Fifty Thrilling and Disturbing Years

The following is an excerpt from The Kingdom Unleashed Sampler. Download this free eBook here.

 

He told them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his field. Though it is the smallest of all seeds, yet when it grows, it is the largest of garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds come and perch in its branches.”

—Matthew 13:31–32

Kingdom Movements: 1st-Century Answers to 21st-Century Barriers

Over the last 50 years, and especially since the turn of the twenty-first century, the Spirit of God has been birthing a new concept in the earth. Instead of addition, the Spirit of God is calling forth multiplication. The outcomes of these phenomena are called by names including Disciple Making Movements, Church Planting Movements, T4T, or Four Fields.

Such movements have been seen before in Christian history, but never with such force, across scores of countries, in such difficult places, and in such large numbers. These movements have already begun to alter the spiritual landscape of historic Hindu, Islamic, Buddhist, and Animistic regions of the world. But for many Christians, these movements are still a mystery.

This book is about these movements, which by any name, come under the category of Kingdom Movements. It was Jesus’ prayer and His mandate-His Kingdom coming on earth as in heaven. We will focus specifically on Jesus’ Kingdom values and lifestyles that empower these desperately needed movements. Jesus gave his first-century disciples specific instructions for advancing the Kingdom, and those same first century directives are animating the new twenty-first century movements.

Those of us living in the Global North are observing an ever-increasing cascade of spiritual discouragement and tragedy in our world, while our brothers and sisters in the Global South are experiencing today what Jesus meant when he said that kings and prophets longed to experience the Kingdom coming in such a way.

In this context, let’s explore Jesus’ first-century answers to twenty-first century challenges.

How the Kingdom Comes in Africa

Hassan is the president of Mission for All in an African nation. He was exposed to the biblical principles of Disciple Making Movements (DMM) while visiting the United States in 2001 and was challenged by the concept of training and equipping indigenous leaders to plant reproducing churches in their own communities. He slowly began to introduce some of the DMM ideas to his organization; then, in 2005, Mission for All invited David Watson to his country to train approximately fifty Christian leaders from six African countries—and the DMM initiative was launched.

From the very first day, this initiative was bathed with intercessory prayer. The ministry had always made prayer a high priority. But this was the point at which intercessors were recruited and trained by the scores, then by the hundreds, and now by the thousands, and depended upon to uphold all initiatives with constant, behind-the-scenes prayer.

In the last thirteen years, the number of churches in one African country has increased from fifty churches to many thousands, with at least one disciple making church in every corner of the country with an average of fifty-four members per church. The goal is to establish a church in every village or urban neighborhood. This movement has also planted more than 2,200 new churches among unreached people groups in eight African countries, and more than 400,000 people have become Christ Followers—the great majority from formerly unreached people groups.

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Authors

JERRY TROUSDALE and his wife Gayle were missionaries among a Muslim people group in Africa. He pastored two mission sending churches, co-founded Final Command Ministries, and since 2005, has been Director of International Ministries for New Generations.  He is also the author of best-selling book Miraculous Movements.

GLENN SUNSHINE is a professor of history at Central Connecticut State University, a senior fellow at the Colson Center for Christian Worldview, and the founder and president of Every Square Inch Ministries. He is an award-winning author, and has taught seminars on worldview, church history, and theology across the U.S. and in Europe and Asia.

GREGORY C. BENOIT brought his rich background in journalism, theology, and Christian publishing to this project.