HOW WE SERVE
Prayer & Missions Side-By-Side
The prayer movement and the missions movement, as we like to say, are married. Prayer is the fuel to disciple making and love-driven disciple making is the overflow of having been with Jesus in prayer. If we only sat at the feet of Jesus, our hearts would be full, but the world would still be lost. If we only work to reach the lost without much prayer, we will see little fruit and will struggle regularly with exhaustion because our hearts are thirsty and the labor is uphill. But when prayer and missions are present side-by-side, the outcome is a sustainable work that bears fruit inward in the heart of the believer and outward to those around.
Disciple Nations serves to make disciples who obey the greatest commandment and the great commission.
Merging The Two is a Discipleship Approach we Call Presence Based Discipleship.
Presence Based Discipleship is a Biblical approach to leading disciples to "put on Christ" and "put off the flesh" (Col. 3). While there are many approaches to discipleship and ministry, many are based in some sort of knowledge or achievement, rather than the process it takes to get there. Presence Based Discipleship (PBD) is as much concerned with the process the disciple goes through as much as the Truth he or she is learning. PBD relies on the active work or "presence" of the Holy Spirit in the prayer life of the disciple. It is discipleship that includes both prayer and mission. Jesus taught that "My sheep will know my voice" (John 10:27) and "The sons of God are led by the Spirit of God" (Rom. 8:14). When the Holy Spirit is the primary teacher, disciple-making efforts are shifted. Instead of a classroom style setting where the Word of God is taught and learned, the Word of God becomes the curriculum to a new way of living where the disciple learns how to surrender, hear God's leading, and submit to His will. This is what Jesus taught us to do in Matthew 28: 19 when He said, "Teaching them to obey all that I have commanded you." This language speaks more about how to obey, not what to obey, even though what to obey is vitally important also. When a disciple learns how to "go into the room and shut the door" (Matthew 6:6) and be with Jesus, they will be transformed by His presence having been with Him. Likewise, they will learn to recognize His voice when going about their day.
Presence Based Discipleship flows from intimacy with Jesus and having "been with Him." (Acts 4:13) When we learn to know Him (John 17:23), we naturally will love Him in response. The outcome of loving Him is obeying Him and making more disciples. Our desire is to see the earth full love-filled disciples who obey the Greatest Commandment and the Great Commission in all the nations.
Like the two rails on a track, the biblical priorities of prayer and disciple making joined together results in the advancement of missions that brings glory to God.
The Importance of Prayer as Mission Work
Jesus explained in a parable how the Word of God is like seed that is scattered. The soil, however, determines how well the seed will grow. The seed that has poor soil dies off, while the seed that has good soil takes root, grows, and bears fruit. If sharing the gospel and making disciple efforts is scattering seed, than prayer is like a roto-tiller that must first break hard ground, turn up nutrients, and make the soil prepared. Unfortunately, this work of prayer is often handed off to a few to do while others do the work of ministry. However, Oswald Chambers tells us, "Prayer is the greater work." How true this is. Without prayer, disciple making bears little to no fruit.
In Ceserea Philippi, Jesus asked the disciples, who do you say that I am? They gave the general answers of what people say. But than Jesus asked specifically, who do you say?... Peter replied, you are the Christ, the Son of God. To which, Jesus replied, this was not revealed by man, but by the Father in Heaven. Think about this for a second, all evangelistic efforts done by man cannot yield true understanding and faith, not matter how well the approach. It requires a miracle from heaven to cause a man to believe and the eyes of his heart opened to see Christ as He is. This is why prayer is the greater work. We need miracles to take place, men and women apart from Christ are dead, and they need to come alive in Him. None of us can do this! Only God can do this. Therefore, prayer is central and greater than our best teachings.
This critical work of prayer is why we say that prayer and missions like the two rails of a track. Disciple Nations serves to make disciples who obey the greatest commandment and the great commission.
