E-Connected Archive - January 2009
In search of today's pioneers
We've all been inspired by stories of historical pioneers that God raised up such as James Hudson Taylor, Amy Carmichael and William Carey. But the task of seeing the gospel take root amongst all Muslim peoples requires more pioneers to step forward today.
Our experience has shown that if a team lacks someone with a breakthrough, pioneering, apostolic-type gifting then they are rarely very effective.
In his book "A Vision of the Possible", Daniel Sinclair tentatively attempts to describe, from his observations, the type of profile such people generally have:
> God uses them in a variety of ministries. They are the kind who tend to make things happen. Often they are good at making something out of nothing, ministry-wise, successfully starting new works from scratch. Generally there is a history of evangelistic and discipleship fruitfulness.
> People readily catch their vision and feel led to join in.
> They have gifts of Bible teaching and leadership.
> They can be quirky and sometimes hard to get along with.
> They can have thick skins and hard heads. They tend (right or wrong) to not back down very easily - on anything!
> They can be self-confident, over assertive, and independent. When this is the case, you can see the Lord taking them through a process to grow in these areas toward greater fruit of the Spirit and total dependence on Christ.
> They want to have a good handle on everything in the ministry. This can seem like a tendency to over-control.
> They have their own ideas of what they want to do.
> They do not fit the mould. They colour 'outside the lines'.
> They have a genuine hunger for a deeper relationship with God.
> They are broad in their horizons and think beyond 'our' church.
> They thrive on doing things that are challenging and risky.
> They tend to become overextended in their commitments.
> They are always on the lookout for key openings. When the normal ways of getting in seem blocked, they look for other ways to get to the people to show God's love.
> They can be extroverted or introverted, glittery or non-showy. Apostolic gifting doesn't just come with a particular personality type. Some examples: Apollos was winsome. Paul was driven and task-oriented. Barnabas - whose name means "son of encouragement" - was strongly pastoral.
Does this sound like you or someone you know? If so, you might be interested in the training weekend we're running in March to help such people explore their calling to break new ground in the Muslim world with the gospel.
For further details please email the office.
If you're interested to learn more about the work of establishing new fellowships amongst unreached peoples, Daniel Sinclair's book "A Vision of the Possible" provides an excellent overview.
Email the office to order a copy (£10 incl. P&P).