Some of our friends think Sally and I are crazy. Firstly, in 2006 we moved to South Africa, with one of the highest violent crime rates in the world. Secondly, supposedly we are promoting “house churches,” a form of church that is more a “reaction” than it is real church.

In an effort to help you and others understand what we are up to, I thought it would be good to share with you our core beliefs, what some call core values, and how we try to live out those core values in what we call our “core practices.” We often share our stories in this website, but I felt it would be good to share what’s behind those stories.

Three “Inner Beliefs” Guide Us

There are three “inner beliefs” that guide us in all we do. We try to allow our core values to guide the decisions we make and inspire the risks we take. We believe these three core beliefs don’t originate with us but flow out of the heart of God and the purposes He has set for Himself on the earth. They flow together in one seamless connection; no one of these core beliefs can be lived without embracing and living the others as well. Obeying these beliefs in the power of the Holy Spirit is the engine that keeps us going. Our core beliefs are based on Jesus’ teaching in John 15. They are as follows:

• Intimacy – Intimacy, or “abiding” as Jesus described it in John 15, means a lifestyle of daily personal devotion, including prayer, fasting, reading the Word of God, and receiving the Father’s love. We try to make Jesus the source and goal of all we are and do. As a result of experiencing His love, we long to see the grace and mercy we have found in Jesus spread to others wherever there is poverty, injustice and spiritual darkness.

• Community – Jesus said in John 15, “…love one another…that your joy may be full.” Sharing our lives with those who carry the same desires and longings of knowing and sharing Jesus is not just a noble idea to us, but the very purpose of the church. We have embraced the command of Jesus to love one another, disciple one another, and together to reach out to those who don’t know Him. We love His church and seek to ‘turn it inside out’ as we reach out to the poor and the unreached – and to do that as we

• Mission – We are on mission with God. That is not just rhetoric to us in All Nations. It is God’s mission and it is a privilege to join His mission. He is the source and goal of His mission and we believe He has commissioned us, all of us for that matter, to join Him. He warned His disciples in John 15 that they would face opposition and persecution as they bore witness to Him in the world. That doesn’t happen if we do nothing to spread to good news of Jesus, but if we get involved with the poor, or stand up for those suffering injustice, or reach those who are closed off behind the walls of religious fanaticism and political oppression with the good news of Jesus, then we will experience the hatred Jesus warned about in John 15. Jesus is at work to reach out to those in hard places in our planet, and we gratefully accept His gracious invitation to join Him in doing so. We see Him at work to build His church through book of Acts type of movements where He is breaking into those so-called “closed countries.”

Everything we do in our church planting, working with the poor and the training programs and leadership equipping we do is aimed at preparing people to create communities that change people’s lives. We are burdened to reach “all nations.”

The three beliefs described above are at the core of who we are and what we are trying to do. To be accountable in our obedience to those core beliefs and to give them practical expression, we have adopted the following five “core practices.” They are like the wooden ties, the “sleepers” as some people call them, that railroad rails lie on. These core practices keep us focused and on track. By “staying on the tracks” we keep focused on our calling. By following the five core practices in all the various programs and projects we are involved in, we keep moving forward in the same direction. We do a lot to serve the poor. We rescue babies, do AIDS awareness and prevention, volunteers in hospices, conduct skills training programs in schools and community centers, run sports programs for youth, do job creation and and help young entrepreneurs get started, teach the poor to save and budget, and much more! Following the five core practices outlined below keep us unified in the rich diversity that is All Nations.

Five Core Practices

• Prayer – We believe we are totally dependent on God as we seek to plant the seed of the good news in people’s hearts. That dependency is expressed in personal and corporate prayer, in both intercession and worship. We have experienced that God answers our prayers when we cry out to Him, especially when we pray and act on behalf of the poor. Through listening prayer He inspires us to discover new and effective ways to serve the communities, cities, peoples and nations where we are called. Through prayer and spending time alone with God He gives new strength to carry out our dreams, to stay faithful when we are discouraged. Through prayer we are enabled to experience the gentle conviction of the Holy Spirit when we sin, become proud or critical, or commit any other sin that grieves God or hurts people. Listening to God gives us the grace we need to confess our sins to Him and to others and to receive His forgiveness. Through prayer, God encourages us to understand how He wants to use our gifts, passions and abilities to serve the poor.

• Meeting people – We are called to go to people, not ask them to come to us. We call this “incarnational versus attractional mission.” Jesus came to people. He left His home in heaven and came to us. In other words, we seek to get among people where they live. We see this as “turning church inside out” by going to people rather than asking the people to come to the church. We believe we have been commissioned to tell people about Jesus and his offer of forgiveness for sin – where they live and work and do life. We believe in doing church where people are. We seek to walk and live among people, particularly those who don’t know Jesus. We are carriers of good news, and we seek to share that good news in every relationship and every community where we work, live and serve. That includes every nation/people we seek to reach.

• How do we do that? We begin by sharing our stories, we speak of Jesus, what our lives were like before we met Jesus, how we came to faith in Jesus, and the difference He has made in our lives. We are committed to telling people about the loving rule of the God who has come to set them free and restore purpose and hope to their lives. We look for and give special attention to “good soil” hearts that are open to receive this good news while we continue to serve those who are too broken or hard to receive from us. As we meet people who don’t know Jesus, we also seek to meet their needs in practical expressions of service and compassion.

• Making disciples – We are committed to obeying Jesus’ command to, “…go, teach, baptize and make disciples of all nations,” and equally, to obey His command to “…love your neighbor as your self.” (Matthew 23:19, 28:19-20). He commanded us to make disciples, and to teach our disciples to make disciples. He commanded us to serve those less fortunate than ourselves. His commands to make disciples and to serve others starts for us when we meet get involved with people, and it continues as we invest in their lives and teach them to love and obey Jesus.

• We make disciples by following the example and teachings of Jesus: he started a new way of church by gathering a few followers and teaching them to teach others also, who in turn passed on the good news to still others. Remember, Jesus was not trying to start a meeting, but He was launching a movement. We seek to follow the same pattern of Jesus by gathering those we meet who are open to Jesus with others who are open to Jesus in Bible studies, and as they grow, to turn those Bible studies into simple churches that help them grow in God’s love as they obey His commands. We begin with the end in sight: a multiplying movement that is made up of small, easily reproducible simple churches led by non-professionals. We believe every disciple can start a simple church, and that many of our disciples can lead a church planting movement. We treat them like that, and you know what, many of them believe it too?! And they are living up to our expectations!

• Gathering in simple churches – A simple church is two or three or more people who have come to faith in Jesus and who seek to obey His commands. As we do these core practices of prayer, meeting people who don’t know Jesus, and making disciples, we then seek to gather those who are open to Jesus in simple churches. Simple churches begin as we gather a few people to study the words of Jesus, to pray for each other and to share their Jesus story with others who don’t know Jesus. The goal of gathering in simple churches is not only to grow together, but for each disciple to start more simple churches that start still more simple churches. Simple churches begin wherever people are open to Jesus: any day, any time, and any location. Where possible and when helpful, we encourage networks of simple churches in a region to gather for celebrations of corporate worship and prayer.

• Multiplying movements of simple churches - The goal of meeting people who don’t know Jesus and making disciples is to start simple churches that rapidly reproduce into a movement of simple churches that are preaching the Kingdom of God and transforming the lives of people in practical ways. We don’t seek to plant one church at a time through “addition,” but to initiate church planting movements through “multiplication.” Our role is to initiate a few simple churches and then coach local leaders who lead and multiply the movement.

This is our dream. Fortunately, it is not our dream alone, but God’s dream. He longs to have sons and daughters who love and obey Him. We have aligned our lives with His mission, His dream.

To learn more about what we’re doing, you can order a copy of my new book, You See Bones – I See an Army. Or [1] watch the six minute video about All Nations found on the Media page of this website. If you would like to help us reach and train a new army of leaders for Africa and the Middle and Asia, write to us today.

Are we crazy? We’re crazy about Jesus! And we are crazy enough to believe that He wants to change the world, one life, one village, one family and township and city and nation at a time.

God bless,

Floyd and Sally McClung