What Have You Got to Learn? What Have You Got to Lose?
It’s not easy to find a multiplying movement in the West. Unless you know where to look.
Oh the irony that God should choose the foolish things of this world to shame the wise.
What have we got to learn? Everything.
Nothing if you don’t have eyes to see.
When I walked into maximum security and death row I met desperate men who were sick of the lives they were living. They wanted to leave violence and crime behind. They wanted to quit the drugs and alcohol. They wanted out of their gang.
“Would I want my daughter to marry a guy like me? No!”
“Do I want my son to follow in my footsteps? No!”
The gospel came to them as good news. They knew they were lost. A convicted criminal hung on a Roman cross for their sins. Salvation meant something.
They heard the call of discipleship and they followed.
They weren’t alone. A guy in their section shared the gospel, read the Bible with them, loved them and stood in their way when they wanted to go back to the old ways. Church was right there in the day room, three or four times a week. Run by the prisoners themselves. They baptize, share Lord’s Supper, sing through the day, read and obey the Word together. Correct and encourage each other. When they feel like punching their cellmate’s lights out, they know who to talk to.
The newest believers are making disciples. There are courses available. They start with the gospel and move to reading the Bible with others for discipleship. They can learn how to follow Jesus’ pattern of multiplying disciples and churches right here in prison.
It’s essentially the same principles and practices bearing fruit all around the world. The Word and Spirit, obedience based discipleship and desperate men who love each other going after lost people.
What’s happening behind bars may not be relevant in “your context”. Or maybe it is.
Ten years ago, none of this was happening. Someone defied precedent and went first.
What have you got to learn? What have ye got to lose?
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