Prayer can penetrate anywhere. Long before we enter the valleys of Nepal prayer can be doing a concrete work in laying the foundations for the future kingdom. . . . When we have prepared the way with the Spirit of God in prayer, he will answer those very prayers in permitting us to occupy Nepal.

Gordon Guinness, The Quest of the Nepal Border, 1928

We can never predict where and how the next breakthrough in world missions will occur. But when it comes there are always transferable principles on display.

Here’s what John B has learned after spending much of his life in Nepal and witnessing a move of God in this former Hindu kingdom.

First, there was an unprecedented degree of cooperation among various Christian groups.

Second, rapid development in Nepal, encouraged by His Majesty’s Government of Nepal, resulted in openness among the common people to new things.

Third, the prohibition of conversion and the reality of persecution from the outset prevented nominalism and kept the church strong.

Fourth, most converts were young, vigorous, and vibrant, with a keen sense of evangelistic outreach to the majority society. Also, family conversions were not uncommon, and mass conversions occasionally took place among tribal groups.

Fifth, retired Gurkha servicemen who had converted to Christianity while in the Indian or British army returned to their villages and established small Christian communities.

Sixth, new Christians were trained across the border in India to fill the need for pastors and church leaders. Locally, there were short-term training schools and conferences.

Seventh, several parachurch groups, especially student and youth organizations, worked alongside the churches to spur evangelism and to support new Christians.

Eighth, Christian literature, including translation of portions of Scripture into several tribal languages and the translation of the whole Bible in Nepali, spread the Christian message. Radio ministries transmitted the message. Bible correspondence courses provided instruction to thousands of new believers.

Ninth, the predominant use of indigenous songs and tunes reflected the general pattern of indigenous worship that included such culturally appropriate practices as meeting on Saturdays (Sunday being a working day in Nepal) and gender-segregated seating on the floor, often in ordinary village homes.

Finally, Betty Young, added the following: “A very widespread means which God has used in the rapid spread of the Gospel is healing—there must be thousands who have come to the Lord through healing.”

John B: A Description and Analysis of the Growth of the Church in Nepal

John B shares some great news out of Nepal.

Until recently Nepal was the world’s only Hindu kingdom. The mighty Himalayas and the fact that Nepal was a closed land until the middle of the twentieth century enticed many, but from 1881 to 1925 only 153 Europeans are known to have visited Nepal and none became a resident.

The earliest recorded entry of Christians into Nepal was the visit of a Father Cabral, a Jesuit priest, in 1628.

For two centuries before 1951, Nepal was totally closed to any Christian presence.

From just a single secret Christian residing in Nepal in 1951, the number of Nepali Christians grew to about 40,000 baptized believers by 1990 and has increased more rapidly since then.

The most comprehensive survey of churches and Christians in Nepal was conducted by the Nepal Research and Resource Network.

It showed a total of 2,799 churches and 274,462 baptised church members. The survey counted 379,042 persons attending churches and presumed to be Christian; this number equals about 1.5 percent of Nepal’s population. Ten percent of the churches have sent out a missionary or evangelist, and one out of five churches has planted one or more daughter churches.

Next post: John explains why.

From your knowledge of the Bible, church and mission history – do you see structures as being significant in launching, growing and sustaining movements.

If you are aquainted with Dr Ralph Winters “Two Structures of God’s Redemptive Mission” which he terms Modality and Sodality can you comment on them both from an historical perspective and also as being valid in todays world?

Travis writes,

I was reading your blog on the state of church planting in Australia. You wrote:

“Parachurch: Still leading the way in doing evangelism and making disciples. Rightfully wary of becoming a church. Wrongfully wary of planting churches.”

I’ve been working for a parachurch for the last 5 years and totally true, we spent a lot of time discussing our role in the Christian world and we were keen to never be a church. However you seem to suggesting that a parachurch could begin planting churches? I was wondering if you unearth that idea for me.

A few thoughts. . .

The “parachurch” (I don’t like the term) at its best, is the inheritor of the New Testament model of mobile missionary bands. You can’t confine the ministry of Jesus or Paul to that of a pastor of a settled congregation. They both led bands of mobile missionaries.

Paul raised up local pastors and elders, but he was always keen to bring a new church to just enough maturity that he could move on to the next unreached field. He was continually circling back personally, or via an emissary, or letter to make sure the churches he planted were in obedience to the gospel.

That’s what missionaries do, whether they are in New Delhi or New York.

We will not reach the world by paying church planters to plant one church and settle down. That’s not a movement, it’s a dead end. That is, unless when they “settle down” and begin multiplying new pioneers and new churches out of the church they’ve planted.

For a movement to keep advancing, pioneers must keep opening up new fields to the gospel through evangelism, making disciples and planting churches. If they settle down to pastor one church, the movement stalls.

The great tragedy is when “parachurch” workers make disciples, but don’t plant churches. The New Testament knows nothing of disciple-making without church formation.

For a church planting movement to continue its momentum, there must be both distinction, and partnership between the local church and the missionary band.

Mission agencies like YWAM, Campus Crusade, the IMB, Navigators, Pioneers, Church Army, CRM and many others, are showing that it’s possible to make disciples and multiply new churches without having to bring those churches under their control. Their model is distinction and partnership.

Dave Lawton, Tim Scheuer and Jeff Sundell are great examples of pioneering leaders who are planting churches but not running them.

The best person to read on this is Ralph Winter: The Two Structures of God’s Redemptive Mission.

I’ll be at Exponential 2010. If you’d like to connect, from time to time I’ll be hanging out at the CRM booth.

Scott Stephens offers a lament to the lowest common denomination — his own Uniting Church of Australia.

Unfortunately the trend goes back even further than Scott realizes.

The decline of the Protestant mainline in America began over 150 years ago. It has continued ever since, picking up momentum since the 1960s.

We don’t really need more evidence, but here it is courtesy of George Barna’s latest report.

A generation ago the Protestant landscape of America was dominated by the six major mainline denominations (American Baptist; Episcopal Church; the Evangelical Lutheran; the Presbyterian Church (USA); the United Church of Christ; and the United Methodist Church.)

The growth among evangelical and Pentecostal churches since the 1950s, combined with the shrinking of the mainline sector, has diminished mainline churches to just one-fifth of all Protestant congregations today.

Down is the percentage of families with young children, single young adults. Up goes the percentage of adults over 60.

Another hurdle for the mainline bodies has been attracting minorities. These churches struggle in reaching Hispanics and Asians.

Just one-third (31%) of mainline adults believe they have a personal responsibility to discuss their faith with people who have different beliefs.

Yet mainline churches are awash with money. They generate more than $15 billion in donations each year. During the past decade the median church budget of mainline congregations is up 51%.

A decade ago the median age of mainline Senior Pastors was 48; today it is 55. Only 12% of them claim to have the spiritual gift of leadership.

Adherents attend church services less frequency than they used to. Volunteerism in these churches is down by an alarming 21% since 1998.

Less than half (49%) of all adherents describe themselves as “absolutely committed to Christianity.”

A majority are not involved in some type of personal discipleship activity. Less than half contend that the Bible is accurate in the life principles it teaches. Only half of all mainline adults say that they are on a personal quest for spiritual truth. And when asked to identify their highest priority in life, less than one out of every ten mainline adults (9%) says some aspect of faith constitutes their top priority.

Report Examines the State of Mainline Protestant Churches

Wherever I go, westerners tell me, “It won’t happen here.”

Despite the impact of church planting movements in the developing world, they are a rarity in the western world.

In the first of two interviews I talk to Jeff Sundell about ten years experience in fueling church planting movements in Nepal.

In the second interview I talk to Jeff about how he is now applying thpse principles back in the USA.

You can also subscribe to the Movements podcast via iTunes.

A friend has just finished a serious of sermons on church planting movements. In a church of thousands. He spoke with conviction and the authority of a practitioner to people who are ready and responsive to hear.

Afterwards I asked him how many people had signed up to join one of his church planting bands.

“Just a few. I don’t pick up many church planters by speaking to large crowds.”

How does he recruit?

“I go out onto the streets and into communities and start sharing the gospel. I get out and meet people who need Jesus. That’s the best recruitment strategy I have. The right people are drawn by action.”

I’ve lost count of how many (unpaid) workers Dave has in the field, and how many churches are being planted.

Dave has just preached a series of three messages on the call to fuel church planting movements.

Dave Lawton: Nov 29, Dec 6 and 13, 2009.

Never mind the manoeuvres, just go straight at ‘em.

Horatio Nelson

Nelson was of the opinion that in war no captain can do very wrong if he places his ship alongside that of the enemy.

According to Edgar Vincent, his method for evolving plans was not analytical. He despised “pen and ink men”. He relied on imagination and intuition to produce ideas, then rigorously tested those ideas against the experience and insights of those whose judgement he trusted.

Movement leaders don’t worry about the fancy manoeuvres, and the pen and ink, they just sail “straight at ‘em”.

Off to New Zealand later this month for a Movements tour of five cities.

Next I’ll be in Singapore on March 12 for a seminar on Movements.

Here’s the promo

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