Church Planters Serve The Gospel

 

Hello my brother; hello my sister, my name is Dean Davis, and this is a word of encouragement for village church planters.

I am so glad that you have chosen to be a church planter.  I am so glad that you accepted the challenge when a pastor or a trainer asked you to consider taking on the role of sharing the Good News of Jesus in a village without a church. It’s not easy. And I want you to know that I know it is not easy for you.  Your friends and neighbors may think it is easy for you, but they do not know what it means to plan and pray and speak so that people might know and follow Christ.  They don’t know what it means to long for spiritual breakthroughs in the lives of people you have chosen to love. They don’t know the sadness and even discouragement that can come when you long for people to trust and obey Jesus, but they just don’t seem to understand or to have the faith to make the hard decisions required to walk in the path Jesus is pointing out to them. It’s not easy.  But it is good. It is good that you are a church planter. It’s good for you and it’s good for the people you serve and it glorifies and honors the God who loves you and sent his Son to save you.

This is the second episode in a series of podcasts based on Paul’s letter to the Colossians.  Lord willing, there will be many more. Let me encourage you to read Paul’s letter to the Colossians or listen to it on your smartphone.  It is found in the New Testament after Philippians and before 1 Thessalonians. In the coming days, I will be speaking about many themes found in this letter that can help us understand Paul as an exemplary church planter. The more familiar you are with this letter, the more my words of encouragement will make sense to you.

Paul was a church planter and an apostle.  But he understood himself to be a servant.  He wrote about the Good News of Jesus in chapter 1 saying, “This is the gospel that you heard and that has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven, and of which I, Paul, have become a servant. Now I rejoice in what I am suffering for you, and I fill up in my flesh what is still lacking in regard to Christ’s afflictions, for the sake of his body, which is the church. I have become its servant by the commission God gave me to present to you the word of God in its fullness.

Paul understood himself to be a servant of the Gospel and he understood himself to a servant of the body of Christ, the Church.  This is amazing because Paul was a big man. Not physically big, big and important among the early Christians.  But he did not understand himself to be the boss.  He understood that the Gospel bossed him.  He was a servant of the Gospel. As a servant, he was willing to suffer to do whatever was necessary so that the Gospel could be understood.  As a servant of the Gospel, he did whatever was necessary so that the Gospel could transform the lives of people who heard it. Paul was a servant and the Gospel was his master.  Paul understood what the Gospel wanted and he worked to fulfill the Gospel’s goals.  The Gospel wants to be proclaimed.  The Gospel wants to be understood.  The Gospel wants to transform.  The Gospel wants to save.

Paul is one of our examples of what it means to be a great church planter.  Great church planters serve the Gospel.  They serve the Gospel even when it’s hard, even when they are misunderstood, even when serving the Gospel means personal suffering.

Ask God to give you the grace and strength you need to continue being a servant of the Gospel.  God is good. He longs to hear such prayers and to pour out his life-giving grace on you.

This has been a word of encouragement for Village Church Planters.

If you have found this message to be helpful, please forward it to fellow church planters and disciple-makers who may need encouragement.  Feel free to share it on What’s App, Facebook, and other platforms you use to connect with others.

Be encouraged, God is with us! EC-02

#EncouragementforVillageChurchPlanters #Colossians #ServeTheGospel

www.vcpoencouragement.org

The Thankful Church Planter

 

Hello my brother; hello my sister, my name is Dean Davis, and this is a word of encouragement for village church planters.

If you have been listening to these podcasts for a while, you know that I share brief messages that I hope will encourage you as you work to plant multiplying churches in villages that have no churches. Usually my messages are based on lessons from the New Village Church Planting Program used in 23 countries across Africa. 

But for the next few months, I will base my messages on the letter that the Apostle Paul sent to the church in Colossae.  Paul was a follower of Jesus who had persecuted the church.  But Jesus called him to stop persecuting the believers and to instead serve Jesus as a chosen instrument to take the Good News to the Gentiles. Gentiles are people who do not practice the Jewish faith. If you are not a Jew, you are a Gentile. The risen Jesus called Paul to share the Gospel with Gentiles and to plant churches among them.

To take the Gospel to the Gentiles, Paul became a church planter. He started and multiplied churches from Cyprus to what is now Turkey and Greece and perhaps as far away as Spain.  That’s right, Paul was a church planter just as you are a church planter.  He serves as an excellent example for all of us who are church planters. In fact, Paul said, in 1 Corinthians 11:1, “Follow me as I follow Christ.”  So Paul is a great example for church planters all over the world.

 It’s very interesting that Paul’s letter to the Colossians was written to a church that Paul did not directly plant himself.  It is written to a church that some of Paul’s disciples planted.

So Paul was a church planter and he was a disciple maker.  He multiplied disciples so he had spiritual children and spiritual grandchildren and spiritual great grandchildren.

As a spiritual grandfather, it is not surprising that after his salutation, his first words in his letter to the Colossian church were “We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you.”  Paul was thankful for his spiritual grandchildren in Colossae. He was thankful that they had put their trust in Christ. Paul thanked God that they were filled with love for God and that they were filled with hope. Paul was glad that the Gospel of Christ had been preached in Colossae and that the Gospel was making lives better in a place that he himself had never visited.

This exuberant thankfulness is remarkable because Paul wrote the letter to the Colossians from prison, a place of great suffering and hardship.

You are a church planter. You have seen the Gospel change people’s lives, even if the change you would like to see in them is not yet complete.  You have seen God work in your life and you have experienced his power to transform the lives of others.  So here is my first word of encouragement for you based on Paul’s letter to the Colossians: Get in the habit of thanking God for his work in the lives of your disciples. Don’t just thank him occasionally.  Do what Paul did, always thank Him!  As you do, you too will be filled with strength to face the challenges and hardships that come your way.

Be encouraged, God is with you.  He used Paul as a great church planter, and he will use you as well.

This has been a word of encouragement for Village Church Planters.

If you have found this message to be helpful, please forward it to fellow church planters and disciple makers who may need encouragement.  Feel free to share it on What’s App, Facebook, and other platforms you use to connect with others.

Be encouraged, God is with us! EC-01

Please follow us on PodBean look for Multiply VCP- https://multiplyvcp.podbean.com/ 

#EncouragementforVillageChurchPlanters #Colossians #GiveThanks

www.vcpencouragement.org

 

The Power Of The Open Question

 

Hello my brother; hello my sister, my name is Dean Davis, and this is a word of

encouragement for village church planters.

People love to talk. People love to teach. People love to tell other people

what to do. Parents tell children what to do and big brothers and big sisters

tell little brothers and little sisters what to do. I was the youngest child in my

family, so I know about these things! Children often dream about the day when

they are older and they can be the big man or the big woman and tell other

people what to do. We love to tell people our thoughts and our ideas.

But did you know there is an alternative to telling? There is! Instead of always

telling what we think and what we know, we can ask questions. In a world full

of telling, in a world full of talkers, asking a question and then listening quietly

is a gift. When you ask an open question you show respect. When you ask an

open question and patiently listen, you honor the other person. When you ask

a question, you bring refreshment to people who are used to being told what to

do and what to think.

As a village church planter, one of your jobs is to tell God’s story. But don’t

just tell his story, ask the people who hear God’s stories open questions. An

open question is a question that asks for information. An open question is a

question that can’t be answered with a simple yes or no. It takes time to

answer an open question. An open question requires reflection to answer well.

So when you tell a story from God’s word, be sure to ask some questions. You

can ask, “What did you like about this story? What did you not like about this

story or find confusing? What does this story teach us about people. What

does this story teach us about God? When you ask questions like these, there

may be an awkward moment when your listeners don’t know what to say.

Don’t worry, just wait and listen. People have been told what to do and what

to think so often, they are probably surprised that you want to know what they

think.

When you ask open questions, you help people discover the truth and power of

God’s story. That’s right! When you tell a story from the Bible and then

patiently and respectful ask your listeners simple questions, they discover truth

about God and truth about themselves that they did not know. Jesus promised

in John 8:32 that, “You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

When we tell God’s story and then ask open questions, we cooperate with God

to make truth known and to set people free.

What a wonderful, exciting, life-giving privilege that is! What questions will

you ask when you share God’s story?

This has been a word of encouragement for Village Church Planters.

If you have found this message to be helpful, please forward it to fellow church

planters and disciple makers who may need encouragement. Feel free to share

it on What’s App, Facebook, and other platforms you use to connect with

others.

Be encouraged, God is with us!

#EncouragementforVillageChurchPlanters #DiscoveryBibleStudies

#OpenQuestions

Your Story And God's Story

Hello my brother; hello my sister, my name is Dean Davis, and this is a word of

encouragement for village church planters.

As you have gone to minister in the village where you are beginning to plant a

church that can multiply, I am sure that you have seen many negative

consequences of sin and separation from God. Yes, in every village we can see

glimpses of God’s goodness and love. But there is also evidence that people do

not know or respect God. In many places, this separation from God can be seen

by the number of men and women who frequently consume beer and other

alcoholic beverages to the point of drunkenness. In so many village homes

there is no peace. Wives gossip and speak badly about their husbands.

Husbands yell at their wives and physically abuse them. Children are often

afraid and worried.

This suffering and pain shows very clearly that people do not know the love of

God. As a village church planter, one of your most important jobs is to tell

God’s story. I want to encourage you to learn to tell God’s story from creation

to Christ in 10 minutes or less. Tell the story of how God lovingly created the

world and everything in it. Tell about how he created man and woman to have

fellowship with one another and with God. Tell about how our first parents

rebelled against God and turned their backs on him. Tell about the suffering

that came into the world. Tell this part of the story, even though it is painful

to tell.

And tell the part of the story about how God reached out in love to Noah and

Abraham and Moses. Tell about all that those people did to draw near to God

while living in a sinful world. Tell how God gave his law, but people disobeyed

it. Tell about sacrifices that the priests of old made to find forgiveness for

sins. Tell God’s story. Tell how, at just at the right time, God sent his son into

the world to live a life of love, to call all people everywhere to repent of our

sins and turn back to God. Tell about the work of the Holy Spirit and how Jesus

is coming again. Tell the big story of God in 10 minutes or less. And tell each

episode of God’s story briefly, truthfully and with passion.

When we tell God’s story, we bring hope to the village. Yes! When you tell

stories that clearly show both our human rebellion against God and the

consequent human suffering as well as the love of God who is like a shepherd

looking for lost sheep or a father waiting for a rebellious son to come home,

you bring hope to the village. When you tell God’s story, you light a candle.

When you tell God’s story you bring light to a dark place. You bring hope.

But don’t just tell God’s story. Tell your story as well. When you tell villagers

that there was a time in your life when you suffered and struggled and felt

hopeless or fearful, when you tell how Jesus revealed himself to you and gave

you hope, when you tell about your new peaceful, joyful, hopeful life in Christ,

you are a witness to the truth of God’s love. So tell God’s big story and tell it

well. But be sure to also tell your story. Because in the end, we learn that

each of our stories is a part of God’s big story. The God of creation, the God of

Adam, Eve, Noah, Abraham and Moses is our God too. He loves me and he

loves you. He sent his son to save us. So tell your story and tell God’s story. In

the end, they are just one big story that brings hope to people living in

darkness.

This has been a word of encouragement for Village Church Planters.

Be encouraged, God is with us!

#EncouragementforVillageChurchPlanters #TellGod’sStory #15SecondTestimny

Your Seed Sowing Action Plan Leads to Multiplication

 

Hello my brother; hello my sister, my name is Dean Davis, and this is a word of

encouragement for village church planters.

As you have been learning through training and experience, the four Seed

Sower Tools are a great help to church planters as they work to make disciples

of Jesus Christ.

These tools provide ready answers when the devil tempts us to be passive and

not share the Gospel or make disciples. If the devil tempts us by asking, “Who

do you think you are to go around telling people about Jesus?” we have an

answer from the first tool: “I am a new creation in Christ. Jesus has named me

his ambassador to the world.” If the devil tempts us by saying “You don’t

even know who to talk to about Jesus,” we say. “Be silent devil, I have a

relationship map, I know exactly who I can talk to about King Jesus.” If the

devil tempts us by asking, “Who do you think you are, you can’t speak, you

don’t know what to say, you will just confuse people if you try to talk about

Jesus.” we have a powerful answer, “I have a clear, truthful, powerful 15

second testimony of how Jesus changed my life. And I have the Three Circles

Gospel Presentation that tells how Jesus defeated you by shedding his blood

and rising from the dead. I will use my four Seed Sowing Tools to share the

Good News and you will be silent.”

If the devil tempts us by saying, “Those people you are going to talk to won’t

change their lives, you are just wasting your time,” we say, “Jesus will restore

them to God and we will teach them to obey the seven basic commands of

Christ. I have a plan to walk with them and help them grow strong as disciples

of Christ and you will not stop me. I am a co-laborer with Christ. Be gone,

Satan.”

This is the walk of faith that the Four Seed Sower Tools facilitate. And you

have these tools in your hands.

The fourth tool is the Action plan. If you make a good action plan and then do

what it says, you will multiply fruit in God’s Kingdom. If you define when you

will pray for people on your relationship map and when you will share the

Gospel with them, you will bear fruit. If you use your Action Plan to define

whom you will teach the Seed Sower Tools and whom you will teach the 7 Basic

Commands of Christ, and if you define when you will teach them, you will

multiply your fruitfulness.

If you train others to spread the Good News, they too will bear fruit. We call

this multiplication. When you teach others to use the four Seed Sower Tools

and when you teach others to obey the seven basic commands of Christ, you

will multiply disciples.

The Four Seed Sower Tools are describe in the Train and Multiply booklet

called “Sow the Good Seed.” If you would like to see this booklet, but don’t

know where to find it, ask the person who shared this message with you to

show you the booklet. It is a part of Train and Multiply for Village Church

Planters, Term 1.

God is giving you tools so you can work powerfully to advance his Kingdom.

Let’s give him thanks for his wonderful gift!

This has been a word of encouragement for Village Church Planters.

#EncouragementforVillageChurchPlanters #SeedSowerTools #ActionPlan

www.vcpencouragement.org

The Character of a Leader - Diligence

 

This is Chuck Rapp with a word of encouragement for Village Church Planters.

Recently, I began a series of messages regarding the character of a leader. These are qualities exemplified in the life of a good and godly leader, and we began with integrity.

As I shared last time, the foundation for godly character is our love for God and our obedience to Him. Jesus said, "If you love me, keep my commands.” (John 14:15).

Today I’d like to introduce another characteristic of a good and godly leader. It is diligence which may be defined as “careful or persistent work or effort”.

Those who are diligent take initiative, and they are intentional regarding what they do. They are not haphazard or lackadaisical (lacking enthusiasm and determination; carelessly lazy).

I would suggest that Christ-following, Christ-honoring leaders are diligent in at least four ways.

Diligent in worship – Jesus was asked “what is the greatest commandment of them all?” While he had many, many OT commands to choose from, at the top of his list was “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.” Mark 12:30, emphasis added). “All” appears four times in this single verse. We are to worship God with all that we are, every part of our being.

Diligent in our spiritual growth – Just as athletes exercise to develop physical muscles, we, too, must be diligent to develop our spiritual strength. 2 Peter 1:5-8 instructs us, “For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our LORD Jesus Christ.

Twice in this short passage, Peter says that we are to “make every effort”. That’s another way of saying, “be diligent!”

Diligent in relationships – The Apostle Paul understood the necessity of maintaining good relationships, even in difficult circumstances or with difficult people. He instructed the Romans (and us) in 14:19, “Let us therefore make every effort to do what leads to peace and to mutual edification.” Once again, we’re admonished to “make every effort” or to be diligent as we deal with people, especially those who are difficult.

Diligent in service – The Apostle Paul gave instructions in Colossians 3:23 (in the Amplified Bible) “Whatever you do [whatever your task may be], work from the soul [that is, put in your very best effort], as [something done] for the Lord and not for men.” Christian leaders put forth their best effort into the task while also realizing the power (and willingness!) of the Holy Spirit to add what they cannot provide.

This has been a word of encouragement for Village Church Planters.