By Kirk Reynolds
kirk.reynolds@navigators.org

“I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing” (John 15:5 NIV).

Early in September, Janis and I took a detour on our way to seeing her folks and stopped at Crane’s Orchard in Fennville, Michigan. Janis wanted to get a basket of Honeycrisp apples for homemade apple pies. So we stopped and they eagerly guided us to the Honeycrisp trees, which, to our surprise, were all dwarf trees. All of the apples on the trees were pickable from the ground: at arms reach; no ladders needed. Within minutes we had our basket full and were amazed at how easy it was to pick these low hanging apples.

When I talk to others who are working to reach the Nations of the world, we often talk about the difficulty of reaching those who know little, if anything, about the Kingdom of God and the saving grace of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. The common expression we use is reaching the “high hanging fruit.” Like apple trees, the high, seemingly unreachable apples are not easily collected, while the “low hanging fruit” are ripe and ready for the taking. It’s easy to pick the “low hanging fruit” from the ground, but the higher apples are much more difficult to obtain. To reach the “high hanging fruit” you need ladders, ropes, and buckets. Even then, on a ladder you still might only be able to reach a few apples. And, with every step higher you go on the ladder, there is a greater risk of injury and possible lack of success.

Can I get a ladder over here? Reaching the “high hanging fruit.”

Here are a few qualities among the rungs of a Kingdom Ladder:

1. A strong practice of prevailing prayer – “apart from me you can do nothing.” You must call on the power of the Holy Spirit to change lives.
2. A good understanding of Scripture – able to communicate a pure gospel without Western baggage.
3. An incarnational movement – live among them, learn from them, love them. Christ moved into ourneighborhood.
4. A good handle on the birth language and the cultural of those you are trying to reach.
5. A link or a bridge connecting the body of Christ with the local community.
6. And, able to envision a plan for the Gospel to advance in culture.

Anthology Magazine of MissioNexus recently published an article I wrote on the issue of Strategic Risk and the theological and practical questions churches, agencies and missionaries face regarding Risk and the advance of the gospel.

Excerpt

“Two pressing questions drive the discussion. The first is personal: would our sovereign God knowingly direct us to engage in dangerous gospel witness, even to the point of death? The second question is institutional: How should the church and mission-sending institutions respond when the ones we send insist on obeying God’s direction, even when it means entering or remaining in harm’s way. The answer to both questions will have a drastic impact on the way we do missions. As we will see, Scripture and history are not silent in regards to costly mission.”

read more

Today marks the first of several posts which essentially make available to you portions of the Missional Discipleship Guide written by Mark Morris called Acts 1:8 Now. The intent is to provide fresh eyes and application for a local church, a small group, or an individual establishing a personal World Christian plan for missional living. The entire study will be available later for download on this site.

Acts 1:8 Now

Preface: Acts 1:8 Now

“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” Acts 1:8

There are at least six reasons that Christendom needs to take a fresh look at what has become a status quo, self-serving utilization of this familiar mission passage. Theologians and preachers work diligently to rightly divide the Word of Truth. Interestingly, we have a bad habit of taking this familiar passage and simply riding the wave of rhetoric, accepting a less than thorough examination of its meaning. Without praying over, studying, and exploring these well-used passages, missionaries, preachers, and writers alike have merely co-opted their predecessors’ conclusions. If the same level of scrutiny, prayer, and study were applied to Acts 1:8 as we apply to other less familiar passages, then Acts 1:8 Now would be unnecessary. Six reasons follow.

Acts 1:8 is commonly interpreted with an incorrect verb tense. (Was Jesus commanding His disciples to go and be His witness or was he prophetically stating an eternal reality? Is Jesus saying “GO!” or is He stating, “You will go.” What’s so important about the verb tense?)

Acts 1:8 is most often used to articulate a mission strategy of proximity which ignores historical and factual data. (Jesus’ home town was not Jerusalem, yet we apply this passage by advocating a strategy based on Jerusalem as my “hometown” mission field. We extrapolate from this passage that Jesus is commanding us to witness to “my Jerusalem” or my hometown and my family and friends. If that was Jesus’ message, why didn’t he say, “you will be my witness in Nazareth?”)

Acts 1:4 has been used to mandate a strategy of inaction. (Just wait. If God doesn’t call you to go, then you are only responsible for ministry in your hometown.)

The places of Acts 1:8 –Jerusalem, Judea & Samaria, and the ends of the earth– have been used almost exclusively to advocate a strategy of proximity without any thought to the more significant theological underpinnings. (What is the theological significance of the places of Acts 1:8? What is the theological significance of Jerusalem as a center of Truth and a hub of the dissemination of spiritual Truth? How does a theological view of Jerusalem affect the way we apply Acts 1:8 in contemporary missions?)

Contemporary Christians tend to view biblical place-references (Judea & Samaria) from a Western view of geo-political entities, i.e. nations. However, the biblical worldview is much more influenced by people-group thinking than by geography. (Dividing up mission organizations and mission strategies into local and global, near, far, and farther is organizationally helpful. Perhaps we should not focus as much on the places, rather on the peoples of Acts 1:8: their worldview, their ideology, and the status of their spiritual health.)

Theologically sound exegesis has been ignored for the sake of convenient rhetoric. We mean well, but familiarity with this passage has bred a casual approach to Acts 1:8. We are so ready to jump to Acts 1:8b that we pay no attention to Acts 1:8a. (How does the application change if we view the places mentioned in Acts 1:8 not as my places of mission activity, but as God’s arena of mission action?)

May God open our eyes, our ears, and our hearts and may He kindle fresh insights into local and global ministry. It is time to evaluate church missions activity, organizational missions priorities, and personal missions values through a new lens.

(More from Acts 1:8 Now in the next post)
© mission leader, inc.

www.missionleader.com

All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated are taken from the Holy Bible, NIV.

“Age doesn’t matter… God doesn’t need us to do His work.  He can do that Himself, yet He allows us and demands of us the opportunity to do His will for the betterment of His kingdom, His glory, His power and our relationship with Him that we have through the Cross.  God can use anyone of any age,” said Will Chavez.

Will just returned from a short-term mission trip to Roatan, Honduras.  A 21-year-old college student attending Florida State College at Jacksonville, he traveled with a team of high schoolers from Chets Creek Church in Jacksonville, Florida.  “I feel like I should go back,” he said, “Something about that place has captured me and I want to go back.”

The purpose of the Roatan team was to help build piping to houses in a poor mountain community, giving them access to running water.  Chets Creek Church has partnered with an organization called Living Water 4 Roatan and this team was working on an ongoing project to bring clean water to the village.  Additionally, the team from Chets Creek put on a Vacation Bible School (VBS) for the children and passed out things like toothbrushes and shoes to various houses.

Will didn’t plan to go on this mission trip, he said, but God opened all the doors.  As college students understand well, money is always tight.  “For this mission trip, I didn’t have to pay to go, save for my passport… God made it so available for me to go,” said Will.  An anonymous donor from Will’s church gave the full amount to send one person on the mission trip.  Will heard that they needed someone to lead worship and handle music for VBS and he jumped on the idea.

“I have a calling to lead worship,” said Will.  “His desires are made my desires through Him… If you had told me four years ago that I would actually be singing and leading worship, I would’ve thought you were crazy.”  Will never saw himself where He is today but said, “God had other plans for me.  So my calling, desire and mission is to lead worship.”

“If you are called to go (on a mission trip) then it is more than worth all the time, money and hassle needed to go,” said Will.  “…We are called to go and tell, and to love God and love people.”

Will (center, green shirt) leading children's music in Honduras.

Well it has been a while since I have posted a blog. A lot has happened since my last blog, including God calling me to a new ministry area and a move cross country.  There are very few things as frustrating as packing and unpacking, except maybe a moving truck getting caught in an ice storm for days.

My new full time ministry is as a business administrator at a church in the southeast.  Currently, the church does not have a mission’s pastor.  With God’s calling on my life to be a World Christian, I am looking for the opportunities to advance missions while not officially wearing that hat.  This is a challenge that many staff members find themselves in, so I want to open up the subject for discussion.  What I will attempt to do over the next few months is blog the steps and miss-steps I take to share the concept and vision of God’s heart for the nations.  Please comment and offer advice from your experiences and together we may find new and constructive ways to advance God’s work around the world, even when that is not in our job description.

Since my job title and description are limited to business administration, I have spent the first 6 weeks trying to get the lay of the land.  But I am anxious to stick my toe in the water to test whether or not the people of this congregation are ready to reach out beyond their immediate surroundings.  I have pulled together a list of a few people I believe have a world Christian mindset.  I have sat down with them over a meal to just listen to their heart and the history of missions at this church. I have allowed them to share their vision of missions for the future and their desire to expand the church’s outreach. 

I asked them to pull together a list of other’s in the church who they know have a heart to reach out.  We discussed starting small groups with a mission emphasis to start training up leaders to share God’s heart for the nations with everyone in the church.  I will let you know the outcome of that plan.

I already know that this will not be easy, and I have already felt the push back, the “it’s not your job” mindset.   But we are commanded by our Lord to go to the nations.  It was not a suggestion or restricted to only those who have a job title of mission’s pastor or missionary.  This call is for all of us, whether we are on staff at a church or sit in a service.  We do not need the title to advance the kingdom globally.

To be continued…..

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In many of our churches we need to examine our mission practices through the eyes and heart of Christ.  I have seen both sides of the compassion/conversion spectrum from the “all we need to do is be compassionate and help others” to the “if we do not have a large number of conversions it was a waste of time and money” mindsets.  Many churches battle with how compassion should work into a mission plan.

Compassion according to Wikipedia.com  is “a profound human emotion prompted by the pain of others”.  Throughout scriptures it mandates us to be compassionate to those around us.  It even draws out some specific groups that compassion should be focused on, such as the widows and orphans in the world.  Jesus was the perfect example of compassion through His walk and His talk.  He showed us compassion through the miracles of healing and interaction with those who were outcasts.  He also shared through parables like the Good Samaritan how we are to be compassionate.  Every one of us as individuals and as a church must seek out ways to show compassion in our communities and around the world.

But what about sharing the Gospel and converting people to Christ?  Shouldn’t that be a part of every mission outreach?  The answer is yes and no.  Which answer is correct depends on who you believe is doing the converting.  Many times we believe that we have the ability to convert people to Christ.  That it is our words and actions that are the final factor in that conversion.  That is not what I see in scripture.  God calls people to Himself through Christ, not us!!  We may plant seeds, water and sometimes even see the harvest, but  we should never think it was our feeble words and actions that gave the final results.  He has allowed us to be a part of what He is doing around the world.  So yes, God will handle the conversion and no, sometimes we do not need to go into the plan of salvation because God may be using others or other divine processes for that part.  I have heard of former Muslims who Christ came to them in dreams or visions to show them who He was.  Our words would never have that impact.

Now do not get me wrong, if God places it on your heart to share the Gospel, do it.  Be a part of His process wherever He may want you.  All I am saying is not every mission encounter must include it.

Once we acknowledge that God is the final converter it becomes easier to understand that we need to be a part of His process.  Compassion is part of that process and is not in competition with it.  We do not know the heart of the people we come in contact with on a daily basis in our daily life, and we certainly do not know about the hearts around the world, but God does.  Compassion by a follower of Christ might be the tenderizer that is needed to soften the heart for the seed to take hold.  Sometimes the Lord blesses us by allowing us to share the seed of the Good News and even allows us to be there when someone asks Christ to be their Lord.  Praise God when that happens but do not take credit for it.

So compassion is not versus conversion, it is an active step in God’s plan to allow all to see the glory of Christ’s heart in action.  God’s people need to show compassion as Christ showed it.

We must all be very careful not to fall into the mindset as a church on mission that we had X number of conversions on that trip or during the year.  We should not be announcing numbers of conversions since only God knows the true hearts of those we encounter.  Let’s just praise God for the opportunity to be a part of His process of salvation and leave the number counting to Him. 

Change, Change, Change, I know that most of us are sick of hearing about it.  Many of us hate change and some of us thrive on it.  In politics “change” has become the buzz word for both parties.  I am sure that all of us would agree that we would like to see some “good” changes in Washington, our communities and around the world.  Even though I have some very strong views, I will not be going down into the political hornet’s nest here.

But is it much different in our churches?  Change is a hot topic there also (and sometimes a hornets’ nest).  The battles between the “we always did it that way before” mindset and the “let’s try something new” group continue.  If you have not had these issues pop up in your church, just wait and look out.

Missions is one of those change topics that appear to be taboo to discuss.  In many churches I have seen missions pushed to the back of the priority list. The “programming” within the building and the building itself has become the primary focus of ministry.  Even when we send our money or a few people here or there in the name of missions, the church as a whole is not really behind it.  Change is needed in how we do mission work, but the real change is needed in the hearts of those in our churches.  The mindset must change from “this is what we do” to “this is who we are”!!!

That is one of the steps that Mission Leader, Inc.  has in their consulting framework.  Using the W.O.R.L.D. Christian acrostic, the process is to re-focus on the priorities that Jesus established in Acts 1:8.   The acrostic is:

Word – Focus on biblical principles for mission.

Objectives – Set biblical and church objectives.

Right practices – Establish God honoring processes and procedures.

Lasting Values – Moving from “this is what we do” to “this is who we are”.

Dreams – Seeing God’s heart and knowing we live and die for this.

It is time for the church, and each one of us, to get back to the basics of what we have been called to do. Jesus’ words in Act 1:8 was not a suggestion!

If you would like to learn more about the seminars, workshops and consulting available, go to Training tab on the top of this page.

How about some radical giving?!

As many of you know my wife, Cindy has been in a year long battle with Multiple Myeloma. Read more about that journey below. We spent a big part of the last 12 months traveling back and forth between Memphis and Nashville in order to undergo an autologous stem cell transplant at . Unlike many patients, Cindy was extremely blessed to be eligible to donate her own stem cells for cleanup and later re-infusion back into her own body. This process was grueling, extremely risky, but has prolonged and improved Cindy’s life. There will be more treatment for Cindy and possibly another transplant.

Through this journey, we met some of our fellow patients who were unable to use their own marrow or stem cells for treatment. Some have waited for years for a match, their condition deteriorating slowly in the process. Others never find a match and succumb to their disease. Seeing the dramatic impact on Cindy’s well being, I made an easy decision. Without hesitation, I committed myself to become a bone marrow or stem cell donor. I contacted the bone marrow donor society and began filling out the required survey to donate. I was very, very disappointed to learn that my particular back problem disqualifies me from being a donor. I’m not giving up though. I’m going to keep pursuing it to see if there is some way I can donate.

We’re living in a time of increased willingness of young adults to make personal sacrifice for a higher cause. Young christians are making a difference in our world through radical expressions of brotherly love. The Green Revolution leads us to recycle, turn off the lights, down-size our vehicles, and donate funds to produce clean water around the world. We know that every good citizen donates blood regularly. On and on grows the list of sacrifices we make for saving our planet, helping our fellow man, and serving the common good.

Here’s what I’d like you to consider.

I’m not asking you to give up an organ or limb. I’m asking you to pray about offering up a few million of the youngest cells in your body in order to save a life or two. It does involve some sacrifice. Adult stem cell donations require seven days of getting an injection to cause your stem cells to rapidly reproduce. Yes that’s a pain. When you are “ripe” you will begin to have some back pain which will tell you “it’s time.” The stem cells are drawn from your blood during a 4 hour process of being hooked up to a machine that extracts the stem cells. It’s the easiest way you’ll ever save a life.

Take the first painless step by going to the international donor site. Complete the online questionnaire to see if you are eligible. If you find that you are eligible, pray about what’s next.

I saw my wife’s life extended and improved by her stem cells. I desperately want to do the same for someone else, but I’m not eligible.

It’s a great way to give about a gazillion pieces of yourself, in the form of stem cells. This small sacrifice could save a life.

Pray about it.

*Do me a favor – if you complete the donor survey, come back to this article and leave your comment. You might encourage someone else to do the same.