we will be able to guide this person in the leadership role of DBS leader. It is the hope that all DBS leaders become disciple makers and eventually begin teaching new DBS leaders in their circle of influence.

It is my challenge to each of you to ask yourselves, "Am I just a church goer or am I a disciple maker"? Christ did not call us to be church goers but rather disciple makers. I challenge each of you to be intentional in the next couple weeks and plan a way for you and your family to have contact with your neighbors, co-workers, lodge pals or what ever group you can bring together in your home. I challenge you to be praying for ways to identify those in your neighborhood who are peaceful people and who may be able to host a bible study. To be intentional you must pray about and think about everything you say to them. From the way you say hi to the way you respond to their questions. Example. If they say, "How are you"? The proper answer is not "fine" or even "great". Every thought and response must be intentional. Like, "God has given me peace today", or "God is good to me today". You can practice and think about these "God" statements that I promise will get the attention of a person of peace. I also challenge you to pray for persons of peace in your daily circle. Watch out, it may not be your buddy who is nice to you at work. It may be the the guy at the gas station you see every week or the person who mows your lawn. Be ready and intentional.

Jesus was intentional. He did not have to stop in Samaria on his way back to Galilee. He chose to. He had a divine appointment. I can guarantee that if you pray for God to bring people of peace into your lives he will make divine appointments for you also and you will become the disciple maker God intended you to be.

So, pray for me as I pray for you to be intentional. Again I challenge each of you to go into your neighborhoods this week and seek out the persons of peace. Be intentional. You may not start a bible study right off but keep going.

I am going to dedicate my next few blogs to the process of making disciples. The goal Kristin and I have are to make disciples dependent on God and each other and not on us. To plant disciples in each community rather than one church in a city of a million.

I recommend that anyone who is willing and has the desire to be a disciple maker read the book, "Movements That Change the World" by Steve Addison. It will excite you about the possibility of how the Holy Spirit can work in the lives of single individuals to bring the lost home.