Luke 10 provides the clearest steps for initiating new churches and, even, starting new movements.
Here are some key comments from this passage:
1. Go where Jesus sends you. Jesus sent the disciples out, instructed them where to go, and told them he would be following up in those places personally. This pre-supposes that we have an intimate, listening relationship with Jesus and we are seeking to go and work where He is working. Persons of peace are people that God is already working within. He has prepared them. By listening and going where He sends, we join God in something He is already doing rather than needing to force something to happen. I have spent much time hoping I can get something to work where God wasn’t working rather than tuning in to where He is already sowing life.
2. Pray to the Lord of harvest. Specifically, pray that God will send out workers. This means that we are asking God to send us to people who will become workers in the harvest. We are asking, not just for receptive people, but for those who will turn around and attract others by their influence and become effective at drawing others. By praying this way, we are engaging the principle of reproduction from the very beginning. We are asking God to bring us to those who will not be barren but fruitful.
3. Acts of kindness, miracles, and relationship-building precede the proclamation of the Kingdom of God. Clear, spoken explanation of the Kingdom does take place in this passage. But prior to that, the disciples are told to display compassion, pray for needs, and build relationship through eating together.
If you want to move forward in planting simple/house/organic churches, reaching others, living incarnationally, and becoming fruitful, praying over this passage and asking God for next steps might be a great place to start.
What are some other principals from this passage that you have found to be key?
