There’s a couple I met a few years ago in Kenya. They live in a rural village area in the ancestral home of the husband. Their life is simple. They live in a mud house with a thatched roof. Their needs are met…most days…their wants are few. They exemplify “if we have food and clothes, we will be satisfied with that.” – 1 Timothy 6:8
They have one goal: to make disciples of Jesus Christ. Why? Because they believe they have one assignment:
Matthew 28:19–20 New Living Translation (NLT)
… to go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.
Caren, the wife, tells me, “We have a heart to go to people. Jesus commissioned us to go and baptize them. It’s very important to have the right DNA that is in Matthew 28, to go, make disicples, teaching them to obey, starting with baptism. Then we gather them together because we share love with each other in a practical way. This is Scripture. It is easy. It is God’s way of multiplication. Even someone who hasn’t gone to school can do these simple things.
“This is what Jesus taught. Our ‘Baba (Father)’ is Jesus. He is our leader. He loves us as his children so we can do the work of God. It works well, this simple method of his. At the end of the day you have a big work of disciple-making and it costs no money. One person just shares the love of God with another person. You don’t leave him. You walk alongside of him and then take them with you to make another disciple. It doesn’t take long. It is very cheap. This is what we do in Kakamega. It is strong and growing. We have many relationships with people who are now good friends. This method we find so many who need and want to be loved. Their lives are being changed.
“What we are seeing is that when we disciple someone they will come out just like us with the same DNA. The first thing we have to do is always to pray. Prayer takes time. We are praying for that man of peace to disciple. We take about one or two months with him, being with him, discovering through the Bible who Jesus is and what he taught. Every week I will meet with them and share. We then take that person with us to share with someone else. This person is now able to make disciples. We always start with Discovery Bible Study in a new group or home. That new disciple goes with me and he watches me; then the next time that disciple he is helping me to do that; the next time we go, the disciple does it and I am there to help him. You can’t just leave the new disciple there alone. It’s like with Peter and Barnabas. You want to make sure that disciple has the DNA of Jesus. This is what sustains the movement.”
Here’s what some of the other disciple-makers are saying:
“With our movement people help each other in very simple ways. They share each other’s burdens. We have very little, but what we have, we share.”
“This is easy. We have received the love of God and we want to share it with others. We can share with so many people because of how easy it is to pass on God’s love. This is the Bible. The Discovery Bible Study is doing a lot. People from all over are seeing and hearing about this movement and what God is doing.”
“I love this method so much because it is God’s way. We can be together anywhere, any time. This is easy. It is not only for the pastor or someone coming to the church. I meet someone anywhere I am, even at the river and I can share the love of God with them. When we meet, we are in the house and they know me and my challenges very well. Here no one is pushed down. Everyone is able to be lifted up. We look at the Bible together and we find what is the Truth.”
“The gospel goes very quickly with this way of disciple-making, because it is a friendship atmosphere. Everyone can do this, not only if you are a pastor.”
“House church people are reading the Word of God together and discovering the Truth. They are ridding themselves of witchcraft.”
“We are reaching people in their homes. You don’t need anything, except Love.”
“We are discovering that we need to be open to people and their problems. When we do this, we find that we can understand and love people very well.”
“Our people are suffering and they are not being helped. House church is the way we can really help people. This is real help for people not just talking about help.”
“We find with DMM there is a way to work with people without fighting. We only serve God and are not in competition with people to find people to add to our church building programs.”
“God will go to any lengths to reach someone. What we are finding is that he usually does it through one person to another person.”
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