"We'd better not risk another frontal assault. That rabbit's dynamite!"
After the shock and awe campaign of the first chapter, the book now turns to look at why this Mega Shift is happening. What is causing the transition from megastar, traditional Christianity into supernatural, "everyman" Christianity?
Chapter 2 lists ten different "engines of change" that are behind this shift.* I'll only focus on one of those, but you are welcome to bring up others in your comments. I am intrigued by the concept of "rabbit teams."
Rabbit teams are small groups of people that go out into a community with the plan to quickly multiply (see pages 67-70 in the book). They gather a small group of disciples and train them to do exactly what the rabbit team does. Then this new team goes and and creates additional rabbit teams. These groups are small, agile, and focused on rapidly creating new disciples. The example team given in the book is starting about 50 different churches each year.
This concept seems to be a natural result of the idea of empowerment, that God wants to use normal, everyday people to spread His kingdom. Rather than waiting for pastors to tell them what to do all the time, this approach capitalizes on people's initiative and empowerment by the Spirit. Rather than waiting for the next big event to invite our friends to, it challenges us to go out let God use us out there in the "real world." What would that look like if even a handful of those kind of groups were set loose on campus?
It would be incredible to see this take off at Purdue. And really, that has been our heart since day 1 - that God would raise up teams of students to go out and bring God's transforming power to the other 40,000 students on campus.
I don't know if even a holy hand grenade from Antioch could stop that.
What do you think about rabbit teams? Or maybe you're more excited about one of the other things discussed in chapter 2? Take a minute and share your thoughts with the rest of us!
*(1) Intercessory Prayer - intense, strategic prayer for people and areas.
(2) Empowerment - equipping ALL of God's people to be ministers, not just the "pastors."
(3) Reconciliation - restoring people and groups that have historically been divided.
(4) Identificational Repentance - repenting on behalf of others.
(5) Spiritual Mapping - researching the spiritual background of an area in order to have more informed intercession.
(6) Rabbit Teams - groups that travel around, starting other groups designed to multiply quickly.
(7) On-Site Prayer - praying on-location for specific areas or people.
(8) Fasting - going without food for a period of time. "Praying without words."
(9) Leadership Teamwork -groups working together for the a greater good.
(10) Media Evangelism - spreading the gospel be means of radio, TV, film, and the internet.
7 comments:
This is a comment from Paul Bonner. He was unable to put the post up himself:
I think the rabbit group idea is a great thing to do. If we all did that we would be bringing many more to the gospel everyday. I think
the churches today don't put enough emphiasis on spreading the gospel. They only seem to worry about people in the church, now obviously that's not true about every church but not enough are willing to go out and spread the great news. I know about the gospel and i'm happy about it and have to no reason not to spread it to others. It's one of those things you know in your heart but it's hard to express to others and make them understand and unfortunetly not everyone will take the time to prayer to God and read the bible and go to church in order to see if they can live a better life with God.
This chapter had me going "hm" a lot; yet I'm continually inspired to ask more of God and to try greater things for Him. I wish I could get in the mind of someone like Duc, who when challenged to lead 5 people to the Lord led 5 villages to Him! How did he know what to do? Did he go out and reach others the same way he had been reached? Or did he just ask God for instructions and obey Him?
The 5 secrets of success under the rabbit approach:
1) make disciples, not just converts
2) work in teams to reach groups
3) work to saturate an area
4) make disciple-making disciples
5) be willing to do whatever it takes
I love step-by-step stuff, but I think this is more a list of values than a formula for successful rabbitting. I think #2 is perplexing but interesting. How do you work to reach a GROUP of people? What would that look like at Purdue?
I like step by step stuff too! It's funny because one of the things I disliked so much about the church I grew up in was the rules they imposed on you. But now that I know God, there are so many times I just want a formula or for God to give me some rules to follow to get things done, haha. Anyway...on to your question, Allie.
The nerdy grad student kept coming out while I was thinking about how to reach groups of people, with regard to the Purdue campus. First, before I can think about how to reach a group, I need to know what the definition of a group is. Is a group of people all of Purdue? Specific people groups (like different nationalities)? Groups on campus, like fraternities, sororities, or activity groups? And so on...but before I confuse myself by analyzing things to death, the theme that comes out from my definition game is that it is important to know the people you are trying to reach. The truth of the gospel doesn't change, but different people respond to different ways of communication and presentation of the truth. So before you even try to reach a group, it's important to know what they believe and what is the best way to communicate to them.
I also think it's important to go to groups in groups. It seems so overwhelming right now to reach all the tens of thousands of students at Purdue. But that's why it's important to make disciple-making disciples, not just flakey converts. That way, as you start small, the number of people helping to advance the Kingdom will multiply exponentially!
On an semi-unrelated note, one of my favorite quotes from this chapter is "prayer is war - intelligent, all-out, take-no-prisoners war" (p. 59). Maybe it's not as unrelated as I claim...because in order to reach groups of people we need to ask God for His strategy and to pray for the group of people before we even try to reach them with our words. Our prayers matter, and as we ask God for the plan, and pray strategically for strongholds to be broken, He will move and save MANY people :-)
Anybody else curious as to what/if our little territorial spirit here at Purdue is? I gotta imagine getting rid of that character would make saving this campus a walk in the park.
I was wondering that too, Josh! Looks like we might need to do some research on the history of Purdue and then attack it in prayer - woohoo!!!!
So I am still working on Chapter 2 and just read about Empowerment, but I have to say that this book is revitalizing me...I feel more awakened each time I pick it up. A friend of mine mentioned to me of a recent sermon a Campus House in West Lafayette called "Looking Both Ways". "What was the premise?" you may ask. Miracles! The sermon was on miracles and the pastor himself was admitting his own skeptic nature but was raising the question "Is there more than going through the motions?". "Is there a greater power to be exercised?" Well, something in me clicked tonight, I don't know what, but I realize that I have greater work in this world than what I've traditionally concerned myself with. I have more of a job to do, I need to tell others. The Lord is changing my heart, He is renewing my mind and replenishing my Spirit, and this book is encouraging me. So, I thought that I would start the telling here. So regarding the book, has anybody been successful with subscribing to the online news services like the Joel News? I tried to collect some of the sources that he cites in the book. Here is an AWESOME video series of the raising in Ch. 1:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NNaoDyV-PJ4
You guys are all a blessing and this blog is an encouragement to share the Gospel with others. The Lord has placed upon my heart a passage to post. O Lord, this is amazing....... Mark 6 speaks of the people's inability to believe in the miracles Jesus was performing. Jesus spoke "A prophet is honored everywhere except in his own hometown and among his relatives and his family." It says "He was amazed at the people's unbelief." Wow. I want to place all of my trust in the Lord, I want no doubt to be seeded within. Wow, the Lord is amazing...
I apologize for the late comment--been reading tons of books on healing and haven't kept up with Mega Shift like I should. :)
I'm blessed to see some comments on the power of prayer and spiritual mapping!! I do believe tearing down the demonic strongholds over Purdue would make it easier to build God's Kingdom...and may even play a role in my healing. ;)
Here are some questions to get us started if anyone wants to do some "Googling" or perusing in the library archives on questions that pique your interest:
1. Where did the name "Purdue" come from, and what does it mean?
2. What was the primary purpose of this university?
3. What student organization was first granted permission to meet?
4. What natural disasters have affected the university?
5. What is the university motto, and is the meaning significant?
6. What is the highest point of elevation at Purdue, and what building is there? (same can be done for the town of W. Lafayette)
7. Are there any witch covens, occult groups, etc. that meet on or near campus? (I discovered Wicca groups have open rituals in Horticulture Park...freaky)
A great book for us to read that actually guides you through the spiritual mapping process to pioneer a new work at a university is called "Campus Prayer Walking" by Ty Silva. If anyone's interested in reading through it and applying it to Purdue, I'll buy your copy. Just let me know! :) It'd be great if a small core of committed prayer warriors were willing to do the research and lead us in prayer walking to tear down strongholds!!!
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