David Watson, Session 7:
Debriefing Time: Important things we learned yesterday plus David’s commentary:
- Establish the DNA from day 1. People develop a mindset very quickly.
- Ask questions to let the group discover God’s truth and not my truth.
- Trust the Holy Spirit to make it happen without my knowledge and control.
- The CPM cycle is fractal. Every segment is a reflection of the whole.
- Obedience-based discipleship. It’s about life maturity, not knowledge.
- Go to a seeker’s home rather than have them go to you. Important to demonstrate that church planting can happen everywhere.
- Let the people discover.
- The rate of multiplication is not limited by the availability of Pastors (i.e. an “improvement” on the model of leadership generation: historical churches – Pentecostals- CPM).
- Everything we do as leaders has implications. We must think before we act. We are under observation all the time. Those of you who “wing it” will have more problems. Those who plan extensively will have an easier time.
- Your spirituality needs to “hang out” (conspicuous spirituality) . It has to show. Be intentional
- Asking questions re: application will result in cultural specific obedience.
- The simplicity of getting people engaged. If it can’t be replicated by anyone in your team, it’s too complicated.
- The growing edge of the church is the unpaid staff. This does not eliminate the role of the paid staff.
- Starting a cycle, a movement, not planting A church.
- We have to expect some groups to not work. Part of success is having multiple groups started at the same time.
- Evaluate the reproductive effectiveness of your teammates. The enemy will put really nice, talented, gifted people in your orbit who will never pass it on to anyone else. The energy is going into a black hole. Non-replication is an infectious disease that Satan will use to kill the process. Hardest thing is evaluating the reproductive effectiveness of your workers and, if they are not producing, cutting them loose - you cannot afford to continue investing in them, because the result of our investment is zero. In CPM there must be a certain type of “ruthlessness” in releasing or removing non-replicating people from the process.
- In mentoring relationships, a six-point scale (six primary relationships you must maintain)
- What are you doing to maintain your relationship with God?
- What are you doing to maintain a right relationship with your family(specifically with each one)?
- What are you doing to maintain your relationship/reputation with the community at large and your church?
- What are you doing to fulfill and grow in your call from God?
- What are you doing to improve and fulfill your responsibilities in your job (relationships with boss/supporters; those things our organizations require of us to get our pay check)
- What are you doing to keep yourself emotionally, physically, and mentally healthy?
- The role of the outsider is finished as soon as possible, and depends upon the person the outsider is mentoring in the group. The outsider’s role is to be out of the process tasks as soon as possible. One key for knowing when the outsider can pull out of the CPM process - when signs are evident that all essential DNA is in place. For real multiplication you need to be in deep relationship with 10-15 people. Mentoring relationship is a life-time relationship, as people continue to grow in ministry, can become a mutual relationship. A mentor should be able to detect three generations of people connected to him or her; if this many generations are not present, there is a problem in the process, most likely in the relationship between the mentor and his/her immediate mentoree.
- Evangelical language and liturgy can be a barrier to church planting.
- “Go” to seeker vs. “Come” to leader.
- Living in such a way that the person of peace finds you (be a beacon).
- Whatever is your expected end, that is how you should start.
- Never, ever, ever give an answer from our own knowledge and experience. Point them to the Bible.
- Not “how do I get this to replicate?” but “what are the right ways to inject information into the system so that those with the system will replicate themselves?”
David Watson, Session 8 :
- Identify spiritual leader. You will usually identify the spiritual leader within the first couple of weeks, but sometimes that person is even identifiable before the group begins.
- If discussion doesn’t come easily, ask the group to do a role play to help them get into the passage.
- Debrief: Thanksgiving; Needs; Discuss how to meet needs; Three column study; With whom will you share; Identify next facilitator.
- When someone wants the facilitator’s opinion, it is good to reflect the question back to the group. Resist giving your opinion.
- About length of meeting: Different cultures have different tolerance for meetings. Urban time tolerance is shorter than rural peoples. So keep things short at first so that you don’t exceed the group’s time tolerance.
- Even in literate societies, most people are oral learners. The requirement (in literate societies) to write the scriptures is intended to accommodate the spectrum of learning styles
David Watson, Session 9
- Deuteronomy 6: The “She-ma” statement: a passion that is contagious. The “love” in this passage implies affection and obedience. The heart is the center of the living being, gives life to everything to do. These commands of God will be heartbeat to us. It is also a picture of consistency - in public and in private you are the still person and you are still dealing with your relationship with God.
- We enjoy being around people who are in love. God wants us to love Him with all our passion. All our soul (our essence that is recognized by God in heaven, and it is eternal). It is the core part of our being that outlasts our body.
- MK and PK problem: they complain that there’s not consistency at home. Nothing destroys replication of values (love for the Lord, respect for other people’s opinions, etc.) better than inconsistency. Church planting is not a job - it is a lifestyle. It is this kind of obedience that makes the next generation of believers impressed with God. Without this, we will not see CPM. If we are flawed, the system will be flawed.
- “Wearing it on our forehead”= living in an obviously spiritual way.
- “Wearing it on your arm” = Reminding ourselves who are are. A by-product of our quiet times is just setting our days right.
- “On the door post.” The neighborhood should know that you are different. They will ask “why?” Part of being who we are supposed to be is to be available to be the answer to someone’s prayers. This is the kind of lifestyle that replicates churches. We don’t have to go looking for a person of peace. They come looking for you.
- John 14: Jesus defined love very narrowly. (vs. 15) Obey, have commands and obey them. Vs. 23. Conditional to being filled with the Holy Spirit is obedience. If you obey me, I will show myself to you. If you obey me, my Father and I will come to you and we will make our home with you.
- Matthew 28: The audience of this command was 11 disciples, and they were doubtful. The disciples grew up under Roman occupation. “Go and make disciples of all nations.” They grew up to hate the Romans. “Ta ethne” was a code phrase that meant “everybody but us, besides us.” Go to the people you hate and make disciples of them.
- Notice one key connection between Deut. 6: 4-9 and Matt 28: 19-20 - the “passing on” process is very much about training the follower in obedience.
- 1 Cor. 12:12: The doorway to the church is baptism. Discipling is about bringing people to the point of baptism.
- If we are the people we are to be, church planting is not an effort, it is a pleasure.
Tonight’s Assignment: Come up with ten ways to show people that you are spiritual.
North India Case Study: Rodrick Gilbert
- My father was an orphan who was raised by Anglican missionaries. My mother prayed me into the Kingdom. Rodrick didn’t want to lead his own ministry - wanted to take orders and be free from stresses. Started a ministry in the slums. But God led him otherwise. Going in the beginning was slow. Read Successful Home Cell Groups by Yongi Chi. Applied the principle to the slums of Delhi. Later became a DAWN associate. Curtis Seargent gave him resources that challenged him toward SCP.
- Combined resources from CPM/SCP targeting UPGs, urban, linguistic, geographic areas in M. areas.
- Servant leadership model, with volunteer pastors.
- Present Ministries- Engaging 31 people groups.
- Tips: cells planting cells, churches planting churches, multi-layered leadership, volunteers, pioneer planters, master planters.
- Heavy emphasis on indigenous mission (different from cross-cultural mission). The languages of India are nearly mutually exclusive (can’t even ask for a glass of water)
- Only 15% of mission funds in India are spent on children.
- Training: should be skills based; deliver the bare essentials - learn a little, use a lot; utilize non-formal training; be constantly developing the training process
- 98% of churches planted involve power encounters. Healing and deliverance is not a destination, but a beginning.
- Challenges/Prayer points: Disunity among the leaders in missions; Competition; The intentional hate campaign- Fanatical political parties Indian Movies (depict Christians in a negative way), High cast Hindu mafia, mission compound lifestyle; The massive number of people groups (4635); Old Wineskin factor; Perfecting the Saints
Francophone West Africa Case Study:
- A barrier, a band (front line) between Islamic countries that would like to extend their influence south, and Christians in the south who would like to extend their influence north. There are “twenty-eight countries on the fault line of Africa between Islamic North Africa and the Christian-influenced Southern Africa.”
- A region neglected because of the language. The French language has become a threat for many missionaries who don’t want to learn a second language. The mission force is mainly in English speaking countries.
- CPM Training began in 2005 in Guinea. Goal: to launch a discipling movement in the 28 buffer countries, 166 million people in 27 major people groups of this area.
- Began training with African mission leaders via tapes, adopted as a process, began to work in Ivory Coast, M. area, slow response, now training missionaries, and preparing access ministry (self-sustaining).
- CPM training influenced the philosophy of CP significantly in the area of funding. Missionaries are learning to use their gifting and talent to access various groups in ways that provide funding for their livelihood and provides opportunities for sharing and living out the Gospel.
- Central African Republic: initially resistant to the CPM training, seemed too superficial, didn’t want to give commitment to implement, but later decided to try it, resulting in rapid multiplication to the 4th generation in two years. This in the midst of much spiritual opposition, the Lord is freeing people from the demonic, impacting villages. They are adding CPM to their former CP efforts.
- In 48 months, there have been 1,608 new churches and 68,719 new believers.
Addendum from the Research Talk by Roy Wingerd (Some People wanted a copy of the quotes from Mahatma Gandhi and Abdul Kalam that were read by Roy):
- Mahatma Gandhi: Seven Social Sins
- Politics without Principle
- Wealth without work
- Pleasure without Conscience
- Knowledge without character
- Commerce without morality
- Science without humanity
- Worship without Sacrifice - India 2020: A Vision for the New Millennium: A.P.J. Abdul Kalam (Former President of India)
Ten-Point Oath (every child in India should live up to)
1. I will pursue my education or the work with dedication and I will excel in it.
2. I will teach at least ten persons who cannot read or write to do so.
3. I will plant at least ten saplings and ensure their growth through constant care.
4. I will visit rural and urban areas and work hard to permanently wean away at least five persons from addiction and gambling.
5. I will constantly endeavor to remove the pain of my suffering brethren.
6. I will not support any religious, caste or language differentiation.
7. I will be honest and set an example for others to follow.
8. I will work towards becoming an enlightened citizen and make my family righteous. I will respect all women and support women’s education.
9. I will always be a friend of the mentally and physically challenged, and will work hard to make them feel like the rest of us.
10. I will proudly celebrate the success of my country and my people.
