This article is from the July, 2009 edition of Today magazine in South Africa:

What is the biggest thing you have learned at CPx Raymond? “That we are
human BEings and not human doings! So often we feel pressurised to do this or do
that and fill in a tick box list! But God has called us to BE; it is in our relationships that we find meaning and fulfilment. CPx has taught me the importance of people before process.”

I am in Noordhoek to meet Floyd McClung, well known author, speaker,evangelist and visionary. While I learn more about what makes Floyd tick, over 45 students are gathered in the next room,having come in for the six-month Church Planting Experience training (CPx) at All Nations.

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There are massive movements taking place all over the wold right now. North Africa. Iran. India. China. Africa. Millions of new believers are coming to Jesus. Five million among the Bojpuri in India is just one example. Believers are suffering for their faith and the church is being born in unimaginable sacrifice.

Why are we seeing the same results in the Christianized West? Three reasons:

1. Lack of obedience to the word: One example: followers of Jesus don’t pursue finding the person of peace, finding one who’s oikos is open, then making disciples among them, as Jesus instructed in Luke 10
2. Traditional ways of doing church encourage a “watch the main man on sunday” mentality instead of every believer getting out and making disciples through a lifestyle of obedience.
3. A lack of willingness to suffer and sacrifice. It takes sacrifice to plant churches and Western believers don’t believe in sacrifice.

Recently, I wrote to a young church planter in the making in the Unite States. He was worried about finding a church or a team to work with. Here is the advise I gave him: “i would love to stay connected to you guys. it is going to take some pioneering and persevering for you to start simple churches with others there where you are. best bet is go door to door in a poor neighborhood until you find a person of peace and then if their family or network is open, start a jesus bible study with them. don’t call it church, just study the world. two qualifications: the person of peace has to be open and their network (oikos) has to be open to doing regualr bibles studies. get them to the word, teach them simple bible study and watch god speak to them!!!

We have been learning how to do that with “discovery” bible study approach in cape town… very simple. based on belief that god is drawing people to jesus by the spirit, that he will teach people through the word if they study it together, and group discovery is much more powerful than individual study because you are imparting the DNA of a future simple church while it is still a study. for example, everyone participates. the bible is the focus. there is accountability to what each other to obey what they are reading. it is focused on non-believers studying the word together.

There are three steps to doing the discovery bible study method:

1. choose a passage that is short about obedience, hearing holy spirit, jesus, etc. ask people to write it down from their translation.
2. ask them to write it down in their own words
3. ask them to read it and write down things they hear god saying to them that apply to their lives that they should do in the next week

Lead the bible study 2 times. then turn it over to someone in the group to lead. You model it first two times, then in the following bibles studies you sit on the outside of the bible study circle and watch as new leader leads the same process of discovery. doesn’t have to be a christian to lead it, preferably not in fact.

This is the MAWL method of caoching: model, assist, watch, leave

You are a commando bro. you are an army guy. you can do this! it is will take pioneering leg work, sweat, tears, loneliness and lots and lots of prayer, then more prayer, but practice luke 10. go to the poor and the loverlooked and you will find them!! look for the person of peace, the person is open and has a network of friends he or she can gather.

About wanting a team to work with you: don’t look for them among the sheep but among the wolves (luke 10:3). this is why jesus said to his disciples to pray for laborers from the harvest. he didn’t want the new believers to be tainted by religious people. find your team amongst the unsaved. maybe go door to door and say you want to start a bible study for people who are not church attenders but who want to look at jesus again. shake the dust off your feet from those who are not HUNGRY! do bible study in their home, with non-believers. it must be open seekers, not cynical or highly christianized (they have too many non-biblical preconceptions).”

I am passionate about seeing disciples made who gather and reproduce themselves in others. May God empower us to see massive numbers of new believers, but much more important, to see transformed individuals, families and communities.

May God empower believers in Christianized lands to find new wineskins to hold the wine of millions of new believers.

Floyd McClung
All Nations
‘Cape Town

TWO STUDENTS IN CPX, ALISON FROM SOUTH AFRICA ON THE LEFT, AND SHANNON ON THE RIGHT FROM THE USA

 PRAYER TIME AT AFRICA HOUSE

 A LOCAL PASTOR NAMED NDABA TEACHING CPx STUDENTS AT AFRICA HOUSE

I have been learning about leadership selection for more than forty years. I was selected by men and women who believed in me at a very young age, and from them, and the example of Jesus and Paul in the New Testament, I have learned the seven laws of leadership selection.

Perhaps “laws” is too strong a word. Maybe “truths” or “biblical principles” is a more accurate way to describe what I have learned. I draw these truths from the life of Jesus in the Gospel of Luke.

I practice these laws. Others have modeled them to me. I study them in the lives of effective leaders. I hope they help you on your journey.

Grace and peace,

Floyd McClung
All Nations
Cape Town

–
It says in Luke 6:12-13,

“Now it came to pass in those days that Jesus went out to the mountain to pray, and He continued all night in prayer to God. 13 And when it was day, He called His disciples to Himself; and from them He chose twelve whom He also named apostles.”

Jesus selected apostolic leaders from among his new-found disciples. Finding leaders is the greatest challenge leaders face. Yet, some leaders attract more leaders and others struggle to find or keep any leaders. Why? Certainly part of the answer lies in the gift of a leader, but there are also certain truths we can practice that will make us attractive to the emerging leaders in our sphere of influence.

The most gifted leaders I know practice these seven laws of leadership selection:

• The law of harvest based leadership training. The most fruitful leaders fine their future leaders in the harvest fields not in the seminary/theological classrooms. This “law” challenges us not to “recruit” future leaders from other places, but to disciple them ourselves.
• The law of discerning prayer. How do we know who to select for further training and responsibility? Jesus spent a night in prayer before he chose apostolic leaders from among his disciples for further training.
• The law of selection. It says in verse 13 of chapter six, “…Jesus called his disciples to come to him, and from them he chose 12 to be apostles.” He was selecting them, not to positions of authority, but to lifestyles of sacrifice. He was inviting them to share in his mission. He believed in them and let them know he believed in them. Jesus selected the men the Father gave to him. Jesus knew that he was to appoint those who the Father had anointed. God anoints and we appoint. We recognize what God has called people to do. Our appointment is not giving people permission to lead, it is recognizing who God has gives commission to lead. Wise leaders watch whom God taps for leadership, then selects those people for more time and training.
• The law of inspiration. Potential leaders naturally are attracted to vision and opportunity. They love an atmosphere of faith and a big vision. They are like moths attracted to the light. Wise leaders use inspiration and challenge to inspire their leaders, not condemnation and control.
• The MAWL law – the law of modeling, assisting, watching and leaving – MAWL. Jesus modeled, assisted, watched and left – he turned over the advancement of his kingdom into their hands – at great risk.
• The law of investment. Jesus spent the majority of his time with the twelve not the twelve thousand. Jesus focused on three things in training the twelve:
• Their character. He taught them to serve. He taught them humility. He taught them faithfulness. He taught them to be available to whatever he needed them to do.
• Their skills. He modeled how to discern, how to disciple, how to select leaders, how to build a team, how to handle crowds, how to withdraw from the urgent to do the important, how to solve problems and make decisions.
• Their understanding. He taught them the kingdom. He taught them wisdom for their hearts, which served them far better than huge amounts of knowledge for their heads. Immediately after he selected the twelve for further training and responsibility, he taught them the beatitudes. Jesus understood that one has not “learned” something one does not apply to one’s heart and obey’s with one’s hand.
• The law of trust. Jesus entrusted his entire plan, the enterprise of the kingdom, into the hands of men who betrayed him, doubted him, and deserted him. He believed in them. He gave them opportunity to succeed or fail. Of course, he did not leave them alone. He gave them his ongoing presence in the person of the Holy Spirit, but still, the risk was great. Apostolic leaders rise to great challenges and great trust! They eventually rebel against control and mistrust. Something in them will not allow them to obey God and simultaneously submit to controlling leaders.

Thank you to Aaron Marshall for finding this.

I am burdened for those people in the world who have never heard the name of Jesus one time. They are gathered around the globe in their own language/cultural groups, what we call tribes or peoples.

An unreached people group is different than an unevangelized people group in that:

- an unreached people group does not have a sufficient number of churches and believers to evangelize the remainder of their own people group; they lack the strength of numbers or resources to be able to share Jesus with all the other members of their people group. often it is because of persecution, fear, lack of discipleship and terrain (mountains or jungles or deserts separate them from others of their group).

- an enevangelized PG is one where no one among the people group who speaks their language has heard the gospel. a least evangelized PG means very few individual people have heard the gospel in that people group, usually less than 1%.

In light of the above, imagine this: more than 90% of the churches resources world-wide goes to work with the already reached and already evangelized people groups of the world. That means we are pouring huge amounts of money and effort and people into helping those who have already heard the gospel. We are giving time and energy to help people learn about such good things as inner healing, how to do inductive bible study, good parenting skills, Sunday school, men’s ministries, etc., etc., while over one third of the global family, approximately 3.3 billion people, have never heard the name of Jesus one time in their life, and never will unless someone learns their language, and then braces extreme weather and living conditions to go to them with the good news of Jesus.
On top of that, those who are unreached and unevangelized are the poorest of the poor. They die because of lack of water or water borne diseases. In some people groups over 65% of the children die before the age of 5.

So, in my mind their is a place for local churches and ministries and organizations and networks to declare that we must all work energetically to change that 90% to 50% of how our resources are spent. It will take a massive mind-set change, and a new level of courage and suffering. There there are reasons why the unreached are unreached and the poorest of the poor are poor: they are in the hard places. All the easy places have been taken.

There are about 5875 distinct unreached and totally unevangelized tribes and peoples in the world. We know where they are, who they are and what languages they speak; so it is a matter of focus and dedication, not ignorance, to reach them. It will mean tremendous focus, shall I say, passionate focus, or, extreme focus. While local churches continue to be preoccupied with self-preservation and church growth where they are, running bigger and better programs to attract more and more already evangelized people, we will never reach the unreached and respond to the poor of the earth.

Some people want to argue about the best way to do church, the right form of church government, how to run the programs of the church, etc. I have no interest in such discussions. Maybe I did when I was young and argumentative. No more. I want to see one thing while I still have breath: people who have never heard His name hear their is a God who made them and has not forgotten them.

it will take extreme intense severe radical relentless unyielding fierce FOCUS to share the love of Jesus with people who have never heard his name. My plea is for those people.

With gratitude to Jesus,

Floyd McClung

There are two extremes when it comes to wine skins: rigid self-righteousness (”we know how church should be done and if it is not done the way we do it, you are wrong”), and formless freedom. The challenge is to find a balance between enough form to build a healthy community, and sufficient freedom for people to re-discover and re-imagine the wonder of being the friends of God who lives of devotion to Jesus and his purposes in the earth.