ARE WE ON THE BRINK OF A NEW REFORMATION?MIKE BREEN2013/03/05If you could have a big tree with only a little fruit or a small tree with lots of fruit, which would you choose? It’s about a choice, right?

But we’ll get back to that in a second.

I’ve noticed there seem to be two things I can do with Jesus. Either I can increasingly look like Jesus, or I can make him look like me.

I can look like Jesus or I can try to make him look like me.

The funny thing about Jesus is that I’m never sure we give him quite enough credit. Sure. He came to earth, left the throne of heaven,

took on the nature of a servant and died on the cross in our place, rose from the dead and now sits at the right hand of the Father. Yes.

All that happened.

But we really don’t give his three years of ministry much reference.

Here’s what I mean: We think Jesus was the Son of God, but when we read the Gospels, do you think he was the smartest person who

ever lived? Most accomplished? Best fisherman? Best evangelist? Best church planter? Best movement leader? Best discipler? Most

successful leader?

For instance, in Luke 9 and again in Luke 10, Jesus gave the most detailed strategy you will ever find in the scriptures for how to

evangelize, and then we see the exact same strategy used in the early church. Shouldn’t we be using that same strategy? I’m guessing

we’re not arrogant enough to think we’ve come up with a better strategy than Jesus. (Example: for most churches, the evangelism

strategy is “invite your friends to church and then let the professionals take over. We’ll do the heavy lifting if you get them here.” Not

exactly Jesus’ strategy!)

We acknowledge what Jesus did on the cross, but what about what was started before the cross? What about the movement he

began that changed the course of human history when it was released and catalyzed after the Resurrection and Pentecost? If being a

disciple is “who Jesus would be if he were me” (Dallas Willard), shouldn’t we be learning the patterns and practices of the best whom

ever lived if we too want to change the world for the Kingdom?

Yet often when we look at the Western church, I’m not sure we see many of the practices of Jesus among the way we lead. Though…

that’s starting to change!

Back to the original question: Big tree/little fruit or little tree/lots of fruit?

It feels that at some point, we might have lost our way. Perhaps we became more concerned with success than fruitfulness. Jesus says

we evaluate things in the Kingdom on their fruitfulness…but somewhere along the way it became about the size of your tree. Now

having a big tree is a fine thing. Just know you’re only successful in evaluating yourself against the size of other trees, and God has

never been terribly concerned about tree size. Just fruitfulness. That’s it. The point of a tree isn’t how big your tree is but how much fruit

you have. It’s about fruit! And in the Kingdom, fruitfulness is always about reproduction. (Specifically, reproducing disciples…multiplying

Jesus’ life into the life of others who can then go and do the

same.) 

My experience tells me having a big tree doesn’t mean you have a lot of fruit. In fact, what I’ve seen happen a lot more often is people

going after the big tree and hoping to get fruit, rather than going after fruit and knowing you get the tree along the way.

Choose the best, and you always get the good. Choose the good, you very rarely get the best

Are we trying to start or lead churches, create Kingdom movements and aspire to all the breakthrough Jesus saw apart from

the way Jesus did those things? Am I trying to make Jesus like me or do I honestly believe he was the best in the Kingdom

business?

The Reformation was a significant moment because among other things, it put the Bible back in the hands of the people. But when we

look at the church of the last 100 years, I have to wonder if we have been more influenced by the Enlightenment than the Reformation.

This is the gut check question: If you had to choose between being known as a movement leader but not really having one, or

actually being a movement leader but no one knowing it…which would you choose?

Tree or fruit?

Here’s the good news: I believe we are on the cusp of a new Reformation, one that sees the kind of fruit we saw from Jesus’

ministry, because we, once again, embrace not simply what Jesus did on the cross but the way he led and made disciples. Yes. I think

we are on the tipping point of a new Reformation and it is about putting discipleship and mission back into the hands of ordinary people.

Because when we equip the people of Jesus with the patterns, practices and way of Jesus, it will once again be ordinary people

equipped to do extraordinary things.

The key is to embrace the mission of Jesus AND the way of Jesus. He’s just the best there ever was!

Hopefully you hear what I’m trying to convey clearly. I’m not suggesting we should go after a new Reformation. I’m suggesting it’s

already happening. And maybe we don’t see it on every street corner yet, but I see it happening all around. A small group of

communities, ready to be bloodied in going through the wall first, who are getting the beachhead of breakthrough for the rest of the

church.

It’s already happening!

At the end of the day, I don’t want a big tree. But I don’t want a small tree either. I want an orchard. I want a Kingdom movement

where reproduction of Jesus’ life within individuals and communities is happening on every level. I’ve seen this happen before. I know it

because I’ve seen it. And I think we are starting to see glimmers of this reality again. Lord, may it be so! May we see a Kingdom

movement wash upon these shores.

 

by Seth McBee

Many people see us speaking about making disciples here at the GCM Collective.  Not only that, but we push to what it might look like to make fully formed disciples of Jesus.  We go so far as to say that you cannot make fully formed disciples of Jesus without being led and empowered by the Spirit, gospel centered, in community and on mission.

When we say this, it can shock some.  But here is why we say this. When one looks at “fully formed disciples” you’ll have to look back to the Scriptures and start asking some questions, or at least see how God has always formed his people and for what reason.

The starting point

“When we live in community, we are pointers to who God is and what he is like.” @sdmcbee 

We see from the beginning that Adam and Eve were in community with God and that one of their main purposes was to be fruitful and multiply more image bearers on the earth to fill it with God’s glory (or more specific, image bearers of God).

Not only that but, God was the one who informed/formed Adam and Eve of their image (stating that they were very good before they did anything good or bad) and he was their Lord.

When the community of God/the people were not what God intended, he sent a flood to destroy mankind. You’ll notice what he told Noah and his family afterwards:

And God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth.

Genesis 9:1

God called Abram out of his land, to be a great nation and to create a large family to show off what God was like. God made Israel a nation, to show off what he was like (not because they were great or large in number as Deuteronomy 7 points out)

God then takes this same understanding into the New Testament as Jesus calls us his church, his flock, his body, his new family to show off who God is and what he is like.

Living like a family

This understanding of being in community, empowered by God for the sake of the mission of God is all throughout God’s story.  Those are just a few overarching examples.

Who is God and what is he like? One of the aspects of God is that he is triune in nature, meaning, he lives in community, One God in three persons.

When we live in community, we are pointers to who God is and what he is like.

 “We must get back to the way that discipleship was intended and for what purpose.” @sdmcbee 

Paul, when speaking of the body of Christ speaks about our different functions. Hand, foot, eye, ear.

To say that one can become a fully formed disciple of Jesus without being centered on the gospel, in community on mission would be like saying a man can fully function without one of his limbs.  Can he function well? Yes, we see this all the time.  But, the question is, “Would he function more fully if he had all his parts?” Of course he would.

Same could be asked with the family.  Can a family function without a father or a mother? Yes.  Would it be a far healthier family if they had all the parts of their family living for the glory of God? Yes.

We need to stop eating soup with a fork and realize it’s far more efficient to eat soup with a spoon.

What discipleship looks like with community

Same goes for discipleship.

Most have functioned in the past without community and have matured…but they will be far more formed fully in a gospel community on mission because this is how God has designed us to show off him to one another and to the world.

If we are in community on mission, as Jesus was, then we will see the different places in our lives, and the lives of others, where the gospel hasn’t come to bear on our/their lives.  We find out where Jesus isn’t the King of our/their life and can bring to bear the good news so that we/they can be filled with joy!

On the mission field, together in community is where we find out if we are generous, kind, patient, forebearing, joyous, loving, faithful, etc.

This is the point of discipleship: by the power of the Spirit, through the gospel, to bring every area of our lives, and the lives of others, under the Lordship of Jesus for the glory of God and for the fullness of our joy.

Faking it in safe environments

This is exactly what Jesus did.  We figure that Jesus disicpled his disciples about 80-85% of the time ON THE MISSION FIELD in the midst of the broken, not behind four walls in a safe environment.  (check out this training on the way Jesus discipled: Discipleship Passages)

We think Peter was a moron because of all the stupid things he said, but it was his reactions to real life on the actual mission field.  When you are in the midst of the broken you will react poorly and in the flesh and that brings to bear where you need the good news.

“We must get back to making fully formed disciples of Jesus, by the Spirit, through the gospel, in community, on mission.” @sdmcbee

As the church, we have flipped this on it’s head and spend 80-85% in a classroom or training, and then 15-20% on the mission field.  I think I’m being pretty generous in those numbers, based on my experience. In that safe environment we can fake it.  We can be timely in our answers.  We can mask our inefficiencies in the gospel.

Getting back to it

We must get back to the way that discipleship was intended and for what purpose.

We must get back to making fully formed disciples of Jesus, by the Spirit, through the gospel, in community, on mission for the sake of the glory of God and the fullness of our joy.

For a full explanation on how to create an environment for discipleship, take a look at our training found here: Creating the Environment for Discipleship

4 SKILLS TO MAKE AND MULTIPLY DISCIPLES

Guest post by George Patterson

Skill 1: Evangelize like the apostles did

Work in homes of persons of peace: yield control; avoid extraction. Tell the historical gospel events (Jesus’ Great Commission in Luke 24:46-48). Pray for healing in the name of Jesus (Jesus’ Great Commission in Mark 16). Deal with entire families and work within kinship circles or specific pockets of people. (Acts 10:24; 16:31)

Skill 2: Make disciples by teaching them to obey Jesus’ commands

Begin with Jesus’ Basic Commands that the first New Testament church obeyed in Acts 2:37-47:

1. Repent, believe and receive the Holy Spirit; avoid decision-making rituals, Mark 1:15; John 20:22; Acts 2:38.

2. Be baptized and live the new, holy life that it initiates; avoid non-biblical requirements, Acts 2:38, 41; Rom. 6.

3. Break bread (Communion) and let new believers experience Christ; preserve the mystery, Luke 22:19-20.

4. Love God, neighbor, disciples, needy neighbor, enemy, Luke 10:25-37

5. Pray and embrace the supernatural work of God, John 16:24; 15:4-5; 14:12-14; Matt. 10:7-8.

6. Give and practice stewardship in all forms, which may include tent-making, Luke 6:38; Acts 18.

7. Make disciples teach and obey God’s word, Matt. 28:18-20; Matt. 4:19; John 21:15-17.

What is the foundation for a church and our lives? (Matt. 7:24-29; 28:18-20). Discern levels of authority for church activities:  1) New Testament commands, 2) New Testament practices, 3) Traditions

Skill 3: Practice a worship style that fits a Missional Community

Practice the many One Another commands, within and between Missional Communities. Celebrate the Lord’s Supper; let anyone who meets biblical requirements lead it.

Skill 4: Mentor new leaders like Jesus and Paul did, to multiply

How many links are in 2 Tim. 2:2? What resulted from this chain? How is our power to reproduce like that of grain? Mentor an apprentice until their Missional Community is doing what God requires of it:

1. Pray intercede, personal & family devotions, spiritual warfare

2. Evangelize, witness, baptize

3. Make disciples and aim to obey Jesus above all else

4. Give and practice stewardship

5. Counsel and deal privately with personal or family issues

6. Teach and apply the Word, equip to serve

7. Show mercy and serve the hurting and needy

8. Cultivate love and fellowship in the body

9. Organize and serve each other with our different spiritual gifts

10. Strengthen family life and marriage by learning to forgive, reconcile, love

11. Organize and serve one another with spiritual gifts

12. Correct and restore, watch for wolves, weak lambs

13. Worship and serve Holy Communion, let all to participate actively

14. Multiply churches/cells and spread Jesus’ reign nearby & abroad

15. Train leaders, pastors, missionaries, elders, and evangelists

CAN GROUPS BE MISSIONAL & MAKE DISCIPLES? Neil Cole

 

Hanging Great Weight on Thin Wires

Pastor Brian Jones tells of the response he got from one “nationally recognized” pastor when Brian told him that he hadn’t figured out the whole small group thing yet. Brian said the pastor’s response was something like this:

“Well, Brian, that’s because they don’t work. Small groups are things that trick us into believing we’re serious about making disciples. The problem is 90 percent of small groups never produce one single disciple. Ever. They help Christians make shallow friendships, for sure. They’re great at helping Christians feel a tenuous connection to their local church, and they do a bang-up job of teaching Christians how to act like other Christians in the Evangelical Christian subculture. But when it comes to creating the kind of holistic disciples Jesus envisioned, the jury’s decision came back a long time ago – small groups just aren’t working.” �[1]

It is true that we have been trying to make disciples in small groups for a few decades now and are no closer to seeing the world transformed by missional agents than before we started this experiment.

Groups don’t make disciples; disciples make disciples. It is my contention that for far too long we have placed the burden of sanctification on group meetings that were never meant to transform a soul, but to give transformed souls a place to join and interact in a healthy manner.

Your church is only as good as her disciples. A hot band, dynamic preaching, state-of-the-art facilities and wonderful programs do not make a great church if the disciples are simply consumers and unengaged in the grand work of making disciples. But if the disciples in your church are empowered and engaged in mission, than your church is strong and healthy, even if you do not have laser lights or fog machines.

We have done things backwards for too long. We must reverse the order. We think that the solution to having good disciples is to make better churches, when in fact the way to have good churches is to make better disciples.

Correctly applying the activity and behaviors of discipleship in the correct grouping can make significant impact on the overall life of the church as well as her impact on society as a whole. The absence of key groupings robs the church of a needed interaction and participation in significant spiritual behaviors.

The Base Unit of Life: 2 to 3 People (LTG’s)

Both the Old and New Testaments use the phrase “two or three” repeatedly. At least ten times “two or three” is suggested as an ideal size at which to conduct ministry. The Bible does not say “two or more” � or “three or less,” � but regularly “two or three.” The following are all strongest in groups of 2-3:

o Community (Ecclesiastes 4:9-12)o Accountability (1 Timothy 5:19)o Confidentiality (Matthew 18:15-17)o Flexibility (Matthew 18:20)o Communication (1 Corinthians 14:26-33)o Direction (2 Corinthians 13:1)o Leadership (1 Corinthians 14:29)o Mission (Luke 10:1; Acts 13:2-4)

God has designed all of creation to reproduce at the level of two. If you cannot reproduce disciples at this level you are not likely to reproduce them at all. This grouping is the beginning of all life.[2]

The Family Unit: 12 to 15 People (Great for Mission and Community)

Small groups of 12-15 are a much better size for caring for one another’s needs and feeling a part of an intimate family. It is small enough that all parts can intimately know one another, yet large enough to have significant diversity and shared responsibility for one another. It is a natural sized grouping to opperate as a spiritual family on mission together.

In the church, we often run into problems because we expect too much from this sized grouping. The Western church is littered with dysfuntional and disgruntled groups of this size. Viewing a group of 12-15 as the only one necessary and capable of doing all God desires of a church is like trying to be able to have the performance of a sports car yet carry the passenger load of a minivan combined with the toughness and luggage capacity of an SUV.

You really cannot find such a car, or group of twelve. If we have strong life growth and accountability in the group of 2-3 then a group of 12-15 can relax and be the family it is meant to be. But when the only group we have for everything is this group of 12 we are expecting way too much.

A small group of 12-15 alone will not be able to accomplish the work of missional disciplemaking. But if disciple-making groups of 2-3 are already at work transforming souls out in the fields of life, then gathering those disciples into spiritual families will be far more productive.

We need to put less weighted expectations on small groups and reorient the responsibility of disciple-making to the right context: a disciple in relation to another disciple. Small groups do not make disciples; disciples do. If your disciples are missional then your spiritual families will be missional, but, as we have all discovered, this will not work the other way around.

My book Church 3.0 has an important chapter on the variety of group sizes using the Scriptures, sociological theories of group dynamics and even some historical examples to determine what are the best sizes for the variety of demands and needs in Christ’s kingdom.

W a n t T o T a k e A N e x t S t e p ?Want to take a next step in your disciple-making? Check out this great resource by Neil Cole: Cultivating A Life For God: Multiplying Disciples Through Life Transformation Groups

Cultivating a Life for God calls upon us to rethink our busy, fast-paced lives. If there is a stirring in your soul for “something more” in your spiritual journey, take a risk on what God might do in and through your life. Discover the compassion that comes from heaven and can be experienced in a Life Transformation Group (LTG). You may never be the same again!

“The Life Transformation Group system is a grass roots tool for growth. Through this simple system the most essential elements of vital spiritual ministry are released to common Christians without the need for specialized training. It taps the disciple’s internal motivation and provides the support needed to grow in the essentials of a spiritual life. The LTG empowers the common Christian to do the uncommon work of reproductive discipling.” (page 63)

“In my years of ministry, I have not found any method that produces such powerful results in fulfilling the Great Commission. I personally plan on using this system for the rest of my life to make as many disciples of the kingdom as I can before Christ calls me home!” – Neil Cole

The Practices of Missional Community: LIFE TRANSFORMATION GROUPS (LTG)

We’re continuing our brief look at Missional Community as we envision it here at The Austin Stone. We began answering the question, “What do Missional Communities do?” We noted that our practices need to serve three areas of growth:

1. Our outward life2. Our inward life3. Our communal life

As we follow Jesus, we need to grow in all three areas, and these practices are tools to that end.

The first practice is called Third Place and it serves the outward life of Christlikeness, pursuing those who are far from God. Our second practice serves our inward life and is called Life Transformation Group.

Going Deep

“Where do we go deep?”

This is a common question when we start describing the MC practices. Most American Christians are used to weeknight Bible studies being the place where we try to dive deeply into the Bible together. There are a few serious limitations to this practice:

o It’s easy to let this be our only time of Bible study and even allow others to do our Bible-thinking for us. We become overly dependent rather than becoming self-feeders in God’s Word.

o In large groups, studying the Bible often feels like you’ve obeyed it. Knowledge is not necessarily obedience, however, and we need specific accountability to help our hands obey what our head and hearts know.

o The group is too large for intimate confession and correction.o There isn’t enough time to cover everything each person needs to hear and say.

The Bible, our personal holiness, and our mission are critically important and deserve much more attention. LTGs are where we go deep, raising the bar of personally following Jesus.

What is an LTG?

LTGs are simple. There are only three parts to remember:

1. Hear & Obey – Everyone shares what they have heard from God in the 15-30 chapters of Scripture we agreed to read together over the past week and how they obeyed.  We suggest using the REAP reading plan.

2. Repent & Believe – We each repent of our sin, sharing how you have sinned against God this past week. Don’t forget to spend time speaking out loud, to yourself and to one another, the good news of Jesus’ work for us; this enables us to believe.

3. Pray for Unbelievers – Talk about how you’ve been praying for your unbelieving friends and mention them by name. Explain your plan to weave them into your community.

Thinking Practically

LTGs are simple, but they’re also hard. They take discipline. LTGs are for people who love Jesus and seriously want to move forward in repentance, faith, and joyful obedience.

Keep the group size small for intimacy and time – two or three people of the same gender. Once it grows past three, you multiply. You should be able to finish your meeting within an hour or so. LTGs need to meet separately from your MC’s family meeting. As LTGs are taking off in many Missional Communities, we’ve found that our love for the gospel grows, and our obedience to Jesus in mission grows as well.