Missions Catalyst 07.27.11 – Practical Mobilization

In This Issue: Is It Reproducible?

• FEATURE: Is It Reproducible?
• SUBVERSIVE MOBILIZATION: Talking to People about Jesus

Missions Catalyst is a free, weekly electronic digest of mission news and resources designed to inspire and equip Christians worldwide for global ministry. Use it to fuel your prayers, find tips and opportunities, and stay in touch with how God is building his kingdom all over the world. Please forward it freely!

FEATURE: Is It Reproducible?

By Shane Bennett

If you’ve been hanging around a bit you might remember that this time last year I devoted a Practical Mobilization column to sex and dating on the mission field. In an attempt to counter this year’s summer slump, we’re circling back around to that hot topic again – sort of. This time in a more biological context!

You’ve heard it before: “Every living thing reproduces.” Usually, anyway. If someone asked you, “What is the basic purpose of someone who follows Jesus?” how would you respond? Probably not “to reproduce.” Maybe if as a young lion you rocked on your Shorter Catechism, you’d say “The chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy him forever.” If you’ve been under John Piper’s influence you might say, “To glorify God by enjoying him forever.” If you grew up outside the comfort and security of suburban America, you might be inclined to describe your purpose along the lines of Luke 4:18-21: Preach to the poor, give sight to the blind, and release the captive. Mark Beeson, a friend, cool pastor, and long-term Jesus follower says – based on the first couple requests in the Lord’s Prayer – that our purpose is to “bring up there, down here.”

But what about ensuring the survival and multiplication of your tribe? How might that fit into the scheme of things?

Challenged to Reproduce

Just to make you really jealous I’ll tell you I’m writing this month’s column from a classy little cafe on the main square in Brugge, Belgium. My gang and I are on a brief break from an intensive effort in Lille, France. We’re learning to love Muslims the way Jesus does. In the process I’ve been hugely challenged with the idea of how followers of Jesus should reproduce themselves.

If these comments are beginning to make your ” Evangelism Explosion” meter creep into the scary zone, don’t worry. I’m not going there with this column. (But, at the same time, don’t read the Subversive Mobilization blurb below. Because it will totally go there, asking you to write your story so you can share it with a Muslim sometime this week.)

So living things usually reproduce. Disciples should naturally be making new disciples. But what about mobilizers?

Reproducing Mobilization Efforts

Here’s the question of the month: What are we doing in our mobilization efforts that could be reproduced by the newly mobilized to mobilize others, and so forth? That may sound a little confusing, so read it again. And consider its corollary: How might an eye toward reproduction actually advance the very purposes for which we mobilize?

Think about what you do to mobilize people. Maybe you share your vision, ask people to pray, raise money, host classes, or facilitate experiences. Do you do those things in ways that participants might be able to follow your example and go on to challenge others themselves? Recently I’ve used a Crescent Project tool called Bridges to lead a couple of groups to a deeper understanding of God’s love for Muslims. This is a great course. The participants’ thoughts were substantially changed. What I didn’t do, however – and I’m shaking my head as I write this – is intentionally plan for the people who took the course to become people who host the course. What’s up with that? Wouldn’t it be smart to include, at least in my mental list of goals for this effort, one about seeing a significant percentage of course takers become course hosters?

I tend to think of mobilization primarily as single-generation transaction: I mobilize. People get mobilized. People take action. Voila!

What if instead of mobilizing, we mobilized people to be mobilizers? Certainly, it’s trouble if there is never any end-product action. If we only train people to train people to train people to care about Muslims, theoretically no Muslims ever get cared for. But maybe if we mobilize mobilizers, along the way a lot of us will also actually care for Muslims. (Or whatever other end you may be mobilizing for.)

This thought gives rise to two big questions:

1. Are some things best not reproduced?

Take Missions Catalyst for instance. I don’t really want you to start an ezine that would aim to accomplish the same thing as Missions Catalyst. In fact, from time to time we’ve wondered whether Brigada Today doesn’t accomplish most or all of what we want to. Were further intimidated by the fact that BT goes out to more than 10,000 people! We probably don’t all need to publish an ezine. This is probably true for a number of other things as well. Some things should be used or distributed, but not duplicated.

2. Do we really want more mobilizers?

Do you ever wonder if you’re mobilizing people to do something because you don’t want to do it yourself? In other words, do we sometimes want people to do what we say, not what we do? I’ll be honest here. (In the rest of the column: who knows?) One reason I feel like I can ask this question right now is because tomorrow I’ll be out on the streets of Lille looking for Muslims to chat with about Jesus. I continually ask people to connect their lives with Muslims, to share the hope that is within them. But although I often work to connect my life with Muslims, it’s sad that all too seldom do I share the good news of the kingdom. So during these weeks I’m learning how to do that. I’m submitting to God’s challenge and shaping. (Well, mostly. I’m sure I’m resisting it as well.)

I don’t want to be the kind of person who asks people to do what I’m not willing to do as well. And I don’t just want more people mobilized; I want to reproduce mobilization efforts.

What about you? What could you do to not only mobilize people to pray and give and go, but to also help them influence people in their networks to pray and give and go, too? Please email me your thoughts, or better yet post them as comments on our website.

To seed the wisdom cloud, here are three ways to do it:

1. Whenever you lead a group experience, bring along a leader-in-training who plans to lead a similar event in six to twelve months.

2. Give two copies of Operation World or five copies of the 30-Days of Prayer Ramadan prayer guide  to friends who’ll promise to pass them along.

3. When you speak, use examples, stories, and tools that your audience can use that week in another setting, and tell them that’s what you’re doing.

SUBVERSIVE MOBILIZATION: Talking to People about Jesus

Are you seriously going to read this? Run! Run away.

OK, if you’re still here, this is the deal. Most believers in the US do not often share their faith. (Perhaps this can be said about believers more broadly, but I’m pretty sure about the US.) I’d include myself in that statement.

Now I can quote as quick as anyone: “Preach the gospel at all times – if necessary, use words.” But sometimes I wonder. A good friend and mentor says, “People don’t share the gospel because they don’t know three things: how, who, and why.”

In his encouraging new book, Speaking of Jesus, Carl Medearis boils down the duty of a disciple to this: “Be really nice and talk about Jesus constantly.”

If you’re like me, you may fear that asking someone what they think of Jesus would feel about the same as saying, “Hey, wanna come to an Amway meeting?” Something’s wrong with that, right?

So what can we do? Subvert the process. Counter what has become the normal approach in our lives. Perhaps counter our stream of faith. Learn how to naturally, constantly talk about Jesus.

Here’s one thing that will help: Practice your story. As we kicked this around here in Lille, we’ve called it our “testimony,” but that word may carry too much baggage. I like “story” better, but the point’s the same.

f you’ve got time, read Titus 3:3-8 – one place where Paul tells his testimony, er, story. Basically this: “I was a mess, but God saved me, and I’ve become an heir of eternal life.” Bam! There you go. Then he tells Titus to stress these things so people will devote themselves to doing good, because they’re profitable for everyone.

Here’s a plan. Not “the” plan, but “a” plan. I plan to give this plan to a lot of people over the next few weeks. You just happen to be the first (lucky you). Write or type your story in a version you can memorize and tell in one to two minutes.

If you’re a little bummed right now because you grew up in a Christian home and never dealt drugs and don’t have a cool testimony, relax. Think of a time when Jesus decisively made a difference in your life. If you search hard and can’t see that Jesus has made a difference, make an appointment with your pastor!

How would you tell the story? Write it down. Once you have the story written, practice it on some friends. First get them to write theirs as well to make the whole thing feel freaky for everyone. (That’s only fair!) Practice it until you can tell your story naturally, but you know what you want to tell.

At about that point ask God to send a Muslim or Hindu your way who would be blessed to hear your story.

Let me know how it goes. If you video your testimony and share the link, I will watch it, tell you it’s a great story, and maybe give you some suggestions.

Shane Bennett has served in missions mobilization since 1987, much of his energy going to recruiting, training, and sending short-term teams. He’s been on research teams in Bangkok, Bombay, and Turkey. He coauthored Exploring the Land, a guide to researching unreached peoples, and has written numerous articles.

Shane now works as a public speaker for Frontiers and is part-time missions pastor at Union Chapel. He and his wife, Ann, have five school-aged children. They live and work in Indiana.