Evangelism is NOT Rocket Surgery… Part Deux

In Part 1 of this article, I proposed that evangelism/discipleship/multiplication does not have to be as complicated as we often make it. If you begin to live out the practices contained in that article, you will inadvertently start and multiply a missional community…

It’s not rocket surgery!

This intentional living can, has, and will produce a Kingdom movement… Jesus and His disciples did it.

I’ve personally seen hundreds of people begin to live like missionaries, and the training we developed has helped to equip and empower them to see thousands of their friends, coworkers and neighbors come to know Jesus as their Lord and the Leader of their lives.

This training, which started at and greatly impacted the University of Texas, began to be used by influential churches around Austin, and as a result of its effectiveness, is now being used all over the world.

The stories of Kingdom expansion and life transformation are incredible.

Now that you have had a few weeks to practice the first four P’s, how is it going?

Comment below with stories you are learning, how God is using you, what challenges you are facing, and how we can help you take things to the next level.

But before we move to the next level, let’s do a little self-assessment:

• Have you picked your people group and who are they? Are you one of them?
• Have you found another believer to partner with you in prayer and mission?
• Have you begun praying together that God would help you develop a plan?
• Have both of you been present and spending lots of time with the people in your group?

If you answered yes to the questions above, then it is time to continue to the next part.

If not, that is ok, come back to part two when you are ready. This takes time and you cannot rush it

Here we go…

5. Prepare The Way

God has you in this group because He wants you to be His hands and feet.

This practice is all about demonstrating, serving, loving, blessing, and modeling.

How you live your life is a testimony to the power of God working in you. In farming terms, this is soil preparation. This is tilling, weeding, nurturing, and preparing the soil to receive seeds, which leads us to the next practice…

6. Proclaim the Gospel

Now that the soil is ready, it is time to plant seeds.

These are the spiritual conversations you are intentionally praying for and initiating. Learning to ask questions and listen for open doors is paramount here.

Finding ways to share your own story of faith are great ways to plant seeds and it opens the door to share the Gospel.

FYI – If we prepare, but do not proclaim it could merely be considered community service.

7. Produce Disciples

Jesus instructed His disciples that as they are living their lives they are to make disciples. He goes on to tell them to baptize them and to teach them.

This is the part where you get together with new believers and study God’s word together and you teach them what it means and what it looks like to follow Jesus. You have them apprentice your life.

8. Procreate

Reproduce/multiply – once you have a few disciples that “get it”, you help them begin to live out these same principles and SEND them to start groups of their own.

This is where we can start to see how exponential multiplication could lead to a movement!

Imagine if you discipled 3-5 people to live out these principles and within a year each of them discipled 3-5 of their own folks and each of those leaders discipled 3-5 of their folks…

You see where this is going?

Now that you have read all 8 practices you are probably thinking “no duh – this is really simple.”

I did say (more than once) that “this is not rocket surgery!” 

It is simple indeed, but it takes intentionality and commitment. In our training, we dive further into each practice by looking at how Jesus did it with His disciples as well as creating space and time for dialogue and “hands-on” practice.

BIG PICTURE:

We are here to serve you and we want to help you start and sustain a missional movement. Your people are the key. Equipping and empowering them to do the work is what it will take to see a real movement.

What is a Spark Group?

A Spark Group is a group of Christ’s followers that are united in prayer and mission, that demonstrate and declare the Gospel of Jesus and make disciples within a specific people group.

If you would like to learn more about the Spark Course training or how to start Spark Groups, please reach out to Bob Carlton at bob@multiplicationguru.com.