I am teaching Bible at TCS for the Juniors and Seniors and enjoying the opportunity.  In the class we are learning about developing a proper worldview by learning to think Biblically.

Being here has allowed me the chance to assist in coaching soccer once again.  Andrew and Isaac are on the team and learning the game of soccer has been a great stretching experience for them.  No doubt this will lead to many outreach opportunities for them when we return to Zambia next year.  So far the team is 5-0 and looking forward to having a great rest of the season.

This past week Zambia held their presidential election.  The Honorable Michael Sata was elected and we are praying that we will continue to see progress in the development of infrastructure throughout the country.  Reports coming from my friends on the field say that the people are singing and dancing in the streets with the outgoing of the old regime.

On the weekends we continue to travel to present our ministry to supporting churches and prospective ones.  Please pray for us as we travel and for our children as they juggle school with ministry opportunities.

Our family arrived at the Boston International Airport safely this past week to begin our furlough.  We are looking forward to renewing friendships and seeing family.  When we arrived we were greeted by Kathy’s entire family as we exited the secure area in the airport.  What a blessing it was to see them on American soil after four years of being away.  On Sunday we were able to enjoy our home church and see many friends that have been faithfully praying for us while we ministered in Zambia.  Today, I was able to speak to a couple of my Zambian Timothy’s and see how the work was progressing in Ndola and how things were going in Chipata.  With the ceasing of the rains the children have been returning to the Ndola ministry and the men have been visiting many homes.  Pray for Blessings and Pastor Chongo as they seek to serve the Lord in this ministry.

We arrived in Chipata as a family a month ago.  Wow, did it fly by.  Our home that we are renting is right on the edge of town and we can look out our front porch and see thousands of homes dotting the mountansides.  Opportunity meets us every morning we walk out that door.  When the Lord called us to missions it was with this opportunity in mind.  Last night I had the privilege of starting a one week block class on “How to prepare Bible messages.”  We had thirteen men in attendance.  Our children have been holding a kid’s class for the past week and many of our neighbor children have been in attendance.  For the past couple of weeks we have been taking language class and have begun learning Cicewa.  One of my former students from Kitwe moved with us to Chipata and last Sunday they started a Bible study in their home with several in attendance.  Opportunity abounds.  We are thankful that the Lord has called us to this place.  His hand has been evident over and over again.

I would borrow the term “outpost frontier” to depict the nature of the needed church planting movement in the Eastern province.

“The outpost frontier characterizes the unreached people who have no viable indigenous church movement with sufficient strength, resources, and commitment to sustain the continuous multiplication of churches. By outpost frontier people, I mean that technically the gospel has been preached among these people as a whole and that there are outpost churches and missionaries. This situation, however, does not mean that the people have all heard the gospel either consciously or unconsciously. In the main, these people are without aware-ness of the gospel message in culturally appropriate forms.” “So the task in the outpost frontier is establishing a viable church base through discipling believers, training indigenous leaders, and leading them to join the missionaries in extending the witness to those who need it.” (Terry–Missiology : An Introduction to the Foundations, History, and Strategies of World Missions)

My evaluation is that in many of the evangelical churches a new generation is now attending these once viable ministries and the original foundation has been washed away along with the sound theology.  Most Zambians attend churches close to their homes or where their families have always attended. The Puritan movement of the 1700’s in the early American colonies serves as a good example of what can  and often happens. Once the original church goers and converts are deceased or have moved on many unconverted family members and newcomers are left to make up the congregation and the churches become dead and dry. This is not to say that there are no viable ministries in the Eastern Province. We have met several missionaries and know that good works are being done throughout the Province, but more must be done in the area of training national leaders in the context of where they live.

Since accepting the call to the mission field in 2004 it has been our desire to be focused on evangelization, discipleship, and seeing churches planted utilizing divinely called men. With that focus in mind, we believe that God is leading us to the Eastern province to minister. A move in Africa is never easy, but we desire to get our feet on the ground in the Eastern Province and begin ministering in this needy area before we head home on furlough.

Chipata is a strategic area for many reasons. It is a border city that is within a ten minute drive from Malawi and is equally as close to Mozambique making it an up and coming center of commerce. A mountainous area runs between Lusaka the capital of Zambia and Chipata making Chipata the best place for people to outfit in the province. Chipata is home to a small airport and is within 100 kilometers from one of the best game viewing parks in the world.

A move to Chipata does not end my desire to see men trained for the ministry. I am looking at a non-formal training program that will allow pastors to stay at home while they seek more education. We look forward to giving a fresh update and outlook for our future ministry once our move has taken place and the dust begins to settle. This has not been a sudden decision. For over a year we have been prayerfully considering such a move and I have been surveying the country to see where the Lord would have us. This move has the blessing of both our home pastor and GFA. Prior to stepping foot in Zambia I had studied out the country and felt like Chipata would be the place my family would settle into for ministry someday. When I finally had the chance to visit I knew right away God was leading us to this needy area. Pray with us that God would assemble a team that can reach the Eastern Province for His glory.

I came across this book before I came to the mission field. It was recommended to me by my professor of Cross-Cultural Ministry and I have found it to be very thought provoking. His research is thorough and his insight is worth looking at and thinking about. The topic he really hits on is partnering with nationals. We all agree that you must partner with national men in some way for a ministry to even begin. He looks at the pitfalls that often befall both the missionary and the national man.

My missionary philosophy is pretty simple, “Travel light or not at all”. This is because so many things can deflect a missionary from his main purpose. A missionary by definition is one who goes to those who have not heard to evangelize, disciple, and seek to plant churches using divinely called national men. Some times it is very difficult to separate the divinely called from the opportunists that are just looking for free housing, food, and education. This is the missionary’s fault not the national. We often create a dependency that is hard to break and in the process create a social welfare system. How can we best meet the spiritual needs of men and women in a developing country? This past week I went to a US Embassy meeting and we were told that the US Government is spending over $300 million dollars in Zambia alone this year. Should our Independent Baptist Churches be in the same business?

Look at what Little and others have to say.

Problems with Partnering

“Westerners often create projects, programs and institutions, which cannot be carried on or reproduced by those they are trying to help. Sometimes those who create this outside-induced dependency carve out a future for themselves from which they cannot seem to be extricated, if indeed they want to be extricated. If they really don’t want to be extricated, a conspiracy develops which thrives on the need to be needed by outsiders. The need to be needed is a very powerful force.”… (Schwartz) (Page 184-Little) Glenn Schwartz “Missionary Demeanor and the Dependency.” Syndrome.”http://wmausa.org/demean.htm

When we create institutions and build westernized churches–

1. The local agenda is set by outsiders -the one who pays the piper calls the tune

2. Progress locally is determined by the availability of outside funds

3. Foreign salaried local leaders are not free to innovate—for two reasons

• out of respect for donors
• for fear of losing their jobs

4. Both self-image and community image are diminished

5. Local value systems may suffer long-term damage

6. What may have been thought of as a short-term assistance becomes a long term addiction.

(Schwartz) (Page 184-Little) Glen Schwartz Dependency Among Mission-Established Institutions: Exploring the Issues. Lancaster, PA: World Mission Associates p48-49

Is our focus in the right place?

Gailyn Van Rheenen observes “ In this age of international contact missions leaders’ vision is frequently skewed by their experience with the poor. They are almost always shocked as they see hundreds of people crowded into poor apartment buildings or shanty towns of urban centers or living in clap-board or mud-walled, thatched-roofed houses cooking food over an open fire. What frequently grips them on these first forays into poverty-stricken areas is not the lostness of the people without the Gospel or the power of the Gospel to overcome the bondage of sin but the great disparity between the rich and the poor. Mission thus is increasingly driven by a response to poverty rather than by an understanding of lostness. (Page 235-Little) “Monthly Missiological Reflection #2 “Money and Mi$$ion$.” http://www.missiology/org/MMR/mmr2.htm

Robertson McQuilkin states “The church or church leaders that secure a financial pipeline to the USA soon become mired in an ecclesiastical welfare state, because the send-money approach, rather than strengthening the souls of national churches, keeps congregations from becoming “self-governing” and “self-supporting.” The recipients of these funds suffer the following maladies. Believers learn to depend neither on God nor themselves…. Leaders become preoccupied with raising North American Funds…. Those leaders who can’t get to the “pipeline” become demoralized…. Believers sue believers…. An independent and unaccountable higher class of Christian workers arises whose stylish life-styles are envied by “unconnected believers.”…. Recipients become ungrateful. (page 182-Little) Robertson McQuilkin “Should We Stop Sending Missionaries?” Mission Frontiers 21(5-8):38-41

Our affluence has led us to develop the ecclesiastical analog of capital-intensive methods of work. In our economy, the most expensive this is human time, and any procedure or equipment which saves human time is an improvement. We have thus developed methods and techniques which require the large amounts of money we have at our disposal, and we unthinkingly give others the impression that is the way to do Christian work. In most of the rest of the world, equipment is prohibitively expensive, and the cheapest and most abundant resource is human time and strength. But we bypass the resource in which nationals are rich and major on the ones which we have in abundance. In such a “partnership” it is inevitable that the partner with the most highly valued resource will dominate. (page 220-Little) Charles Taber The World is Too Much with Us. Macon, Georgia: Mercer University Press 1991 Page 69

Alexandre Araujo came up with these questions that we as missionary sending churches, agencies, and missionaries must work through, wrestle over, and come to conclusions that will aid in the furtherance of the Gospel, not diminish it or derail it. (mine)

1. Are local believers being prevented from learning to give sacrificially?

2. Is the ministry failing to increase its income level from local/national sources?

3. Is the ministry losing local credibility because of foreign funding?

4. Is the ministry’s goal-setting and decision-making unduly influenced by foreign funding sources?

5. Is foreign funding stunting development of indigenous para-church structures?

6. Is the foreign funding agency unwittingly assuming moral responsibility for personal care of workers, such as their medical and financial needs?

7. Does the ministry leader have exaggerated power and authority because he has access to foreign funds?

8. Is worker support level set by outside funding sources rather than by the worker’s peers? (Pages 175-176-Little) Alexandre Araujo “Freedom and Dependency in Christian Partnerships.”

As a missionary, missionary supporter or national leader these questions should be looked into and given careful consideration. I am by no means saying that I have all the answers or even the right answer. I am just asking you to thoughtfully consider what our mission really is. As I was studying the period of the Great Awakening in America I came across some statistics of those men who graduated from schools with a degree in theology. Barely 20% went on into full time Christian service during this height of spiritual awareness. I wonder how many of my fellow Bible majors that I graduated with back in 1994 are actually in full time Christian service today? These were not men who were largely given free boarding, food, and education. Care must be given when partnering that we are not hurting the very people we are seeking to help by crippling them with dependency and “calling” men to the ministry because they are interested in what we have to offer. Money is the least common denominator when developing a relationship. When the pipeline of funds dries up the people that are left are the ones that were really serious. The others will go and find a new group to be dependent upon. “Give a man a fish [and take his initiative and faith away]and feed him for a day, teach a man [faith and the initiative and ability] to fish and feed him for a lifetime.”

“There shall not be found among you any one that maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, or that useth divination, or an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch, Or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer. For all that do these things are an abomination unto the LORD: and because of these abominations the LORD thy God doth drive them out from before thee. Thou shalt be perfecta with the LORD thy God.” Deuteronomy 18:10-13

Some questions were asked of Van Rheenan concerning the fact that most missionary appointees are ill equipped to deal with animistic religion because they know nothing about it.

1. How can we expect missionaries to be effective if no realistic preparation about spiritism is offered prior to going to a country?

2. Considering that the average person does not understand the concept of spirits existing in our world today, how can they understand the mind of the national or the culture and then succeed in spreading the genuine message of God?

3. How cynical are untrained missionaries toward beliefs in spiritism? (Da Silva 1988) These questions that were asked were right on target.

I noticed within weeks of coming to Zambia that my world view was tainted by my Americanism and this veneer is difficult to pry off. Every time I hear a story about a woman flying into a yard at night or a chicken with a person’s head running around I tend to remain cynical. The fact is that my Zambian brothers around me understand that we “wrestle not against flesh and blood”. They have grown up in an environment that constantly pits good against evil.

So what is animism? “Animism is defined as the belief that personal spiritual beings and impersonal spiritual forces have power over human affairs and, consequently, that human beings must discover what beings and forces are influencing them in order to determine future action and, frequently, to manipulate their power.” (Van Rheenan 20)

When a missionary arrives on the field he carries with him his bag of past experience and his knowledge of how he dealt with each experience. An American coming to the mission field in the 21st Century will have a different world view then let’s say one that was living in America during the time of Nathanial Hawthorne, Herman Melville, and Edgar Allen Poe. Any student of American Literature will see that these authors held a world view that entertained the idea of personal and impersonal spiritual powers at work around them that often caused great calamity.

Animism is a belief in spiritual beings and forces that have power over human affairs. When you look deeply into a culture you will see the world views that most deeply impact an individual. “Effective missionaries must accept two presuppositions about world views. First, worldviews are so natural to insiders that they feel that all others perceive reality their way…Second, world views can be perceived by outsiders at some times more easier than at other times.” (Van Rheenan 33) The death of a loved one or the initiation of a youth into adulthood will often bring out the roots of the national man or woman’s world view. Much is happening in clear view, but there is much going on behind the scenes that an outsider would not see or understand. The idea that there are beings and forces at work is certainly present.

Kamps says that animism’s “foundation is based in power and in power personalities”. “The essence of animism is power—power of the ancestor to control those of his lineage, power of an evil eye to kill a new born or ruin a harvest,…power of the demonic to possess a spiritist, power of magic to control human events, power of impersonal forces to heal a child or make a person wealthy.” (Van Rheenan 21)

I have met a man who did not eat certain foods because his parents forbade it. When I pressed him to give a reason why, he informed me that when he was born his parents went to a witch doctor and the doctor said the boy would grow strong and have a great position in society one day if he would abstain from certain foods. He and his parents later on became professed Christians, but the eating habit continued. This is hard for me to grasp with my Christian world view. As a Christian I put my faith and trust in Jesus Christ as my personal Savior. I believe His work on the cross is complete and that salvation is by grace alone, through faith alone, and in Christ alone. Yet in an animistic society some people still hold onto animistic beliefs after a profession of faith. “They feared the LORD, and served their own gods, after the manner of the nations whom they carried away from thence.” 2 Kings 17:33

For many of us reason and logic is a basic truth that we live out on a daily basis. Two plus two is four. What goes up must come down. We arrive at solutions based upon the facts at hand. Duke has four legs and likes to bark. A dog barks and has four legs. So we surmise that Duke is a dog. In animistic contexts it is all about manipulation of circumstances. If you can make two plus two equal five then you will. Many people if given the opportunity will try to “manipulate spiritual beings and forces to do [their] will.” (Van Rheenan 22) It has been estimated that 40% of the world’s population base their lives on animistic thinking and that 88% of the unreached people in the world are animistic. (Neil and Kamps—Van Rheenan 25)

If you are going to be an effective minister of the Gospel of Jesus Christ in animistic contexts you must first have an ample understanding of the culture you are trying to reach and seek to understand their animistic world view.

I believe the Apostle Paul utilized this in his ministry. He wrote to us in 1 Corinthians 9:19-23, “For though I be free from all men, yet have I made myself servant unto all, that I might gain the more. And unto the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might gain the Jews; to them that are under the law, as under the law, that I might gain them that are under the law; To them that are without law, as without law, (being not without law to God, but under the law to Christ,) that I might gain them that are without law. To the weak became I as weak, that I might gain the weak: I am made all things to all men, that I might by all means save some. And this I do for the gospel’s sake, that I might be partaker thereof with you.”

I am by no means advocating that missionaries become like the animists to reach them. This is also not making allowance for syncretism. We must firmly entrench ourselves in the study of people groups that we are intent on evangelizing in order to truly reach them. “Mass Conversions” are not a test of a missionary’s effectiveness. When people’s lives are transformed by the Gospel and they turn “to God from idols to serve the living and true God” then the power of the Gospel has taken effect.

Another important aspect that cultural anthropologists have found is that throughout a country which has dozens and dozens of tribes and differing dialects there will also be a multiplicity of world views. “Unlike Christianity, orthodox Islam, or traditional Hinduism, animism does not present a consistent cosmology of viewing life.” (Van Rheenan 27) So we must not fall into the trap that what is believed by one people group is believed by all. As a cultural outsider we should be an observer, listener, and student of the society we are ministering within. A missionary that charges in before doing this will place himself as an interloper and will have to learn many hard lessons before he becomes an effective cross-cultural communicator.  As a rookie on the mission field I have made my share of mistakes in this area and it costs time, resources, and relationships. Resources and relationships can be recovered, but time is forever lost.

Many people fear that God will call them to be a missionary to Timbuktu and they are afraid of the “what if’s” of the African mission field. God has called us to bring the Gospel to the uttermost parts of the earth. This means the Gospel is to be preached in New York, London, Vienna, and yes Timbuktu. My family is privileged to serve in a land that is largely animistic in their world view. “For a variety of reasons animists remain the most receptive of all the peoples of the world to Christianity. First, animistic peoples live with an all-pervasive fear of ancestors, spirits, magic, and witchcraft. However, the Christian message provides an ideology in which “perfect love casteth out fear” (1 John 4:18). Christ has triumphed over the principalities and powers which undergird animistic systems and has put them to open shame (Col 2:15). Second, while animists fear disharmony, which tears society apart, the Christian message shows how people can truly live in harmony with both God and man. This harmony is not based on human beings’ manipulating the divine; rather, the Christian learns to place his life dependently in the hands of the sovereign God, who is worshipped as Lord of lords and King of kings. Third, tribal animists have been especially receptive because their worldviews are inadequate to explain technologies that seek to control nature. Tribal animists, who believe that trees and rocks contain powerful nature spirits, are shocked when bulldozers and tractors destroy sacred trees and push aside rocks while constructing a new road. Christianity, however, presents God as the creator of all things, who has put human beings in charge of his creation (Gen 1:26). Fourth, the animistic system is typically amoral. The spirits and forces appeased and propitiated in animism are morally ambivalent. However, moral and righteous God the Creator calls the animist into relationship with Him.” (Van Rheenan 30)

“Psalm 103:19 states, “The Lord hath prepared his throne in the heavens; and his kingdom ruleth over all.” Borders are nonexistent in God’s kingdom. Nothing is beyond the reach of His rule. The Psalmist declares in 115:3, “But our God is in the heavens: he hath done whatsoever he hath pleased.” Nothing can frustrate His purpose and obstacles are nonexistent to his wishes. This is why we can Trust in the Lord. God is praiseworthy because His rule is universal and trustworthy because His purposes are unstoppable. Psalm 135:6, “Whatsoever the Lord pleased, that did he in heaven, and in earth, in the seas, and all deep places.” All the elements of the earth are the tools of providence. He controls the clouds, the lightning, and the wind for his ends—fire and hail, snow and clouds, stormy winds all fulfill his word and respond to his commands.” (Talbert-Not by Chance)

Those holding an animistic worldview must have a “power encounter” with the God of the universe. They must come to an understanding that there is an all loving, all powerful God who desires all men to be saved. (2 Peter 3:9) Who works all things together for His good (Romans 8:28) and that if they delight in Him He will give them the desires of their heart. (Psalm 37:4)

In India they had focused on formal training and realized it was not sufficient in and of itself to fill the need of developing mature pastor leaders that would go forth evangelizing and discipling with the goal of seeing churches planted. This led them to the idea of non-formal training to go alongside formal training. They realized formal training was necessary in order to not hinder the theological development in the nation, but they also realized that to reach the masses they needed men that were trained in the context of their own village, town or city. By remaining at home these men could begin meeting the spiritual needs of the people right away as they were trained and mentored by the missionaries. Then as these men became trained mature leaders they could begin to see churches planted and start training others to do the same.

To plant a church in every village, town and city of this nation, having a church for every thousand people in every people group, we need twelve thousand Bible preaching churches throughout Zambia and a minimum of twelve thousand mature pastor leaders. The reality is that good Bible preaching churches are scarce and a large church might have several hundred in attendance with the majority of the churches having only a few dozen faithful attendees. In order to accomplish the great task ahead of us while using only formal education as the means of developing mature pastor leaders will demand decades of work. This if the task is even plausible. Currently, the task of training men in a college setting only reaches a few and it moves at too slow a pace. Gupta and Lingenfelter point out that often programs attract students only interested in obtaining a degree and most are not interested in church planting efforts. Once the degree is acquired many do not return to their home and pursue ministry.

Because of this they then formed a plan to attract the right kind of men for non-formal training. Pg. 28-29

1. The first principle was to find students who had a passion for evangelism and church planting and provide training for them that does not take them away from their villages and people group. They trained once every three months for ten days and came for eight modules over a period of two years.

2. A second principle of the training is repetition. Through repetition the trainees gained progressive mastery of foundational information on the Bible and biblical theology.

3. A third principle of training is application by teaching others. They required all trainees to teach immediately what they had learned to those they are reaching and discipling in their villages. Through this training they learned how to share their faith and how to disciple those who came to know Christ as their savior. When they located areas where people were receptive to the gospel they sought to make this the area of their first church plant.

The goal of this type of education is to make it free to those who are seeking to be equipped as evangelists and church planters. The simplified idea in this type of endeavor is to introduce the basics of the Old and New Testaments, give an exposure to key doctrines, teach study skills so they can study the Bible on their own, teach how to conduct Bible studies, and prepare lessons and sermons.

Lingenfelter points out many bonuses for Non-Formal Leadership Training. Pg 40-42

1. Non-formal training vastly expands the potential recruits.

2. Practical engagement quickly sifts out those who are not wired for, or committed to, the ministry.

3. Experiential learning has powerful results for adult learners. When you can nurture men in how to evangelize and disciple it will bring an incredible outcome.

4. Evaluation and correction with reference to goal increases positive learning outcomes. When you know what kind of leaders are needed you are able to adjust the training to achieve the goal.

5. The variable pace and repetition of learning serves the diversity of trainees, so that most succeed. Individuals who progress rapidly become coaches for those following at a slower rate.

6. On-site mentoring advances student learning. Mentors play an important role in all the training components. Trainer mentors and peer mentors assist trainees in the development of spiritual disciplines, character, and skill for ministry.

7. Empowerment of trainees to train others serves to multiply leaders and followers. The practice of teaching trainees to teach their new converts and teaching new converts to teach their families has a profound multiplication effect when it is implemented well.

Some drawbacks to a non-formal training can be the emphasis on evangelism and church planting can result in the leaders you are training lacking strong biblical foundations because they don’t have time to develop skills in interpreting scripture. In their studies they found it takes at least four years of mentoring a non-formal trainee to develop stability in a church. The timetable then is similar to that of formal training, but with the bonus being the men can remain with their family and in their village, town, or city while they are being trained.

As a missionary that has been engaged in formal training for three and a half years I see the great benefit of a good balanced education. My time spent lecturing in a formal classroom setting has been well spent. Teaching the Bible on a formal level should be done in order to train the top tier leaders that will impact other top tier leaders in the secular and sacred world. These degreed men will also be shepherds of theological development in Zambia and other African nations. It would be foolish to not advocate advanced studies, but in the same light it would be foolish not to advocate non-formal training. Theological Education by Extension is not a new idea. For the Gospel to take effect it must be given so that people can hear it, process it, and believe it through the Word and the work of the Holy Spirit. Once a person is saved they must be discipled and when this process is accomplished they will be able to “teach others also.” The non-formal training of mature pastor leaders must be pursued if the masses in Africa are going to be reached for the Gospel. May the Lord of the Harvest give Zambia laborers who will be willing to “Break Tradition To Accomplish Vision.”

“I am often asked what the church is.  When I think of the church I am reminded of the words of Jesus to His disciples, “Upon this rock I will build my church” (Matthew 16:20).  These are the words of Jesus in response to the confession of Peter, “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the Living God” (vs. 16).  The Church is a community of two or three individuals who affirm that Jesus is the Christ and gather together in His presence, under His Lordship, to worship, and to study God’s Word.  Members exhort, equip, serve, and edify one another and seek to be transformed, incarnating Christ in all of His love and glory in communities so the world in seeing them will see the Father who is in heaven.” P. 34-35 Lingenfelter

When evangelizing the evangelist should never call for or demand a decision.  People need to simply see, hear, experience, process, and understand.  If this is allowed to happen then some through the convicting and convincing of the Holy Spirit will desire to be saved.  We must wait until they cry out “what must I do to be saved?” 

“Building relationships takes significant time, and the investment of people and resources.  Until we achieve trust and acceptance, people will have little interest in our message.  The missionary must recognize and find ways to transcend the barriers to be accepted as an insider….To often missionaries are in a hurry to stand on the street and preach Christ, thinking the people will understand the message without thinking of the necessity of building the bridge, establishing oneself in the community, and building credibility before we expect people to listen to the message.” Pg. 69  If people do not trust you they will not listen to you.  If you have no credibility in their eyes then your message will fall on deaf ears.

“The role of the missionary is not to plant churches but to facilitate a church-planting movement by identifying and enabling the giftedness of the people being discipled in the community…When the missionary becomes the church planter and not the facilitator of a church-planting movement, he will attract individuals who are deviants from the local culture and are, most likely, more comfortable with the missionary’s culture.” Pg. 60  The goal of the missionary is then—“evangelism and making disciples to develop a church-planting movement among an unreached population.  They must accept responsibility to make disciples of others in the people group.  When the new disciples in that people group take leadership and ownership of the task, the effort of the team will result in an indigenous church.  They will know they are successful when they have mobilized the new church to reach its own community and then other unreached peoples.”  Pg 64

There will be real spiritual warfare during evangelism efforts.  We must continually be reminded that faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God.  God will plant His churches and Satan cannot stand against the Lord of Hosts.