Lovin’ Kenya and These Pastors
Sorry guys I haven’t been able to write. Web service is sporatic where I am and this is the first time in a few days I’ve been able to get on. I have had an incredible two days. I spoke at the Redeemed Gospel Church - they have 20,000 at their main campus and thousands of others at the other campuses. It was incredible. I spoke at the main campus and another location. It was very moving. The LONGEST worship I’ve ever been in in my life. It was good, and didn’t get old. The pastor has started 2,000 churches in Kenya--not bad! He’s a very happy man and is head of the Evangelical Union of Churches here in Kenya. We had a lot of fun. It’s a Pentecostal Church. Maybe I’m going soft as I get older but I liked it--didn’t seem that wild to me. Everything was appropriate and in order.
Today, I met with the guys here and we talked all day about what it would look like to work together. It was a blast. We had a lot of spirited debate and “ah-ha” moments. Tonight, we go to Pastor Oscar’s house. Yesterday they launched a church and it had 1,000 in the first service--that’s where all the other pastors went. David Grubbs said he’s moving to Africa and joining that church. Of course, he said that a couple of months ago when we were in Korea. I love seeing a young guy’s eyes opened to the world.
Omar Reyes is just so stinkin’ smart. He had some incredible insights along the way that brought clarity. We were talking how we make a good team.
I’m more convinced than ever the church has to come together globally. It’s going to happen. I’m also convinced we are even more lost in the West than I have previously thought. We may be ready to engage the world, but they no longer want us engaging, and there’s some good reason to it. In the end, we all have to come together--it’s just going to be hard because the way we come together is going to be so radically different. As I sit and listen to these guys who plant tons of churches and have massive ministries, I’m amazed at how much they have to teach us. I’m not sure we’re ready to learn, yet. They don’t think we are--so smile at us--nod their heads, receive what we want to give and head on their way.
I hear guys in the West talk of reinventing the church, which that needs to happen; but, what they talk about and what we talk about are two different things. Agenda and program are what the East doesn’t want from us, but it’s what they fear most and avoid us for. As my friend Dave Bellis would say . . . “God is up to something . . . “
The disconnect between the East and the West is huge, BUT the disconnect between pastors and disciples in the marketplace is even bigger. Those are the two realms God is moving the most today - and, yet, the two that pastors fail to understand or connect with. We have so much learning to do. Alas, we think we know it all already.
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Jun 2, 2008 at 05:14 AM
Bob,
Not sure how to ask this question, so I'll just ask it: what "kind" of disciples are these churches in Kenya (and other places you've been across the pond) producing?
We're not doing that great a job in the West. I guess what I'm trying to ask is this: we obviously have much to learn from the East about church planting and multipication... what can they teach us about reproducing and multiplying better disciples (which is where church planting and multiplication starts)?
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Jun 2, 2008 at 11:44 AM
The 1 Cor 12 "translation" in the previous post was as poignant as it was funny. Combined with this post, it begs the question: What is the global role of the Western church? More broadly, what are the ways the various global churches can/ought to (at this point in history) build each other up? I.e., how can the African church build up the Asian church...or the Western...and vice versa, etc.?
Jun 3, 2008 at 12:37 AM
I think they're making good disciples. Some are incredible. They are all at different levels. Randy your question is great - give me a little time after this conferencde and we'll do it.
Jun 4, 2008 at 01:14 PM
I hate to bring myself to a party where I have not been invited, but I do have an idea to go along with Randy's question and Bob's promise to tackle it. I have been considering an idea along the lines of "The Barnabas factor". You know in Acts 13 where the Scripture turns without explanation and places Paul in the prominent role and barney as the supporting actor? Prior to this chapter, Barnabas is listed first, Saul second. It may be theologically insignificant, but it could be a lesson for the Western church - we will no longer be Paul like we have been the last 3 centuries +. We must now become Barnabas to the emerging Paul's of the world. It's a simplistic premise so of course, the how-to of that is a major question, but it's an answer we MUST discover if we are to be of any relevance to the shifted centers of global Christianity. So, can I come to the party?
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