Tag / reproducible methods

by johnkking

Babies Birthing Babies

DMM counter-intuitives—“The best time for a church 2 plant a new church is when it is new.” Older churches want buildings, etc. (Ax 19:26).

In the text referred to above we find an angry silversmith named Demetrius railing, “Men, you know we receive a good income from this business. And you see and hear how this fellow Paul has convinced and led astray large numbers of people here in Ephesus and in practically the whole province of Asia. He says that man-made gods are no gods at all. There is danger that our trade will lose its good name…” (19:25-27).

No, this passage does not mention churches planting churches. But it indicates the gospel was spreading throughout the province of Asia (the Mediterranean coastal region of modern Turkey) and Demetrius blames Paul. How could this be?

We have found that when a Person of Peace is discipled through a process of facilitating his/her family’s discovery of God, they are learning to share the gospel as quickly as they hear it. By discipling an insider who is already trusted by the family/affinity group, we find many insiders realize they too are able to spread this good news. At every gathering they are asked who they know who needs to hear that day’s text. When they finally come back asking if they can bring their brother, cousin or friend, they are coached in starting a new discovery group. The process intentionally raises up disciple makers, not just learners.

Any evangelist realizes that the best time for a believer to reach family and friends is soon after coming to faith. The excitement and transformation are evident. It is likely that the contextual elements that created the opening for the gospel are also present in nearby friends and family. The longer this believer associates with other believers, the less capacity to reach not-yet-believers, unless evangelism is built into his/her spiritual DNA from the very beginning.

The Discovery process we utilize intentionally builds evangelism into every session. As those first people surrender to Jesus’ Lordship, they are reminded of the responsibility to make sure others are able to come to know him as Savior and Lord. Obedience to the Word of God has been an expectation built into their hearing from the very beginning. Exploring a passage that talks about sending Barnabas and Saul out produces a passion for sending some of the best and brightest out to nearby villages and regions. These new believers have a passion and zeal to spread the gospel to those they know and love.

The other advantage they have is the strategy that was implemented in reaching them is reproducible by them. Like us, they attempt to replicate what proved so powerful in them coming to know God. But unlike traditional missiology, the strategy they will employ has been stripped of the cultural elements that always appeared to be evidence of foreign oppression. Our approach is infinitely reproducible by new believers because it is simple enough to be implemented by not-yet believers who God has prepared.

Returning to Acts, Luke never mentions Paul leaving Ephesus during the three years he worked in that city. So why did Demetrius credit him with leading astray large numbers of people throughout the whole province of Asia? Read Colossians with an eye out for Epaphras.

by johnkking

Let the Lost Lead

DMM counter-intuitives—“Let the lost lead the Bible studies.” Lost people can facilitate reproducible inductive (3-column) Bible studies.

Of all these head-scratching statements, this is probably the most rejected. Last week I spent time with a brother who has introduced disciple making into cross-cultural mission work he has been doing in West Africa. He and his wife also shared these ideas with her brother who lives in New Zealand. His brother-in-law had tried to disciple a study group, but since he had never experienced a Discovery Bible Study he modeled a teaching-heavy approach. While some he was trying to reach were willing to try leading one, none would agree to doing it more than the first time. When my friend visited he offered to facilitate the study. After the study one of the New Zealanders spoke up, “If that is what leading a study looks like, I can do that!” What do you model when it comes to facilitating a Bible study?

“You can’t seriously let lost people lead Bible studies!” is one response we hear. “There aren’t lost people who are willing to lead a Bible study,” is another assumption. Both reflect a failure to understand what a Person of Peace is. The lost who facilitate Discovery Bible Studies are always Persons of Peace.

A Person of Peace is someone God prepares to serve as a bridge to his/her household/affinity group. This person already is looked to as a leader, so we are not putting a lost person into a leadership position. We do equip this person to facilitate a Discovery Bible Study. This coaching is done through a relationship that has begun around the spiritual openness of this person. We have met this person by being “overtly spiritual without being obnoxiously religious.” We openly point to God and what we are learning about him and his expectations for our lives as we interact with people. Our purpose for these comments is to identify and connect with Persons of Peace. After we find them (or they find us), then a relationship is built that leads to the point of willingness to lead their circle of influence in a discovery process.

Persons of Peace do not teach their family and/ or friends. They do lead the group in a process of hearing Bible stories and asking what they reveal about God and people along with what obedience to the passage entails and who they know who needs to hear these stories. The purpose of Discovery Studies is to facilitate a discovery process. No one has to teach. Together the group explores what God is like in the passages they encounter.

The beautiful thing about this type of study is many participants find it easily reproduced. They realize they, too, can facilitate this style of study. Many become willing to take this type of study to other family members, friends and co-workers.  Let the lost lead so many learn how to facilitate!

by johnkking

You Will Lose Your Job!

DMM counter-intuitives—“It’s about discovery not preaching.” Jesus used questions so people discover the kingdom of heaven (Mt. 13:44-46).

I first heard about what we are calling Disciple Making Movements (DMMs) in November of 2003. My wife and I had been invited to a fund-raising dinner and we just could not say, “No.” As we listened to stories about what God has been doing among the Bhoujpori in Northern India, I noticed a passion in my heart to go to West Africa to envision what he might do there. While I did very traditional up-front teaching there that first trip, I was invited back to do something that was revolutionary the next year.

Between those trips in 2004 and 2005 I listened to CDs of the training that was held in March of 2005, many times. As I began to formulate my plans for training Africans in doing their own inductive Bible studies, I shared some of my thoughts with a College/Young Adults class I was teaching. One of the students told me after class one Sunday, “You realize that if people here buy into this you will end up losing your job, don’t you?” I told him I was willing for that to happen for real transformation to happen, but I figured there would be training I could do even if my position as a preacher was no longer needed.

DMMs are not dependent upon preachers, pastors or other religious professionals. These roles often become obstacles to movements. As we know them, they generally reflect a spectator/performer cultural role more than the biblical function of proclamation upon which they were originally based. But I am talking more about Western traditions than the heart of this counter intuitive.

Biblical proclamation calls hearers to investigate truth claims. It engages the audience in a process of evaluation of spiritual insights. Jesus was the best at it the world has ever seen. He called his disciples and his audiences to a process of checking out the validity of his claims. He launched them into an exploratory process of discovering what God has revealed of himself and whether or not Jesus truly is God’s Son—his exact representation. Everyone comes to personal faith through a discovery process—everyone! God does not have any grandchildren. You don’t get into his family on someone else’s faith. You may start down the road on the faith of others, but ultimately you will accept or reject it based on your life experience (which includes others much more significantly in non-Western areas of our world).

Watching Jesus make disciples in the gospels has convicted me of the incredible role good questions play in the process of discovery. He asked the disciples, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?” (Matthew 16:13). They needed to chew on the options that people were batting around. After that happens, “But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?” (Matthew 16:15). Are they going to agree with one of the current theories? Does Jesus make them think of John, Elijah or Jeremiah?

After Peter answers, Jesus pronounces a blessing upon him for getting this revelation from God. Who taught Peter, Jesus’ identity? Who is going to teach the identity of Jesus to people today? We intentionally pursue a process of discovery for this very reason.

Yes, it is easier for us to give people the answers, in the short-term. But there are tragic consequences when they don’t learn to discern them. We avoid damaging dependency through discovery.

Yes, I lost my job. Not because people decided they did not need me any longer. I fell in love with the discovery process and my passion for training others in that overwhelmed my desire to have people dependent upon me.

by johnkking

A Novice Insider? Really!?

Counter-Intuitives—A novice insider is more effective than highly trained, mature outsider.

If you have read my last two articles, you know that we focus on discipling disciple makers. Our goal in identifying a Person of Peace is not just to see him/her come to know Jesus or even to reach the extended family—our ultimate goal is to reach a community in such a way that they are discipled in how to reach another community.

While cross-cultural workers make significant contributions to Disciple Making Movements (DMMs), this counter-intuitive statement emphasizes the strategic value of insiders. But note, it explicitly highlights the value of a “novice” insider. Why? Why would we value novice insiders so highly?

True movements only happen when the process is infinitely reproducible. When your strategy depends on expensive, time-consuming practices, you will not launch a movement. Let me use an illustration to help you see the point. While American football is the most popular professional sport in the United States, it has not spread to other parts of the world. The name, football, is reserved throughout most of the rest of the world for what we call soccer. Why? Why is soccer so wildly popular throughout the world?

Soccer is infinitely reproducible. It is a simple game that demands very little equipment. You can travel most anywhere in the world and you will likely find a soccer field. If you travel internationally I encourage you to carry a couple of new soccer balls and a small hand pump. I assure you children will know what to do with a ball after you air it up and give it to them. They will be incredibly happy to put your gift to use.

When you train a Person of Peace to facilitate his/her extended family in discovering who God is, you are launching the reproductive engine of a DMM. Any of that first group can reproduce what they experience anywhere they have friends or family who are open to the gospel. The fact that this person is not highly trained is actually a blessing. Others recognize they too can do it because the process does not require Bible college degrees or decades of experience.

Most of the Western church models a slow form of reproduction because we make our Bible studies dependent upon highly-trained, highly experienced Bible teachers and preachers. By contrast, Disciple Making Movements tap into a sweet spot that every evangelist knows already. The best resource for evangelistic outreach is a brand new believer. The first two years after coming to faith is a fruitful sweet spot. One reason this is true is because most of their closest relationships are with not yet saved people. Another reason is the transformation in those years is the greatest—God’s impact on their walk is evident.

When God stirs the heart of a Person of Peace and brings a disciple maker into the picture, powerful things can happen. Stop spending your time frustrating people who do not want to hear the gospel (yet) and start using your time looking for the lost people God is preparing. This is where an abundant harvest arises!

by johnkking

So Much Potential!

A few weeks ago I was attending a “Pass the Salt” luncheon. It meets most Wednesdays here in Murfreesboro and the focus is encouraging believers to exert kingdom influence in the marketplace. A good friend was speaking. He told amazing stories about God’s move among Muslim people in Africa. The message that God is touching historically resistant people captured the attention of another man who was present.

The second guy introduced himself to me and we started talking about some of the trips I had made to Africa with the speaker. Eventually our mutual friend started talking with both of us. The guy I had just met asked the speaker to mentor him in doing the same kind of outreach here in some neighborhoods where he had been working for a while. The speaker suggested I would be the better candidate for training and mentoring him, so a new relationship was begun.

We have been meeting weekly for just over a month. This brother clearly has a heart for the neighborhoods he mentioned and has gained credibility among several people there. As I introduced him to Discovery Bible Studies (DBS) he started to see that they may hold great potential. While it took him a few meetings to get his brain wrapped around the counter-intuitive approaches, he quickly grasped the concept of a Person of Peace opening his/her family to the good news of the kingdom and he was convinced he already knew some (last week he expressed there may be as many as 17).

After he set up the first gatherings through one of these possible Persons of Peace he called to see if we could meet quickly so I could review what should take place in a DBS. Our schedules allowed us to meet immediately and we reviewed the eight questions that drive these studies. He was excited about what would come from this gathering.

Last Wednesday he shared that there were seven people present for the DBS. They were all invited by a guy who had just been released from jail two weeks ago. Five of the seven were totally unchurched. Each found the format enjoyable and non-threatening. One confessed he usually stayed away from religious discussions, but this was different. Another participated freely even though she usually did not talk in group settings. It will be interesting hearing how their second Discovering God study went when we meet again.

While this group is very much in the infant stage, I wanted to share about it to tell about a specific point. The guy that I am training/mentoring told me that he needed to talk about an idea he had. He was just “running it by” me and was not sure whether he was set on this yet, but wanted my input. He said, “I am thinking I will facilitate the group for about six meetings and then hand it off to the Person of Peace.” Though I am confident I had already talked with him about the need to train the Person of Peace to facilitate much earlier than that, it was obvious this had not sunk in, yet.

I reminded him that the goal is to make sure everything we do is reproducible. Those who are participating need to be able to do what we do in a DBS from day one. This is one reason we keep all the discussion tied to that day’s passage and always steer the conversation back by saying, “Help me see where you find that in the verses we read.” We want anyone to be able to reproduce what happens in a DBS.

Then I reiterated that he should not facilitate more than two or three of the gatherings. The earlier he gets the Person of Peace to agree to facilitate the greater the likelihood is that additional DBSs will multiply from this one. As God’s Spirit produces transformation in the lives of these people, they will begin to talk about what is happening in the studies with others. This is when they will probably ask about inviting new people to the group. Rather than doing that, it is better to begin coaching that group member in facilitating a study where that new person invites other family and friends to participate. If this person has seen the Person of Peace facilitate the DBS, then he/she is more likely to be willing to give it a try. The longer it takes for the transition to happen, the less likely it will happen. Then the whole process is restricted by the ability of one person to facilitate multiple studies.

This is why we talk about focusing on the few to reach the many and going slow to go fast. This process of reproduction benefits those who learn to facilitate a second-generation group. They are studying these passages that reveal God’s character multiple times. First, with their original group. Second, when they are being trained to facilitate the second-generation group. Third, with the second-generation group. Also, they are quickly imitating what they have witnessed and this process has them handling God’s Word at successively deeper levels.

Often when believers first hear about this process they doubt it can really happen. Even if they believe it happened in India or Africa, they are sure it cannot happen here in America. What they really doubt is that what happens in such a discovery study can produce enough positive effects that participants will become motivated to help others experience it, too. They are really revealing that their handling of Scriptures does not produce enough fruit in their lives to motivate them to share what they are learning with others. If they are not willing to pass this on, they cannot envision DBSs accomplishing more.

Recent interviews with people in the U.S. who are being blessed by such DBSs drove this point home for me. People who are discipling multiple people who are facilitating DBSs realized that around the fourth or fifth studies the participants recognized that they were being changed by what happens in the gatherings. Upon this realization they begin actively telling others about Discovering God. As they talk it up, they eventually encounter others who are open to experiencing the same and second, third or fourth generation groups begin. The key is keeping this easily reproducible so those who start talking it up are able to envision themselves facilitating this group or coaching the Peron of Peace to facilitate it from day one.

The guy I am discipling said something astute about the Person of Peace who pulled together this first group–“He has so much potential! I could see him reaching so many people.”

by johnkking

DBS and 3-Column Studies

Yesterday I enjoyed an hour-long phone conversation with a brother who is returning to Benin for a short-term mission trip among some Aja believers. He had served as a cross-cultural missionary among these people for several years before moving back to the States. Now he goes back periodically to encourage them and do some teaching, coaching and mentoring.

He told me that he had introduced the Discovery Bible Study approach to these people a couple of years ago. He was wanting my feedback on what he was planning to do on this upcoming trip. In the course of our discussion he exclaimed, “I did not understand that. I have probably caused a lot of frustration among these people!”

What had he just understood? What light had come on for my friend?

Discovery Bible Studies and 3-Column Studies are not identical. They overlap. They dove-tail well when they are used among people who are functional literates, but even then they are not the same.

A 3-Column Study is primarily an individualistic inductive study. An individual writes out a short section of Scripture, copying it into the left-hand column in a word-for-word style. Then he/she paraphrases the same passage in her/his own words in the middle column. In the third column the person itemizes what he/she will do to obey–put into practice–this passage.

This is an inductive study because all the meaning comes directly from the text. In re-writing the passage you include who is speaking and to whom. You include what the author/speaker wants the audience to understand from the events that transpire. If the time frame is significant, then “When?” is a question that is answered in the re-telling. Where these events take place is also revealed. Why these events are significant is declared. How the desired outcome takes place is also revealed. Basic reading comprehension is reported in the middle column.

In the third column the student records what she/he hears from the text that should be applied to his/her life. Ownership is taken by using the format of starting each line with the words “I Will…” (I once had a friend tell me that someone in one of my classes said he never did the 3rd column because if he wrote these using the “I will…” start he would feel like he had to obey them.)

Completing this process can be very valuable for any student of God’s Word who is functionally literate. It can be richly rewarding because it slows you down and has you “handle” Scriptures. (Have you ever considered that in Jesus’ day there was a group of spiritual leaders who were formed by the practice of writing Scripture–the Scribes? Their shortcoming was their refusal to obey what they learned by copying God’s Word.) It is valuable because it prepares you to tell someone else what you hear God saying through a specific text. It also serves as a historical document describing what you realize you need to do to submit to God’s teaching from a particular passage.

But 3-Column Studies are not going to work with functionally illiterate people. They will not work with those who do not know how to read and write. They will not work with oral learners. These people either are unable to read and write, or they strongly prefer not to do so. But we must remember that Scriptures were primarily written to be heard. “Hear, oh Israel…” “Let him who has ears to hear…”

People who will never read or write can orally do the equivalent of a 3-Column Study. The format we recommend for that to happen is a Discovery Bible Study. Here the process is done through speaking and listening. Here the text is read or told well. If it is read, it is probably best if it is read well twice. At the appropriate time it should first be read from a trade language translation. Follow that with a heart language translation if that is available.

Whenever a group gathers, to do a discovery study (whether they have previously done a 3-column study or not), there is a very valuable format for them to follow. It actually entails discipling them (primarily by modelling and by you coaching an insider who will facilitate the process in his/her household) to ask and answer eight questions during their gathering:

  • What has gone well lately that gave you joy?
  • What has caused you, or someone you know, stress lately?
  • How did the efforts to help with the stressor we picked last time go?

[Have the passage read twice/told. Have someone  re-tell the passage. Ask others to fill in any significant details that were omitted when the passage was re-told.]

  • What do you learn about God from this passage?
  • What do you learn about humanity from this passage?
  • What would obedience to this passage look like in our lives?
  • Who do you know who needs to hear what we have learned today?
  • Which of the stressful things that were mentioned earlier can we help to overcome?

By following this format groups discover many things. They discover something about God’s nature and work. They discover that they can help each other with stressful situations. They discover the value of being thankful. They discover the benefits that come from hearing, understanding and practicing God’s Word as a group. They discover how obedience to a passage is transformational. They discover how to minster to others. They discover the importance of sharing what they are learning with others.

Everything in the Discovery Bible Study is done orally. It can be done by people who love to read and write. It can be done by those who hate to read or write. It can be done by those who are unable to read and write. It involves people in a very reproducible process of coming to Scripture and submitting to what it is teaching.

My friend had been trying to get people who are oral learners to use a literate process. I can relate; I have attempted the same thing. I know I have frustrated many, too.

Don’t get me wrong–writing out 3-Column Studies is extremely valuable for anyone who will consistently do them! These written studies become a great testimony to how God has been transforming your life over a period of time. But there is great value in doing Discovery Bible Studies. Those who only do 3-Column Studies will miss much richness that comes only from being part of a community that is opening itself to God’s Word.

Since you are reading this blog, I know you can benefit from using both formats. Doing a 3-Column Study would be a great way to prepare to facilitate a Discovery Bible Study. Pass it on to any who read and write, but invest your primary energies into getting others to do Discovery Bible Studies. Make sure they know they can open themselves to God whether they like to read or write or not!

by johnkking

Two Remarkable Conversations

One was a young Jewish lady who is training to become a nurse. She said, “Africa is calling my name.” The other was a mother of a six-year old daughter who told me, with tears in her eyes, “No, I cannot picture myself in God’s lap hearing him say, ‘I am proud of you!'”

I traveled to Dallas two days ago to hear news of great things God is doing in Asia. While there I led a devotional for the group. We looked at Ephesians 1:15-23 and Ephesians 3:14-21. Both texts model great intercession and discuss the fact that being on mission with God requires divine power. Paul prayed that the churches planted through the Multiplying Ministry he launched from Ephesus, throughout Asia, would experience God’s “incomparably great power for us who believe” (1:19).

Paul also prayed they would grasp the vastness of Christ’s love so they would “be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God” (3:19). Imagine that! Jesus’s love can produce the fullness of God in us. Then, Paul states a mind-blowing promise–God is “able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us” (3:20). I am claiming that promise!

Claiming his promise brings me back to those two ladies I mentioned earlier. The first one was in her twenties and had a bubbly personality. She quickly said, “This is only my second flight! Are you a frequent flyer?” I briefly mentioned some of my international flights. She really perked up when I mentioned Africa. “Africa has my name!” she said excitedly. After finding out she was in nursing school, I told her she could do much good in Africa.

Eventually the conversation died down and she pulled out her book. I got out my Kindle and returned to Neil Cole’s book, Church 3.0. After a while I noticed she had fallen asleep. Later she woke from her nap as drinks were being served.

When we returned to our earlier conversation I said, “My first international flight was to Israel.” She really became animated. She told me she was a practicing Jew and was excited she would be able to make a pilgrimage to the Holy Land next year. She started asking questions about my trip. I was able to describe some of the remarkably unique characteristics of the tiny strip of land we call Israel.

Before traveling there I did not realize you can stand on a high point in Jerusalem and see the borders to the north, south, east and west. I pointed out to her that this narrow land bridge connects Eur-Asia to Africa. Because of the desert to the east, all the land routes passed through this region. God had called Abraham and his people to this hallway between the largest landmasses of the world. “What an awesome way to put his people on display for the nations!” I praised him. She said, “I never thought about it like that.”

Then she turned to tell me that her parents were divorced and her mom had recently converted to Christianity. Her mom was baptized in Israel on a trip last year. Now she said that her mom wanted her to read the New Testament to be “well-rounded.”

I said, “Well, with the exception of Luke and Acts which were written by a Gentile, the rest of the New Testament is the largest block of Jewish writings from the first century.” I proceeded to tell her that the first four books tell the story of Jesus for the sake of communicating it well to four different people groups. Matthew writes for a more Jewish audience. Mark tells the story of Jesus for Romans. Of course, Luke writes for Gentiles. Then John seems to tell it for a more Eastern mind-set. She asked, “Now which one was for Jewish readers?” I told her it was Matthew, the first one and gave a few illustrations. She seemed intrigued. We were taxing into DFW airport, so our conversation ended.

On the return flight I noticed that the lady sitting next to me had on a jacket with a Belmont University logo. I said, “Oh, are you a student at Belmont?”

She said, “No, I have worked there for seventeen years!” So I asked if she was on the faculty and she said, “I am an adjunct faculty member, but I work full-time in the recreation department.”

She asked about my work and I told her that I had gone to a conference in Dallas because of my work training indigenous church planters in Africa. She seemed interested so I shared the four questions we train them to use when they facilitate Discovery Bible Studies. After she asked a question I told her that the third question about obedience is where inner transformation takes hold. When she showed and openness to hearing more I shared the S.P.E.C.K. questions that can help us discover how to obey any passage. As I got to the third “P”–“Is there a Promise here that I can claim?” I mentioned the promise in Ephesians 3:20 of God’s willingness and ability to give us more.

A question popped into my mind, right at this point. I asked it–“Can’t you just picture yourself crawling up in God’s lap to ask him for something and hearing him say, ‘You make me so proud!”?

As she fought back the tears she said, “No. I know he exists, and I know he is able, but I am not worthy of that. He is Sovereign and he can do what he wants. I don’t want to risk asking for something he does not want to give me and getting a ‘No.'”

My heart just ached. But I had solid confirmation that she is churched. Sovereign is a word you only hear from church people. It turns out she is a pastor’s wife for a church that has been shrinking from 70 to 50 since they have been working with them.

I reminded her of Jesus’ story about the Prodigal Son, pointing out that the younger boy was not worthy of Papa’s extravagant grace. While he’s practicing his “I’m unworthy” speech his dad is running to receive him back as his son.

I returned to finish the letters “E.C.K.” Then I asked, “Does that make sense? Can you think of somewhere you might do that kind of study?”

“Well, I was actually thinking about that and had begun to think maybe I could do it in a Bible study with some of the girls who work for me. We employ over 100 of our students. Up until two years ago I always did a Bible study with some of them. Maybe I can start one using this approach this fall.”

Our flight landed and we started to de-plane. Since I had an aisle seat, I stepped out and back to allow her and the lady across from my seat out. We walked through the plane, out to the concourse. She stepped aside to let the other lady go by saying, “I will wait on my co-worker.” As I passed, she said, “Thank you.”

I said, “I will pray that you find a Lady of Peace–one of those girls who works for you who will be willing to invite her friends for the study. That way you can harvest grapes and bananas, rather than apples and oranges.”

Wow, I have never had one conversation like those, let alone two. Isn’t it just like “The Impossibility Specialist” to give me these two interactions? I praise Papa for the Holy Spirit leading me through these conversations! I do pray the first lady reads Matthew and finds her heart burning in her. I pray the second one finds a Person of Peace and experiences the joy of God’s pleasure as she uses this awesome group harvesting strategy!