Prayer Calendar: November 30- December 6, 2014

Your missions prayer point inspired by The Call magazine for this week is:

PRAY that God will give you opportunities to encourage others in their journey towards becoming disciples of Jesus Christ. 

What are some ways you can encourage others in their faith? Share your ideas.

Teach and Disciple Others

An excerpt from...
Teach and Disciple Others

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By Scott Rambo, Missionary, Congo/Uganda
October-December 2014

I was minding my own business in my office, preparing a Bible story for an upcoming pastor’s training, when the watchman came to say that someone was at the gate to see me. Somewhat reluctantly, I left my desk to see who had come to visit. When I arrived at the gate, I saw a young man I knew I had met but couldn’t quite place. He introduced himself as Ishmael and reminded me how we had met at his uncle’s wedding four months ago.

Ishmael came looking for some Bible study books that he could use at his church where he led the choir and the youth group. I began telling him I didn’t have that kind of resource available and that we didn’t really use those kinds of materials in our ministry but that I would keep him in mind if I came across any. Then God smacked me in the head and reminded me that our ministry was Bible storytelling.

I invited Ishmael in and asked him if I could tell him a story from God’s Word. He said, “Yes,” and I told him the story from Mark 1:14-20 about Jesus calling His first disciples. After I finished telling the story, Ishmael told back as much of it as he remembered, and then we walked through the story together. As we discussed the story, asking and answering questions, I noticed he was struck by the way the disciples left their boats and followed Jesus immediately.

When we came to the point of applying this story to our lives, I asked Ishmael, “We saw how those fishermen left everything to follow Jesus; is there anything in our lives today that we need to leave behind to follow Jesus better?” He began to talk about several things he felt God was asking him to leave behind. After some more discussion, he said he needed to be going and we closed our Bible study in prayer.

When I finished praying, Ishmael said, “This story has touched me. Can I come again to hear another story?” He came back once every week or two to talk about another story, and it was a joy to watch him grow as he engaged God’s Word. But he didn’t stop there; he took what he was learning each week back to his church and used it there to teach and disciple others.

ACT: This month, use WGM’s speaker outline to share with others the ministry of Bible storytelling and invite others to get involved in this important discipleship cause.

The Jesus Place

An excerpt from...

The Jesus Place

By Nathan Waggoner, Missionary, Albania
October-December 2014

In 2013 our family began serving as World Gospel Mission missionaries in partnership with Planters Seed Foundation in the country of Albania. Our goal was to bolster the existing ministries of Planters and help plant an indigenous church in the village of Vlashaj.

Planters had already been working in Vlashaj when the door opened in 2001 for them to buy a house in the center of the village and renovate it into a ministry center for the community. Having a permanent presence in the village by way of the center announced that Planters was there to stay and was committed to being a part of this obscure village in central Albania. More than 600 Bible clubs later, our family is blessed to be reaping the years of investment as the Planters staff have sown the seeds of the gospel.

Recently, our colleague Genti was told, “Our son is always asking to go to the Jesus Place!”

When he later shared the conversation with me, I asked, “The Jesus Place?”

“Yes,” he said, “that is the name all the kids use for the ministry center!”

The Jesus Place. I can’t think of a better way for the ministry center to be known! That title didn’t come via a marketing campaign or even a sign on the building. It was given in response to the love of Jesus that has been demonstrated there throughout the years. As I thought about what it takes to create a Jesus Place, I was reminded of a quote by Dr. Steve Elliot from a recent WGM leadership retreat: “If you put love where there is none...then love is there.”

I believe that is how a ministry center becomes known as “The Jesus Place.” You put His love there!

Could that really be a way to begin the process of discipleship—making Jesus Places? As I have pondered this concept, I have had to ask myself, “Nathan, do others see you as a ‘Jesus Place,’ where they can come to find His love?”

The answer is simple: without the overflow of Christ’s love, No! I have absolutely nothing of value to give! I need personal Jesus Places in my own life so that I have His love to give to others. During our training to come to Albania, we were told, “When you go, they won’t just get the Message, they’ll get the missionary!” It is only the daily Jesus Places of time in His Word and prayer that give us the strength to live the message, not just speak it.

A weekly Jesus Place via a Sabbath rest has forced us to trust that God can accomplish through us in six days more than we could do ourselves in seven. Honestly, I don’t know what we would do without our Sabbath rest here in Albania. Sundays are the one day we don’t study a language or do office work (or even write articles for The Call). God uses the mental and physical rest of Sunday to propel us into the new week in His strength.

We have also sought to make a Jesus Place in our family. Family devotions help us re-focus on who we are in Christ and His call on our family. Cydil and I also realized that if we were to nurture and disciple our own kids, we needed to set aside intentional time with them, birthing what we affectionately call “Waggoner Wednesdays.” We spend Wednesday afternoons and evenings focusing on having fun as a family. It is less important what we do and more important that we do it together.

Jesus loves the people of Albania. He is at work here, and we are so blessed to be a part of what He is doing. As the church grows in the village of Vlashaj, we pray it won’t lose the nickname “The Jesus Place.” In Mark 6, Jesus’ own hometown rejected Him. The very place that had known Jesus the longest was the least open to His teachings and miracles. However, at the end of the chapter, Jesus returns to Gennesaret where He had recently been begged to leave, but this time they “immediately recognized him and ran about the whole region” bringing the sick to Him and “whoever touched him” was healed. That’s the kind of church we want Vlashaj to be—a place where Jesus is recognized instantly, the sick and hurting are always welcome and invited in, and healing is found for all who come to “touch Jesus.”

What about you? Where is your Jesus Place? Where do you experience the love of Christ? Could your family, work, community, or even you yourself use a Jesus Place? The good news is that anywhere can become a Jesus Place if you bring Christ’s love there!

ACT: Has your Jesus Place gotten a little dusty? Over the next month, be intentional about taking time to rest, study the Word, and pray. Create a pattern that can keep you growing in the love of Christ.

Prayer Calendar: November 23-29, 2014

Make note of this missions prayer point for the week of November 23-29:

ASK God to help you become a “Jesus Place,” always pointing people to Him. 

Learn more about he "Jesus Place" concept in the article The Jesus Place by Nathan Waggoner, serving in Albania with World Gospel Mission. 

Discipleship

An excerpt from...

Discipleship

Impacting Native American Communities

By Sandy Anderson, Missionary, American Indian Field
October-December 2014

A partnership on the American Indian Field with Disciple Nations Alliance is an example of discipleship that is now impacting Native American communities in Arizona. Through it, we as missionaries are learning and passing along the things that God is teaching us as we continue our journeys with Him.

DNA emphasizes following Christ’s example of ministry to the whole person, not separating the “spiritual” and “secular” parts of our lives. Another emphasis of DNA is to compare the biblical worldview with the prevailing worldview of our own cultures and the cultures around us. Native American communities (like many communities) usually have several churches that have been there for years, and yet, the family and community structures continue to be marked significantly by brokenness.

In October and November of last year, Scott Allen and Dwight Vogt of DNA helped present training sessions in Sells, Arizona, where missionaries and Tohono O’odham believers were encouraged and challenged by the teachings regarding the tendency so prevalent in our societies today to separate our lives into the “spiritual” and the “secular.” Two ladies in particular were encouraged and further challenged that what they do daily as they love and care for their grandchildren and other children and youth in their community mentally, physically, spiritually, and emotionally is a vital part of their ministry and most definitely does not take place only on Sundays or only within the four walls of their church.

Last fall, Dwight also joined my husband, LeRoy, and me on a trip to Kirtland, New Mexico, and met with missionaries and Native American believers from that community. Out of that time of learning and fellowship, Chris and Randy Amberman and a couple of the community pastors have started meeting together for prayer and fellowship and to plan ways the body of Christ can reach out to their community. One of the results was that several of the churches in the community worked together to organize the first-ever community Easter sunrise service in Kirtland. At that service, a couple of people began their journey as believers in Christ. These churches continue to look for ways to serve their community together.

Last spring, the staff at Southwest Indian Ministries Center spent several chapels on some of the DNA lessons, learning and being challenged to minister in wholistic ways and to look for the underlying worldview principles from which behaviors, problems, and issues in families and communities stem. This training is helping us focus on looking for the roots of beliefs and values that cause the visible fruits of behaviors and problems. Then, together with Native American brothers and sisters in Christ, we are searching for and finding the biblical answers to those issues.

ACT: As we on the American Indian Field learn and grow, I encourage you to join us on this journey that is impacting our ministries. Disciple Nations Alliance has recently launched an online opportunity to join with others around the globe through Coram Deo: A School for Discipling Nations.