What is a gospel movement?
A church planting movement (CPM) or disciple making movement (DMM) can be defined as “the multiplication of disciples making disciples and leaders developing leaders, resulting in indigenous churches planting churches which begin to spread rapidly through a people group or population segment.” Click here to read more about gospel movements.
Declare a Promise
Psalm 72:17 May his name endure forever, his fame continue as long as the sun! May people be blessed in him, and may all Lebanese sects and groups call him blessed!
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Lord Jesus, your love never fails, your truth is a rock, your name endures forever. Your fame–your glory, the great wonders you have done among the nations–continues as long as the sun. Lord, may the Lebanese be blessed in You, for in You they live, and in You they breathe, and in You the have their very being. Today, Father, we declare that all the sects in Lebanon and all the groups in Lebanon will become one in Christ, and they will all call you blessed.
Today’s Movement Theme: ACCESS MINISTRIES
Many movement strategists have come to define ministry as the people of God answering the prayers and needs of the community. True, in gospel movements there is an urgency to verbally declare the good news: broadly and boldly. But the world over, movements never just depend on ‘verbal proclamation.’ In order for movement to happen, community transformation–which begins with community blessing–is paramount.
So how?
The process begins when followers of Jesus meet the felt needs of a community. Meeting felt needs could look like any of the following: starting a small business; opening an after-school program for kids; organizing a ‘trash pick-up’ service for the neighborhood; launching a Community Learning Center that teaches soft skills; holding classes for pregnant and low-income mothers; facilitating trauma healing groups; or opening a drug addiction support group.
The possibilities are endless. But when the people of God mobilize to meet felt needs in the community, something amazing happens: persons of peace emerge! This happens because the man or woman of peace begins to get involved. Their attitude is: How can I help? How can I make my community better? That kind of person is usually the one God is already working in.
Therefore today, as we pray, we will ask God for blessing over new and old access ministries: that they would both benefit the community, full stop, even as they also uncover persons of peace.
Pray Scriptures & Themes for Access Ministries
James 2:14-17 “What good is it, dear brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but don’t show it by your actions? Can that kind of faith save anyone? Suppose you see a brother or sister who has no food or clothing, and you say, ‘Good-bye and have a good day; stay warm and eat well’—but then you don’t give that person any food or clothing. What good does that do? So you see, faith by itself isn’t enough. Unless it produces good deeds, it is dead and useless.”
- Pray: that movement practitioners would see individuals and communities as whole, integrated beings–body, mind, soul, spirit–rather than just as ‘souls’
- Pray: that the faith of Jesus’ followers would lead them to take action in the community to incarnate God’s love
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In one movement, a man sits on the side of the road just outside the town and repairs bikes. As he does his work, he chats with customers. He opens spiritual conversations. He has planted dozens and dozens of house churches through his simple business.
- Ask: for small business owners in Lebanon to generate profit and access new relationships
- Ask: for small business owners to find creative ways to share the good news of Jesus
- Ask: for small business owners to have favor as they offer needed services to their neighborhoods
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In another movement, a church planting teams offers trauma healing support groups to a community battered by war, violence, and economic hardship. As this happens, biblical stories–like that of Joseph–are shared. With time, discovery groups begin and churches are planted.
- Pray: for access ministries in Lebanon focused on holistic health: mental, emotional, and physical
- Pray: that men and women of peace would gather community members together for the purpose of mental and emotional health
- Pray: for ‘volunteers’ from within the communities to rise up and take ownership over the healing process, offering their services, expertise, and knowledge to the outside church planting teams
- Pray: for a supernatural grace of healing as these access ministries try to help communities devastated by Lebanon’s recent socio-economic collapse, the effects of Covid, and the port blast of 2020
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In one movement, an outside catalysts takes in street kids, gives them a safe space in a community home, and begins teaching them skills for working and lessons for living life. Through this process of rescue and empowerment, hundreds of churches in the community have been planted.
- Ask: for the grace of appropriate risk over access ministries in Lebanon
- Ask: for the hardest places to yield the deepest fruit
- Ask: for creative ways of touching extreme poverty and need in this nation
No Place Left
Each day, we pray for various regions of Lebanon, believing in faith that a disciple making movement will touch each and every community throughout the nation.
Today, pray by name for the following neighborhoods of West Beirut.
Ras El Nabaa : Salim Salam : Cola : Burj Abi Haidar : Msaytbeh : Zaqaq el Blat : Batriyakieh : Khanda El Ghami : Basta : Hei El Lejeh : Mar Elias
Prayer
Father, we want to be a people that steward our calling as image-bearers of God. Therefore, help us, like you, to be keen on the regeneration of communities. Where things have fallen apart, where the center has not held, where the chaos of the day has reigned: let us think alternative to the status quo, offering novel solutions to wicked, complex problems. Lord, may your church in Lebanon bless the communities we invest in; may we incarnate and demonstrate the love of God among our friends and communities. And as we bless the neighborhoods, meeting their felt needs, would you allow persons of peace to emerge who want to join with us…who want, in fact, to join in with You…in Your mission: on earth as it is in heaven. Lord, may they be the laborers and the workers for the new fields where You’re working!
Amen.