Conversations as you Go

What are the irreducible elements of movements? How can we get started? Drawing on scripture, experienced movements trainer and researcher, Stan joins Dave to answer some of these fundamental questions.

Stan begins highlighting some of the essentials of movements. Reflecting on his research of identifying 1,967 movements in the world today, Stan notices how movements often start movements. Perhaps the biggest barrier to movement he says, is the existing church and its paradigms.

But where do we start? Building a prayerful team is vital. Stan emphasises the importance of this initial group being trained and immediately training others. He lays out what he terms as 'seven core activities'. These are

Multiplying prayer Focusing on God's word Casting vision Training others Engaging with the lost Starting groupsOngoing coaching

Finally, Stan challenges us to operate from not only a truth encounter but also a power encounter approach. He warns us how comparison will always steal our joy. He urges us instead to 'lift our sails' in faithful obedience, throwing off any extra baggage. This allows God to 'blow his wind', seeing movements take off.

We hear from Graham and Lynda Wilson from New Zealand (NZ) as they gather with us for Tribe Time in Canberra. Graham and Linda carry a deep heart for prayer and global missions. They are pastoring at GraceWay Church, Hamilton NZ. Graham is also on our Praxeis board. 

You’ll be greatly encouraged by listening to the wisdom and passion these guys have for the lost. They take us back into a little of their story of how God swept them up into mission, now being involved with Praxeis and DMM (Discipling Making Movement). 

They both are excited about how doable DMM is for the average person. Lynda shares her insights into the importance of harvest prayer and seeing it multiply. How being led by the Spirit in prayer is such a powerful way to partner with God in the harvest. She shares what this has looked like recently around Hamilton. 

Graham and Lynda will inspire you to persevere in prayer, never giving up. They describe how we can be confident that God will complete what he has started as we allow him to ‘take us for a ride’. Be refreshed in the excitement of being involved with God’s heart for the lost as we prayerfully obey Jesus.

Aila returns this episode as he brings a training on starting churches as we gather for ‘Tribe Time’ in Australia. Listen to Aila share stories from East Africa on some of the key principles to seeing churches birthed that can multiply disciples.

He says we need a paradigm shift. To move from focusing on the forms to the functions of church. We also need to not just engage with individuals but families to see churches start. If we begin with the vision and DNA of multiplication at the beginning, then we can expect it. In fact, Aila encourages us to create an environment for movement at the initial stages so that one can spark.

Finally, he urges us to consider what we need to stop doing when it comes to our mindset of church so we can start churches in our context.

Listen to Dave share on God’s vision for lostness from his second sermon at Crossway Baptist Church. Dave reflects on miraculous and inspiring stories from his and Colleen’s missionary training in Mumbai. He asks how we will respond to Jesus’ perspectives in Luke 15, describing heaven’s celebration of the lost being found. Referring to the urgency of mission in Luke 14 and 16, Jesus leaves us with a choice of either joining with heaven’s celebration of lostness or not. Get ready to surrender everything again. To be caught up in God’s heart for lostness.

Jesus' final words to His disciples were, "Go into all the world and make disciples...". More than just a statement to those present at the time, His words commission every believer throughout the ages.

This episode, we hear Dave share at Crossway Baptist (where Praxeis was birthed out of) on how Jesus left His mission in the hands of ordinary people so that every one of us gets to play a part.

Be encouraged afresh to allow Jesus and his last words form your identity as his disciple.

We hear from Steve and Mel Behrens this week. They share how they are flying in and out of indigenous communities on the Cape (Cape York, in Far North Queensland). Discovery Groups are starting that are multiplying out.

They share about how they are initially connecting into these remote places. The Behrens set up what they call 'fire-side yarns'. These are gathering where they seek to form church for the locals. They tell us how some the keys is to be really intentional when inviting people to commit to gathering. Perseverance despite opposition is also vital.

Be encouraged as you hear the Behrens' vision and some of the powerful stories of what God is doing in the lives of these spiritually hungry indigenous people.

Finally, be blessed by something very special at the end of the episode!

This is our final episode with Ralph Moore as he looks at some of the keys for multiplication in the West. 

Ralph gives us a picture of how our ecclesiology (understanding of church) is what often stops multiplication. Recognising and validating simple models of church is essential. He also shares on the importance of church leadership and what qualifies someone to be a leader of a church. 

Reflecting on our post-Christian culture in the West, Ralph shares how recognising simple and small forms of church is vital to see movement. He describes the pre-discipleship process of friend making as increadibly essential in seeing groups form like in Acts 2. 

Finally, Ralph finishes by encouraging us that our role as leaders is to 'move people an inch closer to Jesus'. We are, as he says, in God’s great saga not to evangelise someone in a ‘hit and run’ deal. But to take time with people as we lead them to Jesus. Ralph asks us two final questions: 

Who are you leading?What are you doing with your role as a leader?

Ralph joins us again and shares with us this week about what it practically looks like to make disciples and helps us answer the question, ‘what does New Testament church look like in the West?’.

He unpacks what he calls the disciple making continuum where people are asked three simple questions: 

What is God saying? What will you do about it? How can we help and pray for you? 

Ralph gives us some great insights into the essentials of church by referring to ‘micro-churches’. Instead of starting with church, he urges us to allow church to emerge out of Jesus and his mission. First Christology, then missiology and finally ecclesiology.

He ends this week with three core elements of church: 

Worship (for life)Communion (amongst the members)Mission (everyone has something we are doing away from our group) 

You might want to listen to this episode a couple of times - its totally worth it!

Over the coming weeks we have the privilege of listening to Ralph Moore. Ralph is an American church planter and multiplier. In 1971 he started Hope Chapel in California with just 12 people. Since then up to 2500 churches have been planted through his ministry with now a quarter of a million people in churches. Ralph gives us great insight into what movement in the West looks like.

Today we will hear him share part of his early story, including his experiences as part of the Jesus Movement in the 60s and 70s. Ralph gives us a glimpse of what it looked like to be caught up in this move of God. He also shares the importance of friending people to faith and being highly accepting of the lost.

Looking back he shares how what was happening in the Jesus Movement was actually church. What was happening on Saturday nights was in many ways much bigger than what was happening on Sunday morning.

A really great follow up podcast with Aila Tasse from Kenya as he opens up to us the importance of prayer, the role of the Spirit and forming church to see movement. He is also speaks to many of us who finds ourselves in Western contexts. 

Aila shares how crucial it is to be designing our personal lives around the areas of what he calls continuous, concentrated and scheduled prayer. He then points to Acts to describe how the Spirit is the driver of movement and leads us into mission as we pray. 

Aila then reveals how we need to qualify church without getting caught up in its many forms. He shares a story of how a seemingly uninterested security guard took what he heard and obeyed it back into his village. The result was four generations of churches that multiplied from Kenya into neighbouring Uganda. 

Aila also shares how to see Discovery Groups become churches that multiply. He speaks about how vital it is for us to see our groups move through transition points to become church. The functions of church are more important than the numbers with baptism seen as a crucial initiation for church formation. Discovery, empowerment of ordinary people and focusing on replication are mentioned as some of the seeds to see churches multiply. 

Finally Aila shares with us what he sees as keys for us in the West to see movement. He challenges us in the West that we are so often already part of many communities. We just need to be more intentional about planting the gospel. Overall, we need to either belong to a community or make a community. 

As Jesus says in the Great Commission (Matthew 28), our role is to be available and obedient in his commands to ‘go’ and learn obedience. He promises to be with us and we can trust God to birth movement through simple obedience.