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TRAINING ACTIVITY 1
focused on your ‘Jerusalem’

Form Training Cells to Practice Small Group W orship and Church Body Life
Essential elements of worship ● Benefits of Communion ● Challenges of a tiny church with new leaders

Activity 1, DESIGNATED LEADER (if not the main instructor):

______________________________________

1a Read this activity ahead of time.
Prepare for Communion before the workshop starts.
Prepare one cup for each cell and bread to dip into the cup.

To begin the first session, explain and form the cell groups:

· Cells of from 2 to 10 persons each will be temporary but real churches. Jesus promised, ‘Where two or three gather together in my name, I am there in their midst’ (Matthew 18:20). Tiny churches or cells that obey Jesus normally grow and reproduce faster and healthier than big churches do.

· Let trainees who plan to work together in the future join the same cell.

· Cells are to do all that the New Testament requires of a church, as much as possible.

Mobilize elders to lead the cell groups:

· Lay hands on the elders and pray for God’s help to lead the temporary training cells.

· Each elder forms a cell that is part of the training church.

· If there are few trainees, two or more elders might lead the same cell

Read (or have one of the elders read) the following to the entire group:

INSTRUCTION TO SHEPHERDING ELDERS

Meet with your cells during the time provided, to pray, plan future field work, and prepare activities that are assigned to your cell.

Let other cell members lead the various training exercises within an activity that is assigned to you. Read the activity’s instructions and prepare your helpers. Let everyone who needs to gain experience practice teaching and leading.

Some exercises have discussion questions. Let anyone answer them. Give the answers provided only if trainees do not answer well.

Skip parts of an activity that is assigned to you if time is limited. Let the instructor help you select vital items.

ACTIVITY LEADER: Have the newly named elders serve Communion. Give them time to plan the following exercise together. (If possible, have them plan it before the first training session.)

1b DEVELOP SKILL
in serving Communion to a tiny group
NEWLY APPOINTED ELDERS lead this exercise

Begin with a time of worship, with all trainees together

Praise God and celebrate the Lord’s Supper, without music the first time. Explain that you are using a simple form that will fit primitive conditions in any field, without special equipment.

A leader prays and then reads a few verses of praise from a Psalm. All stand unless focusing on a culture that would use a different posture. Let all repeat each line after the leader.

A dramatic reader reads Child’s Passover Prayer, to introduce the Lord’s Supper:

My name is Zurisadai. I am ten years old. We lived in Egypt until the other day when my daddy told me to catch a lamb. I held it while he slit its throat. Yuk! Blood sprinkled all over me. Flies came. Daddy smeared the red blood beside our door. He told me that Moses had warned that the death angel was going to fly over Egypt and slay each family’s oldest son, but if he saw the blood, then he would pass over.

That night I couldn't sleep; I was scared,. because I am the firstborn. The night grew cold, dark and silent. I prayed, “Almighty God of Abraham, please let the angel see the blood. It’s dark!”

I heard screams, faintly and far off. They grew closer and louder. Soon they were all around us. I pressed my hands over my ears tightly and shut my eyes, waiting.

“Dear God, save me!”

The screams grew fainter and farther away; then, silence. I opened my eyes. Daddy and mama were standing over me, weeping. Daddy cried,

“The death angel saw the blood of the lamb!”

All pray silently to confess their sins to God.

The leader asks an elder from each cell to stand in front with him.

· Serve them the bread and cup saying, “The body of Jesus,” and “The blood of Jesus.”

· Use one cup and dip the bread in it.

1c DISCUSS
the worship activities that you did
Assigned to (any trainee): ________________________

ASK if trainees felt awkward worshipping in a different way.

EXPLAIN: new believers also feel awkward when they worship in ways that are foreign to them. Worship in ways that fit their background, respecting local customs.

EXPLAIN: dipping bread in one cup is an old liturgical form that can be done anywhere, where people have contagious diseases, and without requiring little cups for everyone.

1d DISCUSS
how to praise God without music in certain fields
Assigned to: ______________________________

Many people groups have hostile authorities who will detect singing.

DO NOT introduce Western music styles in other cultures. Wait until local musicians can introduce their own style; otherwise the church planting movement will be stigmatized as a foreign faith.

DO NOT start using music too soon where Muslim converts are accustomed to worship without music and consider it to be too frivolous to use as a worship form.

OTHER BIBLICAL METHODS TO PRAISE GOD: read Psalms, testify of blessings, pray with praise, meditate on God’s majesty–but beware of excessive informality in house churches.

IF POSSIBLE, during worship sing or play music from cultures where trainees may work.

1e DEVELOP the skill of working secretly
TRAINING LEADER should lead this, if…

· Some trainees plan to work were authorities are hostile, and

· The workshop sessions will extend over several days.

EXPLAIN the following guidelines for a SECRET CHURCH:

· If trainees plan to work in hostile fields, then they may form a second, secret church.

· Not all trainees need to participate. Some may serve as police who try to detect the church.

· On the final day the instructor or a helper will prepare a bucket of ice water, to execute the leader that loses, of either the police or the secret church.

First day

· Name a liaison person as soon as possible, who secretly appoints the secret church leader.

· Have trainees tell the liaison person if they want to join the church; he will direct them to its leader–the first day only.

Second day

· First thing in the morning, the liaison person secretly names a ‘chief of the secret police.’

· This chief may recruit other policemen to help detect illegal meetings.

Ø Police can use any methods except violence and interrupting meetings.

Ø Police are to detect time and place of any one meeting of the church or a branch of it.

Any day

· The church must meet at least three times, praise God some way, celebrate Communion, and pray for one another.

· The liaison person occasionally reports to the trainees the secret church’s activities without revealing names, times or places of meetings.

Final day – trial and ‘execution’

· Prepare the bucket of ice water.

· The police chief and the secret church leader give their reports.

Ø The police chief reports first, the time and place of any one meeting of the secret church or of a branch of it. If he suspects more than one meeting, then he reports only the one of which he is most sure.

Ø Do not require names of members of the secret church (that is normally obvious, and in hostile fields the police will need only to detect the time and place of meeting).

Ø If the police chief detects the time and place of any meeting, then execute the church leader who was named by the liaison person, whether he was present at the meeting or not (he is still responsible). Go outside and pour a bucket of ice water over his head.

Ø If the police chief fails to guess time and place, then execute him for incompetence.

1f EXPLAIN
how to lead group discussion and role-plays
(TRAINING LEADER should teach this.)

ENCOURAGE ALL TRAINEES to answer questions and discuss any item freely. Give answers to questions only when trainees fail to give a comparable answer.

Have every trainee participate in some way. If a trainee talks too much, request that “Someone who has not yet spoken, please give your opinion” or, simply, “Someone else.”

Keep role-plays brief; act out main points of a Bible story; do not add things simply to act.

Do not memorize lines, only the ideas (ad lib).

Keep ROLE-PLAYS moving. Trainees will often let them drag. When a trainee is acting or speaking about details that would take a lot of time, ask him to simply explain briefly what should happen next. Then say something like, “Let us assume you have done that” and move on.

IF TIME ALLOWS…

1g DISCUSS more questions about worship

Assigned to: _________________________________

ASK if anything was done that would be hard for uneducated trainees to imitate, in new field. Then explain: We must avoid using forms that would be hard to imitate or equipment that they lack.

ASK: What are essential elements of worship that churches should do at least once a month?

Good answers: 1) Praise, 2) Prayer, 3) Confession, 4) Communion, 5) Word, 6) Fellowship, 7) Giving.

What external forms that we can use to praise God?

Good answers: Singing, reading Scripture, chanting, dancing, praying silently, raising hands, standing, kneeling, sitting or lying face down, in silence or with everybody speaking aloud.

God does not dictate any particular forms. What does He care about when we praise Him?

Good answer: that praise is sincere, from the heart.

Notes:

Note: If trainees plan to work where authorities are hostile, you may want to begin the secret church exercise now, explained under Activity 11, item c.

TRAINING ACTIVITY 2

Make Disciples the Way Jesus Said to do so,
Teaching them to Obey His Commands
Discipleship as defined by Christ ● His Great Commission
● Foundation for life and ministries

Activity 2, DESIGNATED LEADER: ______________________

2a ACT OUT what the first disciples did to obey Jesus
Assigned to: ___________________________

A ‘Pilgrim’ acts out what might have happened after Pentecost, with Mr. (or Mrs.) Tradition).

PILGRIM: Explain that you have returned from celebrating the feast of Pentecost in Jerusalem. Tell Mr. Tradition what happened, relating the events of Acts 2:37-47. He interrupts you.

MR. TRADITION: As Pilgrim mentions the events below; correct him in your own words:

PILGRIM: “We repented…”
MR. TRADITION: “Don’t bother people with repentance. A simple ‘decision’ is easier.”

PILGRIM: “We were baptized, 3,000 of us that day…”
MR. TRADITION: Those baptisms were invalid if an ordained reverend did not do them.

PILGRIM: “We broke bread in homes, celebrating Holy Communion.”
MR. TRADITION: “That was wrong. Only an ordained clergyman can officiate Communion.”

PILGRIM: “We showed love one to another, with wonderful fellowship in Christ.”
MR. TRADITION: “Such unbridled emotion is an abomination before the Holy One of Israel.”

PILGRIM: “We prayed daily, alone and with other believers in their homes.”
MR. TRADITION: “I trust you used the authorized prayers in our church’s worship manual.”

PILGRIM: “We gave to all who had need.”
MR. TRADITION: “Wrong! You must bring all your offerings here to our church.”

PILGRIM: “We made disciples, telling about Jesus and teaching them to obey His commands.”
MR. TRADITION: “You were weak on doctrine. You should begin with systematic theology.”

2b ACT OUT building lives and churches on the one foundation
Assigned to: _____________________________________

DISCUSS our Supreme Commander’s Great Commission
Assigned to: _______________________________________

Let all trainees repeat together the Great Commission in Matthew 28:18-20, by memory if they can.

ASK how we are to make disciples, according to Jesus’ orders?

Good answer: by teaching them to obey all of Jesus’ commands.

2c EXPLAIN: We cannot make disciples like He says unless we know what His commands are. Jesus commanded many things but they can be summarized in seven basic commands, which the 3,000 new believers of the first church in Jerusalem obeyed from the beginning.

ALL LISTEN for what the new believers in the first church did in obedience to specific commands of Jesus, as you read or tells by memory the story from Acts 2: 37-47.

Good answers: Give answers only if the group fails to do so: The first believers obeyed Jesus’ orders to:

Ø Repent ( biblical repentance requires faith and being born again by the Holy Spirit)

Ø Be baptized,

Ø Break bread (Lord’s Supper),

Ø Love (seen in their fellowship)

Ø Pray

Ø Give

Ø Make disciples

ASK: How soon were new believers baptized, and where did they celebrate communion?

IF TIME ALLOWS…

2d ALL TRAINEES: Pray and plan to go make disciples who obey Jesus.

Meet in your cells and help each other to memorize the seven basic commands of Christ.

If you have the knack, compose a simple poem and set it to music, that names these commands, to help believers memorize them

Covenant together before God to start churches and cells that obey Jesus’ commands before and above all else:

· Baptize repentant believers without delay to fulfill non-biblical man-made requirements.

· Celebrate the Lord’s Supper regularly with reverence.

· Cultivate loving fellowship, forgiving and serving the needy.

Receive offerings and use them to provide for urgent needs.

Notes:

TRAINING ACTIVITY 3

Covenant and Plan Together to Start and Sustain a Reproductive Church Planting Movement
Your church’s DNA ● The light baton
● The New Testament’s filter

Activity 3, DESIGNATED LEADER: ______________________

MAIN INSTRUCTOR:

· Have shepherding elders name assistant leaders, and make sure that every trainee gets an opportunity to practice leading as an elder, especially any that lack such experience.

RUN for it!

A church has power to reproduce after its own kind
Assigned to: ___________________

Let trainees from all cells who would like to run in a race form two teams of equal size.

· If the room is small, do this outside.

· Let the teams line up behind a line. Explain that runners from both teams will carry a baton (roll up some paper) to a marker a few yards away, touch it and run back, and hand the baton to the next team member behind the starting line.

· Start the race.

EXPLAIN that in the Bible churches multiplied in a chain reaction, similar to the relay race. Wise church planters pass on a light baton, that is, only those things that are essential for a new church to obey Jesus, such as His commands, the Gospel, the power of the Holy Spirit, and basic teachings from God’s Word.

RUN THE RACE AGAIN, but replace the baton of one team only, with several large books, bags and other things that will take time to be hard to pass on from one to another rapidly.

3b DISCUSS what to leave behind when going to foreign fields
Assigned to: ___________________

ASK what sort of things missionaries should leave behind, that would be difficult for new national leaders to get or to use, with their limited resources, experience, and education.

Good answers: Use the New Testament as a filter–if it does not mention a church activity, filter it out! Excess baggage usually includes high technology, expensive methods, ordination requirements that fit only professional clergy with high degrees, evangelism by extracting individuals from their circle of family and friends, entertaining aspects of worship that fit Westerners’ mentality, individualism, institutionalism or things that require more biblical knowledge than what they have.

3c ALL LISTEN as you read 2 Timothy 2:2, to count the ‘links’ in Paul’s training ‘chain.’

Good answer: four, Paul, Timothy, ‘faithful men’ and ‘others also’.

3d EXAMINE the links in the Paul-Timothy mentoring chain
Assigned to:__________________________

EXPLAIN the links in 2 Timothy 2:2 and Colossians 1:7-8, 4:15):

1 Antioch. The ‘mother’ church in Antioch sent Paul and Barnabas to new areas.

2 Ephesus (among many more): Paul trained Timothy who served in Ephesus, and others.

3 Colosse(among many): Timothy trained ‘reliable men’, for example, Epaphras in Colosse.

4 Hierapolis(among many): Reliable men trained ‘others also’ such as Nympha, a lady worker in Hierapolis.

EXPLAIN:

· Some workers, especially from traditional churches, fear such reproduction. They assume that it will cost too much money, or that they will lose control, or that false doctrine will enter the new churches. However, history shows that the dangerous doctrines that have weakened thousands of churches around the world do not come from new, little churches, but from old, stagnant ones.

· Each church that is born starts the process all over again. Jesus compared church and reproduction to that of plants. If this were not so, there would not be a strong church left on earth; all churches are the result of many generations of church reproduction.

IF TIME ALLOWS…

3e ACT OUT how to filter out excess baggage
Assigned to: ___________________

ILLUSTRATE how to filter heavy things from the package that you pass on to nationals.
Use a large box or container to illustrate what missionaries take in excess to the field, and prepare someone ahead of time to receive it:

· Pretend to put into it what most Western missionaries take to the field: electronic gadgets, an individualistic approach to evangelism, entertaining modes of worship, institutional church organization, academic pastoral training, professionalism and other expensive things.

· Tell the people that they are pagans in a pioneer field and offer the package to one of them, telling him to pass it on, like the baton in a relay race, to the others.

· He finds it too heavy, drops it on his toe, and chases the missionary angrily.

· ASK the group what should be removed from the package; let them discuss this.

· Have another trainee, whom you designate as ‘culturally closer’ pass on a lighter package, using only a Bible. This time the person who receives it finds it light and passes it on.

EXPLAIN that a good way to lighten the package is to let a person who is culturally close penetrate a new field first, to avoid stigmatizing the new faith as a foreign religion.

IF TIME ALLOWS…

3f ALL CELLS: Pray & plan to help with a church planting movement
Assigned to: ___________________________

CELL MEMBERS MAKE A COVENANT with each other and the Lord, to start the kind of churches and leadership training that lead to a church planting movement, with God’s help.

DRAW A RUSTIC MAP if you know the area where you will plant churches: show potential mother churches, with arrows pointing to potential daughter churches.

LEAVE ROOM to add where granddaughter churches might also initiate new churches and cells.

Sample Planning Map

PLAN to give training like this to your future coworkers. Use this outline if you wish, and modify it to suit your circumstances. Download it from www.Paul-Timothy.com.

Notes:

TRAINING ACTIVITY 4

Reproduce ‘Rabbit’ Churches and Cells
Dynamics of church reproduction ● The beauty of smallness ● Spiritual DNA

Activity 4, DESIGNATED LEADER: ___________________________________________

4a ACT OUT the story of Peter and Cornelius from Acts 10

Assigned to: _________________________________

INSTRUCT ACTORS BEFOREHAND to emphasize the points related to the questions below.

ACTORS present the story.

ASK about these points:

· What did both Peter and Cornelius do at first that moved God to work?

· How did God prepare Peter to respect another culture?

· Did Peter work alone or as a team?

· Who did Cornelius gather to hear the Good News, and why is this important in today’s work?

· Did Peter preach a doctrinal message or simply relate the historical events of the Gospel?

· Did Peter emphasize Christ’s resurrection? Why is this important in today’s work?

· How did Peter and his helpers know that Cornelius and his friends had received the Spirit?

· How did Peter confirm the new believers’ repentance and faith?

· What did Peter and his helpers do after the people were baptized, and why is this important?

4b ACT OUT warding off wolves.

Assigned to: ___________________________________

HAVE A MAN PLAY THE PART OF A SHEPHERD, and three men to act as wolves (or another animal that kills sheep and goats). Have the other trainees act as sheep and stand widely separated from each other, in a clear area outside or in a very large room.

RULES:

· Sheep cannot move.

· After you count to three, if a wolf touches a sheep, then the sheep ‘dies’(falls down).

· If the shepherd touches a wolf, then the wolf ‘dies’ and falls down.

Let the game go until most of the sheep are dead. Then have the shepherd reorganize like Jethro told Moses: Name shepherds who form tight groups of four or so, GATHERED CLOSELY.

· Elders now can run, and also have power to kill wolves by touching them.

· Start the game again. Stop when the wolves are dead or are afraid to come near.

ASK: Which is more valuable, sheep or men? Also, what should a pastor do when a flock grows big?

Good answer: People are more valuable and need elders who give pastoral care in small groups.

ASK: Under what circumstances would a congregation normally reproduce cells– tiny churches within a big congregation–rather than separate house churches?

Good answer: Cell churches are more common in big cities. A congregation should reproduce small groups, before it grows too big to practice normal, New Testament, congregational body life.

4c DISCUSS what the first ‘sending church’ did

Assigned to: ________________

ALL LISTEN as you read Acts 13:1-3, to hear how the Antioch church mobilized church planters.

Good answer: The believers in Antioch fasted and prayed, and as a body led by the Holy Spirit they laid hands on Paul and Barnabas, sending them to disciple the nations.

EXPLAIN: when these workers came back several years later, the Antioch congregation heard their report and rejoiced in what God had done (Acts 14:26).

ALL LISTEN as you read Acts 14:21-23, to hear what happens in new churches, to enable them to keep reproducing in daughter churches and granddaughter churches.

Good answer: Workers appoint elders in new flocks so that the process continues until Jesus returns.

EXPLAIN: The best church-planting teams come from a nearby mother church of the same culture. But teams made up of outsiders need to start the first churches in places where there are none.

ALL LISTEN as you read Ephesians 4:11-12 to hear what God promises each church.

Good answer: God gives each church apostles (‘sent ones’) whom He sends to neglected peoples.

4d ACT OUT four common ways to start churches
Assigned to: ___________________________________

DIVIDE TRAINEES into four groups, representing four cities or towns.

1a ANTIOCH MODEL: A sending church sends a team of two to distant fields (Acts 13—14). ‘Paul’ and ‘Barney’ moved from region to region, starting the first few flocks in each region. Two trainees go from the first group to the other three, ‘bless’ them, and return to their city.
EXPLAIN: Church planters stayed in a city only long enough to establish elders, or returned later briefly to do so.

1b JOPPA MODEL: A church (first group) sent men with ‘Peter’ to start a church nearby.
Several go from the first city to the second one, ‘bless’ them, and return to their own city.

1c BUSINESS MODEL: Aquila and Priscilla used small business to start churches in Rome, Corinth and Ephesus.
A pair leaves the first city, goes to the other cities, ‘blesses’ them, and stays in the 4^th city.

1d WESTERN URBAN MODEL: This works in cities with good transportation, among people of the same culture.
Form one large group. A good part of it leaves and forms a second ‘daughter church’ nearby.

LET TRAINEES SUGGEST which of these methods would best fit their future church-planting projects, if they know where they will work.

EXPLAIN:

· New Testament church planting teams were not permanent. Workers joined for awhile and left the team. This is normal, and avoids team members bonding so permanently with co-workers that they fail to bond with the people whom God sent them to serve.

· A leader’s first responsibility is not to keep a team together but to make disciples of Jesus.

· The best church-planting team normally is a new and nearby mother congregation of the same culture.

· Teams made up of outsiders need to start the first churches in places where there are none.

God promises each church ‘apostles’ (sent ones, Eph. 4:11-12) with ‘itchy feet’ who desire to go to neglected people.

4e SHOW Why God Wants Many Shepherds Of Tiny Flocks
Assigned to: ___________________

ACT OUT parts of the story of Jethro’s advice to Moses, from Exodus 18.

PREPARE SIX HELPERS to be Moses, Jethro and four Complainers (the first complainer is a woman; if no woman can take the part, then change the wording to fit a man).

MOSES: Sit in an open space.

1ST COMPLAINER: Go to Moses complaining loudly, “Moses! My father-in-law promised to give my family five camels for me to marry his son, but one of them was lame!”

2ND COMPLAINER: (Before Moses can reply to the above, loudly) “I did give you a lame camel, but your father did not warn me that his daughter is lame in the head!”

3RD COMPLAINER: “Moses, my neighbor’s donkey always eats my barley.”

4TH COMPLAINER: my Donkey does not! It stays at home! It is a good, Jewish donkey!”

HAVE OTHER TRAINEES GO TO MOSES and complain about anything.

JETHRO:

· Go to Moses, walking bent over like an old man with a walking stick. Shout at the complainers to go home and threaten them with your stick.

· Say, “Moses, you are an idiot! Name elders to help you shepherd the people!”

EXPLAIN that Moses followed his aged father-in-law Jethro’s advice and named other leaders to shepherd the people. The real shepherding took place in the small groups of ten.

Notes:

IF TIME ALLOWS…

4f DISCUSS why house churches are needed

Assigned to: ________________________________________

ASK why it is increasingly necessary in many fields to form house churches.

Good answers:

In most societies people come to Christ easier in small groups.
Authorities who are hostile to Christians maltreat ‘unregistered’ churches that meet openly

It is easier to reach entire families by meeting in their homes.
Children can take a more active part in worship and thus know they are an important part of the church body.

Funds not spent on buildings can be used to send church planters to reproduce congregations.

EXPLAIN: Small churches reproduce easily, because they have not become institutions; they have not acquired expensive equipment and traditions that are hard to pass on to daughter churches.

IF TIME ALLOWS…

4g COMPARE Rabbit and Elephant churches

Assigned to: ______________________________________

ASK what the difference is, between rabbit and elephant churches; that is, in what way do big congregations compare to elephants and little congregations to rabbits?

Good answer: ‘Rabbit’ congregations multiply much faster. Believers in an average small congregation win many times more people to Christ than do the same number of believers in an ‘elephant’ church.

EXPLAIN:

Matures in 18 years
1 baby per pregnancy.
Is fertile 4 times a year.
Gestation is 22 month.
Family can grow from 2 to 3 in three years

Matures in 4 months
Averages 7 babies.
Is almost always fertile.
Gestation is 1 month.
Family can multiply to 476 million in 3 years.

EXPLAIN: A church can be a hybrid, both rabbit and elephant (a rabbifant?) if it lets cell groups multiply and become tiny churches within a big one.

· Rabbit churches should serve one another and celebrate together occasionally.

· Rabbits must not bite the elephants’ toes, and elephants must not trample the rabbits.

A group small enough for all to participate actively and serve one another as the New Testament requires, is too small to have all vital spiritual gifts and must cooperate closely with other groups.

ASK: How did the Apostle Paul practice church body life between congregations?

Good answers:

Paul and his coworkers often visited different congregations to help them.

Paul took offerings from some churches to others where the people suffered from famine.

Paul sometimes sent workers from one church to help another congregation for a while.

ASK: Who is responsible to keep starting new flocks after missionaries start the first ones?

Good answer: Rabbits reproduce rabbits. Oranges reproduce oranges. People reproduce people. Obedient churches reproduce daughter churches.

Notes:

Mentoring ‘chain’ in the Epistle to the Colossians

Colossae lies about 100 miles up the river valley from Ephesus, Laodicea and Hierapolis about 10 and 12 miles beyond Colossae.

1. Paul, in prison part of the time, writing epistles

2. Timothy, resident apostle at Ephesus

3. Epaphras, traveled between Colossae and Ephesus

4. Archippus, at Colossae?

5. Nympha, at Laodicea

6. Others, at Hierapolis

Notes:

TRAINING ACTIVITY 5
Focused on your ‘Judea’

Tell the Historical Gospel Events, Present the Risen Christ, and Use Bible Stories to Evangelize and Edify
Our witness ● Simple drama in evangelism and worship
● Story telling

Activity 5, DESIGNATED LEADER: ______________________

5a DISCUSS the essential gospel proclamation
Assigned to: ___________________

THREE PEOPLE READ the following passages while the others listen for the two essential facts that that we are to proclaim, which people must believe to be saved:

Luke 24:46-48 – Acts 2:30-36 – 10:38-43 – 1 Cor. 15:1-8.

Good answer: 1) Jesus’ death and 2) His life-giving resurrection.

IMPORTANT!

Some Western evangelists neglect Christ’s life-giving resurrection, when relating the good news of His saving work. The resurrection was always a central point 0of the apostles’ witness.

5b ACT OUT Bible stories
Assigned to: ____________________________________

Act out parts of the creation story in Genesis chapters 1 and 2.

ANNOUNCE that helpers will show something that the first man enjoyed doing. Explain:

· God told Adam to name the animals that He had created (Genesis 2:19).

· God first created light, then the heavens, the earth and seas, plants, animals and then man (Genesis 1).

· Then God brought the animals to Adam to see what he would call them.

TELL A CHILD to hop like a rabbit; then ask the people to give it a name like Adam did. They are not to say ‘rabbit’ or any name that we already know, because Adam did not have our language. They might say names like ‘hopper’ or ‘long ears.’

Then LET ALL CHILDREN hop like rabbits.

· Ask a young adult to go like an elephant, swaying one arm like its trunk, and ask the people to give it a name. If other children want to be elephants for a moment, let them do so.

· Do the same for a flying bird, kangaroo, turtle and any other animal that local people know.

EXPLAIN:

· He is now making a new, eternal creation, which we enter when we turn from our sins to follow Him by faith.

· Thank God in prayer for both creations: the old and the new.

DISCUSS how to present the living, present Christ.

· Ask a lady to stand (or a man if no ladies are present), and announce that you are going to introduce her in a way that will enable everyone to really know her.

· Explain that first you must get information about her. Pretend to write information in a notebook. Say ‘hair’ and then examine her hair, say “Yes!” and pretend to write it in your notebook. Then say ‘Eyes?’ and examine her eyes. Then announce “Two!” and pretend to write it.

· Ask the trainees if this would enable them to know the lady.

· Explain that this is what we do to present Christ if we only explain facts about Him, such as how His atonement works.

· Ask how we can help people to meet the risen Christ who is among us. They might mention such things as…
semphasize His resurrection and ascension,
sask God in Jesus’ name for the Holy Spirit (Luke 11:13
slet all prophesy as God prompts, as in 1 Cor. 14:24.
slet the Holy Spirit help us to feel His Presence,
slet seekers know how much we love Him and why,
spray for healing in His name,
smake other bold requests in prayer,
scelebrate His supper in a meaningful way,
saccept persecution for His sake with joy,
spraise Him joyfully, and thank Him for what He has done, sobey His commands (Acts 5:32),
slet all use their spiritual gifts,
stalk to Him and about Him and His Presence, in small groups,
sanoint and pray for believers who plan to do specific tasks
slet all participate freely but, but avoid letting visitors teach
until you know their doctrine is sound, and avoid strange
‘manifestations’ that distract from obeying Jesus.

IF TIME ALLOWS…

5c DISCUSS why we tell or ACT OUT Bible stories
Assigned to: _________________________________

ASK why we should tell or act out Bible stories. Good answers:

· Bible stories are easy to remember and to repeat to others.

· When seekers and new believers hear Bible stories, they often repeat them to others.

· Stories let the Good News flow among families and friends.

· We must develop a repertoire of Bible stories that illustrate vital truths.

ALSO ASK trainees to mention Bible stories that reveal vital truths about salvation.

Good answers: The accounts of Jesus’ death and resurrection, the Prodigal Son in Luke 15, the many accounts of conversions in Acts, and many more. Develop a repertoire of gospel Bible stories.

ASK trainees to mention Bible stories that reveal the grace that God gives to sinners.

Good answers: Parables of the lost sheep, the lost coin and the lost son in Luke 15, etc.

ASK trainees to mention Bible stories that reveal the need to repent.

Good answers: Zacheus, Luke 19:1-10, Prodigal Son, Luke 15, Saul on the Damascus road, Acts 9.

ASK trainees to mention stories that reveal the benefits of:

· Baptism,

· Communion,

· Giving,

· Prayer

· Serving the needy?

Notes:

TRAINING ACTIVITY 6

Let the Gospel Flow through Networks
of Relatives and Friends
Family oriented evangelism ● The dangers of extraction, individualism and private faith

Activity 6. DESIGNATED LEADER: ______________________

6a DEMONSTRATE unwise evangelizing by extraction
Assigned to: ___________________

Have a ‘Seeker’ stand in the center and point out other trainees who are his Father, Mother, Neighbor, Drinking Buddy and Friday Night Girl Friend.

· These relatives and friends join hands in a circle around Seeker who stays in the center.

· Tell Seeker that since he received Christ, you must protect him from his friends’ bad influences. Take him by the hand, and forcefully pull him out of his circle. Warn him that his old family and friends will pull him back into their world of sin.

· Introduce him to the other trainees, and tell him that they are now his new family.

· Look back at the family and ask what they think of the young man, and of you.

FORM THE SAME CIRCLE again and demonstrate the right way.

· Tell the seeker that Jesus’ greatest command is to love God and our neighbors. He is to forgive these people and beg them to forgive him for anything he has done to offend them.

· Have him introduce you to his father. Greet him; ask if you can talk to him about Jesus.

EXPLAIN that in a society where a father would kill his son if he became a Christian, then go slower. Let the son first show Christ’s love until the Holy Spirit softens the father’s heart.

IF TIME ALLOWS…

6b EXPLAIN how ‘network’ evangelism differs from extraction
Assigned to: _________________

When you evangelize in the New Testament way, whole families and friends often receive Jesus.

· Active faith is like measles–highly contagious, especially in pioneer fields.

· We must teach new believers how to deal lovingly and righteously with their friends.

EXPLAIN dangers of evangelism by extraction:

· It violates Jesus’ command to love one’s neighbor,

· It stops the flow of the gospel within families and from friend to friend,

· It contradicts the apostles’ consistent practice of working through families,

· It causes much needless persecution and many deaths.

· It causes a new believer to have an excessively private relationship with God.

ALL LISTEN as you read Acts 16:29-32, to hear God’s promise to a head of a family.

Two Things You Need to Know and
Two Things You Have to Do

TWO THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW

1) God will send you to Hell because of the shameful things you have done.

2) Jesus came and died on the cross because of your shameful deeds, and He rose back to life to forgive you and give you his eternal life.

TWO THINGS YOU HAVE TO DO

1) You must be sorry for your shameful deeds and turn away from them.

2) You must believe in Jesus who died and rose again to forgive you.

Notes:

TRAINING ACTIVITY 7

Confirm Faith and Repentance with Baptism, and Keep Focused on Jesus with Communion
Value of baptism ● Repentance ● Receiving babes in Christ ● Sacramental aspect of Communion

Activity 7, DESIGNATED LEADER: ______________________

7a DISCUSS when and why we baptize
Assigned to: _____________________

Let some trainees find in Acts 2:37-41 why we baptize. Let others find the same in Romans 6:3‑8.

Let both groups report, from their reading, why we baptize.

Good answer: Baptism demonstrates and confirms repentance. It means dying with Christ to sin and rising with Him to new, eternal and holy life.

ASK at what point should seekers be counted as new believers? Why?

Good answer: When they have been ‘added to a church’ by baptism (Acts 2:41). If evangelists count people who are not serious enough to be baptized, then those evangelists cannot evaluate the effectiveness of their work, and they should not report those individuals as new Christians.

7b SHOW why we joyfully receive spiritual ‘babes’

Assigned to:_____________________________________

INSTRUCT a man with a sense of humor to step outside a door and shut it, then knock on it and, when you open it, announce that he has received Jesus as his Savior.

When he does so, you shout ‘Praise the Lord!’ and then push him back and shut the door in his face. After a moment let him come back in and ask how he felt when you excluded him.

EXPLAIN: Churches discourage new believers if they delay baptism for legalistic reasons.

ASK any mother present if she left her newborn child outside the door of their house until it stopped dirtying its diapers (fouling its ‘nappies’ in the UK).

EXPLAIN: new believers are like babies in God’s sight; we all dirty our diapers, spiritually. During their infancy, new believers need to be brought into the bosom of the church:

· Bring them through the Door, which is Christ, by baptism.

· Do not delay the new believers’ assurance of love and acceptance in the church body.

EXPLAIN:

· Legalists impose non-biblical requirements for baptism. This cancels grace, obscures repentance, and replaces serving out of love with doing works out of fear for legalistic motives.

Such legalism elevates blind obedience to church leaders and to man-made, church policies, above obedience to Christ’s commands.

7c DISCUSS the meaning of Communion

Assigned to: _______________________________________

ALL LISTEN, as you read 1 Corinthians 10:16-17, to hear what the bread and drink are, in Holy Communion (Lord’s Supper). Let anyone answer.

Good answer: To eat and drink are a precious ‘participation’ in the body and blood of Christ

IF TIME ALLOWS…

7d ACT OUT Old Testament worship
Assigned to: ___________________

Explain that you will show how folks worshipped before Jesus came, in the temple in Jerusalem.

Ask a man to go out of the room with you. Outside, tell him to pretend that he is a sheep that you will pretend to be pulling with a rope. Show him how by crawling on your hands and knees saying ‘Baa!’ and jerking your head back to resist the rope.

· Enter the room with the sheep following you. Pretend to lead it to an ‘altar’ (a chair).

· Request a person to be a ‘priest’ and to sharpen his knife. Tell another that he is a Levite, and to bring the fire. Have them both help lay the sheep on the altar.

· Lay your hands on the sheep’s head and say that you must first confess all your sins.

· Tell the priest to slit the sheep’s throat. When he pretends to do so, recoil and cry, “Blood! Spurting all over!” Pretend to wipe blood from your hands and face.

EXCLAIM in your own words:

“Is this worship? It is so shocking and repugnant!”

”Why? Because our sin is shocking and repugnant before God!”

ASK why Christians no longer take animals with them to worship.

Good answer: Jesus the Lamb of God has taken away the sins of the world.

EXPLAIN:

· God requires that blood cover our sin; we enact Jesus’ sacrifice with the Lord’s Supper.

· God hates our sin and requires blood to cover it, which Communion recalls.

· God let some Corinthians die because they ate the bread without respecting Christ’s Body.

· Those who gather in Jesus’ name to break bread are Christ’s body, also, the bread itself is, as both Jesus and Paul said, Christ’s body; these two truths are woven together–a joyful mystery! To try to explain Communion in rationalistic terms destroys the mystery.

· Most new churches in newly opened fields start out small and meet in homes. They need help to sense the presence of God. Christ has given a good way to do so, the Lord’s Supper.

TRAINING ACTIVITY 8
Focused on your 'Samaria'

Bond with a Neglected People and Culture,
and Find a ‘Child of Peace’
Bonding ● Relationships with nationals
● Good and bad missionary teams ● Pre-evangelism

Activity 8 DESIGNATED LEADER: ______________________

8a ACT OUT pre-evangelism
Assigned to: ___________________

Act out Luke 10:1-20

THEN DISCUSS how to find a ‘child of peace’ who welcomes you to a community.

ASK what guidelines Jesus mentioned, to help church planters in a pioneer field.

Good answers:

Go in pairs (avoid working alone); pairing off is a good way to mentor apprentices.

Pray for more workers.

Expect opposition from ‘wolves’.

Don’t take excess baggage or get sidetracked into other ministries; avoid using high tech equipment when training apprentices who lack it.

Seek a person of peace who is hospitable and will open doors into the community; avoid going from house to house seeking better hospitality.

Pray for the sick.

Announce the Good News.

If the people do not receive you, ‘shake the dust’ (go to other people). In most cases a missionary does not have to move to a new area, but simply focus on a lower economic level.

Report work done to your mentor. If you are the mentor, have trainees give their reports.

Don’t get too excited about casting out demons; keep focused on the message of salvation.

8b DEMONSTRATE THE POWER OF TWO.

Ask a full grown man to sit in a chair. Then ask another man to lift the man in the chair; he will find it difficult. Then ask two men to lift the chair together. Ask trainees to mention advantages of working together with others, two or more, instead of alone.

8c ACT OUT penetrating a different culture

Assigned to: ___________________________________

Act out Ruth 1:11-17. Then…
ASK why it was easy for Ruth, a Moabitess, to adopt Israelite culture.

Good answer: Love between Ruth and her mother-in-law Naomi made bonding easy. Missionaries must love the people in order to bond with them and their culture.

EXPLAIN how to bond with a people and culture:

· A church planter’s deepest social needs, except for his family, should be met by the local people. To bond with people and their culture, we must live among them.

· Missionary teams made up of expatriates often bond with each other instead of with the people whom God sent them to serve. We should form teams made up mainly of nationals as soon as possible, and mentor them from behind the scenes.

· Missionaries who fail to bond in this way seldom start congregations and cells that fit their host culture well enough to reproduce and multiply.

Anatomy of an Evangelist

1. Eyes. Find in John 4:35-39 what God wants us to see.

2. Lips. Find in Luke 24:46-48 what we are to tell about Jesus.

3. Hands (Bible). Find in 2 Tim. 2:2 what we are to do with God’s Word. 
Find in Matt. 28:18-20 what we are to teach disciples to do.

4. Heart. Find in 1 Corinthians 13:1-3 what makes our work effective.
Find in Heb. 11:6 what we need for God to work.
Find in 1 Thessalonians 5:17 what we should do all the time.
Find in Acts 1:8 from whom we are to get power and why.

5. Hand (keys). Find in Matt. 16:13-19 what Jesus promised to Peter.
Find in Matt. 18:18 who else received this promise.
Find in John 20:22-23 what God does through us.

6. Feet (shoes). Find in Eph. 6:15 what kind of shoes God provides.
Find in Isaiah 52:7 why feet are poetically called ‘beautiful.’

7. Helpers. Find in Acts 11:12 how many helpers Peter had.
Find in Acts 13:2-5 how many helpers Paul had.
Find in Luke 10:1 how many travelled together.

Notes:

TRAINING ACTIVITY 9

Combine Mercy Ministries with Church Planting
and Pastoral Work
Holistic ministry ● Deacons
● Integration of ministries in Christ’s Body

Activity 9, DESIGNATED LEADER: ______________________

9a DISCUSS the biblical role of deacons
Assigned to: ________________

ALL LISTEN as you read Acts 6:1-6, to hear what type of person should serve as a deacon.

Good answer: Deacons were persons of good character, full of the Holy Spirit.

ASK what deacons did in the first church.

Good answer: They dealt with physical needs. Some did pastoral work also, as Philip did in Acts 8.

9b PORTRAY obeying both ‘great’ commands at the same time

Assigned to: ______________________________________

HAVE TWO ‘BIRDS’ STAND to show how to combine the two ‘great’ commands of Jesus.

· The birds flap their ‘wings’ and fly around, then stand still with wings outstretched.

· Explain that one wing is the Great Commission to make obedient disciples of all nations. The other wing is the Great Commandment to love God and our neighbor in a practical way.

REQUEST someone to be Mr.(Mrs.) Specialization and help the birds to do their primary ministry.

· This person pretends to clip one ‘wing’ of each ‘bird’ with large shears, one’s left wing and the other’s right wing.

· TELL the birds to drop the wing that is clipped.

EXPLAIN that each ‘bird’ now specializes in one ministry, either discipling or serving the needy.

· Tell the ‘birds’ to fly to some people at a distance, because they lack food and need Christ.

· The birds flap only one ‘wing’ and go in small circles.

ASK how to correct the damage that Mr. (Miss or Mrs.) Specialization did.

Good answer: The ‘birds’ join their bad arms, flap their good wings and fly to the needy people.

· Have the birds join their bad arms and ‘fly’ to the needy people.

9c EXPLORE guidelines to integrate vital ministries

Assigned to: ________________________________________

HAVE A THIRD OF THE TRAINEES read together 1 Corinthians 12:4-27 to find guidelines for harmonizing different ministries in the body.

HAVE ANOTHER THIRD read Ephesians 4:11-16 to find the same or similar guidelines

HAVE THE OTHER THIRD read Romans 12:3-8 to find the same or similar guidelines.

AFTER ABOUT FIVE MINUTES, tell them that only one minute remains.

HAVE EACH GROUP REPORT a guideline that it discovered. Good answers:

Believers with different spiritual gifts and ministries should serve one another in love within the same congregation or small group.

Congregations also should serve one another in loving harmony.

We should not isolate believers with the same spiritual gift in separate church programs.

IF TIME ALLOWS…

9d DISCOVER biblical integration of ministries

Assigned to: _________________________________________

EXPLAIN: If your ministry is not church planting but health services, development, evangelism, pastoral training or some other specialty, you will see many times more such work done if you work together with workers who do the other vital ministries.

· Church planters are not mentioned in the New Testament, because the new churches learned from the beginning to serve their neighbors in love, evangelize, and take the Gospel to those who had never heard. This obedience normally results in new churches.

· Everywhere the apostles went and made disciples by teaching them to obey Jesus’ commands, churches multiplied, without having to employ professional, specialized church planters.

EACH NEW CHURCH should develop without delay all of the vital ministries, and incorporate them into the church’s DNA to pass on to its daughter churches.

· Ministries are far stronger when integrated in loving harmony with the other vital ministries of a church body, in the spirit of 1 Corinthians 12, which compares our gift-based ministries to organs in our body that work in coordinated unity.

· Workers can plant churches and do mercy ministry together as a team if they work in loving harmony through the power of the Holy Spirit, united by Christ who is Head of the Body. Churches that practice both ministries seriously normally do a much better job of both, than do churches that lack this balance which is required by 1 Corinthians 12.

EXPLAIN:

· To integrate gift-based ministries, apply the love principle of 1 Corinthians chapter 13.

· One person does not have to do both pastoral and mercy work. It is normally more effective to focus on one ministry and work closely with others who focus on the other ministries.

IF TIME ALLOWS…

9e SHOW how NOT to join mercy ministry with church planting

Assigned to: _______________________________________

PREPARE two helpers ahead of time to act as Church Planter and Mercy Worker.

EXPLAIN that a church planter and mercy worker have met in a village.

CHURCH PLANTER argues loudly saying things like:

People need salvation more than anything.

My ministry is more important than yours!

Without salvation, people will perish forever.

You focus too much on worldly things!

They need churches, not rice!

MERCY WORKER argues at the same time saying things like:

Starved people will not listen to the Gospel until fed.

My ministry is more important than yours!

Loving our neighbor is more important than anything, and love must be practical.

We are called to serve people, not to convert them to a foreign religion!

EXPLAIN that New Testament church leaders are ‘shepherding elders’ who teach and lead, and ‘deacons’ who serve in practical ways (1 Timothy 3). These two kinds of leaders are to work in loving harmony to keep the body balanced.

ASK what is wrong when church planters and mercy workers both think that their ministry is the most important?

Good answers: Church planting and mercy ministry are equally important and both honor the Lord. The two workers should let the Holy Spirit enable them work together in loving harmony, as a team.

LET TRAINEES MENTION BIBLE PASSAGES AND STORIES that emphasize works of love.

Good answers:

Jesus’ story of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:30-37)

Jesus’ advice to a lawyer (Luke 10:25-28)

Jesus’ awesome parable of sheep and goats (Matt. 25:31-46)

John’s warning that if one says he loves God but does not feed his hungry neighbor, then he is not a true believer (1 John 3:16-18).

Jesus’ instructions to his followers whom he sent out with a dual commission, to proclaim Good News about the Kingdom of God, and to heal the sick and deliver the oppressed (Luke 10:1-9).

Notes:

TRAINING ACTIVITY 10

All Worshippers Participate Actively
and Serve One Another
Children take part ● Interaction in cells ● ‘One anothers’ ● Prophesying’ in the New Testament

Activity 10, DESIGNATED LEADER: ____________________

10a DISCOVER together how to teach in small churches or cells
Assigned to: ____________________

EXPLAIN:
1 Corinthians 14:26 requires: “When you assemble, each one has a psalm, has a teaching, has a revelation, has a tongue, has an interpretation. Let all things be done for edification.”

New Testament ‘one another’ commands can be done only in small groups; they include:

· Teach one another

· Confess our faults to one another,

· Correct one another, in love,

· Bear one another’s burdens,

· Exhort one another,

· and many more.

A small group has grown too large to be effective when its members can no longer interact and serve one another like the New Testament requires.

· Do not simply split a group in two. Train new leaders while the group is still small, to form new groups. As a group grows, have one or more of these new leaders start new groups, taking with them as many as who want to go with them.

· Also, send new leaders out to form groups by evangelizing.

ALL LISTEN as you read Ephesians 4:11-12, to hear God’s purpose for teaching His Word.

Good answers:
To equip believers to serve one another doing different, vital ministries.
Leaders are not to control everything or do everything. They are mobilizers.

10b EXPLORE how to engage children actively in worship
Assigned to: ____________________

Prepare children ahead of time to briefly act out Bible stories during the worship time.

Avoid memorizing lines; let older children say in their own words what must be spoken.

Let a narrator read or tell the story, and pause for the children to act out the scene.

Avoid using props, costumes or other special effects. Keep it very simple and brief.

Let older children help prepare the younger.

Let all the children take part. Some may be ‘trees,’ animals in the background, or observers who shout ‘Amen!’ or another expression when the narrator tells them to do so.

IMPORTANT NOTE
TO TRAINING LEADER

If trainees have worshipped in different ways for training purposes, they must not do so in pioneer fields. They must explain well any necessary change beforehand. Many believers will leave a church that varies its forms, as they feel insecure, not knowing what they are going to do next. This is especially so where persecution abounds.

IF TIME ALLOWS…

10c LEARN to keep discussion to the point, restraining wordiness
Assigned to: ___________________________

EXPLAIN five kinds of persons who disrupt small group discussions:

· Know-it-all: always corrects others and has to have the last word.

· Victim: Has problems all the time, illnesses, worries and chronic crises, demanding the attention of the group.

· Debater: Argues often, creating a negative atmosphere.

· Leech: Clings to leaders or disciplers, wasting their time.

· Wordy Commentator. Talks on and on, boring others.

THINGS TO SAY OR DO to restrain these people:

· “Does someone else have an opinion?” or, “Let’s hear someone who has not spoken yet.”

· Call the person’s attention to their disruptive behavior and exhort them to give others a chance to participate.

· If these restraints do not work, it is better to ask disruptive people to leave a cell group than to have the group dissolve.

IF TIME ALLOWS…

10d SHOW the value of highly interactive participation

Assigned to: __________________________________

PREPARE THREE HELPERS: 1st Small Group Participant, preferable a woman, 2nd Small Group Participant, a former thief, and 3rd Small Group Participant, a visitor.

EXPLAIN that 1 Corinthians 14:3 reveals that to prophesy is to strengthen, exhort and encourage one another. Verses 24-25 show what happens when small group members do so.

1st Small Group Participant: Say that since this group began praying for your husband, he has not beaten you (or that you have not beaten your wife). THE OTHERS praise the Lord.

2nd Small Group Participant: Say that you started to steal office supplies last week, but you prayed to Jesus and He helped you not to do it. THE OTHERS praise the Lord.

3rd Small Group Participant: Grab your chest and cry out saying that last week you stole and beat your wife! Then fall down and exclaim, “God is here!”

ASK what happens when believers exhort, comfort and instruct one another.

Answer: Have someone read aloud 1 Corinthians 14:24-25. The Holy Spirit convicts unbelievers and some will be converted. This is a powerful promise that brings many seekers to faith.

ALL LISTEN as you read Acts 2:46, to hear where the first Christians normally met to ‘break bread’ (the first Christians’ description of the Lord’s Supper).

Good answer: They met in homes, where it was easy for them to instruct and serve one another.

ASK: What did Jesus promise ‘rabbit’ churches in Matthew 18:20?

Good answer: Jesus will be among believers who gather in His Name, even if only two or three.

Guidelines for Using Spiritual Gifts

1. As people serve one another in small groups, their spiritual gifts will become apparent, and others will recognize them. Do not prevent new believers from serving.

2. Provide opportunities for all believers to use their spiritual gifts. This is best done in small groups. Do not limit congregational meetings to simply listening to talented people.

3. Continually remind believers that they must have love for people when they use their spiritual gifts. When people are angry or unloving, then their gifts can harm people.

4. Let people have responsibilities, offices and ministries in congregations and cell groups, according to their spiritual gifts. Do not assign people to jobs for which they are not gifted.

5. Elders should have a speaking gift, and deacons should have a serving gift.

6. Small groups and ministry teams should have members with different gifts that the Holy Spirit can harmonize. Avoid grouping persons who have the same gift.

7. Having a spiritual gift does not confer authority over other believers. Rather, spiritual gifts must be used to serve the Body of Christ in a manner that seeks the benefit of others.

8. Since every believer has spiritual gifts that benefit others, every believer is important to the others, regardless of their ethnicity, educational level, caste or social class.

9. Saved children also have the Holy Spirit and can serve with spiritual gifts. Children’s prayers and blessings can prove quite powerful.

Notes:

TRAINING ACTIVITY 11
Focused on 'The Ends of the Earth'

Prepare to Work , or Mobilize others to Work, Where Authorities Are Hostile
Challenges of today’s pioneer fields ● The persecuted church ● Mobilizing ‘criminals’ for Christ

Activity 11, DESIGNATED LEADER: ____________________

11a ACT OUT worship where authorities are hostile

Assigned to: ____________________________________

Prepare two helpers ahead of time, secretly, to be police, and another, young, strong man to be a leader of the secret church. The Police prepare ‘clubs’ (sticks or bats). They stand by the door to the room and watch for the leader’s signal (nod).

ANNOUNCE: A Secret Church will demonstrate secret worship where authorities are hostile.

THE LEADER REQUESTS THREE OTHERS TO JOIN HIM, sitting in the center on the floor. You do not need to tell them about the special police. The secret leader has these three repeat each phrase after him as he reads from Psalm 67.

· After the Secret Leader has read three or four verses, signal for the police to enter.

· Police rush in, waving their clubs and shouting as they go from one person to another (not the ones sitting on the floor) shouting angrily such things as, “What are you doing here?” “This is an unauthorized meeting!” “Do you have a permit for this gathering?” “What is that book? A Bible?” “Who is your leader?

· Police lastly go to Secret Leader, take him by the arms, and drag him out of the room.

Let the police and the Secret Leader come back in–if he’s still alive.

11b DISCUSS how to avoid hostility and arrests
Assigned to: ___________________________

EXPLAIN:

Every week what you just saw happens hundreds of times in fields around the world where authorities are hostile. They imprison and sometimes kill the leaders of unauthorized meetings.

Most of the remaining neglected people groups have hostile authorities.

DISCUSS how to work in hostile fields and develop churches without authorities detecting them.

ASK if persecution is normal, from a biblical and historical perspective.

Good answer: Jesus and His apostles warned that His followers would suffer much persecution. Persecution is common, in one form or another, throughout the world.

11c DISCUSS our Commander-in-Chief’s orders

Assigned to: ________________________________

REQUEST all to listen as you read Matthew 28:18-20, to hear where God said to make disciples.

Good answer: Among all nations, people groups and cultures.

ALL LISTEN as you read Romans 15:18-21, to hear Paul’s guideline for deciding where to gather new congregations?”

Good answer: in neglected fields that lack reproductive, indigenous churches.

IF TIME ALLOWS…

11d ACT OUT mobilizing workers for neglected areas

Assigned to: ___________________________________

HAVE ALL TRAINEES STAND and form groups of three, separated from other groups, in different parts of the room. Each group represents a neglected city neighborhood or village.

· If there are more than 50 persons, then have four or more people in each group.

READ 2^nd Timothy 2:2, and start the ‘chain reaction:

· You go to a group and announce that it is your first daughter church.

· Name two persons in the group as new shepherding elders.

· HAVE THE GROUP SIT DOWN, except for its two elders.

· Then you go to another group and announce that it is your second daughter church, and name two more elders, and have the group sit down except for its two elders.

THE ELDERS from these two daughter churches go to other groups and do the same as you did.

· When a group has elders, it sends them to other groups, and then sits down.

· These elders go to two other groups, repeat the process, and then return to their own group and sit down.

KEEP REPEATING this process until all of the groups have been reached and are sitting down.

· Explain: these training and sending ‘chains’ must continue until Jesus returns.

This non-institutional method of mentoring is needed in fields with hostile authorities.

IF TIME ALLOWS…

11e ALL TRAINEES:
Gather in your cells to pray and plan to go

PRAY and ask God to give you, your co-workers and leaders a clear vision of how to train leaders in a way that will let congregations reproduce in hostile fields.

PLAN to your future trainees begin without delay to train other newer leaders the same way that Jesus and His apostles did, to keep the churches or cells multiplying in hostile fields.

TRAINING ACTIVITY 12

Equ ip Believers to Do All the Vital Ministries
That are Required by the New Testament
Balance in the Body ● Priorities for church activities ● When a church is fully ‘planted’

Activity 12, DESIGNATED LEADER:

_____________________________________________

12a DEMONSTRATE a healthy church body
Assigned to: _________________________________

SHOW what a church body looks like when members fail to use their God-given gifts in harmony with those who have other gift-based ministries.

· The gift of evangelism: The Bible says, ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who carry the gospel.’ [Hold both feet of the ‘church body’ so he cannot walk. Let him try and fall.]

· Prophecy (the seer). [Have someone close their eyes and try to find their way around.]

· Serving. [Pin someone’s arms to their sides while they pretend to try to hand something to others.]

IF TIME ALLOWS…

12b LEARN to avoid arguments about what Christians should do

Assigned to: _________________________________

EXPLAIN that we eliminate much confusion in new churches and avoid many disputes, if we teach new leaders to discern three levels of authority for church activities:

1st level. New Testament commands, such as baptizing

· Obey God’s commands without voting or arguing about them, He is our Supreme Commander. A church is completely planted when it is doing all of the vital ministries that are required by Christ and His apostles in the New Testament.

· Do not include Old Testament commands; Christians are not under the Old Testament law. If they were, then they would stone to death anyone who gathered firewood on Saturday.

· Discern between the underlying intent of a command and the cultural form it takes. For examples, head covering, women keeping silent, and foot-washing were external, forms related to local culture, of obeying another underlying, universally important command.

2nd level. New Testament practices, not commanded, such as baptizing immediately

· We have freedom to follow such practices or not to do so, since they are not commands.

· Do not prohibit following them, since the apostles practiced and approved them.

· Do not command them for other churches; only God has authority to lay down general laws.

3rd level. Customs with no New Testament basis, such as using baptism as a graduation ceremony after a long doctrinal study

· Never demand blind obedience to such traditions. Most traditions are good and many are neutral, such as this kind of training.

· Prohibit traditions that hinder obedience to New Testament commands.

MENTION the following church practices and let trainees say to which level they belong (given in bold face). Avoid controversies; do debate.

Wear robes in the pulpit 3. Wear ties in the pulpit 3. The pulpit 3.

The Lord’s Supper 1. Have Communion in homes 3. Use one cup 2.

Celebrate Communion the first day of the week 2 (Acts 20:7).

Celebrate Communion the First Sunday each month 3.

Let only highly educated, ordained clergy officiate the sacraments 3.

Sunday School as a method of teaching 3. Require academic degrees for ordination 3.

Use a special plate or bag to collect offerings 3.

Meet in buildings 3 (no chapels were mentioned in history until c. 3 centuries after Christ)

Interactive teaching 1 (We are to teach ‘one another’, Col. 3:16; Rom. 15:14; all should prophesy, 1 Cor. 14:24-26, which in the New Testament means to speak to one another to speaks to edify and exhort and console. The New Testament requires us to avoid teaching exclusively by monologue.)

12c DISCUSS priorities for church activities

Assigned to: ______________________________________

ASK: For what ‘work of ministry’ should leaders equip believers–what are the vital church ministries that the New Testament requires? Good answers:

Shepherding Ministries:

Counsel people with personal or family problems (Example: Philemon).

Oversee a flock’s spiritual life; correct the unruly; restore straying lambs (Acts 20:28-31).

Organize and lead to help believers to use their spiritual gifts in ministry (1 Corinthians 12).

Strengthen marriage and family life (Ephesians 5:21—6:4).

Evaluate regularly and keep improving all ministries (Titus 1:5).

Teaching Ministries:

Learn, teach and obey God’s Word (2 Timothy 3:16-17).

Disciple children, converts and adults to equip them all for ministry (Ephesians 4:11-16).

Train pastors, evangelists, church planters and missionaries (2 Timothy 2:2).

Character Building and Mercy Ministries:

Cultivate loving fellowship among brothers in Christ and among churches (1 Cor. 13).

Worship in spirit and in truth, as a family and as a church body (John 4:24).

Develop prayer, devotional life (daily family devotions), spiritual warfare (Eph. 6:10-18).

Give to church and mission work, as wise stewards of that God has given us (Luke 6:38).

Care for the sick, needy and mistreated (Luke 10:25-37).

Evangelistic and Missionary Ministries

Tell the Good News of Christ’s salvation to those who do not know Him (Acts 1:8).

Reproduce new churches or cells locally (Acts chapters 10, 13 and 14).

Send missionaries to neglected people groups in foreign fields (Matthew 28:18-20).

TRAINING ACTIVITY 13

Mentor New Leaders Like Jesus
and His Apostles Did
The proper place of mentoring and of formal training ● Mentoring musts ● Menu-based curriculum

Activity 13, DESIGNATED LEADER:

_____________________________________________

13a DISCOVER powerful features of biblical leadership training

Assigned to: _________________________________________

EXPLAIN: In widespread, ongoing church planting movements, pastors do not get training only in academic institutions. When such training outside of the church is required for a person to become a pastor, churches cannot reproduce as rapidly as they otherwise would.

· God requires that shepherds mentor newer shepherds. The apostles modeled and commanded this. More-experienced leaders coach newer leaders as these launch new churches or cells.

· Mentoring can take place side-by-side with formal education, outside of classrooms.

ASK who, according to Scripture, has the main responsibility to train new shepherds.

Good answer: Shepherds are to train newer pastors. It is a pastoral duty (2 Timothy 2:2).

ALL LISTEN as you read Luke 10: 17-20, to hear what Jesus did, as a mentor of new leaders, when they returned from an assignment.

Good answer: He had His apprentices report what they did and the results, and he instructed them accordingly, preparing them for later activity.

ALL LISTEN as you read 1 Peter 5:1-4, to hear what should be the motivation for shepherding.

Good answer: Elders are to serve humbly and willingly, by their example, not by lording it over their flock, and not out of lust for money.

EXPLAIN:

· Good shepherding includes mentoring the way Jesus, Paul, Aquila and Priscilla did, strengthening and multiplying churches and cells.

· To mentor new shepherds requires that trainers listen to each novice leader whom they train, before they advise him, assign studies, or help him to plan what his church will do.

· Trainers must choose studies for their apprentices to learn that fit their flocks’ immediate needs.

· Mentoring works best with small groups of one, two, three or four trainees.

· At the start of mentoring, it normally is intensive and takes a lot of time. Jesus and His apostles decreased their mentoring sessions as their apprentices gained experience.

· Traditional training is too slow to provide leaders when churches reproduce rapidly in the normal way in a pioneer field. Institutional training has its place, but that place is not where new churches multiply rapidly in a new field, or where the workers lack advanced education.

ASK for how long one should continue mentoring an apprentice.

Good answer: As congregations mature, intensive mentoring can gradually be replaced by occasional trainings and ongoing accountability of some kind.

13b DISCUSS distinctive features of mentoring

Assigned to: ____________________________________

READ the features of mentoring below (in bold face) one at a time. Let trainees explain in each case how mentoring differs from institutional education. Give the answers in parenthesis only if necessary.

Location–where does mentoring normally occur? (No classroom is needed; train on the job)

Seating–how is it arranged? (Trainees sit in a circle, walk or ride together, or sit around a table as at the Last Supper)

Enrolment–for whom? (Any who meet the biblical requirements for elders may enroll)

Size of group? (Groups are small enough to listen to each worker and help him plan his work)

Duration? (Do intensive mentoring at first and phase it out when leaders no longer need it)

Relationship between instructor and apprentice? (Mentors show loving concern for apprentice’s work)

Relationship between trainees? (Trainees normally serve one another and work together)

Recognizing achievement–how? (Mentors evaluate and make known the results of trainees’ work with the churches; such recognition normally does not need to add diplomas and grades)

Vision and general purpose? (Mentors aim first to extend Jesus’ reign; they do not teach simply to download data into trainees’ memory banks)

Trainees’ primary Commitment? (To shepherd others, starting with their own families)

Trainer’s main Commitment? (Apply the Word to current needs & opportunities to serve)

View of Leadership–what qualifies a leader? (One is considered to be a leader only if he leads people to do definite ministries (simply teaching is not leading))

Reproducible methods? (Train in a way that trainees imitate & repeat at once, training others)

Costs? (Mentors normally charge no fees; trainees pay no tuition)

Equipment used while training? (Mentors need no special equipment, and model the use of equipment only if it is available to all the trainees)

Order of curriculum content? (Mentors use a menu, to give whatever trainees’ churches need, after listening and observing. Mentoring avoids linear curriculum)

The place of theory in relationship to action? (Teaching focuses primarily on action and uses action verbs; traditional teachers often focus primarily on abstract, static nouns, but mentors add theory mainly to clarify the action)

Materials–what kind? (Mentors use relevant materials that trainees understand and can apply at once. They adapt the materials to the needs and educational level of each trainee’s flock)

Foundational guidelines–more doctrinal or dutiful? (Mentors base activities upon commands of Jesus and His apostles, not on abstract doctrines)

How Scripture is applied? (Let Scripture define how to do ministry, and not merely be content to teach)

Responsibility to train leaders–whose? (All pastors should mentor newer shepherds)

IF TIME ALLOWS…

13c PORTRAY a traditional theology class lacking mentoring
Assigned to: ___________________

ANNOUNCE that you are a seminary professor, and will give a lecture on the Hebrew names of God. Start to talk about Elohim, the most common name, which signifies His creative power…

STUDENT: Raise your hand and ask, “Sir, can you help me to learn to tell others about Jesus?”

PROFESSOR: Reply that this is theology class, and you have to finish your lecture. Continue, talking about the name Yahweh, the great name by which God established his covenant with Israel.

STUDENT: Interrupt: “Sir, my cousins want to be a Christians. Please help me to deal with them.”

PROFESSOR: (Read a paper) “Evangelism. Let’s see. Yes. I’ll teach it next year, first semester.”

IF TIME ALLOWS…

13d PRACTICE mentoring

Assigned to: ____________________________________

EXPLAIN:

· Good trainers listen first like Jesus did, and then choose a study for a new leader that deals with the needs and stage of growth of his flock. Formal classroom teaching does not take into account the immediate needs of a student and the new church that he serves.

· A newly enrolled trainee begins at once to shepherd his family and close friends. If he does so and is conscientious about it, then help him to start at once to mentor newer shepherds.

· Mentors continue with a new leader as long as he needs it, normally a few months, with some meetings later on, to deal with special needs and coordinate the work.

· Mentor in two ways. 1) MODEL SKILLS, 2) have MENTORING SESSIONS.

EXPLAIN six things a mentor does during MENTORING SESSIONS:

1a Pray for God’s guidance. Pray also whenever a problem arises during the session.

1b Listen to each trainee’s report on what his church is doing or lacking.

1c Plan ministry: agree on what each trainee will do with his flock during the next week or two. Bear in mind the list of vital ministries listed in Training Activity 15. IMPORTANT: Make sure that plans include specific tasks, names and places.

1d Assign Bible reading and other studies such as Paul-Timothy that fit the trainee’s plans.

1e Review studies already done .Listen to each apprentice leader tell what they learned from the previously assigned study. If he has not done it well, ask him to study it again.

1f Pray for each other, for each other’s plans and for your flocks.

ASK a few trainees to repeat in their own words these six things to do in mentoring sessions.

WARNING! Satan uses chronic problems to waste mentors’ time. Leave them in the Lord’s hands and deal with positive things: plan ministries, initiate new works and edify churches. Don’t ‘dance with the devil’ by always running to put out every fire that he starts, letting him dictate your steps.

13e CELLS MEET to pray and plan to mentor new leaders the way Jesus and the Apostle Paul did.

· let someone in your cell mentor another who is currently active in a ministry, while the others observe and comment.

Do as many of the six things above as you can, that mentors do during mentoring sessions.

13f Explain guidelines for children’s teachers and their helpers.

1. Use the Paul-Timothy children’s studies.

2. Choose activities within a study that fit your children’s needs.

3. Let children prepare activities during children’s meetings
to present to the adults during worship.

4. Let children sing simple songs written to tunes that they know.

5. Let smaller children repeat hand motions and body movements.

6. Let older children help teach and disciple the younger.

7. Let children worship together with the adults.

8. Listen to the children in tiny groups, and help them grow in Christ.

9. Find how you can help the children, while talking to them in their tiny groups.

10. Let the children act out Bible stories.

11. Prepare objects or pictures that illustrate what you teach.

TRAINING ACTIVITY 14

Regional Coordinators Train Trainers,
Provide Materials and Keep Records
Evaluation of the work ● Servant leadership
● Inter-church interaction and ‘body’ life

Activity 14, DESIGNATED LEADER: ___________________________________________

14a DISCUSS what regional coordinators should do
Assigned to: ___________________

ALL LISTEN as you read Titus 1:5, to hear what Titus’ job was, as a coordinator in a field where there were many ‘baby’ churches that needed help.

Good answer: Titus was to appoint elders in every town, to do what remained to be done.

ALL LISTEN as you read Mark 9:33-37, to hear what a ‘servant leader’ does.

EXPLAIN:

· Titus had to train these shepherding elders; the rest of the letter from Paul gave Titus guidelines on how to do name and train elders.

· Titus had to find out which ministries were still lacking in the churches, in order to deal with them. To find what is lacking in churches requires listening to their leaders who are being trained, as they report what their churches are doing and not doing.

· It helps to keep at hand a list of ministries required by the New Testament, while one mentors new leaders, and help them to choose what is needed most urgently.

ASK what the duties of a Regional Coordinator should include. Good answers:

Hold workshops or series of meetings to begin pastoral training in neglected regions.

Train new trainers and model skills to mentor other leaders.

Provide materials geared to mentoring new leaders, and that aim to multiply churches.

Keep churches multiplying, by helping trainers to mentor new leaders, apostles and evangelists.

Keep records of who is mentoring whom, where, and with what results. A large map of a region with names of mentors posted on it can be very useful.

Gather information on neglected peoples, on training opportunities, and on new congregations. Use good information to pray, to plan and to inform churches so they can pray, also.

Reorganize training networks whenever mentoring stops for any reason.

Continually mobilize other coordinators. Name as coordinators believers who are…

Eager and capable to facilitate pastoral training by mentors,

Not too involved in other ministries to do so,

Able to keep on doing it for many years (not a temporarily elected position)

A servant-leader, not trying to lord it over others or get money.

Notes:

Start new congregations in neglected
communities nearby

A new group becomes a congregation when the believers are doing all that the New Testament requires of a flock. This includes the commands of Jesus and other activities that grow out of His commands.

Mark on the list below any required activities that your congregation, or new congregations that you are starting, have yet to develop. Plan with co-workers what to do, then do so.

[ ] Witness for Jesus and confirm the faith of repentant sinners by baptizing them.

[ ] Start new congregations and send workers to neglected peoples.

[ ] Help all believers to participate actively in worship, including the Lord’s Supper.

[ ] Cultivate loving fellowship in the church body and strengthen marriages and family life.

[ ] Help persons and families with problems to forgive and to be reconciled.

[ ] Help the flock to seek holiness, daily renewal and transformation by the Holy Spirit.

[ ] Give generously to meet others’ needs.

[ ] Pray, intercede, wage spiritual warfare against demons, and help families have daily prayer.

[ ] Apply the Word of God to people’s lives, and ward off ‘wolves’ who teach false doctrine.

[ ] Train novice shepherding elders, missionaries and leaders of the new congregations.

[ ] Organize and oversee flocks, so that all believers serve by using their different spiritual gifts.

[ ] Co-operate with other congregations nearby to help them also do these activities.

14b Use Training Materials Geared to Mentoring
and Church Reproduction

Activity Leader: Explain that Paul-Timothy studies are prepared for mentors in a church planting movement, and can be downloaded freely, in several languages. Download the following Paul-Timothy Menu and all Paul-Timothy studies freely from www.Paul-Timothy.net.

Read the main categories only, of the Paul-Timothy menu. Smaller items are the brief studies. These categories include the vital ministries that a church must do, in order to be fully planted:

User’s Menu
of Paul-Timothy Pastoral Training Studies

Introduction:
Orientation to use Paul-Timothy Leader training

How to use Paul-Timothy studies. #1

Guidelines for trainers of novice shepherds #3

Guidelines for new shepherds being trained. #4

Guidelines for children’s teachers. #5

Helping a congregation's body life #7

Planning and leading group worship #8

Paul-Timothy studies Scripture Index #10

Leading activities during the week. #11

Assurance:
Counsel and visit people who need comfort

Overcoming fear and shame. #20

Counseling personal and family problems #21

Joseph received God's liberating grace. #22

River of grace. A story, 64 pages. #110

Visit in homes and bring God’s grace. #23

Break habits of alcohol, drugs, and immorality #24

Bible, general:
Interpret and apply God’s Word; respect its authority; survey; important sections

Respect the authority of God’s Word. #25

Search God's Word and let it speak for itself. #26

Survey the 66 books that are God’s Word. #27

Important Bible events & eras. #28

Index of Stories & doctrines from the Bible. #29

Old Testament

Pentateuch part 1: Genesis. Patriarchs #30

Pentateuch part 2: Exodus. Slaves freed. #31

Pentateuch part 3: Exodus. God's Law Given. #32

Old Testament historical books. #33

Old Testament poetical books #34

Old Testament prophecies: About Jesus. #35

Old Testament prophets: Great messages. #36

New Testament

The Gospels: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John #37

Jesus' life, ministry, death and resurrection. #38

Acts of the Apostles. #39

The apostles’ model. #40

Freedoms of Congregations that Multiply #41

The New Testament letters: Advice for new flocks. #42

Christ Showed John What Is to Come #43

Church planting:
Start new flocks and cells

Worship in homes and in big groups. #44

Gather sinners to meet Jesus. #45

Start new congregations and cells. #46

Disciple-making:
Obey Jesus’ commands

Peter made disciples the way Jesus said. #47

Obeying Jesus, our great king. #48

Parents teach their children. #49

Evangelism, salvation from sin, death and hell:
Witness for Jesus, repent, be born anew, baptize

Spreading the Good News. #50

Repent, a change of heart. #51

Witness for Jesus with the Spirit's power. #53

New, eternal, holy life in Christ. #54

Family and friends gather to hear about Jesus. #55

How sin entered the world. #56

Giving: Practice stewardship, use time wisely,
do tent-making (self-support)

Giving for God's work & for the needy. #57

Self-supporting, bi-vocational 'tentmakers'. #58

Stewardship, use well what God entrusts to us.#60

Growing in Christ:
Character transformation and renewal

The Spirit-filled life. #61

Spiritual transformation and godly character. #62

Renewing God's people. #63

Historical events of great importance

Jesus miraculously born as a human. #64

Jesus' live-giving resurrection from death. #65

History of Christianity, part 1: the 1st 400 years. #66

History of Christianity, part 2: AD 400 till 1600. #67

History of Christianity, part 3: AD 1600 till now. #68

Love: Serve the needy, work in harmony,
family life, fellowship within and between flock

Showing compassion by helping others. #69

Family life, marriage, training children. #70

Serving the needy. #71

Congregations and cells serving each other. #72

Showing love in a practical ways. #73

Mission: Other cultures & neglected peoples,
apostolic teams, research, planning, vision.

Detecting ripe fields in other cultures. #74

Traveling teams reaching neglected places. #75

Working with other cultures. #76

Send Missionaries to neglected peoples. #77

Spreading a vision of widespread outreach. #78

Organizing and leading: Serve one another,
help other flocks, discipline, oversee flocks

Serving one another in love. #79

Serve one another in God's family #80

Organizing small groups to serve one another. #81

Maintaining helpful discipline and order. #82

Organizing the flock to serve one another. #83

Regional overseers of new churches. #84

Serving with God-given spiritual gifts. #85

Understanding spiritual gifts. #86

Performing pastoral duties. #87

God gives overseers to his people. #89

Prayer and faith: Faith in action, healing,
intercession, spiritual warfare, family prayer

Praying with effective faith. #90

Spiritual Warfare. #91

Healing in Jesus' name. #92

Believing and doing, as Abraham did. #93

Enduring persecution. #94

Freedom from Satan in Jesus' name. #95

Teaching biblically: Teaching like Jesus did,
using stories, questions, and discussion

Using stories to teach what God is like. #96

Teach children the way God Said to do it. #97

The Father, the Son and the Spirit are One God #98

Moses Helped his People to Know God #99

Teach Believers during Worship #100

Training leaders: Training new leaders in the way Jesus did

Aquila and Priscilla, mentoring new leaders. #101

Mentor new shepherds like Paul did. #102

Train Novice Leaders As Jesus and Paul Did #103

Obedience-oriented training (48 pages). #104

Worship: Serve the Lord’s Supper, worship in Spirit, celebrate special days.

Aaron and Other Worship Leaders. #107

Celebrate harvest & blessings with thanksgiving. #108

The Lord's Table (Communion). #105

Celebrate Communion in your small group. #106

14c DEVELOP the skill of menu-based mentoring
Assigned to: ___________________

PRACTICE CHOOSING STUDIES listed in the Paul-Timothy User’s Menu, above. Serve as a mentor for six shepherds-in-training, whom you prepare beforehand:

Shepherd-in-training # 1: “People sleep when I lead worship.”

Mentor: “Then you must improve worship in your church. Find a study for this under ‘Worship’ in the Paul-Timothy User’s Menu.” (Look together at the menu).

“Here it is. Aaron and Worship Leaders, study number 108.” (Pretend to hand it to him.) “Read it and do the field-work. When we meet again, you can tell how the worship has improved.”

Shepherd-in-training # 2: “My flock fails to witness to friends and relatives about Jesus.”

Mentor: “Then you must develop evangelism. Find a study for this under ‘Evangelism’ in the Paul-Timothy User’s Menu.” (Look together at the menu).

“Here it is. Spreading the Good News, study number 50.” (Pretend to hand it to him.)
“Do what this teaches. When we meet again, you can tell how evangelism has improved.”

Shepherd # 3-in-training: “My workers won’t do anything unless the church pays them.”

Mentor: “you must develop stewardship, and explain ‘tent making.’ Find a study for this under ‘Giving and Practicing Wise Stewardship’ in the User’s Menu.” (Look together in the menu).

“Here it is. Self-supporting, Bi-vocational 'Tentmakers' study number 58.” (Pretend to hand it to him.) “Do what this teaches. When we meet again, you can tell us if workers are volunteering.”

Shepherd # 4-in-training: “My flock disobeys Jesus’ commands.”

Mentor: “Then you must teach them to obey Jesus in love. Find a study for this under ‘Disciple-Making’ in the User’s Menu.” (Look together at the menu).

“Here it is. Peter Made Disciples the Way Jesus Said, number 47.” (Pretend to hand it to him.)
“Do what this teaches. When we meet again, you can tell how the believers are obeying Christ.”

Shepherd # 5-in-training: “My flock is disorganized, and I don’t know how to fix it.”

Mentor: “Then you must organize your church. Find a study for this under ‘Organizing and Leading’ in the Paul-Timothy User’s Menu.” (Look together at the menu).

“Here it is. Organizing the Flock to Serve one Another, study 83.” (Pretend to hand it to him.)
“Do what this teaches. When we meet again, you can tell us how you have organized.”

Shepherd # 6-in-training: “My flock has not started any daughter churches or cells yet.”

Mentor: “Then you must mobilize it to reproduce. Find a study for this under ‘Church Planting’ in the Paul-Timothy User’s Menu.” (Look together at the menu).

“Here it is. Starting New Churches or Cells, study number 46.” (Pretend to hand it to him.)
“Do what this teaches. When we meet again, you can tell how the believers are starting churches.”

NOTE TO TRAINING LEADER
(Main Instructor)

IF TRAINEES WILL SOON BE USING A MENU-BASED CURRICULUM, then provide hard copies of a few of the studies for each cell, and have trainees practice finding them in the menu.

THEN, if time allows, have all trainees form pairs; one trainee mentions a problem and the other trainee uses the menu to find a study that corresponds. Repeat this exercise until all can easily use the menu to select studies.

IF TIME ALLOWS…

14d EXAMINE materials geared to mentoring & church planting
Assigned to: ___________________

EXPLAIN: To mentor leaders and reproduce churches, materials need certain features. Good materials enable learners to be self-taught, to take initiative in ‘mining the gold’ from the Bible and other books:

· New leaders must learn actively and not listen passively, as ‘hearers only,’ which James 1:22 prohibits. A good mentor does not teach every detail to new leaders-in-training.

· Materials inform a student where in the Bible to find what he needs, instead of simply repeating what the Bible says. For example, instead of saying that the Holy Spirit seals believers to protect them, good materials will ask the reader to find what the Holy Spirit does for believers, in Ephesians 1:13-14.

EXPLAIN special features of PAUL-TIMOTHY studies:

· Studies come in pairs: one for leaders, another on the same topic for children. Children’s studies all have a Bible story to act out during worship; thus children know they are an important part of the church body.

· Studies for leaders contain three parts:

1. Bible study on the topic of the week, based on one or more Bible stories

2. Activities for believers to do during the next week, related to the topic of the week.

3. Activities to do during the next worship, including a Bible story on the week’s topic.

· Studies are easy to translate, for church planting movements that need materials quickly.

· Studies deal with a wide variety of topics, to fit almost any issue or need that arises.

· Studies enable new shepherds to plan their weekly activities and worship times.

· Most studies fit on one sheet of paper, and can be carried in one’s pocket, for convenience and affordability.

· Studies can be used within a non-Christian population and inexperienced workers.

STUDIES CAN BE DOWNLOADED without cost from Paul-Timothy Trainers at www.Paul-Timothy.net.

Notes: