teaching... or teaching to obey?

As missionaries (or pastors/leaders), how many times have we experienced the following scenario? We plan/organize a conference to “train” people in evangelism and church planting. We may invite guest teachers from a partner church or mission agency. The participants are fired up about starting new churches, and represent a good cross-section of volunteer and paid workers. The program is inspirational, everyone is happy, they go home after the conference is over… and then nothing changes. There is little or no result from all of this “training”.

One thing that I have learned from this type of experience and confirmed for myself from Scripture: “teaching” and “training” is not the same thing. Teaching will produce more knowledge, while training will result in more application. Let’s look closer at what Jesus commanded in the Great Commission to help us understand this distinction.

“And Jesus came and spoke to them (his disciples), saying, ‘All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations (people groups), baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe (obey) all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age’ (Mt. 28:18-20).”

“Teaching them to obey” is training that will reproduce disciples, churches and leaders. Jesus did not say, “Teach them everything I commanded you.” He said, “Teach them to OBEY everything I commanded you.” Training = Teaching to Obey. It is not our duty to teach the newly planted church all they will need to know and do. But we must establish a pattern they will follow and that will lead them to obey the Lord every time He speaks from His word. We call this “obedience-based discipleship”. It is very different from teaching only to gain more knowledge.

Paul gave Timothy a pattern for obedience-based discipleship. In 2 Timothy 3:16,17 Paul says to Timothy: “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine (teaching process that is training), for reproof (rebuke), correction (repentance), for instruction in righteousness (right-living), that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.”

All of God’s word is good for teaching (training) us, by showing us what is wrong (rebuke), showing us what is right (correction/repentance), and how to continue to live right (instruction in righteousness). If we follow this pattern of training from Scripture, we will be complete (mature) men of God and equipped for every good work, which includes training others. This pattern for training from Paul can serve as a guide to help us know how to teach others to obey the word of God/commands of Christ. We use this pattern from Paul in our training in South Asia:

1. Teaching – We ask, “What is the main teaching of this story/passage?”
2. Rebuke – We ask, “What example should we not follow in this story/passage?” (Ask this only if there is something in the passage that we should not imitate).
3. Correction – We ask, “What example should we follow in this story/passage?” (Ask this only if there is something in the passage that we should imitate).
4. Instruction in Right Living – We ask, “How will you follow the good example in this story/passage?” And/or – (if there is a command) -
“How will you obey the command given in this story/passage?” (Ask these last two questions to help us think how to personally apply the teaching to our particular situation for right living).

We can follow this pattern for training for all of God’s word. We must ask questions that lead to dialogue. Jesus used stories, questions and dialogue in his training. If we do all of the talking, it is unlikely our trainees are “getting it”. If they give verbal feedback, this will indicate how much of the teaching they really grasp. We may have to ask sub-questions to draw trainees into articulating the teaching for themselves. The sub-questions are open-ended, no questions with “yes” or “no” answers. Explanation should be kept to a minimum until trainees have attempted to express the teaching in their own words.

This process will turn our teaching into training, or “teaching them to obey”. This pattern for training can be outlined in the following manner:

MODEL
1. Prayer/Praise
2. Model Telling of New Bible Story/Passage - Model
3. Repetition
4. Questions/Dialogue (2 Tim. 3:16 Outline)
5. Observe Practice of Trainees - Observe
6. Assignments - Delegate
7. Prayer/Praise - Encourage/Leave

RE-MODEL
1. Prayer/Praise
2. Review Previous Lesson and Assignments - Report
3. Reports on Assignments - Encourage
4. Encouragement and Prayer
5. Model New Bible Story/Passage - Model
6. Repetition
7. Questions/Dialogue (2 Tim. 3:16 Outline)
8. Observe Practice of Trainees - Observe
9. Assignments - Delegate
10. Prayer/Praise - Encourage/Leave

The above outline is only one way to train, or “teach them to obey”. There can be many variations of this that will work in different cultures or settings. It is a process that we have used to train indigenous church planters to reproduce disciples, churches and leaders in our context. It requires meeting with disciples regularly over a period of time, and not just a one-time conference. We praise God for reports of more than 800 new baptized believers in over 100 new churches in the past year.

Of course, I have not fully explained the process here, but only gave an outline. Maybe this is something that can be adapted for your work? Do you have a pattern for training, or a way for “teaching them to obey” that works in your context? Are we teaching... or teaching to obey?

book tag

Okay, I was tagged by David Rogers ... So here goes...

1. One book that changed your life: Improving Your Serve by Charles Swindoll (during College days).
2. One book that you’ve read more than once: Abide in Christ by Andrew Murray (and several other works by him).
3. One book I’d want on a desert island: 101 Recipes for Fish (using nature's finest ingredients at hand, of course).
4. One book that made me laugh: I can't think of any right now, any recommendations?
5. One book that made me cry: Trig and Calculus Text Books from school days.
6. One book that you wish you had written: The Spontaneous Expansion of the Church by Roland Allen (not really, I just like this book).
7. One book you wish had never been written: The Trail of Blood by ? (can't remember).
8. One book that you are currently reading: Spiritual Leadership by Henry and Richard Blackaby (for the second time and yes, I like J. Oswald Sander's classic as well).
9. One book that you’ve been meaning to read: The Training of The Twelve by Alexander Balmain Bruce.

cpm... for every context?

In many of our discussions about mission, I see the word "context" used quite frequently. We usually bring out that word when someone describes something that God is doing among their people group but we don't see that happening in our "context". Just to clarify, I think we are using the word to describe our: circumstance, situation, framework, perspective or environment. Somewhere along the way we hear, "That may be the case in your field, but it does not work that way in our context." In other words, what works in one part of the world among a particular people, does not work in a different circumstance.

I am good at generalizing and over-simplifying things. So bear with me here as I attempt to describe a few of my observations about missionary environments. (BTW - when I use the word "nation" I am referring to a people group).

1. Third-world Unevangelized Context - Much of the 10/40 window would fall into this category. Underdeveloped nations with little or no Christian presence. This is the context where we see most of today's church planting movements.

2. Third-world Evangelized Context - Many African nations (not all) fall into this category. Underdeveloped nations with a large percentage of the population professing to be evangelical Christian. There are great numbers of churches, denominations and organizations focusing on the reached people groups. There are pockets of lostness, neglected people groups/population segments in the same countries.

3. Industrial Unevangelized Context - A few Latin countries and many Asian nations are in this category. Emerging developed nations with little or no Christian presence.

4. Industrial Evangelized Context - Most of Latin America is in this category. Emerging developed nations with a large percentage of evangelical Christians. Again, there may be unreached people groups or segments in the same highly evangelized country.

5. Post-Industrial Unevangelized Context - Most of Western Europe and some parts of the U.S. are in this category. Developed countries with little evangelical presence or very little among certain segments.

6. Post-Industrial Evangelized Context - A few Asian countries, most of the U.S. and very few overall in this category. Developed countries with large evangelical presence. Pockets of lostness found in newer generations emerging.

I know that there is better terminology out there and well researched data about this sort of thing, I am just mentioning some very general contexts that I observe in the world today. Now, maybe you would like to add to or take away from what I offer here, that is fine, go ahead. This is not meant to be an academic exercise. I have a question:

Is it possible to see a type of church planting movement in each of these environments (or any other context you may define)? A church planting movement is defined as: Indigenous churches rapidly multiplying among the people of that culture so that everyone can access the good news of Jesus Christ.

Here are some general stages of development I observe as nations/people groups are evangelized through church planting movements:

A. In the beginning of a movement where there is very little or no evangelical Christian presence, small groups/house churches reproduce and multiply to spread the gospel. There will be certain individuals that God will use mightily to stimulate and nurture this initial stage of development.

B. As the gospel is spread far and wide through small reproducible groups/house churches, there will be church development that will produce larger congregations. Some small groups/house churches will die, some will remain small but network with others, some will combine with others to create larger congregations. Another type of leader emerges in this stage to train others and deepen the maturity of the churches.

C. Some of the congregations will develop into mega churches with cell groups. During this stage believers will access mass media to saturate regions with the gospel. Christian sub-cultures will develop and the gospel will not reach into every segment. Sophisticated and well-groomed leadership characterize this stage of development.

Okay, I know I have used some very broad brushstrokes here. Please forgive me for that. The purpose is to get us thinking about our context. In what context do you find yourself working? Can you identify with any of the situations I have described? Is cpm possible in your context?

prayer update

The anti-Christian groups continue opposition in John's area. But the work is growing in spite of their efforts. John*, the doctor and another leader (Dan*) are doing well. They are penetrating some new villages. The doctor is evangelizing his home village which is 7 kms away from where he practices medicine. People there are very interested in the gospel.

In the midst of the persecution, John baptized 23 new believers. There were 60 baptisms reported in this area by four different church planters during the last ten days. More believers are ready for baptism, but because of flooding (not because of persecution), they had to postpone.

Thank you for praying, continue to pray for boldness in the face of opposition.

*pseudonyms