Two months ago we had the privilege of hosting a discipleship conference in a somewhat closed country. The church in that country is known for a house church movement. The economic conditions are horrible and the living conditions follow suit, especially in the more rural areas. There were one hundred and seventy pastors, missionaries, and church planters that attended the conference. I presented a discipleship pathway, F.O.R.M. and G.R.O.W., (F.O.R.M.A y C.R.E.C.E.) in Spanish. Another couple presented a condensed version of The Experiencing God Weekend and another leader presented grief recovery. About a month after we left, the church held an evangelism conference that drew over three hundred people, and saw one hundred professions of faith. They have already baptized twenty-eight of the new believers. We presented a discipleship conference and now God has given them over one hundred new believers to disciple. God blesses movement. The Great Commission commands us to go. The Great Commandment commands us to love.
In my experience, I am finding that fewer and fewer American church members are even willing to walk across the street to help a neighbor, or to share faith with a neighbor. People are hungry and hurting, and the church is afraid and lethargic. We are content to be at ease in Zion. We are not called to sit, sour, and soak. Translation: Sit around listening to the news telling us how bad everyone and everything is. We already know that, the Bible tells us so. Jesus said, “These things I have spoken to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation, but be of good cheer. I have overcome the world.” John 16:33 NKJV. Overcome the world is past tense. Jesus has already conquered. You may have peace can be a present participle or future tense, a continuing action meaning it is our choice to live in peace, both now and in the future.
What will you do today, this week, this year? You can share your faith, you can serve your community, you can help in your church. Yes, the world is going to hell in a hand basket, but we need to snatch as many out of the fire as we can, and teach them how to live in peace. 2 Timothy 2:2.