It’s simple! Over the next 30 days try the following:
- Sow: Sow one gospel seed each day (2 Corinthians 9:6) This might be a blessing, a prayer, a hug, or meeting a felt need of someone in your spheres of influence.
- Find: Look intently for one person of peace (Luke 10:6). This person could be described as spiritually curious.
- Start: By the end of the 30 days try to begin one discovery bible study group (Matthew 28:18-20) You can read about discovery bible study here.
Impossible you say….Not at all!
In your lifetime, God is moving, and the gospel is spreading in unprecedented ways all around the world. A rapid multiplication of new disciples, new leaders, and new churches is saturating entire regions, many of which were previously unreached with the good news of Jesus.
There are areas of India and Africa where millions of people are becoming new followers of Jesus and starting tens of thousands of new churches. When we see this type of church growth happening in an area, we call it a ‘gospel movement’. Similar numbers have been recorded in China over the last few decades. At its height, this movement produced 10,000 new disciples daily.
The underground Church in the Middle East has not only seen similar results, but it’s the place where gospel movements are growing the fastest. In fact, every region of the Muslim world is experiencing a rapid multiplication of new disciples and churches. Entire regions are being transformed by the good news of Jesus.
And that’s just a snapshot. With all this going on in other parts of the world, many Christians in western countries are asking, “Why isn’t this happening here?”
The truth is our disciple-making and church structures we have in the West aren’t simple or reproducible enough to allow for multiplication like in these other countries. And western Christians haven’t historically been taught nor are willing to serve as missional practitioners in their own communities.
In Canada, among Christians, we know that the key markers of discipleship are eroding. And, more generally, that the population of Evangelical Christians in Canada has declined from around 12% of the population in 1995 to around 4% today. That’s a shocking decline among a group of people who claim to be “good news” bearers.
However, there is hope!
From high school students to baby boomers, prisons to urban and suburban neighborhoods, refugee communities to addiction recovery homes, we are seeing Discovery Bible Studies (DBS) and microchurches being born in every sort of environment.
A passion and vision is growing among many, for disciples to make new disciples, everyday believers to be trained and deployed as leaders, and churches to birth new churches, resulting in the beauty, justice, and good news of Jesus spreading throughout our communities.
So, take the 30-day challenge.
Ways You can Do It:
- Partner up one with someone to encourage and hold you accountable.
- Ask the Lord to present fresh opportunities each day.
- Carve out time each day to intentionally Go into your missional spaces.
- Be courageous!
Helpful Resources:
- Module 5 of the Movement Pathway Engaging Culture Gospel Conversations Tool.pdf
If you decide to take the challenge, please send us a quick email at contact@novocanada.org with “Challenge” in the subject line to let us know you’ve started. We’re here to help. Navigate to News and Events for more great resources.
