CPM weekend special!

No proper blog today, but a couple of awesome things I need to tell you!

Firstly, in the T4T (Training 4 Trainers) book, it poses the question, "can CPMs emerge in a churched or post-churched culture such as North America, Australia, New Zealand, Europe or Latin America?" The answer of course is "yes", but the point is that little old New Zealand gets a mention!

Secondly, a text I received from one of the team this morning, "I am buzzing. Had the courage to approach a Chinese guy who has been coming to church for a while, and led him to commitment in a church pew. Wow!"

Can't express how excited I am about the week ahead!

CPM day 5

I'll start with a quote from one of our Gap students. "Day 5 of door to door evangelising - so good. It's crazy the number of people who don't know the basics of the Gospel - who have had misconceptions or believed lies their whole lives. What an incredible experience it is to be able to bring light & truth into those situations! Saw one person almost come to faith today, will catch up with her again on monday. God is so good!" Ever heard an 18 year old write that about door-knocking before? I certainly haven't.

As promised an update on the guy who became a Christian on Tuesday. He told us a little more about his background - only two convictions, for firearms and drugs! We talked about he could tell others his story, including his messed up past, but then how he met Jesus, and how his life has already changed significantly since then. He was so excited to think that in telling his story he could help others. We took him through the Gospel presentation again, so hopefully he can share that with others. Then we did a simple Bible study based on Zacchaeus' encounter with Jesus, in the process teaching him how to study the Bible for himself - remember we are not just looking for new followers of Jesus, or to start new groups, but we are seeking to start a new church planting movement - which requires new believers to share faith, lead groups and train others! Our new believer said he had been reading the Bible, and promised to pray for us until we meet again next Friday! One key thing he said, "I listen to you two because you listen to me." Relational door-knocking is possible.

Two other pairs had amazing days. One led a Maori lady to faith in Jesus, while the other had a great time with as young lady of Russian descent, who was incredibly close to receiving Jesus as her Lord and Saviour, but decided she needed to know us better! So she is coming to spend Monday in our community - our StreetHope strapline is "Come and see" and she will do just that.

So after one week, three new followers of Jesus, numerous interested people to follow up, many more positive conversations, and an exhilarated but exhausted team of door-knockers.

CPM day four

No converts today - so it was a waste of time, right? No!
One of the great things about the T4T process is that when we knock on doors, rather than expecting to bring everyone we meet to faith, what we are doing is looking for the people in whose lives God has already been working. We don't have to persuade them or win an argument - they are ready - like the Ethiopian Official in Acts 8. They often need to have the Gospel simply explained to them, and gently told how to respond to Jesus - but like my friend of yesterday, there is a clear sense that God has already been working significantly in their hearts. Do you see how that takes the pressure off us as we knock on doors?

One of the hardest people groups we have encountered are those who have experienced nominal Christianity. They have seen people going though the religious motions, but know nothing of the transforming love and power of Christ. "I tried that already and it did nothing for me." In effect they have been inoculated against the Gospel. I can't help but wonder if our emphasis on 'Friendship Evangelism' is doing the same. We make friends, but avoid sharing the Gospel in order to allow the friendship to develop naturally. They know we are Christians, but the last thing we want to do is to push Jesus on them. So we wait. And as we wait, they know we are followers of Jesus, they may even see us pray before a meal, or spot a Bible lying around - but we deny them the opportunity to experience the transforming love and power of Jesus, for now, and perhaps in doing so harden their very hearts we are hoping to soften. What do you think?

Thanks to all of you who have emailed words of encouragement - every one has been shared with the team. Nothing I have ever done with Church Army, here in New Zealand or back in UK, has provoked so much response. God is on the move, and people sense it. Many evangelists and Christians are longing to find out how we can share faith effectively, and disciple new believers, and see a movement spread, and maybe, just maybe, this is a significant part of the "how" for New Zealand.

I am excited as today we catch up with the guy who made a commitment to Jesus on Wednesday - I'll let you know how it goes. Any suggestions as to how we baptise a guy in a wheelchair?

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!