By the Rev. Dr. Jon Shuler, PhD–

The clear picture of faith begetting faith given in the New Testament, is the wonderful mystery of time spent in relationship. Jesus invited people to come along with him, to come and see what his life was like, to experience his relationship with the Father. He rarely sent someone away, and then with some specific purpose, but instead nearly always invited people to become part of his life. This is the Master’s plan for disciple- making. You spend time with those who are open to learning the ways of the Lord through you. There is no shortcut. In simpler times people shared their daily lives, in the workplace or in the home, and some may still. But now most of us have to intentionally form a place where God can use us–some small but authentic community, where the things of God are spoken of.

But there are different ways that seem to be natural to different people. With one person, the path may be a single friendship extended over time, with another it may be one couple meeting with another once a week. For some, Jesus’ promise to be present whenever “two or three are gathered in my name” (Mt.18) has opened the door to active discipling of a few others. A dear friend of mine taught me this many years ago, in an unexpected way.

I had just finished an extended training session focused on the place of small groups in the Christian life, and had asked for volunteers to lead them in the church where I was pastor. Because my teacher had given great emphasis to groups no bigger than ten, I had stressed that number to the congregation as a maximum group size, and challenged my would-be leaders to begin by gathering six others, then praying to be used of God to add to their fellowship until they reached ten, or at most twelve, when they would multiply and form two groups.

As the workshop was ending my friend Neena came up to me and said: “I could never have a group that big.” I asked her if she could start with five people, and she said “no.” Four, I asked? Again, “no.” I am ashamed to say I was exasperated, and told her she was not called to lead at this time. As I turned and walked away she came after me and said: “Didn’t Jesus say ‘two or three’ ?” I knew immediately that I was being challenged through her by the Lord. All right then, three. But she said “two.” You and two others? I asked. “No, me and one other.” Cornered by her persistence, I said yes. In the months that followed, Neena and her first disciple changed the life of our whole church. Within a few years literally hundreds of people were involved in ministry because of her, and it all began with just two people. I will never forget that lesson.

Another dear friend, some years later taught me the pattern of five. He said he always tried to have “five cane fishing poles” in the water at a time. What he meant was he always asked God for five relationships in which he could extend the love of Christ to those who did not know it. He tried to meet with each of them once a week. When someone came to the Lord, he added another.

What has God shown you about your natural gifting for being a disciple-making disciple? Do you have a place in your life for an interested seeker? Do you go to meet them regularly, or bring them into a safe place to learn and grow? Do you have a plan if God gives you the opportunity to share in the harvest?

Watch Bp. Albert Vun’s lesson on “Church Planting and Cell Church Principles.” Here: http://en.cross.tv/93468?channel_id=4640

By The Rev. Dr. Jon Shuler, PhD–

I am haunted by the memory of the first time a genuine seeker asked me for help to understand the Christian Faith. I was a brand new seminarian, and my excitement about the things of God had attracted my friend’s attention. “Why don’t you and Susan come to church with us this Sunday,” I said.

The memory of my emotional confusion that day remains with me still. My friend Jay could make neither head nor tails of the liturgical patterns that had shaped my life. He did not know how to fit in at all, and nothing that was done that day helped him, including my stammering words of explanation. In the next few days he tried to talk to me about it, how much of an outsider he felt himself to be in the midst of my church family, and I was unable to help. Soon thereafter I went abroad to study in England, and we lost touch. I have never forgotten my ineptness, and my lack of understanding. I have prayed often since that day that God may have mercifully drawn that couple to himself, in spite of my failings.

Years have flown by, but now I know that–in general–the worst thing to do with a sincere seeker in the West is to bring him among a lot of convinced church people. The seeker will be driven away. Not because those in the body mean to do so, but because they have lost all awareness of what it is like to be “lost” and without God in this world. The stranger is truly “not welcome” in any way that the stranger can recognize. What then should we do?

We would not have that question if we had read the Scriptures carefully. There we see the answer again and again in Jesus’ life, and that of his apostles. Jesus asked people who were interested to come along with him. He listened carefully to their concerns. He had time for them. They saw him in ordinary life. They asked him questions and he answered them. He guided them to the Scriptures of Israel, and “opened their minds to understand.” Jesus lived the life of the kingdom in the ordinariness of first century Palestine, and those who wanted what he had came along beside him. Those who were of “his flock” heard his voice.

Why is this so hard for modern Western Christians to understand? What is keeping us from participation in the most wonderful joy that anyone ever has–seeing a friend become a follower of Jesus?

Do you have a plan in your mind and heart for what you would do if someone asks you about your faith? Do you have any idea what to do with them if they believe your testimony?

Watch the latest NAMS video sermon, “The Fire of God’s Love Was in Them,” http://www.namsnetwork.com/media/video/the-church-planter-network/

By the Rev. Dr. Jon Shuler, PhD–

Years ago I read a wonderful collection of essays by the late Loren Eisley, and in that volume was a story called “Star Thrower.” It told of a man walking down the beach after a storm had stranded thousands of starfish. As he walked he saw far ahead a man coming toward him who was picking up starfish one by one and flinging them back into the sea. As they passed the observer said: “It’s pretty useless, you know.” The thrower silently bent down, picked up, and then threw another starfish into the ocean and said: “Not for that one.”

Recently I visited one of our NAMS Base Communities, and heard testimony after testimony of changed lives. The community is relatively small, but it is reaching the nations with the gospel. Sometimes the “prayers of the people” are offered in five or six languages. The majority of those who were gathered for worship had a personal story of conversion because of the efforts of our NAMS Companion and his team. It was astounding really, since his work among them has been largely overlooked by many, and isn’t famous, as the world counts fame. Even the Team Leader was unsure of the efficacy of his efforts, until others pointed it out to him with love and grace. This man and his work are changing the world, one person at a time.

This year will be the fortieth year since I was ordained a presbyter in the church of Jesus. Forty-five years since I was called to the work of serving the gospel full time. I have been blessed to see many wonders, but what is happening in this little NAMS Base Community is right up there with them all. Sadly it is rare among far too many churches in this country (USA) and wherever Western patterns of Christian life prevail. Why is this so?

I think it is because we have forgotten that the only way to really change the world, in the time between our Lord’s first and last comings, is to see individuals “walk in newness of life” as they are transformed by the Spirit of God. This does not happen just because they come to church, or go through a catechism class, get involved in a mid-week bible study, or serve on a mercy ministry team. It happens when they hear the gospel and believe it. Is that foremost in the ministry of your congregation?

I find it terrifying that there are so many churches that seem to be filled with people who do not appear to have a rudimentary grasp of the gospel, or, if they truly believe the gospel, the knowledge of how to share it.

Will you ask God to let you be part of one, just one, person coming to saving faith this year? It will change the world for that one, and heaven too. Just ask Him.

By the Rev. Dr. Jon Shuler, PhD–

I hear people talk often about “transformation” these days. It is a word current in Christian and non-Christian conversation. Everybody seems to be interested in transformation, but why? I am tempted to think it is because of the childhood toys imported to America in the early ‘80′s. Maybe the word imprinted itself in the minds of the generation now leading all over the world? But seriously, why is this particular word, and the concept it represents, so ubiquitous?

No one wants to transform something that does not already exist, so we are dealing here with what my generation might have called renewal, or restoration, or even earlier reformation. Something that already exists is to be changed into something else. An old industrial building is “transformed” into a climbing gym, or an empty storefront is “transformed” into a trendy restaurant. Sometimes the word is used to describe the complete rebuilding of something old, as when an old car is completely restored (a pursuit I am engaged in with my 50 year old MG-TD).

Recently, an icon of small town American retailing, JC Penney, has been in a much-praised effort to “transform” itself. Last week the new CEO was fired after the firm had lost hundreds of millions of dollars, and thousands of loyal employees had been let go. Clearly in that case, wanting transformation and accomplishing it were two different things.

The subject matters much to us at NAMS because we believe Jesus Christ is calling for his Church to be “transformed” in our day. Patrick Johnston, the world famous demographer and missiologist, suggests that a number of what he calls “awakenings” are currently changing the face (and future) of global Christianity. He dates a new “evangelical awakening” in the West to 1964. We at NAMS believe that God has called for this among all historic communities and families of the church, including the Anglican Family in which we were born. We actually believe it began among us in 1960 in the West, and in 1935 in East Africa. What is not known is where is it leading? Will it just renew the church or will it change the world?

Those of us who believe that Jesus Christ is the Risen Lord, the Savior of the world, know that a day is coming when, in an instant, in “the twinkling of an eye,” everything will be changed and “death [will be] swallowed up in victory” (I Cor. 15). The world as we have known it will be changed, and a “new heaven and a new earth” (Rev. 21) will be revealed. There will be a transformation beyond all human imagination. Those of us in creedal churches affirm this faith every Sunday.

But for now, in the meantime, how are we working to put right what is wrong? How are we trying to see godly transformation in our communities? I ask myself, how am I working to change the world? How are you?

By the Rev. Dave Larlee–

Jon Shuler met Dave last fall on a trip to the UK hoping to recruit him for service as a priest in the USA. He is a friend and intercessor for NAMS with a church planting vision, a passion for God’s heart of justice, and a desire to see churches inspired by the renewing work of the Holy Spirit. Born in a small town in New Brunswick (Canada), Dave trained for ministry at Wycliffe Hall, Oxford, UK and is currently serving at St Mark’s Battersea Rise in London. He is married to Rachel and has two sons, Ethan and Thomas.

As I read the passage I knew things had to change.

I no longer call you servants because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my father I have made known to you.

John 15:15

I was very happy being a servant. I have found ministry incredibly rewarding and I love all that comes with serving the people of God. As I read John 15:15 though, I knew I’d made a mistake somewhere along the way. While serving I’d taken up a servant’s mentality. You see, the Lord never calls us to simply be a servant. He calls us to serve, yes, but our identity is rooted in much more than what we do.

Take Downton Abbey, the BBC production, for example. All that matters downstairs in the servants’ quarters is that everything upstairs is perfect for Lord Downton and his family and guests. Simply get the job done. Little is made of the state of the servants’ hearts. And so they achieve the perfection they seek by cutting corners, and with little regard for how their thoughts, words and actions might impact the hearts of those they are serving if all were to be revealed. Lord Downton and his family are just as bad, for only occasionally do they take an interest in the lives of their servants.

I was devastated. I had neglected the state of my heart. I was serving, focused on ministry, at the expense of my heart. I was cutting corners at times, doing what it took to get the job done with little regard for how my thoughts, words and actions might impact the Lord’s heart if all were to be revealed… and I knew then, of course, that God knew those thoughts, he’d heard those words and seen those acts.

And so I stopped and began to repent for neglecting my friendship with Jesus and for allowing what I do for Jesus to take precedence over my relationship with Him.

It dawned on me–Jesus has chosen me as a friend. As my friend, what matters to me matters to Him, and if I am to be His friend, what matters to him, indeed, what moves Him, ought to move me. And this takes time. Intentionally making time with him in prayer and time with him in his word.

Servants are task-oriented and will get the job done. Friends, however, are focused on the heart of their friend, and will not get the job done in a manner that would hurt their friend.

And so I’m trying to serve not as a servant but as a friend. How about you?

As a guest preacher at Sojourn Community Church in Greensboro, Dave let us video a sermon he gave, which we then posted on all of our NAMS media outlets, and was viewed nearly 12,000 times in just a month. 

“Come to Terms with the Power of Jesus” — Watch it here.

By the Rev. Dr. Jon Shuler, PhD–

I am probably one of the last generations required to learn ballroom dancing in the 6th grade. It was painful in many ways, and I did not learn to love ballroom dancing, but I did learn to dance. My first few experiences with small group discipleship were not dissimilar. They were awkward, and I was unsure of myself, but over time I came to see that they were invaluable to me and to others in the process of growing in grace. Unlike with dancing, I grew more and more excited as I learned, and I became an irrepressible proponent of the place of the small group of believers in the “normal Christian life.” I do not believe it is possible to see the life Christ Jesus has for us, in anything like its fullness, without regular participation in such a small grouping of believers. But I present five qualifiers that are necessary for healthy, multiplying groups.

(1) Agree on a mission for the group. Fellowship alone is an inadequate reason to gather. The purpose must be to become the disciples Jesus calls us to be. If a group is small but static it is not fulfilling its purpose. Jesus said “make disciples” not just have a good time together. There should be a common desire to grow in Christ, and a common willingness to obey him.

(2) Make sure the group leader is accountable to the local body of Jesus Christ. Nothing in all creation will sustain the notion that a living thing will flourish without a catalytic stimulus to give it direction and purpose. In human society this requires a head, or leader, and that leader must be connected (and submitted) to the other leadership of a faithful congregation. I have watched too often the sad outcome of groups not connected to the whole. Some atrophy, some fester, some just gradually fade away. Relationships and accountability among all leaders, and unified vision harmony, are the essential elements to prevent this.

(3) Identify someone who will learn to become the next leader. In NAMS we call this person an apprentice. Acknowledge and apply the mature wisdom of the apostle Paul when he told Timothy to pass on to other faithful men what he had learned from him (II Tim 2:2). And not just to any man, but to a man who would pass that learning on to another, who in his turn would do the same. This is a “four deep” leadership strategy, and it cannot be lived out without small group leadership apprenticing others regularly and consistently. This is a key principle of leadership development and expansion of the Gospel.

(4) Be willing to add to the group. Nothing grieves me quite like the discovery that a group claiming to meet in Jesus’ name has had no new addition for years. This means that they have lost focus of Jesus’ desire that we give away what he has given to us, or that they are not motivated to follow Jesus example and teaching after all. I can see no other explanation. When four men meet, set up an open chair for the “fifth man,” before he comes. And when the fifth comes, a chair for the “sixth man” should be moved into place.

(5) Plan to multiply the group. Marriage is for this life. Small, disciple-making groups are not. They have to have a “sell by” date, stated from the beginning, or they will slowly become rotten like fruit in the market place. Social theorists have suggested that maximum interaction in a small group begins after 10-12 meetings, in order for trust to develop, and that most group interactions begin to diminish after a group has met weekly for a year. This has taught us at NAMS that year two of any small disciple-making group should be the year of multiplication. By the end of that year there need to be two groups where there was one.

The purpose of Jesus in my life and yours will not be found without participation in some such small grouping of believers. Other size groupings have their place, but nothing can take away the critical role of a “2-or-3-gathered-in-Jesus’-name group.” Once a follower of Jesus participates in a meeting like this, regularly and faithfully, they will have been changed. They will be participating in the mission of the Church in newfound ways, and doing their part assigned to them by the Lord Jesus. And they will always “prefer this meeting” to other gatherings that might pull them away.

by the Rev. Dr. Jon Shuler, PhD–

One of my dearest brothers in Christ, and in the ordained ministry, Martin Gornik, shared with me his baptismal verses many years ago, and I have never forgotten the moment or the verses.

“Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.” (Heb 10:23-25)

In my early years of parish ministry I interpreted these exhortations as applying to Sunday worship, but since 1990 I have believed they apply more aptly to small gatherings of believers throughout the week. After the Day of Pentecost the first believers certainly would have met in one another’s homes “day by day” (Acts 2:46), and these gatherings of necessity would have been small. I think this is one of the great secrets of the abundant grace that was poured out upon them such that “the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.” (Acts 2:48)

Organizing the local congregation so that all who are true believers gather in such ways is not easy today. Many pastoral leaders will confess that their best efforts to do so have been met with subtle (and sometimes overt) resistance. Meeting together in small cells in between congregational worship assemblies is a little like adding a booster rocket to an airplane. It will significantly change the lives of those who open themselves to the discipline, and make it habitual. To do so however, means making a concerted effort to build this good habit.

Recently I was re-studying the small group methods that John and Charles Wesley used in the early days of their extraordinary ministry. The effort has been rewarding. The decision to form their converts into small “Class Meetings” as a basic pattern in every place and town where God gave them favor, is considered by many who have studied the early Methodist movement, to be the single most important element in their lasting fruitfulness. The Wesleys’ insistence that these groups remain small (under 12 usually), so they would be effective in helping the new believers grow, was clearly inspired. But they soon learned that their converts were tempted not to come regularly, being pulled by many other demands and commitments just as people are today. Gradually the brothers evolved a written document which sought to capture all that they believed necessary for the members of their Religious Society, and asked all to sign it in affirmation. In 1738 John Wesley published a list of 33 criteria for those participating in the “Meeting in Fetter Lane,” and #17 is as follows:

“That every member of this Society, who is a member of any other, prefer the meeting with this [Society]…before the meeting with any other Society or Company whatsoever.”

Here is the intention of the New Testament writer of the Letter to the Hebrews made plain for a day of revival in England.

Could it be a clue for us who long for revival today? What if no other meeting was preferred by us than that which helped us to grow as disciples of Christ Jesus?

by the Rev. Dr. Jon Shuler, PhD–

In 1990 God put into my heart the unshakeable conviction that meeting together in small numbers–what we in NAMS sometimes call a “2-or-3-gathered-in-Jesus’-name” group, is absolutely essential to a growing, effective, life in Christ and in the Church. The gathering for corporate worship on the Lord’s day is rarely missed by serious believers, but the smaller cell, where we are held to account for how we live, and what we do, is in many places as afterthought. It should not be so. It is one of God’s most important means of grace for all who love him. Our Lord Jesus promised to come into the midst of those who would gather in his name. “Wherever two or three of you are gathered in my name, there will I be in the midst of them.” (Mt.18:20)

Learning the place of the small “2 or 3,” the healthy disciple-making cell, in the normal Christian life should be part of our very early nurture in the Lord. Neither Sunday worship alone, nor Sunday plus a “daily quiet time,” is a sufficient foundation for the journey of faith. God has made us for himself indeed, but he has also made us for community with others who love him. We cannot expect to dwell in heaven with those we have never learned to love on earth. Small group fellowship is not all there is in the life of Christ, but it is essential. As John and Charles Wesley recommended, ‘it is to be preferred to any other meeting on your schedule.’

Happy is the new believer who is folded into such a cell of discipleship. For some, it may be an early morning Bible study, for another, a young mothers’ group, for another, a men’s Sunday School class. What matters is that it be small–I am convinced more than 10 or 12 is always too big for the purpose of discipleship–and that it meet with the stated purpose of growing disciples of Jesus. Men and women who know and obey the Lord must help those who don’t know how to follow him. Learning to pray together, to share the burdens and joys of their lives in appropriate ways, to discover how to open God’s Word for themselves, and to care for one another’s needs in the sight of Christ–this is a meeting that new disciples do not want to miss.

But not just new disciples only. This is a pattern that is meant for every believer. The New Testament epistles reveal it on almost every page. Are you part of such a meeting? Do you prefer it to all rival claims on your time?

by the Rev. Dr. Jon Shuler, PhD–

Some time ago I was in a long conversation with a very dispirited church planter. Almost everything he had hoped to see, the externals of his ministry, had fallen to the ground. He is a good man, and a fine husband and father, but his congregational effectiveness was decreasing. I was not the first person he had called, he told me, but he could not seem to find his way. We talked long and we prayed together, and I made some suggestions from the perspective of an “older coach,” but my heart was heavy when the “discipling hour” was over. Later I discussed this conversation with Bob Bingham, my discipling friend and coach. “He does not know how to flee to Jesus,” Bob said.

Once again, as has happened many times to me in conversations with Bob, I was shocked. “This man loves the Lord, Bob” I asserted. My wise friend assured me he was not questioning the man’s salvation, he was just observing that he did not know how to flee to Jesus. “He is the only one who can help him, Jon. The only one.” Of course Bob is right. The next time I talked to the planter, we talked about Jesus.

Are you like me sometimes? Trying so hard to help people who come to you in need that you forget who alone can help them? Do you fall into the delusion that if only you get things right or preach better, or work harder, then peoples’ problems will all be fixed? It is certainly common among the church leaders I know best. It is certainly a fault in me.

To learn to be a disciple-making leader means to help people enter deeper into dependence upon the Lord Jesus, not ourselves. The work of discipling is not about a never-ending series of sessions with us, but about helping them have the life-giving, soul satisfying, problem-solving Lord as their constant companion. He is the one who can correct them. He is the one who can inform them. He is the one who alone can fill the “hole of need” in their heart, today and for all eternity.

When I was converted I fell in love with Jesus. I could not stop praising his holy name. I wanted everyone I knew to know of his wondrous love. I wanted to run to him in every moment of need or temptation. I wanted to “flee to him” for strength and comfort, for healing and for grace. I thought then that this was the normal Christian life. I think so still.

Are you quick to flee to Jesus?

by the Rev. Dr. Jon Shuler, PhD–

In the daily rush to keep up with the fast pace of the world’s agenda, it is possible to forget–for days, weeks, and even (God help us) months–that the agenda of God is different. God is not interested in how many tasks we did today. He is not interested in how many “friends” we have in our social network. He is really not interested in our “metrics” from last Sunday. He is interested in our heart. Are we making sure that our “heart,” our “soul” is well, as the old hymn has it? And what about those who hear our teaching and preaching?

One of my favorite passages in the New Testament is that which describes the sending out of the 72 (Luke 10:1-24). As a church planter, this passage and parallel passages concerning the sending of the apostles on their first mission, are vivid reminders about what will last. The disciples returned, overwhelmed with excitement concerning all the miracles that had attended their first ministry without their Master. “Even the demons are subject to us in your name!” they exclaimed. And there is no doubt Jesus shared their joy. He saw his great arch enemy Satan “fall like lightening from heaven” and “in that same hour, he rejoiced in the Holy Spirit.” But he had to warn them, too: Do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.”

It is a passage that calls for great silence before an Awesome God. It’s a passage that stirs reverent fear in the presence of a Holy God, “…your names are written in heaven.”

To carry this knowledge into our daily lives is to be reminded that we have been sent out by our Lord to assist in calling others into this immeasurable Love. We have been sent to preach “the unsearchable riches of Christ.” (Eph.3:8) And that preaching is so some will “hear,” and hearing “believe,” and believing, “call on the Name of the Lord [and] be saved.” (Romans 10:14-15). When everything else is said and done this is all that will last of our earthly ministry: the company of those who have called on the Name of the Lord for salvation–those who have had their names “written in heaven.”

Are we paying attention to that–above all else–in our congregations, our networks, our movements?