Appleseed Travel Journal - Perhaps a Miracle Accompanied YOUR Unexpected Gift

Roger

You can tell when someone is speaking from the heart!

“We did not expect anyone to care. We did not know that someone was going to provide help for us!”

Last week was the first time we had seen Etienne since the rebels took over Goma where he leads a new house church work. He had come down to Uvira and was gathered together in the ‘upper room’ of Steven’s house with us and with leaders from different regions.

When Steven asked for a report from Goma, Etienne took that opportunity to make sure that we heard how moved and grateful he was for the gift of food that you provided him and the families in Goma last year.

Chaos and terror reigned in this city when the M23 rebel forces took control of this large East Congo city in December. Thousands fled into Uganda but Etienne and many of the leaders remained and tried to ‘hold their city together.’

“When Steven showed up with food and support from the supporters of Appleseed, we were amazed, and shocked and overwhelmed. We did not know that someone was going to help us! So many families received food at just the right time.”

Both Steven and Etienne swear that, as they parceled out amounts of rice, flour, and salt from large bags, the amount they gave out was more than what they had. A miracle? Perhaps.

Deeply appreciated? No doubt. And Etienne wanted to make sure that the appreciation was passed along to YOU.

Like I said, you could really tell that he was speaking from a deep place of heart-felt love and appreciation. Thank you all so much.

      

What If We Really Did Multiply?

By Larry Barker

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photo credit: Canadian Pacific

What if every church had a vision to plant ten churches in ten years?  If two couples were to move to a city with the goal of reproducing themselves and multiplying every three years, it could happen.  Four couples could plant 32 churches in ten years.  As you study the multiplication of the early church you notice that when it was illegal church planting was exponential, when it became acceptable church multiplication slowed down, and when it became advantageous to be a Christian church multiplication came to a screeching halt.
A church multiplication strategy is committed to developing not a church plant but a network of churches in a city or area.  In Luke 10:6 Jesus sent seventy of His followers out in groups of twos with their mission being to find a person of peace.  When they left that city, who was left in charge of the Lord’s work?  Paul, in his church planting journeys, used this same strategy of finding a potential leader, training them, empowering them, and leaving them in charge.  If 10% of our churches were planting churches, we would double in seven years but it will not happen if we do not change the way we think about church planting.
First, we must define what success is in church planting. Success has been defined as serving God’s purpose in my generation in order to reach the next.  It is not land and a building, it is not having 200 in morning worship, and it is not having a church that can pay its bills.  It is planting a church with a God sized vision and daily living the Great Commission. That means not doing it ourselves but teaching and releasing others to reproduce others who reproduce others.  We must dedicate ourselves to sending teams where they have the greatest opportunity to succeed.  Success is not planting churches but it is planting churches that plant churches.
Second, we must define what a healthy mature church looks like.  Anything healthy reproduces.  Christ commands us in John 15 to be fruitful.  How do you know when a tree is mature?  It bears fruit! Multiplication is not one tree bearing fruit but planting multiple trees to have an orchard full of fruit producing churches.  Maturity is when you can do it yourself but unfortunately, our western culture has built a system where the spiritual professionals do it for us.  A multiplication strategy trains them, empowers them and then releases them to do the work of ministry.  The healthiest churches are churches that have reproduced.
Third, we need to have a well developed process of discipleship in place. The key is to build people and let God build the church.  Discipleship is having an easily reproducible system that knows how to equip and build an army that is called to advance His kingdom, not protect the castle.  An army is not evaluated by how it performs in the mess hall but, rather, how effective it is on the battlefield.  Jesus chose to reach the world by investing in twelve men and striving to transform their lives.  There is no short cut to being properly prepared for spiritual battle.  We must be willing to slow down and focus on changing one life at a time.
Fourth, we must have a passion reach the lost and unchurched.  The average church needs 89 members to win one person to Christ in a year while in a church plant the ratio is 3:1.  We must realize that the focus of a church plant is not to reach Baptists but to find those who are lost and headed on a road to hell.  The goal should not be to find people unhappy with their church but those who are not connected to a church and need Jesus.
“Most Christian outreach never reaches non-Christians.  Over 90% of all Christian evangelism is aimed at other Christians and does not reach non-Christians.” That statement from World Christian Trends is quite shocking. It also reports that churches in the United States are spending $1,550,000 per baptism.  Planting churches is excellent stewardship because it is the most Biblical and effective method of evangelism.
Our goal should not be to be conservative but rather revolutionary.  We need individuals to sell out to the cause of Christ no matter what that may cost them.  The goal is not to be looking for a salary but having a burden to serve the Lord and lead people to Christ. That could be to plant a church, revitalize a church, grow a church, but for all of us it is to live missionally in our zip code.
Healthy churches intentionally look for ways to multiply disciples, leaders, and churches!

Planting Seeds of Hope in Africa

Planting Seeds of Hope in Africa

In contrast to billions of unsuccessful aid dollars disappearing into the continent of Africa, a few thousand dollars put into the hands of native missionaries transforms whole communities. Agricultural projects provided by Christian Aid have enabled native missionaries to feed entire orphanages, rehabilitate ex-prisoners with farming skills, and even create a garden oasis in the Sahara for hungry desert-dwelling families. Farm projects make it possible for native missionaries to become self-supporting, as well as to share food with those to whom they´re ministering.

Measuring the Reality of African-American Church Planting Today

Lindy Lowry —  November 14, 2013

Research reveals six characteristics of healthy church plants

This week, LifeWay Research released a new report sharing findings from a survey of African-Amercian church planters. The new research identified and measured several different factors related to church planting–such as worship attendance, new commitments to Christ, community demographics, facility use, promotion and outreach–and offers across-the-board insight into what it takes to plant and grow a healthy church that makes disciples.
“We have conducted large national studies on church planting in the past,” notes LifeWay Research President Ed Stetzer. “But it would be wrong to assume that national factors are the same for every sub-population of church plants. We are grateful that key sponsors came forward wanting to measure the reality of African-American church planting today.”
To measure and identify characteristics of healthy church plants, LifeWay surveyed 290 African-American church planters from more than 20 denominations (including several from non-denominational churches) who started churches before 2012. Almost half (43 percent) were started since 2007. Ninety-four percent of them are still in existence today.

Worship attendance and new commitments

The study found a steady increase in attendance to be the overall trend among African-American church starts. Average worship attendance for the first year was 37, and by year four, the average attendance had doubled.
The survey identified three characteristics that had the most positive impact on worship attendance (present in more than two-thirds of the churches surveyed): delegation of leadership roles to volunteer: leadership training for new church members; and a plan of personal spiritual formation for the church planter.
Worship style also impacts attendance, the study found. The most common worship style used by African-American church plants was blended, cited by 45 percent, followed by contemporary gospel, contemporary and urban contemporary, ranging from 12 to 14 percent. However, church plants with a more distinctive style, urban contemporary for instance, had higher attendance than churches using a blended style.
The study also measured eternal change happening in and through these church plants. For the first year of a church plant, the average number of new commitments to Christ was 16, which in year three peaked at 20 new commitments. For the rest of the years that were measured, commitments remained at 12 or higher.

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A New Measurement of ‘Success’

Lindy Lowry —  November 14, 2013

Clarifying ‘Missional’ Part 2

by Jen Hatmaker

My husband Brandon and I recently adopted two older children from Ethiopia. They came to us at ages 5 and 7. Being the responsible, prepared adoptive parent, I’d read a zillion books and blogs and articles and anticipated every potential pitfall in the first few months. Among other exciting possibilities like pitching fits for hours and attachment disorders, the experts assured us that any time apart from our adopted kids in the first year would likely send them into regressive trauma. If I didn’t adequately prepare them for the separation, our family would essentially self-destruct.
This would be tricky for a mom who traveled for a living.
I stayed home for the first few months, but eventually the time came to work again. Preparing my kids for my absence for one night (Brandon says sometimes I overreact), I made a slideshow of me teaching at conferences, put pins and yarn on a map to show them where I was, and bought them watches with my arrival time programmed in with alarms set as the finish line approached. I basically constructed a business presentation so my children wouldn’t regress and I wouldn’t ruin our entire family.
After my 12-minute presentation peppered with reassuring language and reflective listening, my 5-year-old Remy said:
“So you’ll be gone one sleep? Okay. Bye, Mommy.”
And that was that.
Sometimes all the talking outpaces real life.

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Wayne Cordeiro: 'The Harvest'

Wayne Cordeiro: 'The Harvest'  

A short video introducing the Exponential 2014 theme: Seek + Save
The discipleship conversation continues in 2014 at Exponential East and Exponential West, focusing on Jesus' core mission while on earth: "to seek and save the lost" (Luke 19:9-10). more

It Is Time For The Harvest!

United Christian Faith Ministries  From the office of Pastor Glynn Lovell

Greetings Fellow UCFM Members, This is one of my favorite times of the year when I see all the productive farms in my region gathering in their crops. What a marvelous sight to see the bountiful harvest in the fields. Many have been carefully nurtured and pruned to insure that the crop is as perfect as possible. Each fruit, meat product, vegetable must be perfect for it to have a market value. So it is very important that it is planted at the right time and that it is tilled and watered either by God's rainfall or by intervention of the farmer to provide life giving water. Without their care the harvest will be less than acceptable. Occasionally I will pass a field that has neglected animals or crops that are going to waste because the caretaker failed for one reason or the other.

That is just like God's Kingdom. If we fail to offer the Plan of Salvation to our fellow man they will not be selected to enter God's Everlasting Kingdom. If we fail to nurture and care for the flock of God's Select they will wither and die and never be productive in The Kingdom.

Stop and Count The Blessings

In this time of great harvest we sometimes rush to and fro and never take the time to stop and view all the beauty God has permitted us to enjoy. 

Here in my region farmers are gathering in the last of their crops. There are still a few that have fields of beautiful orange pumpkins in all sizes. All the burly tobacco is gathered and hanging in barns. As I pass these barns that are straining to support such heavy weigh, I can smell the pungent smell that tobacco users love.

As I pass apple orchards I smell the sweet aroma of apples that are still awaiting pickers to gather. There are still abundant fields of hay that is ripe for the harvest. The nut crop has been very good this year. The squirrels have worked overtime gathering walnuts, hickory nuts, hazel nuts and chestnuts in my yard. Stop and count your blessings, there are many even if you are having a bad time at this point in your life.

We miss you at UCFM

Many of you log into your Private Ministry Office on a daily basis. Others one or twice a week. Others less frequently. If you are not registered to visit our Public Message Board, you are missing out on one of the great uses of this ministry. On the Public Message Board you can post prayer requests, sermons, ask questions or present Biblical lessons, etc. But more importantly you can fellowship with other UCFM Members. Who knows, maybe there are several that live very close to you.