Houston, we have a problem ( article published in Mission Link May 22)

Posted on 26 May 2022 - By Gradon

Graph by economist Peter Crawford, based upon government population predictions…

Houston we have a problem…..

Without being a rocket scientist it’s easy to see that the NZ Church has a problem. It is slowly dying. Sure there are exceptions but the outlook doesn’t look good for the NZ church ( and by extension for us mission organisations) unless God moves in revival or we the church, change how we do things.

My hypothesis is that perhaps this is the moment that if the 120 or so mission organisation leaders in NZ, rise up and help the church in Aotearoa with the very things that are causing significant growth overseas. That somehow by God’s grace we might see the Church in Aotearoa transformed into a church that is radically changing lives. The very things that your missionaries are teaching their national pastors overseas, and where the church is experiencing explosive growth, could be adapted to the New Zealand environment.

One of the ways which I believe would work best is by us coming alongside church leaders and emerging leaders to help them refocus on their local missions and who they are supporting overseas. Imagine if 20-30 mission leaders helped 5-6 key churches a year, get mobilised for mission- what an impact on New Zealand and beyond that would have?

There is a Church Mobilisation Journey training used in the United States that we could easily adapt to Kiwi culture.

To explain briefly how a mobilisation works.

There are six two-hour sessions  (normally held once a month)that help church leaders and emerging leaders refocus on their calling as churches, and how they can outwork their values practically. This six-week course explores local missions and overseas missions. Looking at how they can get involved in a hands-on way. Click here for more information and video

If you as a missions leader can get a church you are already invested missionally, energised, and to brainstorm how they might do a better job – who knows how it might play out to bring blessing for the mission fields you love.

Last year I did five Church Mobilisation Journey’s in New Zealand with a broad range of churches. Four of the five churches chose to step up and do a better job with their existing supported mission organisations as to how they could do better with the missions they were invested in.

There are many other areas that mission leaders could help the NZ church as well as the Church Mobilisation Journeys which are largely leadership-focused.

There are huge gaps in faith sharing and disciple-making in which the church planters overseas are experts. The thing is, it is not too difficult to teach these skills but it does take some mission awareness to know what methods God is blessing and producing great quantities of fruit. Let’s briefly explore faith sharing and disciple-making

Faith sharing – Most western Christians have heard 4000 sermons and sung 20,000 different songs of worship but never led anyone to Christ. An Equippers pastor illustrated this to me recently. He had had a men’s breakfast with 40 men and asked the question. “Who here feels confident to introduce a friend to Christ?” No one put their hand up.

In contrast a few years agon in the far north, there was a significant number of mainly Maori coming to Christ in whanau groups using an evangelism tool from church planters overseas called the 3 circles. One of the leaders when asked a while back why it was so effective in reaching her people for Christ she said. “ 3 circles are about journeying out of brokenness through finding Jesus – all of us up here have experienced brokenness in some shape or form. It is life-transforming when they discover Jesus is the way out of their brokenness.”

The 3 Circles evangelism tool comes out of the church planting movements that have seen 93 million in the developing world come to Christ in the last 10 years.

Discipleship –If Jesus moved in revival here, I believe there would not be enough trained people to care for new believers and take them on a discipleship journey. The method used in church planting movements overseas – the 3-thirds bible study method can be easily adapted to NZ conditions. It divides the discipleship group meeting into three parts. The first, looking back at how the week has gone with particular reference to who has shared Jesus or prayed with anyone, also how they have applied personally the previous weeks teaching. The second part,  the bible study centers around the same four questions of the text each week – non-believers can feel at home because of this approach. The third part gets people to think of one practical thing that they can do as a result of the study. It has a training component – sharing your testimony in 90 seconds (with an open-ended question) or learning the 3 circles evangelism tool, plus praying for your wider network for opportunities to share your faith.

Here’s how we mission leaders could start to make a difference.

Mission leaders/ Senior pastors Conference to train as Church Mobilisation Coaches.

September 12-16th at Raumati Beach Church on the Kapiti Coast.

Cost – $200 towards hosting expenses.

Interested – contact Gradon Harvey gradon@northsouth.nz for further details.

Mark Fortney

We invite Mark Fortney, the creator of the Church Mobilisation Journey for the United States mission organisation, East-West, to come and help train us as Church Mobilisation Journey coaches.

About Mark

Mark Fortney has led with 16:15 Mobilisation organisation, later  with a similar role with East-West, leading Church Mobilisation. He has an MBA and Mth. He worked as missions pastor for Church Swindoll’s church and has led a number of large churches, the last one being Redeemer Bible Church in Dallas Texas. Before ministry he was a business executive with Upjohn Consumer Healthcare.

About the author

 Gradon Harvey leads North-South – a faith-based organisation he started with some friends, that seeks to help Kiwi Churches get mobilised in these challenging times. He has recently finished Church Mobilisations Journeys ( six sessions usually over six months) with leaders and emerging leaders of Abundant Life in Wellington, Hills Community Church in Mapua, Hope Vineyard in Palmerston North, and Waikanae Baptist.

He was a pastor for thirty years here and in South America. He has also led four New Zealand mission organisations either as NZ chair or, national director. He is currently interim leader at Raumati Beach Church – part of the Vineyard movement.