More Lessons from Les on getting to NoPlaceLeft
I’m learning so much from my interview with Les on how he reached NoPlaceLeft (Rom 15:23) in North Africa. Here’s the second installment.
7. Expect trouble
After six months the family was outside of the country for medical treatment when severe persecution hit the new disciples.
The woman who has our best evangelist was forced into a marriage with an unbeliever. Two of our leaders were sacked and thrown out of their homes by their families. Another was beaten with an iron bar and two bones were broken in his arm. We were out of the country. All we could do was pray.
8. Call for commitment
We learned an important lesson when we found the deepest word in the culture for commitment, beyond just an assent to believe. We used their word for making a covenant and applied it to their commitment to Christ. When some people refused to believe because of the cost of commitment, we knew we’d found the right word.
9. No baptism, No church formation
Our people were from an ancient Christian background and had been baptized as infants. Of 1,500 who had turned and believed, only 25 had been baptized and new churches were not forming.
Without baptism, there can't be church formation. The new disciples weren’t obeying Christ’s command to be baptized and churches were not formed.
Les was sitting on my porch one morning praying when he was overwhelmed with grief that the church was not being formed. He started to weep and a national brother came and consoled him. When he shared the problem, the brother said he had a solution, “We should pray and study the Word together.” Which they did.
Then he announced, “I know how to change the lesson on baptism.” He added just a few sentences to the lesson. He added the story of the twelve disciples of John the Baptist who were rebaptized when they heard the message about Jesus (Acts 19). He added the story of Jesus’ circumcision and presentation at the temple by his parents. Finally, he added the story of Jesus’s baptism at age 30.
They taught the new lesson on baptism to seven young men who were in discipleship and asked, “What do you need to do to obey this lesson?” The men replied, “We need to get baptized right now.”
They trained all the leaders who were multiplying groups of disciples to teach this lesson. They saw the same results and baptism became the norm, not the exception. Then churches began to be formed.
10. Persecution and power
As disciples chose baptism and started new churches, persecution intensified.
Disciples lost their burial rights. They were expelled from local farming cooperatives and could no longer buy fertilizer for their crops.
The disciples had their crops burned and the local police refused to take action.
As people were obedient in baptism, persecution increased but so did the miraculous work of the Spirit. Many Demons were cast out.
11. God is faithful
An elder in the one village was a large landowner. He led the persecution against the disciples. A massive hail storm came through and decimated just his crops. You could draw a line around the edge of his fields and right next door, the crops were safe.
God convicted him of his sin and he repented. They shared the gospel with him and cast demons out of him.
The valley nearby had a bumper crop. When they heard that their brothers in the valley next to them had their crops burned they shared out of their abundance. And the families that had had their crops burned had plenty to eat that year.
12. Muslim breakthrough
Les and his team had been praying for a Muslim people group in the region. They went to visit one of their villages and were invited into two homes. In one home, Les and his group were treated with disrespect, despite the invitation.
In the second home, the head of the household, Abba Yasin, had a four-year-old son named Isa (Jesus). They asked why he’d called his son Isa?
He answered, “Four years ago my wife was very pregnant and in a vision, a man came to me in white and said, ‘I am Isa. One day, I will send to you, someone from across the ocean to tell you my story, believe that man. To show you that this is true, your wife will give birth tonight. It will be a son, name him Isa, after me.’”
Then he asked, “Why did it take so long to come?”
The team shared the story of the gospel and all nine adults in the household stood up and said, “What must we do to be saved?” Later that day the team left for a nearby village uncertain about how they would disciple these new believers, none of whom could read.
13. The resources are in the harvest
In the next village there was a young man who had come to faith in the city while a student. He had multiplied himself and formed groups that had become churches. Then he returned home and lead his family to Christ. His father, Michael, was the village chief elder and about 180 people in that village came to Christ.
The father had been praying for a year that the feud between his village and the Muslim village would end. God was answering his prayer.
When he heard the Muslim village had no one who could read he offered his son David to go to the village and teach them. The next day they hiked six hours over the mountain to meet their new brothers in Christ.
Michael told Abba Yasin, “David is your new son.” That day David moved into the Muslim village and began taking them through the discipleship lessons.
Abba Yasin then taught his village.
14. Trust the seed to grow
Six months later they went back to the Muslim village and hundreds wanted to hear them teach. The tea, soon discovered that the stories they shared about Jesus were already well known by the villagers. David had taught Abba Yasin, well and he had taught his village well.
Next
In our third and last installment, we’ll discover how Les dealt with the challenge of rapid growth and prepared the way for his departure.
