A lighthouse in a dark city

The name Kolkata means "abode of Kali." Kali is one of the three top gods in Hinduism. He is the destroyer. Brahma creates, Vishnu preserves and Kali destroys. That is the cycle of life. There are tens of thousands of gods added. The elephant god adorned the wall of the guest house and there were tons of little figurine gods on the door. Kalid, the guest house owner went to a Catholic school but says he doesn't believe in God. His only son is a drug addict. He gets drunk every night. I shared the hope in Jesus with him. He asked me to pray and then said: :I do beleive in God but He has abandonned me." Please pray for him and his son.

Kali being taken in the Ganges as an act of worship.

gods on gest house door

 Parts of Kolkata are flooded during the rainy season. The church reaches out to the needy. 

I was here in 2009. Purnendu Sinha invited me back to give level 1 churh multiplication training to his evangelists and church planters. They have planted 35 churches in the Eastern district which includes Kolkata, Salt Lake, West Bengal and Orissa.

What a blessing to work with these brave evangelists. They are so grateful and appreciative of the training received. They gave me a wood carving.

These two young men (in their mid-twenties) work full-time as evangelists and live on very little. They long to see unreached people know Christ, become disciples and form new lighthouses in the darkness.

Here is a lighthouse. They meet for prayer and fellowhip. I was asked to teach unexpectedly. God blessed and we had a great time in the Word. The trip took 2 days and it's been non stop since I got off the plane.

Some of the trainees came from the Brahmin class. They are powerful evangelists. They go to the slums in the name of Jesus, taking medical teams and bringing a word of hope.

Prayer and praise are the strength of these churches.

 Rev. Purnendu and his little family.

 They worked hard at their studies and made plans to multipliy disciples, leaders and churches.

 Kolkata is weher Mother Theresa had here minsitry. This is the home of the Carmelite sisters. Willima Carey also ministered in Kolkata 200 years ago.

God is at work in India! Workers are rising up.

Please pray for Purnendu and the 15 that were trained.
Now I am off to Kathmandu, Nepal. I will be there with a team from my home church. Please pray for a meeting to explore doing church planting training with Nepalese leaders. I will also be training leaders from AWANA from Bangladesh, India and Nepal. More later

Lessons from Port-au-Prince Haiti one year after the earthquake

I spent the week in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. The tent cities were all over the city. I was told not much progress has been made. Some wood structures were put up in new developments on the city outskirts but people preferred to live in tents with people they know in familiar neighborhoods than in better housing with strangers. Also, many who had fled to rural areas to get out of the city for fear of the aftershocks have returned, finding life no better in e country and even less opportunities. So most of the people came back home. I don't want to minimize their plight. We walked through a tent city. The tents are side by side so there is no privacy; the squalor and nakedness were disheartening. We saw one lady standing in a basing pouring water over herself. We looked away because she had no other place to go.

The tents are better than nothing of course. I was told Habitat for Humanity is putting up wood structures that should last up to 10 years. Then what? The STEP seminary decided it was better to "build to last." So they bought a cement-block moulding machine and found some unemployed laborers to start a  micro-enterprise. So make the blocks; others sell them; and still others help people rebuild. The hardest thing is hauling the blocks and other building materials through the narrow alleys and tent cities to where the homes were to be built. So far, with the help of the seminary staff and students, they have put up two homes at a cost of $6,000 US each. They weren't impressive, but they were built to last.

In contrast, my friend Pastor Moise and family moved out of their nice cement block home and slept outdoors in a tent for a full year even though their home was standing. They are afraid to sleep under a cement structure because their boys’ school collapsed killing one son and burying the other for days. Now they all sleep together every night in an addition with a tin roof. Moise says, "What can I do? They could sleep at night. During the day we enjoy our home and at night we feel secure together here." But they are a happy family. We laughed and played together. And God is using them in amazing ways. Nine years ago they started with a handful of Christians and now the church assembles several hundred in a beautiful new building that is going up in the middle of the devastation. They started a school that goes from Grade one to high school and have the foundation and walls up for an orphanage. They too are building to last. But they are putting first things first: healing, security, and God's kingdom.

Lessons about the Harvest from a gathering of Europeans

We met in Willigen, Germany in the mountains of Sauerland. Linda and I went to encourage, strengthen, coach, advise and just be a blessing in any way we could. We also wanted to learn if church planters are making inroads in their post-modern, post-Christian, secular contexts.

Our director asked at one point "How many of you are experiencing great results at this time?" From what I saw only one couple among the 100 or so workers raised their hands. It was Paul and Kathy who are seeing a harvest among Bulgarian Turks in West Germany. The rest of the workers were seeing either moderate or very little fruit. Tim went on to share several theological truths about Europe. Here are some of them in my own words. I believe they apply to all of us who work in Western individualistic cultures:

1. God has a harvest time for every people group in Europe. We must believe in the harvest.

2. The harvest ripens rapidly in some places. In Europe it can take several generations. We must take the long view.

3. Society is fragmented and diversified with many layers of immigrants. We must look for the harvest in pockets - not massive church planting movements but local and regional breakthroughs.

4. It will take a spiritual battle. There will be a cost to see harvesting take place. We need great devotion, great faith, great sacrifice, and great perseverance.

5. Each one has a role to play (1 Cor. 3:1-5). Some till the soil, others sow, others water and still others reap. We must work hard, content and patient where God has called us. In time, we all share in the harvest and will all rejoice together.

6. We must not yield to pressure to glamorize the work or exaggerate the fruit. We live to please God, not man. Besides churches in the USA can't boast of great conversion rates and their soil is getting more and more like that of Europe.

7. We should discern "people of peace" (Luke 10) and other prepared people rather than invest indiscriminately, remembering God's words to Paul in Acts 18:10 "Do not be silent... I have many people in this city."

Here are some creative things workers in Europe are doing:

• In Toulouse, France, a couple is leading a multicultural team from Hong Kong, Germany, USA and Latin America. All those languages are represented by segments of the city. Some groups are meeting in coffee houses and in community centers. They use discussion forums. Now there are enough disciples and seekers to begin a new multicultural congregation and some French families are interested in getting involved. They will keep the easy access groups going.
• A team is coming together in Berlin. Rather than starting a traditional church they are looking to start a coffee house as a "third space" where believers and skeptics can meet. They will also find other safe venues for talking about spiritual things.
• A church planter in Lyons, France is encouraged by the willingess of people to voice their beliefs or lack of belief. Jonah says: "Expect them to share their frustration with organized religion. If you listen to them without arguing, you will have an opportunity to speak soon enough."
• The team in Rome partnered with a couple from another Mission organization to start a church. They decided to release the group to the care of the other couple and start over with evangelism and discipleship. "That is what we are called to do."
• By discipling and training Bulgarian Turks In Duisburg, Germany Paul and Kathy are seeing changed lives and families not only in their local community but also in Bulgaria. The newly converted Turks are going back and sharing their new faith with family and friends.
• There is an Iranian church growing in Belgium. Many reports tell of conversion and new churches among the Iranian diaspora.

 Pray for Europe. It has seen the gospel breakthrough several times in its history. The harvest many not look like the great fields of the America midwest; it will probably resemble the patchwork of fields that cover the European countryside... The key will be preparing workers from the harvest to go to new harvests.    

Americans and Czechs launch training together

(1) Four Czechs and three Americans whom God brought together to serve last week. Tomas is the one in the center.

(2) Linda Wilson and Linda Gunderson enjoyed a day of fellowship with the women who serve in Prague fulltime.

(3) Enjoying a laugh during our talk on setting healthy boundaries in ministry.

(4) Our ministry team in front of the statue of Jan Huss and the protestant martyrs.

On June 8-12 we offered a training called Mobilization for Multiplication (M-4-M) to Eastern Europeans church planters and leaders. We had a rich and wonderful time. Besides the trainers, 24 people came for all or part of the training. Most came from the Czech Republic but two came from Romania and one from Hungary. This was the first time the training was offered in Europe but it was very well received and we are invited back to do a second installment together. This type of partnering is so encouraging and will make the training better adapted to European realities. We learned that because of repeated invasions (Hapsburg, Nazi, Stalin), there is a fundamental distrust of leaders with a vision, a reticence to stand out, and an aversion to 5-year plans.

The two days before and two days following M-4M were devoted to team meetings. It was a special treat to have our wives along for the first time. Unfortunately two team members and their wives (from Asia and Africa) could not make it this time. A couple from Josiah Venture came from Poland to lead us in a discussion of how to find and develop emerging leaders. Twelve of us, Czechs and Americans, worked together to identify principles and best practices. We also did some peer coaching and discussed church planting internships that bring together local church planters with Americans for a year of ministry and learning.

(Gene with guys from Romania)

The women got together for a day of fellowship and mutual edification. They are super at asking questions, encouraging and coaching. It was such a blessing having them with us. One man said: “If you come back you have to bring your wives again. There are often conferences for the men but this is good for the couples.” God blessed the talk Linda and I gave on setting boundaries for a healthier marriage, family and life and my teaching sessions. We had some great interaction.

We usually train church planters. This time we had leaders from four European youth discipleship ministries involved, as well as pastors and church planters! Tomas Grulich (center of above picture), a church planting leader from the Czech Brethren and director of Tyrannus Hall ministry spoke for the group when he said: “These principles apply to Europe and to the Czech context in particular,” and invited us to return to help them teach the 3-day workshop to others next year. He added: “I want to know how to continue in church planting for all of the Czech Republic… Is there a place for me as a worker in this new program?”

Mark from Hungary shared: “I appreciated the fact that all the practices are from Scripture. They are God’s plan and this brings a sense of assurance.” Our team bonded as we worked together. We are praying about continuing this pattern of helping each other launch the training all over the world! We also spoke into each other’s lives through peer coaching.

(we had some laughs too!)

We enjoyed the city. We learned about Jan Huss, the Nazi occupation and the persecution under communism. Ritch (with 17 years in Prague) was a great guide, bridge and facilitator. That was an added blessing and now we understand our Czech brothers and sisters so much better. Linda and I had some good time together as a couple in this spectacular and romantic city.

1. Please pray for God’s word to bear fruit in discipleship reproduction for each person who was there.

2. Please pray for Ritch, Tomas and Gene as they plan follow-up. Ptray especially for Tomas to understand God’s leading for broader ministry in the Czech Rep.

3. Please pray for Gene as he prepares for Multiplying Church Globally, our annual Cross-Cultural Church Planting School June 28 to July 1.

This verse describes our experience: “And God is able to make ALL grace Abound to you, so that in ALL things, at ALL times, having ALL that you need, you will ABOUND in every good work.”.2 Corinthians 9:8

Gospel Movements in the Middle East



I had the privilege of spending a week in Lebanon, March 14-20. The occasion was a Church Planting Consultation lead by Joseph N. (can't use full names). My colleague Craig Ott and I taught and facilitated discussions and worked with them on strategic place. Joseph N. and Keith Rascher who work in this context all the time led the discussions about contextualization and collaboration for missional advance. My topic was developing Acts 19 movements in this context. We had a great group from Syria, Lebanon, Sudan, and Egypt of about 25 people. About 1/3 were movement leaders from Egypt, Syria and Lebanon, 1/3 local leaders from Beirut and 1/3 missionaries from the USA serving or considering serving in this context. I enjoyed working in a team. Discussions were lively and some subjects got emotional (like Latinos). Some of the most heated subjects were the shape of the church, the degree of contextualization, and what to do about buildings. There are places (Syria and Jordan) where groups cannot meet unless they are official and to be considered official they must own a building. One leader will lose official status which the church has worked hard to earn unless he can purchase a simple building within a month. Others are forbidden to own building and must meet secretly in home (H-zbollah areas of Lebanon for example). These people are mature workers who have been through it all. It's an honor to work with them.


I arrived a day before the training started and God blessed me with a special treat. I was able to go with a group to an archeological museum and to a site called Byblos that has digs from 4 civilizations and a crusader castle. The oldest fossils go back to the stone age (6000 BC) before the Phoenicians and Canaanites. Saturday I went to Baalbek (called Hieropolis by the Greeks) and the greatest Roman center of the whole region. What a joy to see Mt Hermon covered with snow and groves of Lebanese cedars up in the mountains.

There is a great diversity of types of ministry and types of responses. However almost all agree that this is an exceptional time of response among M-slim background people. One question is "How can they work together to impact other areas?" Pray for Joseph and Keith who will be discussing plans and leading the follow-up. Joseph is a great coach and visits them at least once a year and has a contact by phone, skype or email at least monthly. Joseph came to our Church Planter training in Minneapolis last year and took the coaching clinic with me. It's a joy to see him in action. In his former profession he was in charge of the entire Middle East for a major international company. But he and his wife have no regrets. There are plans in the works to continue to expand from Mauritania in the West to Afghanistan in the East. I will work primarily with Joseph but I made friends with five leaders who speak English or French and want to keep in touch. I will never be the same after this trip. My heart has been stretched. I empathize with these men because of their courage and because I live 13 years in Morocco as a youngster.

 

Can I share a true story our brother Ibrahim just shared over lunch? It brought tears to my eyes. I asked him how he became a Christian since he grew up in a M-slim home. He said it was through the witness of his brother and a miracle. He was rooming with his brother and serving as a sheik or imam in the local mosque. His brother prayed in his presence that God would stop the call to prayer. Ibrahim washed himself to prepare to lead prayer but the call to prayer didn't come. He went to see the head imam who was supposed to do the call and he said "I looked at the time and I saw the clock said 1 hour earlier than it actually was."



His brother came back to their home village to share the gospel. Their parents said "go away." The village elders told the family to stop him. They tied him to a chair and started threatening him with knives. They ended up stabbing him in the throat and he bled to death. When that happened his mom saw Jesus in place of her son and became a believer on the spot. Two weeks later his sister believed and 2 months later his father believed. Now 18 members of the family are believers. This is one story among a dozen I have heard.


One Lebanese leader lived for 11 years in Montreal and we are becoming friends. He is in the textile business. He asks for prayer as he needs to make a decision this week about where to serve God- in Lebanon or Quebec. Next year his oldest son goes to university. He has much more potential for study and work in Canada and there are 4 others kids. Yet Wajih loves to serve God bi-vocationally in his country. His pastor has asked him to prepare to take over the pastoral role but that would mean a great sacrifice for their family. He does not have theological training, though he is a mature elder in the church and teaches at times.


Unfortunately the little Arabic I remember is significantly different from Lebanese Arabic. So I can say the basic greetings and understand bits and pieces but can't converse. The Lebanese speak French and English as well. But the Syrians and Egyptians only speak Arabic. So I have to do a lot through an interpreter. They have simultaneous translation so that helps a lot.

Missional clarity is helping us make practical decisions

Missional clarity is important. It takes time and must come from the Lord. Sometimes it is precipitated by practical realities. For example, the opportunities to train and coach church planters are outpacing the resources. We need to be wise stewards. We believe God is answering and we want to put the focus on three priorities:

• Indigenous movement leaders over US staff
• Multiplication (church planting movements) over addition (isolated church plants) 
• Working with and through partners rather than going it alone 

God is helping us with focus.

Vision: A transformational church planting movement in every region we serve.

Mission: To develop church planting leaders and support systems* for the multiplication of kingdom communities globally.

That means we need to develop, empower and release those who lead movements of healthy, indigenous and reproducing churches. Sometimes a story is worh 1,000 words. I hope you will enjoy the parable of two trees and the examples of multiplication in Germany, Brazil and Liberia in this 4 minute video.

http://www.youtube.com/efcavideos

We need wisdom to help national leaders contextualize the church planting efforts and training. Please pray for the upcoming opportunities to train movement leaders and church planting in Church Multiplication.

Mar 14-20 Middle Eastern movement leaders in Beirut, Lebanon
April 9-15 Vietnamese church planting trainers in DaNang, Vietnam
June 7-15 Eastern European church planters in Prague, Czech Republic

Thank you for standing with us in this challenging and exciting time.

Gene and Linda

* Just as a healthy ecosystem supports plant life and healthy body systems support human life, ongoing training and coaching support healthy movements of reproducing churches.

Church Planting Movement in Liberia, West Africa




Liberia is on the West Coast of Africa. The North is predominantly Muslim and the South has a Christian majority, but most of those are nominal Christians. Christianity came with the freed slaved who established a Republic here. Later Liberia expanded to include animistic tribal groups so there is a real mix of religions, cultures and world views. My purpose for going was to come alongside a church planting movement there, evaluate their training, preach at their conference and spend time with Dave and other leaders. Please read the God-sightings after the pictures. God is so gracious.  

God provided a powerful generator so we could cpontinue after dark. It lit the whole compound and allowed us to use the sound system for worship.

The girls aged 7 to 13 had the job of getting water from the well. Some of them pushed huge containers in wheelbarrows. Others carried buckets on their heads.

The children and classes in the morning and played together afterwards. No organized child care but everyone looked out for the kids (collectivitic society).


The EFC of West Africa compound is just a mile from the ocean in Monrovia. The countryside is lush and beautiful.

David Kiamu with two co-founders of the EFCWA.

The trainees honored me with a surpise gift! - and african shirt that is worn by elders. They bought it themselves.

Childrens' classes

Children worker training, women's classes and discipleship training took place at the same time we were working with church planters.


The leaders met for their annual conference.

A nurse offered a free health clinic in the afternoon. The common problem was malaria.

I enjoyed preaching to such a great group. It grew from about 150 the first night to twice that during the commissioning service for the Kiamu family on Sunday.

R to L - David and Lucy Kiamu with their three girls. Their three boys were standing on the other side of Dave.

I made several new friends. This young man, Rufus, is an assistant poastor and Bible school student who has a vision of decentralized pastoral training centers all over Liberia.

The Red Light District of Monrovia


 

Church planting team leaders for Liberia

From Jan 10-16 Gene had the privilege of joining one of the members of his global church planting team, Dave Kiamu on the occasion of the annual conference of the Evangelical Free Church of West Africa. Dave and I had a couple days of coaching and learning. Five movements are working together in church planting unreached people groups. We met as a team before the conference started.

Dave and Lucy invited me to come and participate in their commissionning as Church Planting Director for ReachAfrica. I had been wanting to see first hand the church polanting movement and get to know Dave and his family better. I find that coaching is much more effective when you understand a person's context of ministry. No better way to do that than to spend time there and share in the ministry!

David Kiamu led four days of training for church planters. It is called Multiplication Church Planter training because the DNA of the churches planted and the planting process are simple and reproducible. I participated as coach and helped with questions. Dave has put together a facilitation team of 5 who took turns presenting.

Many prayed and God worked in powerful ways:

• One trainee said to the others (in Africa they usually give certificates of training completion but there were none prepared): "You would like a certificate but we haven't done anything yet. We were chosen especially to receive this training so that we will plant a new reproducing church and train others. Let's do that and then maybe we deserve a certificate."
• My luggage didn't make it through. But earlier, when I confirmed my flight, an agent suggested I take 2 extra sets of clothes and my essentials on my carry-on bag. It turned out the next flight was 2 days later so I was forewarned and made out OK.
• The heat was 90-95 degrees F and the days long, but the Lord gave strength to preach every night, coach church planters, and participate in the training. I didn't even get one headache or stomach ache!!!
• I had to scramble to adapt my messages to an oral-culture audience made up primarily of youth. I felt the Lord telling me to use a narrative style and a strong call to discipleship and missions. God gave unusual freedom and supernatural strength in preaching.
• The church planters had a wonderful sacrificial and pioneering spirit. Most have other jobs to support themselves and many have to leave their families for months to plant a church in an unreached area. Several shared how they had suffered during the war but the Lord had preserved them and they promised to serve him.
• The five movements divided up the counties of Liberia and each chose key cities to plant church planting training centers.  One of the conference resolutions was for each existing church to plant a daughter church in an unreached area every year. It doesn't seem like a realistic goal... but I love their passion for reaching the lost!
• Their track record backs up their kingdom ambition. We were celebrating the 10 anniversary of the movement. In 11 years, 17 liberian churches have been planted and a missionary sent to Sierra Leone. That missionatry was present and he shared how three churches have been planted in Muslim communities in Sierra Leone. Amazing!
• I made some wonderful new friends who are "young African lions" for God.