Start Your Relationship Map

 Hi there, my name is Dean Davis, and this is a word of encouragement for village church planters.

As a Village Church Planter, you have been trained to use the four Seed Sower tools. Those four Seed-Sower tools empower disciple makers in general and church planters in particular.  The four Seed Sower Tools give us answers to the questions, “Why should I make disciples? Who should I tell? What should I say? When will I make disciples?”

As a church planter, you have the wonderful privilege to look for and find persons of peace.  Right now, this very day, God in his grace continues to call men and women, boys and girls to put their trust in Him so they can experience His goodness and salvation.  And you are a co-laborer with Christ. So God wants to use you to more fully express that call to salvation.  Be encouraged.  There are many people who are hungry to know God and to experience his peace, they just don’t know how. God is delighted to use you to reach out to them and show them the way to know Christ.

So, as you get to know people in the village where you are planting a church, start by creating a relationship map which includes the names of people you get to know.  You remember the relationship map from your training, right?  It has a circle, with your name in it, in the middle of a sheet of paper.  Then it has five or more lines which go out to other circles.  In those other circles you write the names of people you know who are far from God.  From those five circles you can draw more lines connected to more circles in which you write the names of other people the original five people know and relate to who also need to hear the Good News about Jesus.

Why do we start with a relationship map?  Relationship maps encourage us.  They show us people we are connected to with whom we can share the Gospel.  Relationship maps challenge us.  They help us see how many people we know that need Jesus. Relationship maps serve as a prayer tool. We can and should pray for each person named on the map, trusting God to open up opportunities for them to hear, understand and believe the Good News.

But perhaps the most powerful aspect of a relationship map is that it shows us the big picture of our relationships and the details, all at the same time. When we look at a relationship map, we can see at a glance both the many connections we have to people who are far from God and, at the same time, we can see each person’s name and the connections we have with each one.

So as you look for persons of peace, create a relationship map which shows the people in your village who are far from God.  Pray for those people and then use your 15 second testimony or the Three Circles diagram to begin telling each one the Good News of Jesus.  

Your relationship Map is a powerful tool.  Create it, consult it, pray over it and keep it up to date as you meet new people.  It tells you who to share the Good News with.

This has been a word of encouragement for Village Church Planters.  E1-06

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