How do you define SUCCESS?
I have written in the past that I believe we are now in the early stages of the 4th Era of Modern Missions.
Missiologist Ralph Winter has analyzed Missions History since the 1700s and divided the time into 3 Eras: The Era of the Coastlands 1792-1910, The Era of Inland Missions 1865-1980, The Era of People Groups 1934-the future. In 2010 Missiologist Tom Steffen wrote a book called "The Facilitator Era" in which he proposed that around the year 2000, a new Era had begun. This Facilitator Era has specific characteristics that I have talked about in a previous blog from May 20 of this year. It is not my purpose to rehash that here, but I do recommend that you read that specific blog.
However, in this article I want to shift to a practical mode and ask the question: In this new Era, how is Success measured? If a leader or a church or a missions agency decides to take up a "Facilitator" role toward completing the great commission, what is different in terms of motivations, goals, and measures of success. Here is a first attempt to address these issues.
1. Kingdom Motives
First of all, to be a Facilitator or to have a Facilitative Function our motives need to be Kingdom Motives rather than Ministry Motives. I am using the word Ministry to refer to a Ministry organization concept. Facilitators are interested in the expansion of the Kingdom of God, and they realize that it is about disciple making and not the growth of any local church, ministry organization, denomination, or personal ministry reputation. I would say that a lot of us pay lip service to this kind of concept.....but our attitudes betray us when Kingdom multiplication happens and our organizations don't benefit financially or numerically....or when we do the work....and some other leader gets the credit. But as difficult as it may be, we must fight the battle of our motives....and bring them into obedience to Jesus Christ. If we don't, even if we start as Facilitator's, we will inevitably relapse and we will stop Facilitating.
2. Kingdom Goals
Secondly, to be a Facilitator we need to embrace Kingdom Goals. We have to ask the right question when setting out to do the work. We ask, What is it going to take to see this whole nation, people group, region etc. discipled to Jesus Christ. In the process, we may need to start a ministry organization or some other kind of device to solve certain practical problems. But the "organizational" work must never become the focus.....the question never changes to be, how can this organization succeed, grow, etc. Organizations are fine servants and horrible masters! So our Goals are entirely controlled by the Kingdom needs, not our personal or organizational desires! We analyze the people, nation, or region where we are sent by God and we ask the question.....What is the measure of darkness here? How many people or groups are unreached? How many churches are needed? What are the physical and material needs of these people? Out of these answers we set our goals.
3. Kingdom Methods
Thirdly, Facilitators focus on Kingdom Methods. Kingdom Methods will focus on Being Biblical and Being Obedience Based. Facilitators are focused on being Servants in Obedience to Jesus' commands. We become Disciplers of Disciplers. We model Servanthood and Spend our time aspiring to mentor others to be Disciplers. Our goal is not Leadership, or to become Leaders of Leaders. Our goal is to be authentic Servants of the body of Christ and of the lost world and to mentor others in the same pattern: To become Servants of Servants! We model it in our words and actions and focus on pointing to Jesus Christ, the Authority of Scripture and the Holy Spirit.
4. Kingdom Measures
Finally, Facilitators Measure success differently. It is not personal and organizational growth and fame that is sought. The size of buildings, staffs, congregations, and bank accounts is not the measure. We can have all of that in abundance (and some do) and still be abject failures. We can have all of that and still hear Jesus say to us on Judgement Day, "I never knew you!" Instead, the measure of Success is both spiritual and physical. Spiritually it is simply this: Am I an obedient disciple of Jesus Christ and am I obeying His commands in the Written Word of God. And Am I thereby making disciples who are also genuine obedient followers of Jesus. Physically and numerically the measure is simply are people from the nation, region, people group etc. actually becoming disciples of Jesus, who also make disciples. Are disciple making movements beginning to emerge as we faithfully obey. We understand that this will happen across church and denominational lines, and even where there are no denominational or network affiliations....and that is wonderful, because the Kingdom is growing. We measure disciples and groups (churches) regardless of how networked, as long as they are following Jesus through believing and obeying His word.
The point is this: We are living in a transitional time. The great commission will be fulfilled. Matthew 24:14 will be literally fulfilled. But the question is will we really be a part of this? The 4th Era Characteristics are nothing more than First Century New Testament Christianity. If we don't embrace these things, I truly believe that not only will be not see the harvest that we so desperately want, but in fact in the world wide shakings that are coming, our non Kingdom agendas will become rubble (Hebrews 12: 27-29). A study of the Church in China before communism, in the early stages of communism, and the emerging house church movements to the present day would be very instructive here.
The Times are changing. Seize the Moment!
Missiologist Ralph Winter has analyzed Missions History since the 1700s and divided the time into 3 Eras: The Era of the Coastlands 1792-1910, The Era of Inland Missions 1865-1980, The Era of People Groups 1934-the future. In 2010 Missiologist Tom Steffen wrote a book called "The Facilitator Era" in which he proposed that around the year 2000, a new Era had begun. This Facilitator Era has specific characteristics that I have talked about in a previous blog from May 20 of this year. It is not my purpose to rehash that here, but I do recommend that you read that specific blog.
However, in this article I want to shift to a practical mode and ask the question: In this new Era, how is Success measured? If a leader or a church or a missions agency decides to take up a "Facilitator" role toward completing the great commission, what is different in terms of motivations, goals, and measures of success. Here is a first attempt to address these issues.
1. Kingdom Motives
First of all, to be a Facilitator or to have a Facilitative Function our motives need to be Kingdom Motives rather than Ministry Motives. I am using the word Ministry to refer to a Ministry organization concept. Facilitators are interested in the expansion of the Kingdom of God, and they realize that it is about disciple making and not the growth of any local church, ministry organization, denomination, or personal ministry reputation. I would say that a lot of us pay lip service to this kind of concept.....but our attitudes betray us when Kingdom multiplication happens and our organizations don't benefit financially or numerically....or when we do the work....and some other leader gets the credit. But as difficult as it may be, we must fight the battle of our motives....and bring them into obedience to Jesus Christ. If we don't, even if we start as Facilitator's, we will inevitably relapse and we will stop Facilitating.
2. Kingdom Goals
Secondly, to be a Facilitator we need to embrace Kingdom Goals. We have to ask the right question when setting out to do the work. We ask, What is it going to take to see this whole nation, people group, region etc. discipled to Jesus Christ. In the process, we may need to start a ministry organization or some other kind of device to solve certain practical problems. But the "organizational" work must never become the focus.....the question never changes to be, how can this organization succeed, grow, etc. Organizations are fine servants and horrible masters! So our Goals are entirely controlled by the Kingdom needs, not our personal or organizational desires! We analyze the people, nation, or region where we are sent by God and we ask the question.....What is the measure of darkness here? How many people or groups are unreached? How many churches are needed? What are the physical and material needs of these people? Out of these answers we set our goals.
3. Kingdom Methods
Thirdly, Facilitators focus on Kingdom Methods. Kingdom Methods will focus on Being Biblical and Being Obedience Based. Facilitators are focused on being Servants in Obedience to Jesus' commands. We become Disciplers of Disciplers. We model Servanthood and Spend our time aspiring to mentor others to be Disciplers. Our goal is not Leadership, or to become Leaders of Leaders. Our goal is to be authentic Servants of the body of Christ and of the lost world and to mentor others in the same pattern: To become Servants of Servants! We model it in our words and actions and focus on pointing to Jesus Christ, the Authority of Scripture and the Holy Spirit.
4. Kingdom Measures
Finally, Facilitators Measure success differently. It is not personal and organizational growth and fame that is sought. The size of buildings, staffs, congregations, and bank accounts is not the measure. We can have all of that in abundance (and some do) and still be abject failures. We can have all of that and still hear Jesus say to us on Judgement Day, "I never knew you!" Instead, the measure of Success is both spiritual and physical. Spiritually it is simply this: Am I an obedient disciple of Jesus Christ and am I obeying His commands in the Written Word of God. And Am I thereby making disciples who are also genuine obedient followers of Jesus. Physically and numerically the measure is simply are people from the nation, region, people group etc. actually becoming disciples of Jesus, who also make disciples. Are disciple making movements beginning to emerge as we faithfully obey. We understand that this will happen across church and denominational lines, and even where there are no denominational or network affiliations....and that is wonderful, because the Kingdom is growing. We measure disciples and groups (churches) regardless of how networked, as long as they are following Jesus through believing and obeying His word.
The point is this: We are living in a transitional time. The great commission will be fulfilled. Matthew 24:14 will be literally fulfilled. But the question is will we really be a part of this? The 4th Era Characteristics are nothing more than First Century New Testament Christianity. If we don't embrace these things, I truly believe that not only will be not see the harvest that we so desperately want, but in fact in the world wide shakings that are coming, our non Kingdom agendas will become rubble (Hebrews 12: 27-29). A study of the Church in China before communism, in the early stages of communism, and the emerging house church movements to the present day would be very instructive here.
The Times are changing. Seize the Moment!
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