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All of us want our ministries to matter.
We want our lives to glorify God. We want to
share what we have in Jesus Christ with
other people. We want to see the Great
Commission carried out. And
preferably, we want to see it happen in our
lifetimes!
The problem is that most churches are
expending most of their available energy on
what they think they need just to survive.
Not only is that not an effective way to
reach others, it's not much fun.
Imagine what could be accomplished if you
were able to channel your resources towards
making disciples of panta ta ethne (panta
ta ethne is Greek for "all the people
groups"). After all, isn't that what
Jesus asked us to do in the Great
Commission? (Mt. 28:18-20)
In this edition of Panta ta Ethne, you will
find
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an article acknowledging your
frustration and making some suggestions
for turning your frustration into
fulfillment.
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a very interesting report from Oklahoma
about how God is using GCI training to
reach both Cowboys and Indians
for Christ
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a challenge to join with us to carry out
the Great Commission in our lifetime
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announcement of a new training module
that combines Bible storying with active
listening skills.
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Our schedule of upcoming trainings for
the remainder of 2009.
I hope you find it interesting reading!
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Until All Have Heard,
Tim Ahlen
Great Commission Initiative
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Frustrated by Business as Usual?
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On April 17, 2007, the Chicago Tribune ran
an article describing the findings of a
survey conducted by the National Opinion
Research Center at the University of
Chicago. According to their findings,
87% of all professional clergy find their
work to be "very satisfying," signifying
that ministers have the highest job
satisfaction of the 198 occupations polled.
The average job satisfaction rating among
all workers was 47%. The same survey
found that ministers were also found to be
the happiest of all groups, with 67% of
ministers reporting they were "very happy"
with their life circumstances, compared with
only 33% of the general population.[1]
You might think these findings are
astounding, especially in light of other
surveys that indicate 75% of professional
clergy would get out of ministry today if
they could. James Dobson stated in his
August 1998 newsletter:
Our surveys indicated that 80 percent of
pastors and 84 percent of their spouses are
discouraged or are dealing with depression.
More than 40 percent of pastors and 47
percent of their spouses report that they
are suffering from burnout, frantic
schedules and unrealistic expectations. We
estimate that approximately 1,500 pastors
leave their assignments each month, due to
moral failure, spiritual burnout or
contention within their local
congregations.[2]
But the real issue isn't what some pollster
found. The issue is how are you doing?
Are you satisfied with what you are
accomplishing in ministry? Are you
happy with your life? If the answer is
"yes," then praise the Lord and keep on
riding your horse. If the answer is
"no," then you've got two choices: you
can either keep on trying to ride a dead
horse, or you can dismount and get on a live
horse that will take you somewhere.
(Hint: Ancient Cherokee wisdom says, "When
you find yourself riding a dead horse, it is
best to dismount!")
Great Commission Initiative offers a "live
horse" alternative to pastors, church
planters, denominational and associational
strategists, and laypersons who are feel
like they are getting nowhere in their
present assignments. By participating
in our training, we will help you:
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Identify the root of the problem
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Show you what God is doing around the
world to reach millions of people for
the Kingdom
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Give you very practical evangelism,
discipleship and communication tools for
multiplying disciples, groups and
churches.
As you read the articles in this newsletter,
we hope you will be encouraged by the
testimonies and articles that represent some
of the fruit of GCI's work. And if
you're riding a dead horse, consider
dismounting for awhile and attending one of
our trainings. You'll be glad you did!
[1]Retrieved from
http://www-news.uchicago.edu/citations/07/070417.smith-ct.html;
See also http://www-news.uchicago.edu/releases/07/pdf/070417.jobs.pdf;
[2] Compilation of surveys from Focus on the
Family, Pastor's Gatherings. Retrieved
from
http://www.yearofjubilee.org/2008/07/clergy-statistics-and-resources/.
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Success "Stories" from Oklahoma
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 GCI
has just recently completed a cycle of
training (Phases 1,2,and 3) in Oklahoma.
It is still too early to gauge the total
impact of the training but listen to this!
Native American Church Planting
There are thirty-nine Native American tribes
in Oklahoma. Each nation ("ethne") has
its own distinctive culture, language and
worldview. The majority of these
people groups have never been evangelized.
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Eddie Lindsey, Native American Church
Planting Consultant for the Baptist General
Convention of Oklahoma, was one of our
trainees. He was like many of our
participants. After Phase 1 he felt
overwhelmed. By the end of Phase
2, he was asking the hard questions, like,
"I appreciate that this has worked on the
foreign field, but what in the world does
that have to do with reaching my people in
Oklahoma?" But two days into the Phase
3 (oral strategies) training, everything
came together for him, and he said, "It is
now very clear to me why we have never had
success reaching Indian people for Christ.
We have never addressed their worldview!"
In response to what he has learned, Eddie
and his Native American partners in ministry
have made the commitment to engage all 39
Native American tribes living in Oklahoma.
He will be using the principles of
evangelism, discipleship and church planting
that are at the core of GCI's training. Pray
for Eddie, Gary Hawkins, Legus Hargo,Donald
Tiger and their fellow church planters as
they put what they have learned to work.
Storying at the Cowboy Church
Randy Proctor, an Associate Director of
Missions and church planter in Eastern
Oklahoma grew up with a very traditional and
conservative Baptist background. In
his world, expository preaching is the
dominant form of Gospel presentation.
When he first began the GCI process, he
found himself nodding in agreement with some
of what he was hearing and at times frowning
in disagreement.
One of the biggest challenges for Randy was
the entire issue of communicating Bible
truth through storying. Unlike
expository preaching that extracts salient
"points" from the Biblical text, storying
leaves all of the points embedded in the
text, so that stories don't "have points,"
they are the point!
Intrigued but not convinced, Randy decided
to try Bible storying. Here is what
happened in his own words:
I told the "Red Sea Crossing" story at the
Cowboy Church. Here is how I did it:
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First I told the story as you had
taught-simply & unembellished...
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I took about 5-6 minutes...
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I then asked ten questions...as you had
modeled...
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After each question, I asked the
congregation to answer verbally...
At this point I had them stand & I said...
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Are there any believers here today with a
Pharoah trying to destroy your life and/or
your loved ones?
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Will you surrender to God asking Him to deal
with the Pharoah in your life?
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Will you bring it to God and put your life
into His hands...
I asked them to step to the front in
response...I LOST COUNT AFTER 15...
I then asked if there was anyone here who
now realized that Jesus is the only way to
safely get to the other side and will now
quit trying to save themselves and trust
Christ as their Savior.
Before I could finish the sentence, a
woman in the back started waving both hands
mouthing, "I WILL, I WILL"!
I asked, "Are there others?" TWO
more hands shot into the air...
I said, "Are you also trusting Christ?"
"Yes! Yes!"
Afterwards, one man said to me at the
door, "Clearest Bible message I have ever
heard in my life"
I agreed, but I also realize that I
didn't preach it, the Holy Spirit did!
And He didn't use me; He used the Story
and the congregation.
I was just there to witness it!
Randy now uses Bible storying almost
exclusively, and is finding that people are
much more open to a positive response and
that they have a much deeper understanding
of God's Word.
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New Training Module Being Offered
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Storying is one of the most sought after
skills we teach at GCI, mostly because it is
such an effective way of communicating the
gospel. Because of its importance, we
have added a training module called "Story
Evangelism." In this module we not
only introduce you to the skills needed to
tell the Bible stories faithfully, but also
how to combine your communication skills
with active listening skills in a way that
you can (1) recognize "the story behind the
story" of a person you are sharing with
and (2) then select and share a Bible story
that will draw the person closer to Christ.
This training module was developed by
Margaret Slusher. Margaret is
president of LeadPlus, a consulting and
coaching enterprise that works with
individuals, churches and businesses to
improve their communication and leadership
skills.
Story Evangelism will be offered in
September 2009 at GCI's Dallas and South
Carolina training venues. To sign up for one
of these trainings,
click here.
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Great Commission- Completed in Our Lifetime?
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It has been almost 2000 years since our Lord
commissioned us to"Go and make disciples of
all people groups."
So, how's it working for us?
According to the Joshua Project (www.joshuaproject.net),
there are 16,309 people groups in the world.
6631 of them, representing 2.74 billion
people, and 40.7% of the world's people
groups, are still unreached.
We could spend a lot of time discussing why
we have not done what our Lord commanded,
but all that would do is continue to divert
our attention from the Great Commission
task. So let's just agree that after
2000 years, it's not working real well.
The question we should be trying to answer
is, "What, if anything, can be done to
complete the task in our lifetime?
Fortunately, there are a number of
organizations, mission sending agencies,
churches and individuals who have set
themselves to the task. What is it
going to take for these groups and
individuals to be successful in completing
the Great Commission? In my mind,
there are at least five things:
1. An unswerving commitment to
obeying the commands of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Didn't He say to teach ta
ethne everything He commanded?
2. An intentional focus on
those who have never heard. In view of
increasingly scarce resources, we don't have
the luxury of spending money, time and
effort on institutional development designed
to make life better for those who already
have heard.
3. A radical understanding of
what it means to be a follower of Jesus
Christ. Discipleship is much more than
a transfer of information and doctrine.
Biblical discipleship also demands
transformation of character and adoption of
a new set of behaviors.
4. An overwhelming desire to
quickly reproduce healthy disciples,
groups and churches that will, in turn,
quickly reproduce more healthy disciples,
groups and churches.
5. A willingness to sacrifice
personal ambition and material comfort for
the greater cause of completing the Great
Commission.
All it would take is for some combination of
6631 churches, individuals, missions sending
agencies and denominational bodies to make
these kinds of commitments, and the Great
Commission could be accomplished in our
lifetimes.
Any takers?
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Training Opportunities
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Dallas, Texas
Dates:
Sept. 14-17, 2009
Phases: 1,2,3,4
Location:
Mt. Lebanon Conf. Ctr.
More info., Click Here.
Winnsboro, SC
Dates:
Sept. 21-24, 2009
Phases: 1,2
Location:
White Oak Conf. Ctr.
More info.,
Click Here.
Richmond, VA
Dates:
Oct. 12-15, 2009
Phases 1,3
Location: TBA
More info.,
Click Here.
Seattle, WA
Dates:
Nov. 2-5
Phase 1 Only
Location: Puget Sound Baptist
Association, Federal Way, Washington
More info.,
Click Here.
Northeast Oklahoma
Dates:
Dec. 7-9, 2009
Phase: 1 Only: (This is a
special, abbreviated cycle of training.
For more information, call Tim Ahlen at
214-403-8283.)
Location: Tulakogee Conference
Center, Wagoner, OK
More info.,
Click Here.
2010 Schedule Coming Soon!
To schedule a GCI in your area, write to:
tim@pantataethne.org, or call Tim Ahlen
at 214-403-8283.
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We're Not Just For Baptists
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Looking at our sponsors and leadership, you
might be tempted to make the assumption that
GCI is just a "Baptist thing." It's
not.
We welcome all evangelical believers who
have an interest in obedience to the Great
Commission. There is no additional
charge or obligation for non-Baptists, and
we promise that what we teach you will
transcend any denominational distinctives
that you or we might cherish.
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