Healthy churches are God’s plan for personal, community, and national transformation.
Why Prison Reform?
Compassion moves us toward sustainable long-term helpful solutions.
Why Africa?
Brazilians are eager to help in Angola, Mozambique, and Portugal. What an opportunity!
Why Do Anything?
“Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. The earth and the heavens fled from his presence, and there was no place for them. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books. The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and each person was judged according to what they had done” (Revelation 20:11-13).
1. Plant 1,000 churches in the Xingu Region 2. Help Brazilians form partnerships to work in Angola, Mozambique, Portugal, and North Africa. 2. Prisoner Rehabilitation? – Start in Maraba.
Part of a Greater Vision
Our vision outlined above is part of a much bigger vision. In 1992 Deanna and I felt called to plant churches in Mozambique. The Lord made it clear to us that we were not to go to Mozambique directly. We called Luke Huber, of PAZ Mission in the Amazon, and asked him if he would train us to plant churches in the jungle with Portuguese-speaking people, in preparation for Mozambique. I used to tell people, “Maybe our next 30 years are just a dress rehearsal. Maybe our real ministry will start when I am 60.“ Luke died in a tragic plane accident shortly after we arrived in Brazil. This led to us starting the Xingu Mission and the Brazilian Vineyard Church.
100,000 churches
Luke always talked about planting 100,000 (one hundred thousand) churches in the Amazon Basin, an area the size of the continental United States. When we moved to the Xingu Region, we set a goal to start with 1,000 churches in our region. “When we reach this milestone, God will show us the next steps.”
We Learned Some Things.
1. CHURCH PLANTING – Disciple Making Movements are resulting in tens of thousands of churches being planted. Consider the New Generations report below, which is only one of several movements.
2. MISSIONS – Mozambique, Angola, and Portugal all speak Portuguese. We are beginning to mobilize Brazilians to help in these countries.
3. PRISON REFORM – I was let into an inner cell. Alone. Twenty-eight prisoners were sitting or laying on the cement floor of the cell. None of them knew me. After a brief introduction, some of them gathered into a circle and I started a Discovery Group. “What is going good in your life?” Blank stares. “What is something good that happened this week?” Finally, after a long pause, “You came to visit.”
I want start prisoner reform centers in every city possible.
These dreams are all way beyond our reach financially and in every way, but they are small things for God. We will keep taking our next small steps, keeping our eyes open in cheerful expectation.
*** We plan to have fun along the way, and we are looking for people to pray, support, and help.
LOVE GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART – We see the world as Jesus sees it by spending significant time alone with Him. This comes first. There are no shortcuts. Relying on others who spend significant time with God may not take you where you need to go because God desires a strong personal relationship with each of us.
LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF – We receive the peace that passes understanding and the joy that bubbles over circumstances when we work with God and others to set things right.
Our Future Conversation
One day we will each meet with God and He will say:
“Hmmm, let’s see here, I gave you an awesome planet to live on. I gave you an awesome body to live in. I gave you talents that were perfectly suited to you. Let’s see how you did . . .”
Our GPS
Thinking about this is like North on a compass, or like recentering our GPS.
We talk to God about this in our quiet time, and with trusted friends.
We make choices and take risks based on this future conversation.
Empathy is when we feel another’s pain. Once we learn to be good listeners and observers, others will sense this and start sharing. But we have to be careful. This can also lead to burnout.
Compassion is when we feel people’s pain or see their needs and we do something about it. This takes more work than empathy AND it is more sustainable. The joy we get from helping others protects us from burnout. We are created to act with compassion.
We use the authority Jesus gives us as part of our normal life. We pray blessings on people, often without them being aware of it. We send evil spirits packing. We ask for God’s will to be done in another’s life.
1. Spend time with Jesus in the early morning.
2. Bless people in the day. a. Whether we physically help people, b. or we talk with them, c. or we bless them silently, d. we take the opportunities that feel right.
Situations change when we are around.
We use the authority Jesus gave us.
Compassion is within our reach.
It brings us joy.
3. Encourage other people to shine their lights in dark places. a. Jesus gave us all authority but people are timid. b. Often they need someone to give them permission. c. Encourage others. Give them permission to bless people. d. Then listen to their stories.
“Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests” (Luke 2:14).
But who gets the peace? On whom is God’s favor resting?
Who Gets God’s Favor?
Jesus was asked how He got authority to grant God’s favor to people.
Jesus gave them this answer: “Very truly I tell you, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does” (John 5:19). When we pray the Lord’s prayer, we ask God for His will to be done on earth just like it is done in heaven. We are asking for bits of heaven on earth. We are asking for tomorrow’s bread today.
Seeing
One key to effective Kingdom work is “seeing what the Father is doing.” I used to often think, “If I only did what I see the Father doing, I wouldn’t do much.” In retrospect, maybe I should have done less. While we are very grateful for everything that went right, much of my work did not bear the fruit I was looking for. In the gospels we see Jesus frustrated or bewildered at the dullness of people. He thought they were capable of tuning in to what the Father is saying and doing. I am learning to spend more time in prayer in order to see more into the Spirit realm.
John Wimber, the founder of the Vineyard movement, once had a vision of God’s mercy. While driving his car he saw an unusual cloud in the sky. He stopped to have a better look, and as he did so he realized it wasn’t a cloud but a honeycomb that was dripping with honey. Below it he saw people. Some were excited about the honey that rained down and they ran about collecting it and sharing it with each other. Others were irritated by the honey that dropped on them and they tried to get away from it. When John asked God what it was, God said “That’s my mercy, for some people it’s a blessing and for some people it’s not … look at it, there’s plenty for everyone.”
Celtic Christians described God’s kingdom breaking into this present age as thin places because they understood that sometimes the distance between heaven and earth is closer than others. Maybe you have experienced this at a conference or a silent retreat. We carry God’s presence with us, and God is moving all around us. Our task is to see how God is moving. With whom? Can we be helpful?
Our Adventure
God’s Kingdom is breaking in to this present age all around us. Our challenge is that we mostly are blind to what is going on. We need to learn to see and to hear. We live in 2D when 3D is available, at least sometimes. God’s plan is for a movement of Christians who are spiritually alert, awake, tuned in. The task of Christian leaders is to help their people tune in to God’s channel so they can go into the world and recognize the spiritually thin places, the places where God is close to reaching people.
We Christians are salt and light. We bring flavor, color, and vision where these are lacking. Our salt and light are more visible in worldly settings than in church, much like a flashlight is more visible in a cave than in a sunlit field.
Practice seeing/hearing God’s presence. First spend daily time with God to recharge your battery. Then let God radiate out of you wherever you are. Look for the thin places. This might be someone who talks happy but its not resonating with you. Many people are hiding pain or fear. Maybe you can be a helpful presence. This may or may not involve words. Practice letting God soak up some of their pain just with your presence. This is called empathy. Maybe you can quietly bless them, or even do something helpful. This is called compassion. Words are helpful sometimes, especially if we have equity with people. Being a healing presence will start building equity. So will hidden or visible acts of kindness.
Three generations of pastors all attending the same church.
Pastor Dave and Fran planted City Life Church in 1961, the year I (Rick Bergen) was born.
Pastor Dave and Fran retired about 20 years ago and passed the leadership of City Life Church over to Pastor Lorne and Linda. Pastor Lorne and Linda passed the baton on to Pastor Justin and Heidi. The two retired pastoral couples still attend City Life Church. Do you know of any other church like this? It’s very cool.
In 1986 Pastor Dave got invited to be the guest speaker at a camp meeting 2,000 miles North, in a small Yukon town called Haines Junction. He invited his usher Harold Hansen to come along.
I was plowing snow for the winter in a mountain camp by the Alaska border. I drove 65 miles over icy roads to attend the Easter Camp Meeting. I usually slept in the front of my 1/2 ton pickup truck when I travelled in those years, and this camp meeting was several days long. At one of these meetings Harold told me about Christ For the Nations Bible School in Texas.
Later that same year, 1986, I quit my road maintenance job with the government to study in Texas for two years.
In 1991 I married Harold and Joan’s daughter, Deanna.
In 1993 Pastor Dave and the team at City Life Church sent Deanna and I to be full-time missionaries in Brazil. Luke Huber, who invited us to Brazil, died in a tragic accident nine months after we arrived. This led to us starting the Vineyard in Brazil and the Xingu Mission.
“It’s a dangerous business, Frodo, going out your door. You step onto the road, and if you don’t keep your feet, there’s no knowing where you might be swept off to” (J.R.R. Tolkien).
Pastor’s Lorne and Pastor Justin (and many, many other pastors) have led teams to come and encourage us in the Amazon, and through the transitions and decades they remain a supportive and committed church family.
I am always grateful that Pastor Dave and Harold Hansen followed God’s leading to that camp meeting way up in the Yukon, back in 1986. We get where we are because other people obeyed God even when they have no idea about the outcomes of their obedience.
This week I met with three pastors from three different churches, one baptist and two mennonite. For two hours we talked about what the next move of God might look like. It is a mystery how our relationship with God is so good we wouldn’t trade it for anything, but how can we effectively help unbelievers experience our reality?
One of our challenges is how do we reach out into lostness with the good news? Roy Moran, who wrote Spent Matches, says that only rarely to Christian start a disciple making movement first among themselves, and then take it to the lost. Movements of people towards God almost always starts among the lost.
Movements?
Moran explained that “In just one of the more than one hundred movements in the last twenty years, more than two million people have been baptized, and eighty thousand churches have been planted” (p. 57). Imagine starting people movements like this in Canada, the United States, Brazil, and South America.
What would you be willing to do if you knew you could be part of reaching a harvest like this?
References Moran, R., (2015) Spent Matches: Igniting the Signal Fire for the Spiritually Dissatisfied (Refraction) (p. 57). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition.
Curtis Sergeant used Disciple Making Movement principles to bring the gospel to an unreached people group. When he started in 1991 there were 100 known believers. By 2008 there were 500,000. Click here to learn more.
In this 10 minute video Curtis tells a story that encapsulates the potential of prayer-walking. It is VERY encouraging. This story will make you want to go prayer-walking, to watch for what the Father is doing, and to courageously pray for strangers when it feels like the right thing to do.
Mão de Ouro came to visit me at lunch time this week. Some of you have prayed for Mão de Ouro. He helped us develop the Mission Property for many years. Then he lost his job with the city, as their backhoe operator. He went through a long dark season. He had been drinking, and making back choices. His wife of twenty years left him. He lost power to his house, and he could not get work. His son will not talk to him, though his two daughters still come to visit. I started doing a Discovery Group study with him.He got a backhoe job again some weeks ago. This week he came to visit us, and he wanted a stack of Bibles to hand out to his friends. He is starting to be a missionary. Even though he has never come to church for as long as I have known him, he considers himself one of us. “I’m from Igreja da Vinha.” Please keep praying for Mão de Ouro. His real name is Edson.
8 I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my loving eye on you. 9 Do not be like the horse or the mule, which have no understanding but must be controlled by bit and bridle or they will not come to you. 10 Many are the woes of the wicked, but the Lord’s unfailing love surrounds the one who trusts in him.Psalm 32:8-10
