CPM day three

Today's update is intensely personal. After a later start, and a training session, we headed out after lunch. Excited and more confident, we followed up two positive visits from yesterday. The first lady wasn't in, and the second lady, though she happily chatted with us for a while, when it came to it wasn't really interested in the God stuff. Deflated, we went back to the car and prayed. Anything was better than facing more rejection and failure knocking on doors.

What helped in this case was accountability - we'd be reporting back to the rest of the group! So with no expectations we trudged to the next door. It was opened by a guy in a wheelchair, carrying the physical scars of a life ruined by excessive drug-taking, further crushed by the onset of MS. He had explored a number of religions, and was happy when we offered to give a simple explanation of the basics of the Christian faith. He read the Bible verses, and responded to our questions in such a way as assured us he had understood.

So, "are you a sinner?" "Oh yes!"

"Do you want forgiveness for your sins?" "Of course I do."

"Do you believe Jesus died for your sins and rose again?" "I know He did."

(Can it be this easy?)

"Are you willing to surrender your life to Christ?" "I certainly am."

Wow, last question - "are you ready to invite Jesus into your heart and into your life?" "Yes, I am."

"No, this isn't a decision to make quickly, this is the biggest decision anyone can make - are you sure?...okay, well read this prayer quietly, and think if it expresses what you really want to say to God." He read quietly, then read it out loud. We suggested that having read it to himself, he could say it again as a prayer to God. He protested that he'd already done that - so with great joy we rejoiced with the angels in heaven in celebrating the salvation of a sinner.

We prayed for him, handed him a Bible, and agreed to return in two days time.

In two and a half years as National Director in New Zealand, I have not been involved in seeing a single person come to faith in Jesus. After two days of knocking on doors, I have - and I was not alone among our reduced team of 6 today. In just a few hours we have shared Jesus with a number of people, prayed with many more, lead two people to faith in Jesus, and have over 10 people to follow up on. I feel deeply thrilled, and humbled, and will go door knocking tomorrow with a little less trepidation and a lot more genuine expectation.

CPM day two

To continue my running analogy, we haven't quite had a birth yet, but I can see the baby's head!
Let me start by setting the scene. One of the things that attracted me to Jesus as a young adult making life-impacting decisions was the promise that following Jesus would be an adventure. I fail to see that in the lives of most Christians and churches I encounter, but that is their loss...and this door knocking lark has helped me recapture some of that sense of adventure. Each drive, gate, door holds unknown terrors, joys, surprises, as we encounter another lump of raw humanity.
I probably need to confess that I'm not a natural door-knocking type -I wasn't as an 18 year old in East Hull, and I'm certainly not as a 50 year old in West Auckland. I'm clumsy in light conversation, and to be honest, pretty socially inept. I'd not unduly worry about preaching to a crowd, but chatting without script to random, unpredictable people - no thanks! So let's be straight - I can't do this. Which gives me every confidence, because it means I can do it, as it becomes a "God or drown" situation. So far, God has kept me from drowning.
And so to Tuesday, the weatherman was wrong, it didn't rain as predicted, so we went out and about. First the nicer streets, then we targeted a street with a fair degree of notoriety. Overall, absolutely awesome. Please don't waste your time sending me a list of reasons why knocking on doors is old fashioned, out of date, inappropriate and all that - I could return to you a longer list! I could tell story after story of real flesh and blood people we met today, with whom we shared our stories, and shared the Gospel, the Good News of Jesus. I could tell of those we prayed for, for healing but most often, for the blessing of the peace of Jesus. I could tell you of those who heard for the first time ever of a God who loves them, died for them and longs to share in their live, as Lord and Saviour. And my response would be to say that we have no right to deny these people the opportunity to hear, experience and respond to the love of Jesus. If there is a better way, show me. But until then, we'll keep on door-knocking.
Tomorrow I'll tell you of the people we met, and the response of our brave young door-knockers to their maiden act of midwifery.

CPM day one

So today we awoke expecting to knock on numerous doors, welcome our first converts, disciple and train them, and see in all of this the first shoots of a Church Planting Movement. But, it rained.
I feel the way I imagine a heavily pregnant first time mother feels - a strange mix of incredible excitement and paralysing terror. There is a sense that we are in at beginning of an adventure the like of which none of us have experienced before. But due to the weather, delivery day has been delayed by 24 hours!
We have of course been busy - solid training from 9.15am to after 5pm. How to connect with people, share our own stories (in 3 minutes), explain the Gospel, and invite someone into a new relationship with Jesus - including practising our newly learnt skills. We had modelled to us the kind of gatherings the new churches will hold, and went through some of the initial training.
I was excited to see some of the participants already working out how what they were hearing and experiencing may work in their home contexts. They have grasped that we are not just planting churches, but launching a church planting movement. If the flipping rain stops.

CPM?

Tim Scheuer will be arriving in Auckland in just a few hours.

Martin Morgan, National Director of Church Army in Australia, writes
“How will we reverse the trend of Churches decreasing, declining and dying in this nation? How will we see real impact by reaching people who are currently not part of any Christian community, group or congregation?

My friend and fellow worker with Church Army Australia, Tim Scheuer, heads up our Church Planting Movements arm. He has eagerly been telling us about the T4T approach in reaching new people outside existing churches with the Gospel of Jesus, to allow them to trust in him. This is really a very simple focus on training other trainers to train others in simple multiplication of new groups of believers.

T4T has come from the experience of the Chinese American missionary, Ying Kai, working in China in the eary 2000′s. He saw the simple and rapid multiplication of groups of new believers through the simple methods

It all seems quite simple- and in one sense that is what makes me less cynical than I am of other methods that are spruiked as “The Solution”. This just focusses on clear next actions with a focus on presenting the Gospel and encouraging an expectation of multiplication from day 1 in the life of a new group of believers. It has a healthy expectation that the Gospel message works! It is the sort of missional practice that we see in the initial growth of the Gospel. I think it is exactly what Australia needs.

I’m very eager to see the principles of direct Evangelism and multiplication take off in Australia. I’m sure we will see more Evangelists trained and more new believers come to follow Jesus. We have started to see that happen- and I am praying for more.”

I would echo those sentiments for New Zealand. Having read through most of a book about the T4T approach, I am incredibly excited about Tim’s visit, and would encourage any of you who can, to come and catch something of what Tim offers. We will be based in Kodesh, and will start each day at 9am – even if you can only be with us for a day, it will still be worthwhile. I will attempt to update my blog each day for the next two weeks keeping you up to date with the events of the day!

Doh!

We visited a local church on Christmas day, for the first time. We actually enjoyed it - it felt quirky and therefore similar to the church we ministered in and loved in Liverpool - Trinity Church, Page Moss. Half way through the service an elderly lady appeared, dressed from head to toe in pink, complete with angel wings and halo - not, as we assumed, to take part in the service, but just because it was fun to dress that way. The service proceeded normally, but you had the feeling that chaos or comedy was never far away. Our kind of church.

Then the service ended, we shook hands with the Vicar, and came home. Which disappointed me, because the members of that church should have been all over us like a rash. A family, two middle aged parents, a son of 24 and a daughter of 18 - families like us are gold dust in church these days. Maybe they assumed we were just visitors to the area, or once-a-year churchgoers - but the point is, nobody even asked. They don't have any contact details for us, so there will be no follow up. Honestly - pathetic and tragic.

Compare this to Mike's recent trip to the dentist for a check up. They found nothing that needed any work doing - but all the same, a day after his visit a postcard arrived welcoming him to the practice.

If we can't even get the very basic concepts of welcome and care for people when they visit our churches, then there is little hope. So we're going to go back to that failing church, and see if we can change things round!

Thoughts and Prayers

I write this blog as Christchurch struggles to cope with yet more powerful aftershocks. The social media sites have been filled with messages of support, a simple, immediate and effective way of conveying our deep and sincere sympathy for the folk of that battered city.

I was provoked to write again after a long silence by one such twitter - which ended "my thoughts are with you all again today". While understanding the sentiment, I was struck by what an impotent expression of support this is. Thoughts alone offer no hope, no solution, and little comfort.

My experience so far has been that my Christian faith is at its best and most useful in times of crisis and emergency. To be able to send the promise of prayers is so much more powerful a statement - that into this mess we can intentionally invite the Lord God Almighty, Creator of the Universe, Lord of Lord and King of Kings - offers supreme hope, consolation and a little optimism.

So with joy I send my prayers to the distraught and drained folk of Christchurch; to a friend's friend whose son who has Spinal Muscular Atrophy; indeed to anyone, anywhere, at any time. Prayers do not arouse God to action, or bring him into a situation - as Bishop Kelvin wrote "God is not, cannot be absent." But they serve to remind us that he is available, and able, if we can but see.

Very Important Things

I did one very important thing today.
I spoke with a Bishop, but it wasn't that.
I booked into a significant and strategic conference, but it wasn't that either.
I helped make a major step in deciding Church Army's future internationally, but it wasn't that either.

It was this...I went for a jog, and came across a (non-Christian)friend of a (non-Christian) friend. I stopped to chat, interrupting my exercise, and he introduced me to two more (non-Christian) friends. And so the Kingdom spreads, "The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed into a large amount of flour until it worked all through the dough."

Jesus while on earth seems to have spent most of his time simply being with people, and I intend to do more of just that.