index

A green assessment

Thu, 04 Mar 2010 19:21:21 +0100

A green assessment

On Thursday 18 February we boarded our plain with much expectation. We were on our way to attend the Every Nation Church Planting Assessment Centre in Nashville, Tennessee. The kids were great on the plane – I think our excitement was contagious. Everything went really smooth, even though Yvette developed a throat infection on the plane.

We faced two very long and intense days of assessment, back to back, followed by a half day. The kids were taken care of by an American nanny during this time – a first for them. I think we coped brilliantly with the challenge as a family. The assessment was everything and so much more than we ever expected. Along with 9 other couples from around America and Europe, we were taken through a pretty intense schedule to see if we are “hard wired” for church planting. It was an amazing experience.

There were 16 points we were assessed on... from our vision and church planting philosophy to character and marriage. Every aspect of our being was turned over and inside out. We had to do various small group exercises and faced intense questioning by a panel at least three times. At the end, the grand finale was when the whole group ... all 20 of us, had to work together to form a church planting strategy and presentation to plant 5 churches in seven years in the city of Seattle. This then had to be presented to a board who would consider the opportunity for investment.

We had so much fun. I feel privileged to have met so many strong amazing leaders and hope to be able to stay in touch with them long into the future.

The assessment started on the Monday and on the Thursday we were given our results. There were three possible scenarios - a green light, a yellow light, or a red light. Green means the assessors feel that someone is hard wired by God to pioneer and lead a new church plant and everything in their lives are at a place where they can go ahead to do this right away. Yellow means that all the qualities of a church planter is hard wired into you and that you are the right person to do the job, but there are certain things in your life that you need to give attention to before you go ahead to do this. Red means that you are not hard wired to be the senior leader of a new church plant and should consider another role in the ministry. As the assessors put it with red, “you might be called to the ministry, but this is not the right lane for you to be in”.

At the end of the assessment centre Yvette and I were given a green light and encouraged to go ahead and plant this church in Belgium. It was very encouraging for us. We know God has clearly called us to this and celebrate the fact that he wired us for this challenge.

I can honestly say that this has been the most valuable experience in terms of preparation we’ve ever had in the ministry, along with our experience leading the church in Slough over the last year. We have learned an invaluable amount and feel greatly blessed with such amazing leaders around us.

So while I am now recovering from a throat infection, we are making our plans to go up to Michigan for a visit to some of our dear friends and ministry partners that we haven’t seen in too long.

Flying again

Tue, 16 Feb 2010 11:38:43 +0100

The next step on our Belgium preparation journey is to attend the Every Nation Church Planting Assessment Centre. This will take place from 22-25 February. Right now we are busy packing and going through a long list of to-do’s to make sure we have everything we need for the trip.

Afterwards we will be visiting some friends and partners up in Michigan that we haven’t seen in years. I can’t wait to see them again.

I will keep this space updated as we spend some time in the lovely USA.

Coming back ...

Fri, 27 Nov 2009 21:59:22 +0100

Meeting up with Terry Hoggard, the former pastor of Christian Centre in Wallonia was a truly amazing time. Pastor Terry is a lively individual who inspires vision and passion and is praying to see the body of Christ uniting again in Belgium and Europe. His stories and testimonies of his more than a decade of experience made me feel like planting this church in Gent is absolutely in God’s divine time.

Johann and I then said goodbye to Hans and Elria right after our meeting to head home back to London. During our stay with them both Johann and I were so blessed by their hospitality and genuine love for God.

We left at about 11:30 Belgium time to catch the Eurotunnel at 14:20. We reached Calais in good time and thought we had about 40 minutes to spare before we had to check in. This meant we would be in time to get Johann to Heathrow to catch his flight back to Dublin at 17:45. Our excitement was given a bit if a curve-ball when the car’s gearbox got stuck in third gear and was jammed about 5 miles before the Eurotunnel.

After a lot of options and phoning around, trying to communicate to quite a few French speaking people who could not understand a word of English, we finally got someone to tow us to the Eurotunnel. Our aim was simply to get into England so we could get the breakdown cover (which did not cover Europe but only the UK… yeah, yeah, - I know) to take us home.

We finally reached home at around midnight and needless to say, Johann had to make some other plans to get to Dublin this morning. (I just spoke to him – he is still smiling and home safe).

After all of this I came home and felt like this was simply one of the most significant trips I’ve had to Belgium so far. We are really excited to go and can’t wait for July in order to move to our new home.

Yvette mailed of the application forms for our children’s nationality today. It feels like this is the first of the last few steps before we leave.

Watch this space ….

Networking

Wed, 25 Nov 2009 18:40:39 +0100

What a fruitful exciting day! Together with Hans (a friend living in Belgium) and Johann (from Dublin) I spent the day in Belgium meeting up with some key people from other organisations.

First we met with Herman Heyman from ABC Ministries in Leuven (one of my favourite cities in Belgium). Herman is a very practical individual with a very inviting personality. Herman explained some very practical things to us regarding the legalities of church planting. This was a very informative meeting and very helpful to plan our next few months before we come over in July.

Just before lunch we met Stephen Turley from Students for Christ. Stephen is an on fire and passionate man with a loud laugh. His passion for discipleship is very contagious and I am looking forward to working together with him in the future. The work Students for Christ is doing in Belgium is very fruitful and insightful.

Later in the afternoon Daniel Costanza introduced us to the PEF (Pentecostal European Fellowship). Daniel is a very busy and strategic man who is worth knowing. Listening to Daniel sharing about the amazing things God is doing in Europe was like a breath of fresh air. He explained to us how the spiritual climate in Europe has been changing over the last couple of years. Churches are moving from extreme division and the kingdom of God being severely fragmented denominationally and theologically to being united in prayer and vision. It was very encouraging to hear how more than 100 pastors are coming together to pray and strategise who only a few years ago would not even talk to each other.

I am looking forward to two more exciting meetings tomorrow before Johann and I return to London.

To Belgium again ...

Mon, 23 Nov 2009 20:04:54 +0100

I will be going to Belgium again tomorrow for three days. This time it is for more practical reasons. Johan Vizagie will be joining me on this three day trip to meet some individuals who might be able to help us with the church plant.

I will be going to Leuven, Brussels, Gent and also be staying with some good friends we’ve met in Belgium.

I will give an update here when I return.

tension points

Thu, 03 Dec 2009 08:31:39 +0100

At our EPEG (European Pastors Equipping Gathering) last week, the Pastors from our Every Nation churches in Europe gathered together for some equipping by Steve Murrell and rice Brooks.

Here is what they said in a nutshell. When shooting a rubber band – there needs to be tension placed upon it to get the desired result.

Too much tension and it snaps … not enough and it fails to fly.

Just like this rubber band there are certain tension points in ministry. When too much emphasis is placed upon a certain aspect, you create a tension that could potentially cause failure in all other areas.

The four tension points mentioned:

1) Family vs. Ministry

2) Being Spiritual vs. being strategic

3) Attention given to the lost vs. the found

4) Making disciples vs. doing church

blog comments powered by Disqus

strategic fishing

Sat, 14 Nov 2009 14:29:51 +0100

Developing a strategy for reaching the lost is like fishing according to Rick Warren in his book “Purpose Driven Church”. The most important thing according to him is that you need to understand fish. You need to know what kind of fish you are catching, where they live, what they eat, what time of the day they are out, what temperature they prefer and even how deep they like to swim. With this knowledge in mind catching fish will be a pleasant experience … and hugely successful.

As fishing is only a hobby to some, they will just fish for the pleasure of it and not to really catch the fish. If you are serious about fishing, you will study the fish and make a deliberate effort to go wherever and do whatever it takes to catch the fish.

Here are a few helpful fishing principles Rick gave in the chapter on “Developing your strategy”.

1. Know what you are fishing for.

The kind of fish you want to catch will determine every part of your strategy. There is no “one-size-fits-all” approach to fishing. In Luke 9 & 10 we see Jesus sending out his disciples with a clear target. They were to only go to the lost sheep of Israel. Their instructions were clear. Jesus was not being prejudiced, he was being strategic. When you define your target of people you want to reach you should not see it as being exclusive, but rather strategic.

2. Go where the fish are biting

Wise fisherman knows that fish feed in different spots at different times of the day. Fish do not feed the whole day, they feed at specific times.

We should understand that there are certain times when unbelievers are more responsive to spiritual truth than at other times. Therefore Jesus told His disciples to shake the dust of their feet when people do not want to listen. They are simply not ready … don’t spend unnecessary time and energy. Move on to those who are hungry. Do not stay around unresponsive people.

We should remember that there are far more people who are ready to hear the Gospel than there are to share it. Therefore we shouldn’t keep sharing the Gospel with someone who has rejected Christ six times already while there are those who still need to hear it for the first time.

3. Learn to think like a fish

In order to catch fish it is helpful to understand their habits. Certain fish like smooth, still water while others like to swim in rushing water.

When we understand the thinking patterns of those we would like to reach it will be easier to defuse the mental barriers they hold. The big problem in evangelism is that many Christian do not understand the mindset of unbelievers because they have been Christians for so long.

Most unbelievers are not really resistant to the Gospel, they are simply unreceptive to our way of communicating it. If we can understand how they think we can explain the Gospel in a way they can understand. If the Gospel is Good News then anybody would want to hear it.

Rick used these five questions in his community to learn more about how the unchurched in his area thinks

What do you think is the greatest need in this area?
Are you actively attending any church?
Why do you think most people don’t attend church?
If you were to look for a church to attend, what kind of things would you look for?
What could I do for you? What advice can you give to a minister who really wants to be helpful to people?

To survey the unchurched like this is a very helpful tool to get you and your church to understand the mindset of the fish you want to catch.

4. Catch fish on their terms.

Successful fishing requires you to do thing that might be very uncomfortable. Serious fishermen will go to any length to catch a fish. To catch a bottom crawler you cannot sit next to the road while fishing. Some fish like hiding under rocks or in the reeds. Are you willing to give up your own comfort to go and get the fish that’s hiding?

a. Understanding and adapting to their culture.

Jesus told His disciples, “When you enter a town and are welcomed, eat what is set before you” (Luke 10:8). This simply means we should be sensitive to local culture. They were to adapt to the local customs and culture as long as it didn’t violate biblical principles. Do not let cultural differences between believers and unbelievers be the hindrance to their salvation.

Fish will not jump into the boat or throw themselves out of the water just to please you … simply because the culture under water is different from my air culture. Fish don’t understand it … I need to understand the water culture in order to find them and “invite” them out of the water.

b. Letting your target determine your approach

You do not use the same bait for every kind of fish. In the same way you cannot use the same strategy to reach all kinds of people. Paul said in 1 Corinthians 9 “I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some.” Not even Jesus had a standard approach for reaching everyone. At the well He talked to a lady about living waters and at the shore He spoke to fishers about fishing. We should get to know our target and be specific in our approach.

c. Beginning with felt needs of the unchurched

Jesus’ approach was simple – fulfil peoples’ needs. When He sent out disciples to minister He told them to do the same: “Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons.” Matt 10:8. The total emphasis was to help the needy. When a leper asked Jesus to heal him, Jesus did not respond by saying “I am too busy with setting up my ministry. This healing is interrupting my preaching schedule”. Jesus met his need and in that way revealed God to him.

d. Understanding and responding to the hang-ups of the unchurched

Even when someone’s hang-up about church is out of ignorance, we should still take is seriously. Some people feel that churches simply ask for money, use guilt and fear to get people to do what they want, expect them to attend every single meeting they have and even do silly thing like make strangers stand up and sing to them.

We have two options, educate the unchurched about why things are being done in the way they are and try to convince them to still come to church, or we could adapt our approach to and explain it more clearly to them after they get saved … I vote for the second option.

e. Change methods whenever necessary

Most fish will not eat the same bait in the afternoon than what they were looking for in the morning. Smart fishermen know to change bait to suit the fish and bring them in. Even though our message should never be compromised we should not use a 1950’s strategy to reach the generation living in 2009.The greatest enemy to our current success is most often our past successes.

5. Use more than one hook

“Trotline fishing” is term some use when you place more than one hook onto a line in order to increase your chances of catching a fish.

While we’re living in a technological frenzy and media addicted world, we should use all the tools available to us. In a time where people have more choices to choose from than there are people to choose them, we should be prepared to utilise every tool we can.

We should try and make it as easy as possible for people to hear and understand the Gospel as we possibly can. This might mean having multiple services that has different styles and emphasis. It takes all kinds of approaches to reach all kinds of people.

6. It Costs to reach your community

To develop a comprehensive evangelism strategy will cost money. Money spent on evangelism is never wasted. Reaching lost is a good investment and the people you reach will more than repay the cost of reaching them. When finances get tight in a church the last place where you should do budget cuts is on evangelism.

People will always give to vision. When you have a clear vision people will buy into it with both their hearts and wallets. Whenever a church is short on cash, it should look at how clear the vision is being communicated.

purpose driven church

Sat, 14 Nov 2009 14:30:03 +0100

Rick Warren’s book Purpose Driven Church has some good stuff in it. I am working through some church planting and church growth books and picked up this one again. I know it’s about 15 years old but some good stuff in the first chapter already.

I was reading the beginning of the book again and two things stood out to me that I think is important.

First, Rick mentions that with his research he found that no successful growing church ever changes leadership. When a church grows and is successful it is because the leader has committed for life and it costs him his life. Whenever a church has a constant regular leadership change people will fail to follow wholeheartedly. This is simply because they know that the ideas and strategies implemented will soon become their inheritance and responsibility to keep alive… and change again with the new leader. Whenever leaders commit to a local church, they should commit with their whole life. One should always be open to the idea that God could call you to go somewhere else, but that should not be the default expectation. Commit for life and build with your life!

A second very good point Rick makes is that no-one can make anything grow. Growth is a natural byproduct of life. I heard someone mention once that you can count the seeds in an apple but you cannot count the apples in a seed. This is true. God placed the natural ability for growth in every seed. Whenever something is not growing we should not look at what could make it grow, but investigate what hinders the growth. Certain elements do need to be in place for growth to take place, and this is what strategy is…. find the right soil, food, climate, etc. for the seed you are planting … growth will naturally occur. The wrong question to ask is “What will make our church grow?” The right question is “What is keeping our church from growing?”

geoff & maggie

Sat, 14 Nov 2009 14:30:10 +0100

Maggie and I were coming to the end of our working lives and were thinking about what we wanted to do or the rest of our lives. We did not want to do the normal retirement thing – in fact we hardly wanted to use the word ‘retirement’ at all. We just couldn’t see that it was a Biblical concept. So instead of opting for a nice place to live and then trying to find what seemed to be the best Church around, we felt we wanted to be at the cutting edge of God’s Kingdom first of all – putting Him first. Otherwise what is the point of life? We want to go out with a Kingdom Bang – but not yet… One only gets one chance of putting it all together on this planet – why settle for anything less than God’s best for our lives? That means knowing that one is in the centre of His purposes for Him. So we went to see our Pastor Wolfi from EveryNation Church and asked to know what Church plants were being planned in say the next 18 months or so. Belgium was mentioned. We went for a long weekend there just to see how we felt about the place and it soon became clear that whereas the whole Body of Christ was being told to ask for the Nations (Psa 2:8) we felt particularly that God was leading us specifically to Belgium. We feel that God has given us a wonderful gift that for the rest of our lives we will be supporting and encouraging our friends Trevor and Yvette to establish a Biblical, Spirit filled expression of the Kingdom of God in the city of Gent so that for generations to come there will be thousands of Flemish students and others who find Christ. I know that when I am old and grey I will proclaim His power to this new generation and His mighty miracles to those who come after me (Psa 71:18). Jezus houdt van het Vlaamse volk; Hij is de Heer van Gent! Geoff Lee

leadership from a followers point of view

Sat, 14 Nov 2009 14:30:19 +0100

I recently got the new book in the StrengthsFinder series called “Strengths Based Leadership“. Ever since I got introduced to this research I have loved it. No surprise once again that this new book has also given some amazing insights into leadership.

One of the most interesting conclusions that this new book reveals, is the research done based on the opinions of followers. Most leadership studies has been done by interviewing leaders and getting their input. Gallup conducted a formal study from 2005 – 2008 with the goal of obtaining the average person’s point of view on leadership. The study looked at a true random sampling of 10 000 followers.

They asked two questions:

1) What leader has the most positive influence on your daily life? Take a few moments to think about this question if you need. Once you have someone in mind, please list his or her initials.

2) Now, please list three words that best describe what this person contributes to your life.

a. _____________________

b. _____________________

c. _____________________

These open ended questions gave Gallup the chance to see why people decide to follow someone without creating a bias by giving them words to choose from. The results was interesting.

Surprisingly none of the usual suspects like purpose, wisdom, humor and humility were found. Distinct patterns emerged and in some cases more than 1000 people listed the exact same words.

So … what are the reasons people follow? According to Gallup it’s:

TRUST

COMPASSION

STABILITY

HOPE

Trust: When people trust their leader, it increases speed and efficiency in the workplace. Gallup’s research on Trust in leadership suggests that the chances of employees being engaged at work when they do not trust the leaders are just 1 in 12. The chances of employees being engaged in work if they trust a leader is 1 in 2.

Compassion: Over the years of research Gallup has asked more than 10 million people to respond to: “My supervisor, or someone at work, seems to care about me as a person.” Those who agreed with the statement 1) are significantly more likely to stay with their organization, 2) have much more engaged customers, 3) are substantially more productive, 4) produce more profitability for the organization.

Stability: Peoples’ need for stability and security plays into nearly every decision they make. At a company wide level, nothing creates stability as quickly as transparency. Followers need to have a basic sense of confidence about where their careers are headed and how the organisation is doing financially.

Hope: It seems to appear that people not only need stability in the now but also in the future. When Gallup asked employees whether their company’s leadership made them “feel enthusiastic about the future”, sixty-nine percent of employees who strongly agreed with this statement were engaged in their jobs. It appears that this may be the one area in which higher level leaders can have the most influence in their organisation.