Church Planter Vision

As I traveled 18 hours by train, I prayed and asked the Lord to show me some kind of fruit that would confirm our new training approach and focus. I was humbled to see what God did. I arrived, meeting a discouraged friend and co-laborer in church planting - E.S. He shared with me how difficult the transition from the south of this country to the north had been, the struggles of leaving family and friends, adjusting to a very different culture, learning the language, severe sickness, and the on-going spiritual warfare had led them to discouragement. Boy, this sounded familiar. I was humbled to hear and see a national brother under the same struggles we have faced. Yet he was resolved to continue the race, believing God is about to pour out His Spirit on this region.

20 church planters were invited and 20 came, four of which we trained to be the discussion group leaders and will also be the new regional team. As we worked through vision for saturation church planting and elements found in church planting movements, we could see them getting excited. One element that we worked hard on was making this training more workshop style, not just lectures. We poured into them the idea that we are all in partnership together ö a team, working together on God's behalf. The discussion groups were meant to foster the team idea and help them work through the topics making them tangible and practical. By the end of the first day, the vision had grown from 500 churches to 2,500 ö a church in every village in the entire region. This was their vision, or I should say God's vision, not mine or E.S.es. This is definitely a God sized vision, but we know that all things are possible with God. It was exciting to see them own this so quickly.

The second day, we worked through research for saturation church planting and prayer. During the discussion group time, one of the students got so excited he stood and told everyone this is what he was waiting for, for so long and that he could see that God is setting things up to do something big. A few others stood up and said they felt the same. The excitement grew rapidly when we mapped where they were working and designated ministry points and village churches. E.S. at this point began to shout and praise the Lord, because he could see from our mapping that God has been working and where they needed to start focusing. The entire group was genuinely excited and motivated to move forward with the vision!!

- Anonymous, Asia

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