Category: Supernaturalism


Two Stories of Miraculous Provision

Filed Under: Recommended Books, Spiritual Life, Supernaturalism, The Viral Jesus Book, Viral Christianity by rossrohde — 3 Comments
February 16, 2012

Can a simple bag of groceries be part of a miracle?

Our Story

In 1985 my wife, three little daughters and I were preparing to go to the mission field. Like many missionaries, we had to raise support. We felt that God was asking us to live off of the little support we already had, which really wasn’t much beyond our rent.

One day we finally ran out of food; I mean really ran out. No oatmeal, no flour, no milk, nothing. All we had was a few things like spices and baking powder. Garlic powder and baking soda don’t make a meal. Yet we had three hungry little girls, one a baby. Nevertheless, we felt that God wanted us to trust him. So, we set the table, gathered our little girls and prayed. Just then the doorbell rang. When I opened the door, there stood a woman from our church with a bag of vegetables from her garden. As we invited her in she said, “God told me to bring these to you.” After a brief chat she said, “I’ve got to go, but before I forget, God told me to also give you this.” With that she handed us twenty dollars.

At the time we were living in College Place, WA which is a small town that has a lot of Adventists. The owner of the local store was Adventist and closed his store just before sundown on Friday, and it was Friday. I had just enough time to run to the store and buy staples for the next few days; which was just enough to see us through to our next pay check. We’ve never forgotten that experience. And, whenever we are in a tough situation financially God brings that story to mind to let us know He will always take care of us.

Was this just an amazing coincidence? Well, I’ve heard many stories like this. In fact I’ve been involved one way or the other in a few of them. But here is a similar story from Steve.

Steve’s Story

Some time ago late on a Saturday morning, I felt a strong urge to take help to a family so began to load the car with frozen meat, vegetables from the freezer, staples from the pantry and to do a shop for fresh fruit. My wife actually questioned the boxes of stuff but I felt we had to be over the top generous so filled the back of the station wagon and set off to their home.

We arrived about 5:30 as they and their five teen aged children had just finished their prayer over the evening meal. The only problem was that they had NO food and my friend, the father, had prayed a blessing in faith that God would provide. He did this, over the objection of their middle son, a boy of 15, who had mocked him with, “God does not see us and if He does, He does not care.” They had just finished the blessing when I knocked on the door and began to carry in the boxes of frozen food and groceries. You can imagine the feeling!

Well, what about you. Do you have stories of God speaking to you and Him using it to do His work? If so, sent me the story and if I post it on my blog I’ll send you a copy of my new book Viral Jesus: Recovering the Contagious Power of the Gospel.

  • Have you ever experienced a supernatural provision story like this?
  • Would you respond with faith like Steve if you felt God were asking you to be over the top generous and fill your station wagon with groceries and deliver them? What about if God asked you to place $200 on a windshield (another of my experiences)?
  • What do you think happens if we don’t respond to these promptings?
  • Do you think the timing of these stories were just wild coincidences?
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Dave’s Listening Story

Filed Under: Meeting Together, Recommended Books, Spiritual Life, Supernaturalism, The Viral Jesus Book by rossrohde — 3 Comments
February 10, 2012

Would you pay $20 to have an experience like this?

Dave from the San Diego area shared this story on listening to the voice of God in response to my offer to send a copy of my book Viral Jesus to those who were willing to share good listening stories in Listening 202. Feel free to continue to share stories. I’ll send a copy of Viral Jesus to every story I use in my blog posts.

Dave writes:

God certainly does speak directly to us.  When he does, it is so we can minister to others……

Ten or so of us were gathering for Bible study one Sunday morning. My youngest sister in-law came in, handed me a cup of coffee, and sat down next to me. My sister in-law and husband have historically struggled financially for a variety of reasons. My wife and I periodically help them to fix a car, or similar, but have never “just given them money”.

I have learned to not question when “out of the blue” God prompts to do something. If is something in line with what God would wish for me to do scripturally and the prompting is unrelated to what I had been already thinking about, I pretty much have learned it is God and to just “go with it”.

The group of us prayed and were starting Bible study, when I was prompted to give my sister in-law $20. I put $20 on the table where my sister in-law is sitting. She does not notice at first, but then begins to cry uncontrollably and shaking visibly.  Other people in the Bible study thought she was having a “medical event”. I held her hand, knowing that she was being moved for a good reason. She could not speak for what seemed forever (maybe a minute). When she finally spoke a few words, she said “I am OK”; “It is something good!” After calming down, she shared that 5 or 10 minutes earlier as she was sitting alone in her car in the parking lot she was saying “I do not want to ask mom and dad for money, I am tired of asking for money, I just want $20 to go to Wal-Mart to buy some milk and some toiletries”.   God had heard the cry of her heart, and showed us how much he cares for us.

When God uses me, I am simultaneously overwhelmed with awe, thankfulness, and a deep sense of being blessed to have experienced His working. Hearing God’s promptings has only been part of my life for the past few years. About four years ago, I began to spend time in the Word and prayer daily.  God used our time together to not only reveal his truths, but also to show me areas of my life that I needed to change. When I finally let Him take control, He was able to clean me up. I prayed for the Holy Spirit to become a part of my life. I changed my prayers to be for others and to ask God to use me. It has been quite an adventure since then :)  have been blessed to have been prompted a number of times in different situations where it is obvious God’s hand was at work. The key is to seek the Giver, not the gifts. Worship God, honor Him with your life, ask to be used and hold on!

  • Have you ever had a supernatural experience like this?
  • Does God speak this directly to you? If he doesn’t why do you think that is?
  • Why do you think God speaks to us? Why do you think he sometimes asks us to do something?
  • What do you think would happen if Dave had chosen “not to go with it?”
  • Did you note how Dave, discerned if this was the voice of God? What did he do?
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Listening 202

Filed Under: Biblical Meditation, Jesus is Lord, Recommended Books, Spiritual Life, Supernaturalism, The Viral Jesus Book by rossrohde — 8 Comments
February 4, 2012

Listening is an active process.

I’ve been having an ongoing conversation with Richard about listening to God. Here is my second installment I’m calling Listening 202. I’ve abbreviated both Richard’s comments and questions and my answer. For the whole conversation see Listening 101. Also note question #1 below where I am asking for your stories. I will send the author of any story I publish in this blog with a copy of my book Viral Jesus. I grant to myself the final decision on which stories I post. Ah, the joys of having your own blog.

Richard wrote:

…I suppose the big debate is the general (“don’t kill…”) to the specific (“go and speak to that stranger over there about Me”…). Different Christians debate how specific God is likely to get. Does he just tell us to “make disciples of all people” and expect us to figure out that we are able to enter a discipling relationship with, say, our mate Bob; or will he specifically and prophetically say “make a disciple of that guy over there”? How often does he tell us to go down Straight Street? (Acts 9:11)…

Richard

Hi Richard,

God can and does speak very directly to us. He will give us as much information as we need to obey Him. But, in my experience, listening is progressive. The more I am willing to listen and obey, and the more I actively listen, the more communication I get. I don’t think hearing the voice of God is any different today than it was at the time of the New Testament (I’m not a big fan of the doctrine of cessation, that the supernatural ceased; although I used to be steeped in it).

In my book Viral Jesus I give an example of God speaking to me very specifically when I was reaching a guy I called Amado. While I was beginning to share the gospel with Amado, God told me, “Don’t disparage other religions or you are going to lose this guy. Lead him like you are catching a horse.” You can read the rest of the story on pages 51-54. But, suffice it to say God spoke very specifically to me using a metaphor I could understand, (I grew up on a cattle ranch in Oregon). Was this audible? Not exactly, but it was very specific and I knew exactly what God was saying. And His communication ended up being spot on and very helpful in my ongoing relationship with Amado.

I think one of the key passages on listening is Acts 16:6-10 where Paul and friends are directed, step by step to Macedonia.

Paul and his companions traveled throughout the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been kept by the Holy Spirit from preaching the word in the province of Asia. When they came to the border of Mysia, they tried to enter Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus would not allow them to. So they passed by Mysia and went down to Troas. During the night Paul had a vision of a man of Macedonia standing and begging him, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.” After Paul had seen the vision, we got ready at once to leave for Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them. (Acts 16:6-10)

When we speak of “listening” we are actually using a language metaphor for all types of communication. Very little of “God’s voice” and our “listening” is actually audible, but it is communication. I’ve highlighted in bold the words Luke uses to indicate God’s communication with Paul and friends. Note how specific it was. God moved them from traveling north by foot to traveling west by boat. Also note it was a bit of information at a time. He told them just enough to see if they would respond in obedience. They did, and then God gave them a little more. At the end of the process, there was great fruit…and hardship.

Listening is an ongoing process. One of the quickest ways to stop communication with God is to take over the process, in essence say, “I know what you want, and I’ve got it from here.” Another problem is when we decide how we want God to communicate with us, we want a vision, we don’t want Him to only speak to us through desires or inclinations; we want it to be very direct and unmistakable, etc. We need to understand that God’s communication with us is extremely multifaceted and often subtle. He speaks to our heart and mind (Heb 8:10). He can do that in so many ways, from ideas that pop into our head, to dreams, to feelings, to godly advice…the list goes on. The main issues are that we are intentionally looking for this communication, i.e. “listening,” and when He “speaks,” i.e. communicates in some way, we hear, make sure it is God’s voice (called discernment) and then obey. Remember this is a process, not an event; note again Paul and friends in Acts 16. The main issue is actively joining in the process with Jesus the Lord: ongoing seeking, listening, hearing, discerning and obeying.

  • Have you ever had an experience of hearing God that led to fruitful ministry? Send me your story. I’ll send a copy of my book Viral Jesus to every story I share on my blog.
  • God still speaks to us as specifically as he did to people we read about in the New Testament. Agree or Disagree? Why?
  • How would you answer Richard as to the specificity of God’s communication to us? Does He just give general principles, precepts and instructions, “make disciples of all people,” or does he tell us “make a disciple of that guy over there”?
  • What other questions do you have about God’s communication and our listening?
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Listening 101

Filed Under: Biblical Meditation, Jesus is Lord, New Covenant, Spiritual Life, Supernaturalism by rossrohde — 4 Comments
January 31, 2012

Listening isn't as hard as you may think.

In a recent blog Technique Disorder, I encouraged people to let Jesus guide them through the process of how to do ministry. In response, Richard M. made the following astute comment.

Ross,
Yes, I suffer from technique disorder too. But… I do have to say, most of your blog posts appear to me to boil down to “just listen to Jesus, dude!”. Now that is a fine reminder, and not a criticism.

But… listening to Jesus is still rather more easily said than done. I might have an idea – it seems Godly (so passes the ‘four voices test’) but is it just a good idea of mine or actually from Jesus? How much of what comes into my mind is just a reflection of what I’ve been reading of late? What about people who feel God tells them to do frankly crazy stuff? How do you teach people to hear God’s voice? Especially those from a non-Charismatic background? I know you’ve written a couple of blog post on that, but I would say that for every “just listen to Jesus” blog post, some pointers as to HOW would be great! But perhaps that’s just technique disorder, second degree.

Here’s my answer which might be thought of as Listening 101; not the final or even advanced listening, but at least a place to get started.

Hi Richard,

I think you’ve made a good point. Yes, we do need to listen to Jesus. In fact, it is a prerequisite to fruitful ministry. And, as you point out, few of us nowadays have been trained to listen to God’s voice, so it can be a bit frustrating to have someone consistently say, “listen” when we find that prospect daunting.

This, comment of yours, for my wife and me, is another confirmation that we need to write the book that Jesus has put on our hearts. For about six months now we’ve been discussing writing a book together on exactly what you state, how to discern the voice of God. We want it to be practical and accessible; written in ways that particularly evangelicals can comprehend. Charismatics have some writing on this, Catholics surprisingly (at least for some) have the very best writing on this, but Evangelicals have almost nothing besides Blackaby’s Experiencing God series, which is good, but very basic. In my opinion, Charismatics tend to have their bent which only touches certain aspects of hearing God. The Catholics use vocabulary and concepts that are so outside both the Charismatic and Evangelical worlds,they become inaccessible, despite the excellent content if we can get past all that…and our prejudice against Catholics.

In the mean time, let me give you a few pointers, which I hope will be helpful. God speaks the Richard language. That is to say that God knows how to talk to you personally. He doesn’t talk to everyone in some generic fashion. The hard part is listening; and for that you need to be willing and actively seek to hear. Go back to the post on the Four Voices and work through that lens which is a basic starter. If you discern that you aren’t hearing the other three voices, the world, the flesh or the devil, then start believing that the Spirit may be talking to you. Then move to the next points.

First is this test, and it’s an important one. Does the desire of your heart match the Scripture. If it is in violation of the precepts of Scripture it isn’t the Spirit’s voice. Observe how James uses this test in Acts 15 at the council of Jerusalem. God can’t deny himself. If it is neutral or in agreement, more tests of discernment need to be made, but at least it hasn’t been clearly ruled out.

Next, let’s answer your question, “but is it just a good idea of mine or actually from Jesus?” Your question brings to light the next point in discerning God’s voice. Who is in focus when you think and pray about this issue? Do you end up being a hero or the center of attention in your prayer or imaginative life? Or is the longing in your heart only because you want to see Jesus glorified or help/love others? These issues can be mixed together but, when push comes to shove, if it really is about you, it probably isn’t from Jesus.

Here’s another important test, the Gal. 5:22-23 test. The voice of the Spirit reflects the fruit of the Spirit, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control. If you think about the issue you suspect might be God’s voice, but are consistently angry and disturbed, chances are that’s not the voice of the Spirit. For example, someone hates Obama. Then they begin to hear a voice that says they should shoot or even just continue to hate Obama. That isn’t from the Spirit. It doesn’t reflect the fruit of the Spirit. I’m not saying everyone should vote for Obama. I’m not going to weigh in on that one way or the other. But hatred isn’t from the Spirit. However, hatred and lying are two languages the evil one speaks well.

This isn’t all there is to say on this issue but at least it is a very basic primer. Ask God to speak to you. Ask him to teach you how to hear his voice more accurately. Trust him, he wants to speak to you. But expect his beginning to speak to you to be a growing process, not an event. Ask him to lead you to resources. But most of all, be willing to listen and actively seek his voice. It is better to make a mistake trying sincerely to follow Jesus, than to not listen due to fear of mistakes. God is a gracious and loving God and doesn’t get upset with our mistakes. Even a human father would rather his son or daughter made a mistake trying to do what he wants rather than a son or daughter who consistently won’t even bother to listen to what he says.

I hope this is helpful or at least a starter.

Warmly in Jesus,

Ross

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The Man in White

Filed Under: Evangelism, Spiritual Life, Supernaturalism, Viral Christianity, Worldview by rossrohde — Leave a comment
June 18, 2011

For most of us Westerners, even Christians, dreams are just a nightly phenomenon which has no real connection to our spiritual life. For anyone actually familiar with the Bible, this should seem strange. The Bible is replete with stories in which God uses dreams to communicate to people. Let me give you just a few examples: Jacob’s dream of a stairway to heaven, the dreams associated with Joseph in Gen 37:1-10 of sheaves of wheat and sun moon and stars bowing to him, as well as the cup bearer, baker and Pharaoh’s dreams Gen. 40-41. These just begin to scratch the surface. God used dreams to communicate with Gideon, Solomon, Daniel, Joseph, Jesus’ stepfather and Pilate’s wife. In fact, dreams and their conscious counterpart, visions (think Cornelius and Peter), are a major way for God to speak to his people. So much so that God explicitly promised of such communication through the prophet Joel which Peter used to encourage the early Church.

So why do many modern Western Christians dismiss with contempt such communication from God? It certainly isn’t because God is afraid to communicate with humans in such a way. To believe such a thing would be to deny major portions of the Bible as false. Nor is it because God used to do it but doesn’t any longer. God continues to communicate with people all over the world through dreams and visions. Those in the West, who are open to such communication receive them. And, it is a common way for God to speak to people outside of the West who haven’t had their worldview corrupted through false scientific modernism[1]. Those who have not been corrupted in their thinking to limit themselves merely to what can be measured (called scientific rationalism or just rationalism), receive communication from God because they haven’t tried to limit God in how he can speak to them.

However, I’d like to focus on one important way that God is using dreams and visions to communicate to people today which is dramatically affecting the Great Commission. It is called dreaming of the Man in white. More specifically, God is using dreams to communicate to spiritually open people in the Muslim world to direct them to Him. He often does this through giving them a dream of Jesus dressed in white who gives them specific personal instructions so they can come to Him.

A personal story

I once met a Muslim born believer[2] at a party. I asked him how he came to Christ. He got very nervous; he was afraid I wouldn’t believe what he had to say. He started to tell me about a woman who was also a Muslim born believer who had led him to the Lord. I asked him how she came to Christ. Now he was really nervous. He started to hem and haw about some experience she had once had. Finally I asked him if she had experienced the dream of the Man in white. “How did you know!” he exclaimed. I’m not a mind reader. I just know that God is doing this around the world to reach Muslims.

This dream of the Man in white is not a rare occurrence. It is one of the major ways God is bringing Muslims to Jesus. This is powerful, it is supernatural and it is common.

The following is based on questionnaires of over 600 Muslims who became Christians:

“Though dreams may play an insignificant role in the conversion decisions of most Westerners, over one-fourth of those surveyed state quite emphatically that dreams and visions were key in drawing them to Christ and sustaining them through difficult times[3].

If you want to read some of these stories here is a place you can read just a few of thousands.

  • Do you agree or disagree with me that some Western Christians doubt dreams, visions and other supernatural events because they have had their thinking impacted by scientific rationalism?
  • Has God ever communicated with you through a dream or vision?
  • Do you know Muslim born believers who have seen the Man in white?
  • Do you believe Western Christianity’s relative lack of supernaturalism is a good thing which makes us wiser and less gullible or weaker because we don’t have the full experience of God’s reality?
[1] Don’t take this statement as a fear of science or scientific thinking. I believe science can bring both much good and harm to us humans. The scientific process is very useful for exploring the natural world. God is just beyond the mere natural world of atoms and molecules. We should not think in terms of science vs. spirituality; we should just be clear on what science can teach us and what spirituality can teach us and not confuse the two.

[2] Muslim born believer is a missiological term for a person born a Muslim who has converted to Christianity. It is used to distinguish such people from Christian born believers in the Muslim areas such as Coptic Egyptians, Iraqi or Syrian Orthodox or Palestinian Christians.

[3] This material is a portion of an article originally published in Mission Frontiers magazine, March 2001. www.missionfrontiers.org.

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Setting Parameters

Filed Under: Jesus is Lord, Organic Church, Simple Church, Spiritual Life, Supernaturalism, Viral Christianity by rossrohde — 7 Comments
June 15, 2011

Setting parameters is just part of good Western leadership practice.

A Personal Story

I was a typical missionary for 25 years. I live in three countries outside my native United States (Mexico, Guatemala and Spain). My experience was pretty normative for a missionary. I worked with a fine organization who took pride in taking care of their missionaries, and they did. They took the currently popular idea of servant leadership very seriously. While I had some bad experiences with leadership, usually on the local team level, I must admit that my interaction with the home office leadership was always filtered through this concept of them trying to do the best they could for “their missionaries.”

I mention this because the story I’m about to tell doesn’t come out of bitterness or anger. I’m going to be telling a story, without mentioning names, about really good people; people who sincerely love Jesus. Rather, I’m telling it because I believe it highlights a blind spot we Westerners have to the problems our own Western paradigm creates with our relationship with the Lord.

God began to call me to simple/organic church while I was a missionary in Spain. At first, for me, organic church was just a model, one which didn’t conflict with the emerging postmodern worldview of Europe and the rest of Western culture. After having studied, written and trained on postmodernism extensively, it just made sense to me. As opposed to every other church “model” out there, simple churches just didn’t have any significant barriers to postmodern culture. Still, in my mind it was just the most logical option among a host of models.

Then God actually gave me a supernatural call to “house church.” I won’t go into that experience but suffice it to say that it was powerful and began me on a journey away from thinking of simple church as a mere model to a new spirituality and way of life that was distinct from anything I had experienced before. As I began to filter my own life, experience, ministry and relationship with the Lord through this new paradigm, I began to become more and more uncomfortable with the way things had always been done.

I’ve always wanted to live what I actually believe. So, I began to live according to what I felt God was teaching me about simple, organic relationship with Him. Specifically, I began a simple practice of actually listening to him in real time and obeying what I thought he was telling me. This, as opposed to what my normal Western business based spiritual practice of setting goals and objectives to govern my ministry decisions. An interesting thing began to happen. I began to bear much more fruit; but that fruit came from new and strange situations. I began to have divine appointments. I would just happen to meet people “out of the blue” that I needed to meet. I found that if I just obeyed what I felt God was leading me towards, things just fell in place. My life took on a new supernatural edge. And my life began to be exciting and spiritual, rather than the dull grind of making things happen.

Still, for three years, out of obedience to my mission, I submitted one year, two year and five year objectives. None of these preplanned objectives were met; not one. Yet, I moved in to the most fruitful time of my missionary life. The fruit was coming from listening and obeying the inner voice of the Spirit, not “following the objective process.” I was also experiencing more and more inner turmoil which I was beginning to recognize as coming from God. I finally got to the point of asking God to release me from the pointless burden of the objective process. His answer: not yet.

After three years of this I felt that God was allowing me to talk to the leadership of the mission about my inner turmoil. I was allowed to ask for permission to live according to the principles I found in the Bible of simply listening and obeying. If I was allowed to live like this, in simple obedience to Jesus, I could stay in the mission. If not, I would be released from a context which was not allowing me to live what I was actually seeing modeled in Scripture.

I met with one of the Vice Presidents and another leader of our mission. I told them the story I’ve just told you. Actually it was expressed as a series of questions.

Me: Are you aware that in that last three years I have not fulfilled one single written goal I’ve submitted in the objective process?

VP: Yes.

Me: Are you aware that that same three years corresponds to the most productive time in my ministry life?

VP: Yes.

Me: Do you realize that this productivity comes from me learning to listen to the Lord and just obey what He is asking me to do; even on short notice.

VP: No, I wasn’t aware of that.

Me: Well, that’s what’s happening. And, I’d like to ask permission to just skip the objective process and just listen to the Lord and obey what he is telling me to do.

VP: (and this is a direct quote) I can’t imagine anyone being allowed to be in (name of mission) without following the objective process.

And I was free at last. Here’s my point. He who sets the parameters is the lord. If we tell Jesus he has to use the objective process, or any other set of parameters, we have, without thinking about it, made ourselves lord. Jesus has become the servant to our parameters. Without intending to, we have set ourselves over God.

It is not just the objective process that does this. Any time we tell God he has to do it our way, the denominational way, the simple church way…any specific way, we have set ourselves up as God and him as our servant. Do you think that’s wise?

  • Review your own way of doing things, have you set up parameters that you expect God to honor?
  • Have you learned to listen to God and obey in real time?
  • Are divine appointments and other supernatural events a normal part of your spiritual life?
  • If they are not, do you long for this type of life?
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Critical Skill Set

Filed Under: Biblical Meditation, Jesus is Lord, New Covenant, Organic Church, Our Covenant With God, Spiritual Life, Supernaturalism by rossrohde — 16 Comments
June 7, 2011

In the objective process human planning is the key.

Organic ministry is very different than what most of us have become used to. There is a holistic logic to organic ministry which escaped me until I actually started doing organic ministry. I ended up learning to do organic ministry by doing organic ministry. And I ended up learning how it was different from traditional ministry by trying to do organic ministry using the skill set I had been trained in. I quickly found out that the skill set I brought to organic ministry was worse than useless in an organic context. I say worse than useless because it actually got in the way of effective organic ministry.

Before I talk about the critical skill set of organic ministry, I need to state what the critical skill set of traditional ministry is, which is not helpful in organic ministry. Traditional ministry is based on a logic and premise that is dangerous in organic ministry. The premise is that we humans can decide what needs to be done and how we need to do it. Since humans are the ones making the critical decisions we humans need to organize our behavior is such a way that we maximize our efforts. With this premise firmly (but probably not consciously) in place in our minds, we then set out to look for sources who can give us a skill set which will help us maximize our human effort.

Currently in the Western world those who are best at maximizing human effort is the business world. So, we go to the business world and copy their business skill set. What skill set do they offer us? It is commonly called the “objective process.” It is a logical system of organized skills which do indeed maximize human effort. So, we learn how to set time bound and quantifiable goals and objectives. We learn how to interlock short term goals with long term goals and the overall philosophy of our corporation…errr I mean ministry. We learn administration skills and management skills and leadership skills, ad nauseum. We read the latest business books and then we try to incorporate their principles into our ministry.

Here’s the problem. Jesus is Lord, we are not. If we do ministry as it is described and modeled in the New Testament, we don’t make the critical decisions, we discern what God wants done and we obey. We can do this because God tells us what to do by speaking into our hearts and minds. He does this because we are in a new covenant relationship with Him. Let me give you an example, one of many, from the Scriptures:

Paul and his companions traveled throughout the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been kept by the Holy Spirit from preaching the word in the province of Asia.  When they came to the border of Mysia, they tried to enter Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus would not allow them to.  So they passed by Mysia and went down to Troas.  During the night Paul had a vision of a man of Macedonia standing and begging him, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.”  After Paul had seen the vision, we got ready at once to leave for Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them (Acts 16:6-10).

The critical skill set that Paul and his friend were using was discernment. They needed to discern what God was telling them to do. They didn’t make up ministry, God did. They didn’t decide; they obeyed. They didn’t actually work in their own human effort, then maximize that effort; they worked in God’s supernatural power.

But the critical skill set in this organic ministry paradigm is discernment. Note the phrases that indicate they were listening, discerning and obeying: they were kept by the Holy Spirit… they tried to enter Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus would not allow them to… Paul had a vision; concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them. And note the obedience: After Paul had seen the vision, we got ready at once to leave for Macedonia.

None of this implies, let alone explicitly demonstrates current corporate ministry practice. There were no goals and objectives, job effectiveness descriptions, philosophy of ministry statements (although they knew what he was doing and why). Instead, they listened with their hearts and minds, discerned and obeyed.

Discernment, the critical skill set of actually obeying Jesus the Lord in a new covenant relationship, is almost never even mentioned nowadays. When was the last time you heard the word in a ministry context? Where can you find training or clear writing on discerning the voice of the Lord in the current Western church?[1] We need to relearn this critical skill set and begin to train each other in it if we are to actually learn to follow Jesus the Lord into ministry.[2]

  • Why do you think we have become so ignorant of the discernment skill set in current Western ministry?
  • When was the last time you heard about a seminar on discernment skills?
  • Have you ever been explicitly trained in discernment skills? Where would you go to find training in this skill set?
  • Would you want to learn more about discerning the voice and will of the Lord and obeying?
[1] The Catholics have a whole genre of literature and extensive training courses and ministries focused specifically on these issues. And, their writing and training is extremely good and sound theologically. It is much better than anything developed in the Evangelical world (which says almost nothing on this issue) or the Charismatic world, which does a little something with this issue.

[2] Felicity Dale is starting to scratch this itch. She is working on an ebook focused on hearing God. You can find out more here. Thank you Felicity.

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The Supermarket Sniff Test

Filed Under: Christendom, Church History, Discipleship, Evangelism, Jesus is Lord, Meeting Together, Simple Church, Spiritual Life, Supernaturalism by rossrohde — 2 Comments
May 16, 2011

Can you do it here?

What defines essential simple church practice and ecclesiology? What differentiates us from our more traditionally based legacy brethren? First, I believe it is that we go back to the Bible as our sole source for ecclesiological practice. Second, we return to the historically accurate understanding of terms such as elder, pastor, apostle etc. But that becomes rather academic and detail prone and open to nitpicky arguments about what exactly does the word ______ mean or how exactly did the Early Church do XY and Z. I’m not against such discussions. A number of my posts have been exactly about these kinds of issues. So obviously I believe we should engage in such thinking and even debate. Nevertheless, I think we need a good simple church practice sniff test. Something that is so simple that we can quickly use it to help us determine if this is a necessary part of our practice or not. I think I’ve come up with this sniff test.

Necessary vs. Acceptable

However, I do want to first differentiate the difference between what is necessary ecclesiological practice and acceptable practice. In a healthy simple church, is it necessary to use a guitar or any musical instrument in worship? No, it’s acceptable by not necessary. Musical practice of any sort isn’t necessary, but often times profitable and enjoyable. So I want to be clear that I’m talking about a test that helps us determine the answer to the following question: is the practice of X indispensible in a simple church? Is it something we should do?

The Supermarket Sniff Test

Here is what I’m proposing for the simple church ecclesiological sniff test. Can you practice it in the cereal aisle of Safeway?[1] Whatever it is that you think needs to be done as church; can you do it in such a public setting?

Let me give a couple of examples of the Safeway sniff test. Should we teach in a simple church? Can you teach someone in the cereal aisle of Safeway? Sure, it’s just done through dialog and doesn’t require a pulpit, an overhead projector, a suit or robe and a loud sonorous voice. Should you pray in a simple church? Can you pray for someone in the cereal aisle of Safeway? Sure. I’d suggest that one were gracious to the casual non-participants pushing their shopping carts, but I’ve prayed for friends on the street or contexts like Safeway. Can you pray for healing in Safeway? Yes, I’ve done it, at least in a department store. It wasn’t flashy and loud but it could be done graciously and discreetly. Can you prophecy at Safeway. Sure. Can you cast out demons in Safeway? Now, were pushing the edge of our test. I’d be very careful about this and make sure that Jesus was directing me to do so. Not out of fear of embarrassment but out of desire to not humiliate the person being ministered to. But, Jesus did this very publically, as did the apostles. And, in the right circumstance, and under the direction of Jesus, I’d do it too.

What this test really does is helps us weed out unnecessary traditional practices that don’t necessarily add anything to the effectiveness of ministry. In fact, if we are honest with ourselves, they often hinder effective ministry. Do we need a pulpit to do any effective ministry? No. I really can’t see anything pulpits add to effective ministry. Do we need choir robes? Do we need a sermon? Do we need clergy? Does someone need to be an official clergy to help someone they encountered in the cereal aisle of Safeway? Do they need titles or a seminary education? None of these things are essential, many actually hinder effective ministry.

Let’s just use a seminary education for example. I’ve had to unlearn much of the traditions and practices I learned in seminary to become actually effective in real life ministry outside of the cloistered, unreal vacuum of traditional church ministry. Honestly, most (but not all) of what is taught in seminary is only useful for ministering to people who are tradition bound Christians. Much is actually harmful to ministering to non-Christians and much of what is transferred through seminary trained traditions and practices ends up creating weak, ineffective Christians.  And, the good things I did learn in seminary, I could easily teach in a house church setting to any basically literate person. Much doesn’t even require literacy.

Now do we need Jesus’ power and direction to do ministry in the cereal aisle of Safeway? Yes and again I say yes! It’s absolutely indispensible. Yet, that’s something we’ve become far too used to ministering without. We rely on special buildings, furniture, clothing, titles, positions, degrees, plans, strategies, methodologies, models ad nauseam; but the one thing we really need, the one thing that Jesus made clear we should not do without (see John 15:5); we have treated as not particularly important at all. We are failing the sniff test, and it smells rotten.

  • Think of your typical church experience; could you do most of it at Safeway?
  • The things you couldn’t do at Safeway with their attending paraphernalia and accoutrements; are they necessary for changing your spiritual life for the better?
  • Why do we put so much focus and effort and spend so much money on the non-Safeway friendly things?
  • Does focusing on basic, simple and necessary things; without much of the adornment of the complex, expensive and traditional, really make life changing ministry less effective or practical?
[1] Supermarket chains are extremely regional. Safeway is a common chain in many parts of the United States and England (maybe Canada???). If I were in England I’d say Tesco. In Spain and France I’d say Carrefour and in Guatemala I’d say Paiz.

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Exponential Growth

Filed Under: Biblical Meditation, Discipleship, Evangelism, Jesus is Lord, Spiritual Life, Supernaturalism, Viral Christianity by rossrohde — 11 Comments
May 14, 2011

This is how exponential growth is supposed to work, why doesn't it?

In my early Christian discipleship I was steeped in a system that encouraged us to share our faith. This was a good thing. We were often encouraged by some sort of simple diagram which showed us the power of exponential growth. If we just shared our faith with two people a year, and they shared their faith with two people a year in a very short time the entire human race would be won to Jesus. It never happened, at least not yet, why?

Exponential growth works. The problem isn’t with exponential growth; the problem is that we haven’t worked on developing an environment where exponential growth can happen. Our reality is that most Christians don’t lead other people to Christ in their entire lifetime, let alone two a year. Why? Is it because sharing our faith is a difficult task? No. It really is quite simple. Is it because most Christians haven’t been trained in effective evangelism? No. Most of what is termed effective evangelism is usually seen as too aggressive, forceful and confrontational by those doing the evangelism and those being evangelized, hence it isn’t particularly effective. But even that isn’t really the problem. Then perhaps the problem is that most Christians are too weak in their faith and don’t know enough to share their faith. That’s not the problem either. Have you ever noticed that most effective witnessing is done new Christians who are excited about their new salvation?

So what is the problem? Well, in my opinion, it is not so much that there is one problem but an interconnected set of problems that creates an overall ambiance where evangelism is difficult and non-productive. Let me just mention some of these problems. We have a Christian environment where personal life on life discipleship is very rare; consequently many Christians have shallow spiritual lives. Since most Christians are living shallow Christian lives, they are not particularly attractive to those who don’t know Christ. The church environment that most non-Christians know is not reflective of the values of Jesus or the life that early Christians led (for example, see my last post Kingdom Economics). Because many of us are basing our lives on worldly values, actually living our lives in the flesh, instead of the power of the Spirit, we don’t live lives where supernatural power is evident to outsiders. Because of these “ambiance” problems and many more like them, when we do share our faith, we are most often rejected, which makes it harder to share our faith the next time.

So what’s the solution? Is it to witness more often? That’s what was being encouraged by my early mentors. I’m all for sharing our faith often, but I’m not for sharing it in an environment where Christ is likely to be rejected. Instead, I’m suggesting we go back to the fundamentals. I’m not talking about the fundamental doctrines of the faith, we all believe those. I’m talking about the foundational life practices of the faith. We live our life in the power of the Spirit, not our own fleshly abilities. We love other Christians and our neighbors as we love ourselves. We allow Jesus Christ to actually be our Lord, not just as a doctrinal belief, but by listening to his inner voice and then radically obeying him. Those Christians who are more mature (elders) and know this life, not by mere knowledge, but by practical experience, show less mature believers how to live like this.

If the Church in general were to live like this we would become, in a word, beautiful. Then our lifestyle, our selfless love and the way we loved one another would be as attractive as honey is to bees. I believe that is what Peter was talking about when he told the early believers: But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander (I Pet. 3:15-16). That kind of individual and communal life creates an ambiance where exponential growth happens. It doesn’t need to be forced because people want to know what is going on in our lives. In reality they are seeing the beauty of the Spirit, and that’s attractive.

  • Do you believe that most non-Christians see Christians as having such beautiful lives that they are attracted to it like bees to honey?
  • Are most Christians churches beautifully attractive to outsiders?
  • Do most of the Christians you know live the vast majority of their lives following the individual instructions of Jesus their Lord in radical obedience? If they aren’t is he really Lord? Do you live like that?
  • Do you think the gospel is so powerful and believable that without the demonstration of spiritual lives, it is attractive to most non-Christians?
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Themes

Filed Under: Biblical Meditation, Discipleship, Evangelism, New Covenant, Spiritual Life, Supernaturalism, Viral Christianity by rossrohde — 2 Comments
April 8, 2011

Catch the 10:2b virus

God talks to us in many ways. It is part of our new covenant heritage. In other words, it is part of being a Christian. In fact, Jesus said that his sheep know his voice. Not only do they know it, they listen. While God can talk to us in all sorts of ways, some obvious and some less so; I’d like to talk about one that commonly gets overlooked. Then, I’d like to tell a recent story about how God spoke to me in this way as an example.

If we want to hear God’s voice one of the most important things we need to do is pay attention. I don’t know about you, but I’ve been so distracted at times, that people nearly shouted at me, but because my mind was somewhere else, I couldn’t hear them. It is the same with God. We need to be consciously pay attention, if we are going to hear his voice. Here is one thing we can pay attention to: themes. We need to consciously pay attention, when the same subject seems to come up over and over again. It is God, not so subtly, speaking to us.

Right now I have seven men I am discipling. Six are men I have led to the Lord in the last couple of years. One has not yet come to faith but hangs around with us. You can get a thread of posts which tell some of these men’s stories here. For the last few months I have been praying daily at 10:02 AM the 10:2b prayer, that God would trust my friends out into the harvest. Here is how God responded.

In my post Discipleship as Discernment I mentioned a dream about evangelism that Vitorio had experienced. I mentioned how he discussed this with Toño and me and how this led to a two hour training session on evangelism. This was actually the second of three dreams my friends have had. Toño has also had two dreams that had very clear themes about him sharing his faith. These dreams have ended up causing the group to discuss among themselves the importance of sharing their faith with others and trying to discern who God wants them to share with.

Last Friday night we were discussing this issue in the presence of German, who actually hasn’t come to faith. I’ve been discipling him anyway, helping him take one step closer to Jesus. In the midst of this discussion on evangelism, he openly said he hadn’t come to faith yet, but was hanging around us because we seem to know God. He ended up in an extended dialog with us about what it meant to come to faith in Jesus. The dialog was mostly between him and me although the others joined in. It was a gentle, gracious and friendly back and forth conversation with lots of questions. When I mentioned a Bible passage I’d have Toño look it up and read it. This was exactly the kind of redemptive life and conversation I had been talking to the guys about. Our lives were attracting German. And because of this, we could follow Jesus into a conversation where Jesus and his good news was the focus.

Think about this. I pray the 10:2b prayer for my friends. I ask that Jesus would trust them out into the harvest. In response, Jesus starts giving them multiple dreams about them sharing their faith. I had actually not discussed this issue specifically before, because it had not come up. I just prayed and waited for Jesus to respond. Not only did Jesus give them dreams that lead to training on evangelism, he set up a situation where they could participate with me in sharing their faith with one of their friends. I’d call that a theme. This is what Jesus wants my friends and me to focus on. Our job is to listen and obey.

  • What themes is Jesus bringing up in your life?
  • How do you think you should listen and obey?
  • What other ways does God talk to us?
  • What is the implication of someone who doesn’t hear the Shepherd’s voice?
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