Stage Overview:

SHARING & TRAINING TO SHARE

Imagine for a moment that it was the disciples who first encountered the woman at the well, instead of Jesus. How might that encounter have played out differently? Most likely, the disciples would have avoided the woman - both because she was a woman unrelated to them, and because she was a Samaritan, against whom the Jews were heavily prejudiced - and an opportunity for the kingdom to break into a new community would have been missed (or at least delayed). As we begin sharing the good news with the lost, and as we begin training local believers to share with the lost, we must do so with our spiritual sight fully engaged. We all have unconscious biases and prejudices and assumptions of different sorts, but when we look at our surrounding community through eyes of faith, we may notice people that we would have otherwise overlooked. It is instructive that many local catalysts in existing movements were (or still are!) labeled as "difficult" or "troublemakers" prior to God moving through them to bring many to faith. God is in the habit of bringing breakthrough in the least likely of circumstances, among those people most apparently resistant to his touch; and if we are not keeping in step with God's Spirit, listening, discerning, and stepping out in faith into unknown and uncomfortable contexts, we may miss out on what God is doing.

​ A key difference that God began to teach many of the modern movement catalysts in the 1990s was the crucial role of the person of peace. Jesus first modeled a strategic approach and then sent out his 12 and 70 disciples with the goal of finding households of peace. The person of peace is the doorway that opens that household.

​ One of the main western biases we have learned is the tendency to focus on individual salvation; but in the book of Acts, 29 of 32 passages that describe salvation are referring to groups. We share to find these persons of peace who in turn open their households and communities to the gospel. Biblical examples are the Samaritan woman, Zaccheus, Cornelius, Lydia, the Philippian jailer, and many more (see below for a study of these biblical patterns and examples).

​ Beyond considering how aware we may or may not be to those around us in whom God is already at work, how should abiding and active prayer alter the way in which we share the good news or train others to share? As we said previously, prayer is very often an excellent inroad to sharing the good news; whether it is prayer to be led to open people, prayer for the needs of lost people we encounter, or something else. What about how we train local believers or potential near-culture partners to share the good news? What about how we filter for potential local brothers and sisters who God may be calling us to walk alongside and support in his larger mission? We would do well to consider more deeply how prayer should inform all of these crucial activities in the early stages of a movement work. After all, we've all heard plenty about training near-culture partners or local believers among our focus population to share the good news, but how often do we first train these brothers and sisters to pray for the lost? In many contexts, especially where Christians are a minority or otherwise oppressed or under pressure, prayer for the lost (especially when the lost are from the oppressing or majority group!) is an entirely foreign concept. As we share, we must certainly pray for the lost. But as we train others to share, we must train them to pray for the lost as well - all as a foundation to a heart change which will affect not just behavior, but motivation and vision. It may be that we jump too quickly to training local believers to share good news without first cultivating within them a heart that wants to share the good news - even with those who discriminate against them or oppress them in whatever way. Besides speaking to heart motivations, training local believers to start with prayer for the needs of the lost people they encounter as they share is likely a much less intimidating prospect that jumping straight into a gospel presentation. Lastly, training local believers to interact with the lost first by asking about their needs or problems, and then praying for those needs right then, in the person's presence, will often generate more goodwill and openness to the gospel than anything else they can do. God may work through a simple prayer to bring physical healing, deliverance from demonic oppression, or financial blessing - all of which open the door to the good news. Or the lost person who receives the prayer may simply feel honored that someone from another faith would care enough to ask God for something on their behalf. Either way, when we look at sharing the good news and training others to share through the lens of prayer, we'll likely encounter more open doors than we would otherwise.

Prayer Priorities for this Stage:

• Pray and listen around ways to use prayer as a connection point with our focus people
• Pray and listen around different kinds of prayer and their potential application to outreach
• Seek out local brothers and sisters with whom we can pray, and from whom we can learn about prayer.
• Pray for supernatural answers to prayer which confirm the gospel message we are sharing
• Include training in prayer as part of any movement equipping we do
• Learn about beliefs about prayer among our focus people
• Pray for God to lead us and our partners to persons of peace who are spiritually hungry and who will open their families and spheres of influence to the Gospel
• Pray for whole households and communities to come to faith, not just individuals
• Ask God to reveal our cultural blindspots and biases that are not in line with a biblical approach to making disciples
• Ask God to show us how we can better listen to Him to discern which people He is drawing to Himself