Observations from a Latino

Yesterday and today we spent an extra day in Bergen with the European DAWN team. We stayed in a nice hotel near the harbour with free food and drinks, and even cheap internet access. I've always wondered why hotels charge extra for everything and leave their guests with a 'squeezed-out' feeling. Both from an economic and psychological perspective it's a much better concept to make the rooms a bit more expensive and give free hospitality in the other areas. And in case you wondered: the knäckebröd with salmon was de-li-ci-ous.

It's great that Berna Salcedo, the Latin American coordinator for DAWN, came over from Miami to spend some quality time with us. He explained to us how the DAWN strategy is being implemented in Latin America nation by nation, and how they form teams and train trainers. Traditionally DAWN teams have a 'four-fold ministry': prayer, research, vision & strategy and planning. I suggested to Berna to add a fifth one: communications, which is a weak link at the moment. The most encouraging thing he shared was that 90% of the churches in Latin America are being planted by people under 25. He says: "The young people really want to be challenged. If I spend one day with a young guy and teach him how to plant a church, he will do it the next day." And another observation: "The more time you take to teach people, the less likely they will do it. It's best to just lauch out and learn on the way."

We also talked about the 'exploitation' of the revivals in Argentina and Cali, Colombia (featured on the first Transformations video). During the revival (some say it was a renewal), the churches in Argentina did not invest much in new leaders and churches. Most money went into buildings, big stadium events and travel costs to 'export' the revival. Berna says that in Latin America Argentina is now the nation that is most resistent to the gospel. So there seems to be a counter-reaction when you do only half the thing (prayer and unity without multiplying leaders and churches). In Cali something similar happened. Berna visited the city several times and noticed that less than 4% of the population has been impacted by the gospel. More than half of the people live in poverty. Children are on drugs and sell their bodies. Did something substantial happen in Cali? Sure, but it seems the guys at Sentinel Group showed only half of the story.

When we compiled an overview of the nations of Europe, and categorized them based on the status of the DAWN process, we noticed that Norway, Portugal and Romania are currently doing the best job. But these nations are different in background, or would they be relatively 'traditional' (less secularized)? A common denominator is that these nations intentionally combined prayer, unity and churchplanting, and have visible people with high integrity on board. We hope to get a better picture from the Europe-wide research that DAWN initiated and that Andreas Wolf is preparing. And to strengthen our own know-how we will receive training this year on 'implementing strategies' and will try to get someone on board who has expertise and experience in forming national partnerships.

One of the 'strongholds' that prevent churches in Europe from multiplying is the conviction that we need healthy churches before we can plant churches. Berna said he had encountered the same attitude in Uruguay. So when he was invited for the national pastors' conference, he had to promise not to teach on churchplanting. But that day he came across an article in the national newspaper, reporting about a 400,000 member strong cult that was growing fast in Uruguay. He showed this article to the church leaders and said: "This country is spiritually open, and someone is harvesting - but it is not you." That remark changed the whole conference. Reinhold added: "It's very simple. You will always have to work on your marriage (health), but one day you will have children (multiplication), and the younger you get them the healthier it is for your body." Actually the Norway case proves it: the last 30-40 years every denomination has declined in membership, except the denominations that implemented a churchplanting strategy.

Comments

[David]

Marc,great stuff! I really enjoyed reading the post. Very informing as well as very thought provoking.

[Jan Wolsheimer]

Beste Marc,

Interessant stuk! Dat is inderdaad wat de meeste kerken/gemeenschappen aangeven als reden om niet uit te breiden: de onvolmaaktheid van de eigen gemeente.

Toch ben ik nieuwsgierig naar de resultaten van die kerkplanting in Noorwegen (en andere landen).

Zelf loop ik ook tegen het probleem op dat iets als Alpha niet toereikend is om mensen aan de gemeente toe te voegen. De eenmalige ervaring en verandering lijkt voor velen voor het moment genoeg. Aansluiten bij een congregatie is voor de meesten geen optie. Gevolg: na een jaar is er weinig of niets meer over van de verandering. Lijkt dus op de situatie in Argentinië en Columbia.

Je schreef: The more time you take to teach people, the less likely they will do it. It's best to just lauch out and learn on the way

Dat herken ik direct. Pfff..ik zou wensen dat kerkleiders hier visie voor kregen.

[brad]

hi marc. i appreciate your details and summary of analysis. i've been wondering lately about how when we/churches make "being healthy" the finish line instead of one marker along the longer journey toward Christlikeness. we seem to orbit around healthiness instead of keep on a trajectory to fullness in Kingdom living, perhaps like staying too long at the rest stop on the autobahn and setting that up as a new home?

[scott]

Fantastic insights on the Cali and Argentina revivals. I need to share this with our team in Budapest as it can give direction towards true national transformation.

Also love the comments on church helth vs. multiplication. I've been hearing a lot of similar conclusions lately. A freind who started a house church movement in Des Moines USA has noticed a similar phenomenon at the individual level called the "chill before serving" mentality in Christiandom. Also note the seven churches in Asia Minor. I think that history shows that they mulitplied, yet we read about some serious church health issues that they suffered in the book of Revelatin.