How to Lead a Course on Diaspora Missions for Your Church, Small Group or Team

In a time when migration issues are so controversial, followers of Jesus don't always know where they are supposed to stand.  Discipleship on issues of diaspora, immigration, and God's purposes among the people on the move has never been more important.

For several years now, people like myself and many of my friends have been working hard to create resources that will enable you to get equipped and to equip others.  Below you will find a straighforward curation of some of the absolute best resources available and some guidance on how to use them to start a class for your team, family, small group or church.

Most of these resources are free.  I challenge you to plan a class where you are.  If you have questions along the way, I promise I will help you.  Here you go...

Lausanne Global Classroom - Diaspora

This brief but comprehensive video was produced by the Lausanne Movement and the Global Diaspora Network.  If I was teaching a diaspora course, I would let this video provide the outline for it.  You will notice that it very nicely breaks down into bite-size segments and covers a wide range of issues related to diaspora missions.   I recommend building your course around this video.

Cost: Free

Usage: Video is broken into 10 segments. Use one or two segments per session and direct your Bible teaching and reflection around these segment themes.

Scattered to Gather: Embracing the Global Trend of Diaspora

This exceptionally brief text (less than 50 pages) provides an overview of the subject of diaspora from a Biblical and sociological perspective.  The PDF version is available for free and can give students an approachable introduction to the foundational missiological concepts that inspired the birth of the Global Diaspora Network at Cape Town 2010 and the Global Diaspora Forum in 2015.  I would let your students begin with this text before going on to the other key texts mentioned below.

Cost: Free

Usage: Focus on giving reading assignments at the end of each class section. The key sections are the "Seoul Declaration", "Diasporas and God's Mission", and "Next Steps".  Ask students to read these on their own time and allow 5-10 minutes of each session for open discussion on the themes raised.  If you course is longer, supplement with readings from this blog or Global Diasporas and Mission (below).  

Other reading: Scattered and Gathered: a Global Compendium of Diaspora Missiology ($72.00);  Strangers Next Door: Immigration, Migration and Mission ($9.99 Kindle); Global Diasporas and Mission (Free download)

Borderless Prayer

No course on mission is complete without a prayer strategy.  We released Borderless Prayer during advent of 2016, but the guide is relevant at any time of the year.  By using this guide, your students are going to learn about diaspora issues from various perspectives and be guided in how to pray. Depending on how long your course is, I would use one or more of these prayer articles during each session.  Cost: $1.99 Kindle; $5.99 paperback

Other prayer: Global Diaspora Network Prayer Hub

Usage: Designate time during each class session to pray.  Use 1-2 articles from the book to facilitate this prayer.  

Of course, you want to use the Bible as your foundation for any class on diaspora.  I do my best to keep providing Biblical reflections on diaspora right here.  Just use my "diaspora" label to currate those articles.  I also don't mind recommendind the main Borderless site for this as well as the Global Diaspora Network.

I will keep my eyes open and update this as new resources become available.  For now, the above are exceptional and form the basis for an excellent class on diaspora.

My Mentoring Pattern: Ebenezer, Yahweh Yireh, Kingom Advance

I have become convinced that one of the greatest needs for world mission today is for faithful mentoring of leaders.  Actually, I don't think the big thing is for me to teach others from my vast stores of wisdom.  No.  The stores aren't all that vast.  Rather, I believe that the best way for me to mentor is just to walk alongside someone a

s they pursue the calling of God on their lives.

More and more, I'm finding the fulfillment of my own vision and calling as I stand behind and with other sisters and brothers who are passionate about the Kingdom.

But let me move right into sharing my mentoring pattern.  

The Basic Idea

Essentially, this is all about letting a conversation unfold between myself and the leader I am mentoring.  I really just need to know what God is saying to them and what God is doing in and through them.  Then, I just get involved in that and help amplify that voice.  This literally is accomplished through regular conversations -- about monthly.  During the conversation, we talk and hang out as normal people, pray and may talk about Scripture.  However, the primary focus is on three words:

1. Ebenezer (1 Sam. 7) - I want to know where they are right now.  How far has the Lord brought them?  What can we give thanks for?  And based on all of that, what does immediate obedience look like.  Here is the specific question I ask: 

Based on what you sense the Lord calling you to do and what it will take for you to be obedient to his calling right now, what should you do and what should be accomplished during the next 3-4 months?  (List several specific goals.)

2. Yahweh Yireh (Gen. 22) - I want to know what we should be praying for.  Based on that present sense of calling and what obedience entails, there are definitely some things for which we must pray. Specifcally, I am asking:

As you walk in obedience right now, you are praying for specific fruit to result.  What specific manifestations of the reign of Christ do you expect and hope to see in the next 6 months? 

3. Kingdom Advance (Matthew 11) - Finally, since we are Kingdom people and the Kingdom is advancing always, we can expect tangible expressions of the Kingdom.  So, I want to know what that vision is.  If God answers all our prayers and makes our dreams come true, what would that look like? Here is the question: 

God is developing a vision in your heart as you obey his calling and pray for his Kingdom to come.  What does that vision look like? From where you stand right now, if that vision becomes a reality, what will it look like?

I hope it is obvious that the real power in this pattern is consistency and relationship.  I have attempted something like this before but failed on those two fronts.  But, I believe this can be very adaptable for many kinds of Kingdom workers.  Right now, I am using the pattern for church planters, coffee shop managers, and agricultural workers.

Also, I think knowing your capacity is important.  I'm focusing on the number 12 as a key for me.  I think I can meet monthly with 12 leaders face-to-face.  I think I can add another 12 leaders to meet with remotely (like via WhatsApp or Skype).  

Finally, it is extremely important to me that this is memorable and easy to learn.  I want those I mentor to mentor others who will mentor others.  It's about the Kingdom, so it must be comprehensive.

Quadragesima - A Reflection

The Church has now begun an annual season of reflection, confession, repentance, fasting and seeking the Lord Jesus.  Traditionally known as "Lent" or "Quadragesima", this period of 40 days leads up to the Holy Week, Good Friday and our annual commemoration of Christ's Resurrection.  You may not be observing Lent in a traditional way, but I hope that you are doing something during this time that the Spirit of God can use to draw you closer to Himself.  I also hope you will take a moment to enjoy Adam Young's lovely little video called 40 to set you in the mood.

Why Contextualize? (Part 5) The Locus of Spiritual Transformation

It has been a long time since I wrote the first four installments of my "Why Contextualize" series.  However, as I spend more and more time in the field engaging the realities of cross-cultural mission and the complaints by some against contextualization, there is another (5th) issue that continues to arise.  Just last week, I was on the road teaching about contextualization and heard the following concern (paraphrasing):

"If new followers of Jesus keep the same customs and cultural forms as they had before they became Christians, won't there be confusion as to who is a Christian and who is not?"

I'm grateful for the question because it brings to light what is a dangerous but nevertheless widely held view among Christians (especially in the West) that being a Christian is something that should result in visible, outward signs which essentially equate to an assimilation with Western cultural forms.  Deep down, far too many of us are still trying to "make a man of our Friday's"-- dressing the "savages" up in suits and ties, handing them black leather Bibles and praising the Lord for the "transformation".

But this is neither desirable nor right.  It certainly isn't the gospel. From a Biblical perspective, the locus of spiritual transformation is not to be found in the external, visible realm of customs, clothing, technology, or dietary habits. Rather, transformation by the Spirit of God is an invisible phenomenon -- the giving of a new heart, the renewal of the mind, a re-born spirit.  To be sure, this all will result in a character conformed to the image of Christ and righteous actions.  But that is not to be equated with Windsor knots, Christmas trees, and Chris Tomlin songs (no offense, Chris).  You simply shouldn't be able to pick out a Christian in a line up and if you can, then you've created a kind of pseudo-Christianity that is just far too easy to fake.  You've created a system in which discipleship is reduced to meaningless attempts to pursue conformity to a set of external social cues and cultural forms.  In which case (and I speak from experience), the label "Christian" becomes little more than a way of saying, "Oh I don't celebrate that festival" or "I don't wear those kinds of bodily adornments".  It is a mockery of the gospel and is simply not the thing for which Christ died.  If cultural change is all you are after, why not become a Muslim or join a biker gang or become a mime?

If instead, we assume that God had something else in mind in the incarnation and sacrifice of His beloved Son,  that becoming a Christian is not tantamount to the abandoning of one's culture and traditions (although they certainly are to be scrutinized by the light of God's revelation), then discipleship also has to become something else.  If a person cannot simply trade in their old holidays for new ones, then true spiritual transformation must be located elsewhere.  The locus of spiritual transformation, we find, thus shifts to the unseen yet unmistakable realm of heart, mind, spirit, and character.  And this is precisely where it should have been all along. Hence:


And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. (Eze 36:26 ESV)

I leave you today with a lovely and ancient description of what I am talking about.  The following is from a late 2nd Century Christian writing known as the Letter to Diognetus (Trans. by D. Bosch):


Christians are not distinguished from the rest of humankind either in locality or in speech or in customs.  For they dwell not somewhere in cities of their own, neither do they use some different language, nor practice an extraordinary kind of life . . . While they dwell in cities of Greeks and barbarians . . . and follow the native custom in dress and food and the other arrangements of life, yet the constitution of their own citizenship, which they set forth, is marvelous, and confessedly contradicts expectations . . . In a word, what the soul is in a body, this the Christians are in the world.


Amen!  

What if this was Church?

Discovered this video online. I think it does a good job of bringing balance to what is often pretty out-of-whack in the American church scene. Thoughts?

Endiro Coffee in Uganda -- Don't miss it!

Cool. Here's a review of my sister's new coffee shop in Kampala, Uganda. Super proud of her and the work she is doing there. May the Lord show TIBM how we can get behind her in it. By the way, my dear friend Vincent Lee is responsible for the logo design.  So, if you are in Uganda, don't miss Endiro Coffee, and please tell my sister, Gloria, "Namaste" from me.

UPDATE: Got to talk with Gloria on the phone since posting this.  Let her know that the website for Endiro Coffee was down.  It is back up now.  Check it out here http://www.endirocoffee.com/!  Also, please let's all lift up the ministry of Endiro as they seek to launch and support discipleship initiatives among child-headed families in Uganda.

Snapshots #2: Coffee Shop Love | a year in uganda: "Of course I love a good coffee, but I really love Endiro because of the story behind it. My good friend Gloria (in above picture, on right), has had the dream of starting this coffee shop ever since I met her. She’s been a missionary in Nepal and has traveled the world, but her heart now is focused on the vulnerable children of Uganda, and she wanted to open a coffee shop as a means to support some discipleship initiatives she’s developing for child-headed families and other neglected members of society here. Which I think is GREAT. Who doesn’t love buying a latte and feeling like you’ve just done one small thing to save the world?"

Discipleship Triangles for Yeshu Bhaktas

Recently, I've been working on adapting the diagram that I showed you last week for use in thinking through discipleship issues, spiritual disciplines, and the like -- especially with regards to South Asian Christ-followers.  Here is what I've come up with.  Would welcome your feedback:

Instructions for teaching about the Discipleship Diagram:

This diagram is intended to help us teach several things:

1.      It provides us with a list of key spiritual disciplines and arranges the disciplines into three categories.  This isn't meant to be a comprehensive list of disciplines, but does cover the basic ones that I teach.

2.      It provides English and Nepali (Sanskrit) terms for many concepts that are very important for teaching about discipleship.

3.      It helps us to get some idea of how the spiritual disciplines are related to other vital areas of our spiritual life. And, importantly, depicts discipleship in a non-linear way rather than a typical, Western step-by-step manner.

Part A: Truth is the Core

Truth is at the center of our diagram because it is at the center of all things.  The difference between a Christ-follower and everyone else begins with their relationship to Truth.  Christ-followers are those who have heard, believe, and obey Truth (Rom. 2:8, Eph. 1:13, 1Pt. 1:22).  Others are ignorant of the truth, reject it, and even oppose and suppress it (Rom. 1:18, Eph. 4:18, 2 Tim. 3:8).  But the Bible says that freedom (Jn. 8:32), sanctification (Jn. 17:17), renewal (Rom. 12:2), and salvation (1 Tim. 2:4) all come from Truth.  Thus, Truth should be a central concern for the Christ-follower and the one who is trying to disciple others.  Also, since the Bible is God’s revelation of Truth, it must play a central role in all discipleship (2 Tim. 2:15). Disciple-makers must understand their task as essentially about the impartation of truth to others.

Part B: TriEak Parmeshwar

The Bible reveals that Truth is not a WHAT but a WHO. God is truth and all truth flows from Him.  He is the God of Truth (Isa. 65:16) who cannot lie (Heb. 6:18).  His Son, Jesus, said, “I am the Truth (Jn. 14:6).  The Holy Spirit is called the “Spirit of Truth” who will guide us into “all truth” (Jn. 16:13).  Clearly, our relationship to Truth is the same thing as our relationship to God.  In fact the most foundational Truth is that God exists eternally as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  He is TriEak Parmeshwar, the 3-in-1 God.  God is Truth and thus God is at the center of our discipleship. Thus, we may say that the disciple-maker's efforts to impart truth and her efforts to introduce someone to God are one and the same.

Part C: Regeneration

The beginning of our relationship with God is called regeneration.  This is what Jesus was talking about when he said that we must be “born again” (Jn. 3)  When this happens, our old, sinful, darkened, and shameful life passes away.  Everything becomes new in Christ (2 Cor. 5:17).  Our sin and shame is taken away.  Satan and all evil spirits are rendered powerless against us. The Holy Spirit comes to live inside us. New spiritual and eternal life begins.

Key elements of regeneration from discipleship perspective include experience, sacrifice, and surrender.  Experience (anubhav) refers to a person encountering God as living and real.  Prayers are answered, God’s power is displayed through signs and wonders, God communicates through dreams and visions, the love of God is manifest in Christ-followers who serve and bless others. This also refers to the experience of regeneration – the result of the Holy Spirit indwelling a person.  Sacrifice (balidan) refers especially to the story of Jesus’ birth, life, death, resurrection, and ascension.  A person experiencing God as living and real must be presented with the message of who Jesus is and what He has accomplished and promised.  Surrender (sharaana) is something of a culminating piece of regeneration.  The person God is regenerating will finally give their lives to Him in faith.  The Nepal/Sanskrit word we are using her is “sharaana” which literally means to “take shelter in”.  Surrendering to God through Christ means that a person runs into the shelter of Jesus’.  The disciple-maker must carefully consider the one(s) she is discipling. Are experiencing God as living and real? (not the same as believing God exists -- one can be a theist and ignore God, but cannot both experience and ignore God).  Are they being told the story of Christ?  Are they being meaningfully called to enter the shelter of Jesus?

Parts D & E: Discipleship Roots and Spiritual Disciplines

The regenerate person begins to experience transformation into Christ-likeness.  There is a sense in which this can be automatic.  Often the experience of regeneration will overflow in a zealous pursuit of God through worship, prayer, or other disciplines.  However, over the long-run of a Christ-follower’s life, this transformation process must be intentionally nurtured.  This may be called discipleship because it refers to the process of following Jesus as a teacher we desire to imitate (Luke 6:40). 

There are three roots for the discipleship of Christ-followers.  The first root, devotion (bhakti), is rooted in the soil of an individual’s personal relationship with God.  Growing from this root are Prayer (prarthana), Bible Reading / Study (shastra), Worship (puja), Meditation (dhyana), Fasting / Penance (uposhya), Confession (swikar), and Joy (anandena).  The second root of discipleship is spiritual fellowship (satsang).  The soil for this root is the relationship Christ-followers share together before God.  Springing forth from this are fellowship (sangati), corporate worship (upasana), the teaching ministry (shiksha), sacramental life (samskara), Body-connections (sharir-sambandha), accountability (sahadharma), giving (daana), and joy (anandena).  The final root is service (seva) which grows from the soil of Christ-followers who are engaged together with a world that needs the Truth.  From this root grows disciplines of service (seva), giving (daan), proclaiming the message of Christ (prachar), missions (prerit), intercession (antar-binti), and joy (aanandena).


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That's it. Again, would love your feedback and suggestions.  This is in the initial stages now and I'm sure will undergo many revisions.

Quick Post: Encouraged to Lead this Team

Hey, just a quick post today to ask for your support for a really great group of cross-cultural servants here in Chicagoland.  I've just spent the last several hours reading, responding to, and praying through the monthly reports of the people who make up Trinity International Baptist Mission.  It isn't all roses, that's for sure.  But, I am struck and deeply encouraged.

Actually, I've been in kind of a funk lately, but reading through these reports has been quite a boost.  They have provided an excellent reminder today that I am not alone in this ministry.  Sometimes I (sinfully) allow myself to feel that way.  But here is the biggest thing for me:

Every single day, the people that make up this team are in the lives of others.  They are serving them, meeting their felt needs, sharing Christ, and discipling them.  Nonbelievers are softening towards the gospel, new Christians are getting stronger -- lives are being changed, even saved.  Every day.  It isn't a thousand churches planted each year.  It is just small, simple, flawed mission.  But it is making a tremendous difference.

I listened to a young woman this week share with me about her walk with the Lord.  I had baptized this former Hindu and her husband a year ago.  As she talked about her prayer life especially, the thought flooded in: "Here is a woman whose life is actually being transformed by the Lord."

It is simple and perhaps unimpressive.  But I rejoice in it.  Today, I'm just reminded that my teammates are doing this kind of stuff every day.  Some did it today.

Coming up in May, this team will drive to a little cabin in Michigan for 3 days of rest, prayer, renewal, and my famous grilling.  We need to raise the money for this trip.  Will you help us? If so, please use the ChipIn widget below to make a secure, PayPal-based, tax-deductible donation of any amount.  Blessings!

Back-pocket Discipleship

Just a thought today really.  Lately, I've been filled with a sense of urgency in discipleship.  This has particularly been the case among my Bhutanese-Nepali friends, brothers, and sisters.  I'm becoming increasingly aware of the reality that some of these folks are going to move again.  Especially the sisters are likely to marry and move to other communities.  So, I've been struggling with this for a couple reasons.  For one, I feel pretty resistant to the idea of being separated from any of these people that I've given so much of my heart to.  But secondly, I'm asking myself whether or not the new/young believers in my community here are really ready to be a strong witness in an environment where there is potentially less of a support system and more hostility towards the gospel.

So, in thinking about this, I have felt -- I MUST DISCIPLE!!!

But honestly, there are many barriers to this. One of the biggest is time. Both their and my schedules are inconsistent and difficult to plan around.  It is tough to commit to a regular weekly time to meet and study the Bible together.  This structural concern has been the bottleneck.

So, I'm thinking through a new idea -- well, new for me.  The idea is "back-pocket discipleship."  That is, how can I just be always ready to disciple someone whenever the opportunity presents itself?  I still want there to be some can of organized strategy to it, but is it possible to just have something in my "back-pocket" that I can pull out whenever I find myself with a young believer that needs to be discipled?

Again, just chatting here.  But what I'm thinking about is something simple like the fruit of the Spirit.  It is absolutely vital that Christians cultivate the Spirit in their lives.  So, why not just go through the fruit one by one?  Why not keep a simple list of verses/passages related to love, joy, peace, etc., literally in my pocket? The structure of a meeting can just be prayer and reading/explaining the Scripture.  Specifically, we can ask God to pour out His Spirit in our lives.

Just thinking.  Probably there are other key passages that could lend themselves to this kind of approach.  But I'm going to start with this because I discern a real need for the Spirit's transforming work right now.  I've already jotted down some texts in the back of my Nepali New Testament (which I often take with me whenever I leave the house).  When I get an opportunity with someone, I'll just dig into the first part.  When we finish, I'll not try to plan a specific time to meet again.  Perhaps it will be a week or two weeks or two days.  When we do meet again, I'll move on to the next text.  Conceivably, in this way, I could be discipling many people because I'm not trying to fit them all into a schedule, but rather just taking them as they come.

Does this sound silly?

A Chronological Survey of the Whole Biblical Narrative: Reading Plan for New Disciples

 The following is a reading plan that I developed for some newer disciples / followers of Jesus to help them get a good picture of what is going on in Scripture from Genesis 1 to Revelation 22.  Our English Bibles do not follow a clear chronological order (particularly in the Old Testament), so many people who read the Bible straight through aren’t able to, say, summarize the Biblical narrative as a whole.  This is a bit of a problem as I believe that developing a healthy understanding of the Bible’s story (and my/your place in it) is an essential component of discipleship. 

     I post this here because I want you to be able to make use of it if you find it helpful in your personal discipleship or in your relationships with others.  You’ll notice that the plan focuses mostly on narrative while giving only a brief sampling of other genres.  In most cases, I’ve also provided a very brief description of the content as a way to introduce someone to the material.  You will likely want to make adjustments here and there in order to fit this plan to your disciple-making context. 

A Chronological Survey of the Whole Biblical Narrative       

Order	Name of Book	Chapters to Read
1.	Genesis	1-50
2.	Exodus	1-40
3.	Leviticus	This is a law book that emphasizes that the Israelites were to be a holy people.  You may want to skim through some of this.  To get a taste of what’s going on in the book read: 8-10, 18, 20, 22-24, 26.  Some of the details here will help you understand what is going on later in the Bible.
4.	Numbers	This book contains census information and laws with some stories here and there.  To get a good picture of this book, read:  6, 9-17, 20-25, 27, 30-36.
5.	Deuteronomy	The book is essentially several sermons preached by Moses to the Israelites at the end of his life.  It is called “the second reading of the Law” because Moses goes over all the material in Leviticus again since a new generation who has never heard it has arisen.  I suggest reading: 1-13, 16-17, 20, 26-34.
6.	Joshua	1-11, 14, 22-24 (The other chapters basically describe how the land was divided among the twelve tribes of Israel.)
7.	Judges	1-21
8.	Ruth	1-4
9.	1 Samuel	1-31
10.	2 Samuel	1-24
11.	1 Kings	1-22
12.	2 Kings	1-25
13.	1 & 2 Chronicles	You can skim through both these books. They cover the same information as in 1&2 Kings.  If there are particular people—for example, David—that you are interested in, you can read those parts more thoroughly and thus get a few more details that you didn’t get before.
14.	Daniel	At the end of 2 Kings (and 2 Chronicles) the people of Israel enter the period of their history known as the Exile.  The book following 2 Chronicles (Ezra), however, picks up their story after the Exile.  To get an idea of what life was like during the Exile you’ll want to read chapters 1-12 of Daniel first.
15.	Ezra	1-10 (This book picks up the story after the Israelites return from exile.)
16.	Nehemiah	1-13 (This book continues the story after the Israelites return from exile.)
17.	Esther	1-10 (Gives some information about the Jews who did not return to the promised land after the Exile.)
Much more remains in the Old Testament that you have not read. Really famous books such as Psalms, Proverbs, and Jonah remain as well as many other that are very important.  I would suggest, however, moving on to the New Testament at this point.  Between the end of Nehemiah and the beginning of the New Testament (Matthew) is a gap of about 350-400 years that the Bible says little about.  Historically, we know that the Persians (who ruled the world during the period described in Ezra and Nehemiah) were soon defeated by the Alexander the Great and the Greeks.  Sometime later, the Romans became the dominating world power.  At the beginning of the New Testament period, Rome was in control of all the known world including the regions of Judea and Galilee where Jesus spent most of his earthly life.
18.	Matthew, Mark, Luke, & John	These books, known as the four “Gospels” all describe the life and ministry of the Lord Jesus.  They are four different people giving different perspectives (think of reading four different biographies about the same person).  Reading them all will help you to develop a really good picture of Jesus’ life.
19.	Acts	1-28 tell the story of the first followers of Jesus Christ after his ascension and how God began to accomplish his global mission of redemption through them.
Upon completing Acts, I would encourage a person to review the whole Biblical narrative with a mentor or spiritual leader/director*.  Can they summarize the essential elements of the Bible’s story?  If so, then a good next step would be for them to go back into the Old Testament and begin reading the books they skipped or skimmed. Make sure they have access to Biblical tools that will allow them to place whatever book they are reading into the larger Biblical narrative.  That is, they need to be able to find out that Haggai was written to the Jews after the Exile before they can begin to really appreciate the contents of the book (many English Bibles have basic introductions that will work fine, but you shouldn’t assume that non-English translations have these—in any case, here is a concise set of introductions that you can point people to). [* I have found a film called The Hope to be quite a good resource for helping disciples summarize the Bible’s story.  I don’t like everything in the movie (they make a few theological leaps that I wouldn’t make), but I love the concept and think the execution isn’t bad.  What is more, the film is available in a variety of languages from their website.]

Okay, that’s it.  I hope you find this reading plan helpful.  If you have any comments or questions, I’d be happy to hear them.  You can download a free PDF version of this reading plan by clicking here.