Discipleship-the wineskin for awakening - Part I
The lives of the Apostles, especially that of St. Paul, reveal an unusual and brilliant concept of missionary strategy They always went first to the great cities located on the trade routes From these centers their disciples and converts then travelled out to the towns beyond and there established churches which in turn established still others. ... Above all they founded congregations. The Apostles en- JOined upon their converts the responsibility to become the church. -William Stuart McBimie
My first few months at the Hahn Baptist Church in West Germany were difficult for me. I realized that we would not know how to handle an awakening if it were to come to us. I prayed, studied, and listened to find some solution. I listened to a tape of a speaker from a parachurch organization who encouraged pastors to meet with men who were hungry for God and to teach them everything they knew about walking with God.
I accepted the challenge and asked God to give me six men who wanted to follow Jesus more than anything else in life. Tex asked God to do the same thing with some ladies. What God did in the next few months placed within my heart a new hope for the church in the West. First, we saw lasting fruit. I look back on those years as pastor with a deep sense of satisfaction. Those people are today walking with Jesus.
I saw not only lasting fruit, but also multiplying fruit. Most of those men and women are not only growing in Christ, but they are also serving the Lord as lay people and vocational ministers in many congregations. The greatest joy of my ministry has been to watch those people become spiritual multipliers.
The last and great commission Jesus gave His followers before ascending to the Father was to make disciples. The objective of the church was not to build an organization, but to build an organism made up of people who had decided to follow Jesus and learn of Him. The objective became "people," to win people and grow them in Christ so that they could in turn win others. Every man and woman was to become a soul winner and a disciple maker. Any church doing less than that has ceased to fulfill Christ's objective for His church.
If a bakery does not produce baked goods, there is something radically wrong with it. By the same token, there is something radically wrong with the church that is not winning people to Christ and helping them grow spiritually. The church must enable every member of its congregation to win souls and make disciples. God never intended for the pastor to win all the souls and teach all the classes. Revival will produce a well-mobilized laity for God's glory.
