a report on cpm training

Last week, I spent three nights and parts of four days in Mwakiwasha village, teaching a seminar on CPM.  [To read more on what I taught and the nature of that seminar, see cpm training: a turning point in my ministry.]  This is an initial report on how I believe that seminar went — both the good and the bad.

There were 15-20 people in attendance at each of the sessions, representing three churches.  The group was about half men and half women, with the Mwakiwasha church (the host church) represented far better than the others — as was expected.  We spent roughly 20 hours in class and also ate most of our meals together, sometimes discussing further what we’d studied that day.

cpm training: a turning point in my ministry

Tomorrow I’m going to Mwakiwasha village to teach the Discovery Bible Study process and Church Planting Movements.  I’m posting today, partly to (as per usual) let you guys know what we’re up to in Geita, but mostly to ask you to pray over the seminar.

[If you don't care to read about my plans for evangelism in the villages surrounding Geita, I understand -- this is a long post.  But please skip to the end and pray over the requests I've listed.  I very much would appreciate that.]

There will be representatives present from four or five churches in the area, totaling 12-20 people.  We will begin the seminar with worship on Sunday evening and then three days of classes, likely four classes per day with a time of worship each evening.

The first things I’ll teach (and briefly) are:

• Why group Bible study is important (vs. a lone teacher)
• Why obedience-based Bible study is important (vs. knowledge-based)
• How to do an oral inductive Bible study (a sort of 3-column Bible study)

The reason I’m wanting to teach the above subjects quickly is that once we’ve worked through the above material, the remainder of the seminar’s studies will be done in small groups using the inductive Bible study method.  I will very much limit my actual teaching beyond initially touching on these three subjects.

the controversy over church buildings

“But what we really need is money to build the church.  We want to be the best Christians we can be, and how can we do that without studying the Bible regularly?  And what if it rains while we’re studying?  You were here once when it rained — what did we do?”

“We all ran into the house,” I conceded, “and ate mangos while waiting for the rain to stop.  About an hour later we continued our Bible study”.

easter in kasilo village

the road to kasilo village

Our family spent Easter in Kasilo village, visiting a new church there.  Our teammate Calvin has been mentoring Yohana, one of the church leaders at Kasilo, and was asked to be present on Easter for several baptisms.  The Groens are on their way home for furlough, so I offered to stand in for Calvin.  This was Christie’s and my first trip to Kasilo, and we had a great time.

Yohana is a jack-of-all-trades sort, in that he is a nurse assistant by trade — and the most qualified in his village to do just about anything related to medicine.  Within minutes of arriving at Kasilo, I was called over to watch a guy have a wisdom tooth pulled.

yohana the dentist, doctor, and minister -- though he looks like about anyone from an MTV Rock 'n Jock softball game in the 90's

I wasn’t the only person watching Yohana’s work.  A crowd gathered as he prepared to pull this man’s tooth just around the back of his house.

just the usual tools of the trade

After the extraction, the patient told me that he felt absolutely no pain at any point during the process. 

the extraction of a lone wisdom tooth

 That means he felt less than I did.  It was painful to watch.  But an incredibly interesting way to begin a village visit.  Something I’ve never seen before.

the happy patient, tooth in hand

Then we ate chai — which is basically breakfast — at 9:30 am.  It was rice and beans; some of you know this is my least favorite food in the world.  They told us we were eating the stuff because it was Calvin’s favorite.  Thanks, buddy.

beans and rice for breakfast... mmmm.

Then we went to worship (the first time).  Because there were several baptisms planned for today, I preached on the relationship between water, Easter, and baptism.  (Basically that) water in the Bible usually involves some combination of the following: death, cleansing and/or new beginnings.  And that on Easter we celebrate the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.  

Baptism, then, relates to both of these.  The water represents death, cleansing, and new beginning.  And the act itself embodies our death to sin, burial with Christ, and resurrection to a new life.  Baptism is a play of sorts, in which the participant reenacts the story of Jesus, as he claims it as his own story.

oh brothers, lets go down, down to the river to pray (NOT a river)

So we headed down to the large puddle / small pond in which we’d be baptizing.

a baptism performed by yohana the doctor, dentist, and baptizer

Yohana performed all ten of the baptisms while the rest of us celebrated in song.  I had gone with the goal of not doing more than one or two of the baptisms myself, so the Tanzanian leadership wouldn’t rely too heavily on us as missionaries.  I was happy to not be needed at all. 

a prayer after the baptisms -- isn't it strange that we call the act of praying prayer... and not the person who does it?

Then back to the church “building” for more worship.

worship at kasilo church

Everyone was excited to participate.  All the kids sat up front.

...and more worship

Afterwards, we ate again.  Rice and beans.

baylor learned to share with the other kids. and the girl's a huge fan of rice and beans.

My favorite part of every village visit is the time I get to spend with the men as we sit around talking before and after meals.  Today we discussed agriculture (no-till farming) and group Bible studies, among other things; we also set a date for me to return and do some more teaching.

my favorite time in the village -- sitting and talking with the men before and after meals

Then we shared together in the first communion taken by the recent baptizees.  [Is that a word?]

communion, eucharist, lord's supper, whatever you prefer to call it

Our trip to Kasilo village was a good one.  In total it was a 10-hour trip (6 in the village and 4 driving), but we were still able to be back in Geita in time to eat pizza with Carson and Holly while reading the resurrection story (in English).  The Harrison family had a very blessed Easter (see Easter photos of Baylor here).  I hope you did, too.

And please say a quick prayer for the Kasilo village church; it would be much appreciated.

hollow philosophy and human tradition

I meet with Edward every week.  He facilitates a small group Bible study here in Geita.  He uses the Discovery Bible Study method, which basically seeks to instill in a group of non-Christians the core values of church from the very outset of their gatherings.  In our meeting last week, Edward and I discussed why it’s important for us to read our scripture text so many times in one meeting.  Each week we read through a passage four times and then put our Bibles away as we summarize the text as a group, piecing it back together bit by bit, using our own words.  All of this comes before there is any discussion concerning what we learn from the text, or how we can apply it to our lives.

I reminded Edward that we had agreed to make the Bible primary and authoritative in our studies each week.  I then told him how, in America, preachers will often spend a couple of minutes reading a few verses, followed by a full half-hour of their ideas on those verses.  Edward offered that many Tanzanian preachers will read only one verse, and yet expound on it for over an hour.  I’m not suggesting there is never a time for a preacher to give his thoughts on a passage, or to make it applicable to a congregation, or even to tell stories in order to bring it to life.  But I really appreciate the way Edward’s group reads and understands a passage together before discussing its importance or applications.  And even then, this discussion is also done together.

When a group interprets scripture together, I would argue they are much less prone to heresy and false doctrine.  I would argue they are more likely to grow in faith, to strengthen one another in Christ, and to hold one another accountable to God’s word.  In essence they are in a better position to be the body of Christ in their community.

Hollow theology is not the fixed result of reliance on a single teacher.  But when that teacher does not properly revere scripture, and the church as a whole fails to hold him accountable to doing so, the gospel of Christ and his kingdom is forced to bow to human intellect, popular reason, and entertainment.  I’m reminded of this passage from Colossians:

So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.

See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world, rather than on Christ.

I’m afraid many of our churches (and much of Christian culture as a whole) are already prisoner to hollow philosophies, human traditions, and worldly principles.  I’m not saying the answer is to stop letting one guy preach every Sunday.  The answer, Paul says, is to depend on Christ for our very lives.  I guess what I’m getting at is this:  as members of Christ’s body, whether we have a preacher or not, it’s our responsibility to keep scripture core to our understanding of Christ and our lives in him.  Scripture was intended to be interpreted in the context of community, and doing so safeguards us against human reason and worldly theology.

What are your thoughts?  How does a congregation interpret scripture together?  What would it look like in our larger congregations?  How do we interact with someone we’ve hired as a preacher or teacher?  Or have I missed the point — and group interpretation and accountability to scripture isn’t as important as I’ve made it?

it’s a question of church maturity

Let me run something by you.  I haven’t given this a great deal of thought.  Hardly any, actually.  But I’m going to throw it out there anyway — as rough, unfinished, and possibly wrong as it may be.

Background:

There’s a lot of discussion these days about spiritual maturity in our churches.  Some large congregations are being referred to as far-reaching, yet shallow.  Small churches are sometimes said to be unconcerned with the lost and how to reach them, demonstrating their own immaturity.  And it seems there have been a billion criteria suggested by which we should gauge a church’s maturity.  [I wrote the other day about biblically measuring kingdom growth, but I see that as different from the maturity of a single congregation.] How’s this for a thought?

Can we effectively gauge a church’s maturity by asking this simple question:

Who is doing most of the work, and is it being done in love?

What do you think?  And I don’t mind being wrong.  I mind incredibly being told I’m wrong, but — just kidding.  Your thoughts?

church planting: the discovery bible study and dna

This is the fifth post in a series leading us to a strategy for mission in Geita, Tanzania.  Previous posts are here:

• church planting: mistakes in mission
• church planting: healthy soil
• church planting: 3-column studies
• church planting: sample 3-column

Because we’re already on the subject of 3-column, obedience-based Bible studies, I’m going to continue along this thread, rather than post chronologically all that is included in our method of evangelism.  When sharing the gospel with non-Christians, we use a form of the 3-column study, but we encase it in a larger format.  We refer to this style of meeting as a “Discovery Bible Study” (a term borrowed from David Watson and others).

The Discovery Bible Study (DBS) is a group meeting, in which we use the inductive, 3-column approach to study.  However, just as important, the DBS introduces all the core values of church from the very beginning.  Other methods of evangelism use a Bible study only to reveal Christ to non-Christians, and then seek to teach them “how to do church” after they’re calling themselves one.  The DBS is designed so that each individual part of the meeting establishes early the DNA of church in this group — so that by the time they have accepted Christ, they are already functioning as a church. Each DBS is very discussion-oriented (all members participate) and looks like this:

1. What good things have happened to you this week?
2. What difficulties have you experienced or needs do you have (yourself or the community)?
3. Is there a way that we as a group can help one another meet these needs?
4. With whom did you share what we studied last week?
5. How did you apply this week what we studied last week?
6. Let’s read several times / listen / write this week’s scripture passage.
7. How do we say this in our own words?  Let’s summarize it as (individuals and as) a group.
8. If we misstated anything or included something from outside the text, let’s correct that together.  We ask one another where that came from in this passage.
9. What do you learn in this passage about God?  man?  life?
10. How can you / will you apply this to your life?
11. With whom will you share what you’ve learned this week?

The core values (DNA) that are instilled in the group follow. The numbers correspond:

1. Thanksgiving and Praise
2. Intercessory Prayer
3. Ministry
4. Accountability in Evangelism
5. Accountability in Obedience
6. Bible Study — Scripture is Primary (not man or tradition)
7. Understanding of God’s Word (and preparing for Evangelism)
8. Self-correcting with God’s Word the Authority
9. Knowing God and his Desires
10. Obedience (and Accountability)
11. Evangelism (and Accountability)

You can see how, in time, the DBS becomes (with no teaching as to “how to do church”) a time for Christians to meet together in order to praise God, encourage one another, study God’s word, minister to one another and their community, prepare for evangelism, hold one another accountable, etc. — in essence they function as a church. A church, which I might add, that seems to be much more in tune with Scripture’s purposes for church.  The meeting of Christians born out of a DBS might look something like this (with numbers still corresponding):

1. What are we thankful to God for?  Let’s praise him together.
2. What are our needs and difficulties, and those of our community?
3. Let’s pray for those needs and be active in meeting them as a church.
4. With whom did you share what we learned about God last week?
5. How, specifically, were you obedient to God last week, in keeping with what we studied (and what you shared with us you would do to be obedient)?  How did that go?
6. Let’s read (and/or write) together our scripture passage for this week.
7. How can we say this (and/or write it) in our own words?  What does this really mean?  We need to be sure to understand it… a) so we can be obedient to it and b) so we can share it with others.
8. Did we introduce anything not from scripture in our explanation and summary of the text?  Let’s let the Bible be our authority and hold one another accountable to that.
9. So what do we learn about God and his desires for each of us?  for our families?  for our church?  for our community?
10. How will we be obedient to what we’ve learned today.  We don’t read the Bible for knowledge only.  Let’s be specific, so that we can follow through, and hold one another accountable.
11. Whom will you tell about what we’ve studied today?

Next post in this series: Leading (or not) a Discovery Bible Study

ethics in church planting – part mbili

J.D. Payne has suggested 11 guidelines to ethical church planting in an attempt to end “missiological malpractice.”  This is the second post of a 2-part series; this post summarizes guidelines 8-11 and my thoughts concerning them.  To see the first seven ethics rules for church planting, go here. 

• Guideline #8:  Since one of the most critical issues in missionary circles is that of the stress on the family, we will not neglect our families for the sake of church planting and will begin our work with a strategy for nurturing our family life while serving as church planters. 

Agreed.  Though I don’t feel nearly as much stress here in Geita as I do in the United States.  I believe rural Tanzania is going to be a great place for Christie and I to raise children and enjoy our marriage.  Though it’s always been a bit of a temptation for me to put too much time and effort into “ministry,” while neglecting God, family, and friends.  That’s why loving others is the SECOND commandment.

• Guideline #9:  Since we are Kingdom Citizens, we will not neglect our daily devotion time with the Lord by allowing ourselves to be distracted by the numerous tasks to be accomplished in the ministry. 

I touched on this in my last response, but only in loving God can I possess love enough to share with the people of Geita — or with my own family and teammates for that matter.  Think about it — I have a finite amount of love to offer.  If I divvy it up as seems necessary, God gets… 40%?  My wife ends up with 30%?  And my children 20?  That leaves 10% of my total love to divide between extended family, teammates, church members, and Tanzanians?!  That’s absurd.

And even then we’re only speaking to the quantity of my love.  What about quality?  As a mere human being, my love is not only finite, but imperfect.  Quite imperfect.  So I offer my wife 30% of my warped and distorted love?  No wonder marriages fail.

But when I love God with ALL my heart, soul, mind, and strength, he floods my life with his infinite and perfect love.  And after I’ve basked in all I can possibly enjoy, his love overflows into the lives of others.  So both my wife and the Tanzanian in the village receive, through me, God’s true and limitless love. How much more would they prefer that?  You can ask my wife — she’s experienced both.

I believe this to be one of the single biggest problems in ministry today — and in my own life for most of it.  Preachers, ministers, and shepherds alike have made the second command their first.  They’re attempting to love, serve, and minister to others out of the only 100% they’ve got.  Big mistake.

• Guideline #10:  Since the task of missionary work involves effective communication, we will work diligently toward contextualization rather than bringing our preferred church traditions to the people.  

The last thing I want to do is plant a south Alabama Church of Christ in rural Tanzania.  Nothing against south Alabama churches in south Alabama — but every church should be relevant to its community and the culture around it.

• Guideline #11:  Since integrity and accuracy are important when reporting statistics related or our missionary labors, we will strive to report only those numbers and descriptive details which are truly reflective of what the Holy Spirit is doing in our context.

Christie and I believe integrity, accuracy, and accountability are incredibly important in foreign missions.  We will never report larger numbers or better “results” than actually exist.  But we also have a lot of pressure taken off of us in this regard, because we wholeheartedly believe success is God’s task and responsibility.  We are merely here as servants, and ultimately have little control over how our ministry and service is accepted by others.

We also believe integrity and accountability are important in financial matters.  Too often paid ministers and missionaries misuse funds with which they’ve been entrusted as God’s stewards.  I’m not arguing ministers shouldn’t be offered some privacy in their financial dealings — but I am suggesting Christians should in general be more accountable to one another in how they spend God’s money — and all money is his.  Christie and I have decided if we err, it will be on the side of making public more of our financial dealings than is necessary.  So we share our all of our finances with anyone who asks.  Light shown on any issue encourages honesty and responsibility in that area.

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What do you think about Payne’s guidelines?  Are there others we should be discussing?  Have you been witness to, or part of, missiological malpractice?

J.D. Payne is an associate professor of church planting and evangelism at Southern Theological Baptist Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky.  He’s authored at least a couple of books and is currently working on two more.  J.D. blogs at Missiologically Thinking.

ethics in church planting – part moja

Church planting aficionado, J.D. Payne, is concerned with what he calls “missiological malpractice” among church planters today — as am I.  He has offered 11 guidelines to ethical church planting.  I will post #s 1-7 today, each followed by my own commentary. I’ll cover the remaining four tomorrow.

• Guideline #1:  Since the global need for the gospel is so great, unless God reveals otherwise, we will begin our ministry among people with the greatest need and with a high level of receptivity to the gospel.   
  

This makes sense to me, as long as we make sure to leave room for the God revealing otherwise bit.  However, I think we also ought to create some kind of clause for, in the absence of God’s revelation, encouraging missionaries to go where their talents might be more useful.  For instance, a church planter and soccer enthusiast who speaks fluent Portuguese might look toward Brazil or Portugal.  I think that’s wisdom.

• Guideline #2:  Since the world consists of four billion unbelievers, with two billion who have never heard the gospel, our strategy will involve the use of highly reproducible church planting methods.
  

This is what we’re attempting to do here in Geita.  Highly reproducible church planting methods must involve giving God’s responsibilities back to him — namely those of drawing, saving, teaching, and maturing men.  Missionaries must have less authority in the local church — none, actually, other than that of mentoring facilitators.

• Guideline #3:  Since biblical church planting is evangelism that results in new churches, we will not prioritize transfer growth over conversion growth by designing ministries that will primarily attract believers.
  

I definitely agree we shouldn’t aim to attract believers from other groups.  But I would go further, to say we shouldn’t design ministries to attract anyone.  We should, rather, live Christ into our community.  To see a  four-part series on attractional ministry versus incarnational ministry, go here.

• Guideline #4:  Since unity among churches in a geographical area is a powerful witness to the gospel, we will be concerned with other evangelical pastors laboring in the same area as our team, and will take the initiative to meet with them to share our calling, vision, and ethic.
  

I believe Christians should always strive for unity — and encourage one another in obedience to the words of Christ and service to their shared community.

• Guideline #5:  Since we desire to respect other evangelical pastors in the area, and desire sanctification in the lives of any transfers from local churches, we will have a systematic plan to respond to the transfers who want to become part of the new church.
  

Honestly, I haven’t thought much about this.  I should, though.  It makes sense.

• Guideline #6:  Since our calling to this ministry, people, and location is from God and not based on money, we will not end our church planting ministry in this area simply if our financial support ends, but rather will make appropriate plans for the future of our personal finances.
  

Not sure exactly what this means or how it plays out.  I do believe God desires for us to be in Geita and ministering to the Sukuma people (and others who are here).  But to be honest, I’m not sure what plans I could make to continue future work here if financial support were pulled.  I think I lean more towards the mindset that as long as God desires for us to be here, he will continue to provide what is needed.  And if we lose support from one congregation, he will raise up another…

• Guideline #7:  Since the biblical model for church planting is a team approach and many liabilities come when working as a solo church planter, a team will be developed before the work begins.   
  

Check.  And that team should, at some point and in some fashion, begin to include local peoples.

Guidelines 8-11 in Ethics in Church Planting – Part Mbili (2).

J.D. Payne is an associate professor of church planting and evangelism at Southern Theological Baptist Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky.  He’s authored at least a couple of books and is currently working on two more.  J.D. blogs at Missiologically Thinking.

church planting: sample 3-column

My last post in this series was about how to do a 3-column Bible study, and why it’s such a good method for learning.  Below is an actual 3-column study from my notebook:

1 John 3:16-24

Column 1 — Write the text word-for-word:

This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us.  And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers.  If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him?  Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions in truth.  This then is how we know that we belong to the truth, and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence whenever our hearts condemn us.  For God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything.

Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God and receive from him anything we ask, because we obey his commands and do what pleases him.  And this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us.  Those who obey his commands live in him, and he in them.  And this is how we know that he lives in us:  We know it by the Spirit he gave us.

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Column 2 — Rewrite the text in your own words:

We only know what love is because Jesus Christ gave his life for us.  And we should do as he did, and give our lives for our fellow Christians.  If we have material possessions and see an individual in need, but don’t feel compassion for him AND share with him, it’s proof that we don’t have God’s love in our own lives.  Let’s don’t just say we love, but make it real love by doing something about it.  Tangible love for others is how we know we are actually Christians; acts of love are also how we find peace with God when we feel in our hearts we’re not worthy.  God is more powerful to give us peace than our own hearts are to condemn us; and he knows everything about us.

If our love brings the peace of God into our hearts, then we can be sure of ourselves when we ask God for things — and we can be certain that we’ll receive those things.  This is because we do everything he asks of us out of love, which makes him happy.  And the highest command he’s given us is to put our very own lives in the hands of his son, Jesus Christ, and then to love one another.  If we trust in Jesus and love each other, it confirms that we’re living in him — and that he’s living in us.  Actually, we will always have proof that he lives in us, because he gave us the Holy Spirit in our lives.

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Column 3 — List what we learn about God and what our response should be:

• We can only properly define love because Jesus died for us.
  
• Love can only be learned from seeing and experiencing love.
  
• Is this much of why Jesus came to earth — so we would know what love is?
  
• We are expected to follow the example of Jesus in loving others, even if it means death.
  
• The love of God is not in people who don’t have compassion and pity on others.
  
• The love of God is not in people whose compassion for others doesn’t result in action.
  
• Saying you love someone is not love.  True love requires action and service.
  
• If love can only be learned from experience, and I’ve experienced Jesus’ love, and I’m supposed to follow his example in loving others, then it must be one of my goals to show others what love looks like — so they can learn what it is and how to do it themselves.
  
• If I don’t have compassion that results in action, I am preventing others from knowing what love is, and from being able to perform it themselves.
  
• Truly loving others is proof that I am a Christian.
  
• God rewards my acts of love by giving me peace, even if inside I feel rotten and sinful.
  
• God is both smarter and more powerful than my heart.
  
• I can ask God for anything and receive it, if I have love and obey his commands.
• I shouldn’t be afraid to ask God for things, but should be confident in front of him.
  
• I make God happy when I obey him and do what he asks.
  
• God’s main command is to put our trust in Jesus, and to love one another.
  
• I am living in Jesus, and he is living in me, when I am obedient to the above commands.
  
• The Holy Spirit living inside me is proof that Jesus lives in me.
  

Specific “I will” Statements

EVERY TIME I am convicted this week to feel compassion for someone, I will stop and pray about how I can turn that conviction into actual love, by doing something about it. I will then do that thing.  I fully expect, then, to help several homeless and poor Tanzanians this week with food, clothing, and/or money.

This week, I will not tell my wife I love her, EXCEPT when it is accompanied by an act of love, be it praying for her, getting her a glass of water, giving her a back rub, or even just a hug.  And I will not let this limit how often I tell her I love her, rather I will grow my actions to be equal to my words.

If / when I feel unworthy of God’s love this week, I will stop and pray, asking him to give me peace about our relationship.  Then I will ask him to help me to believe him more than I believe my own heart and mind.

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So… that’s a sample 3-column study.  Though it’s most effective when we 1) share what we learned with someone else, and 2) share our “I will” statements with them, so they can hold us accountable.  I hope this is useful.  I really do believe, if you’ll just give yourself a couple of weeks of studying the Bible this way, there will be a noticeable difference in your walk with God and in your times of study.  It will no longer be about knowledge, but about obedience to God.  At the same time, though, you will actually gain a great deal of knowledge as well — and practical knowledge at that.

Next post in the church planting series: church planting: the discovery bible study and dna