Winter 2019 multiply.net
together that the world may know
Witness
The Heart of a Multiplier
Witness Winter 2019 Contents Editorial: The Path of Multiplication..................2 Miracles Follow the Gospel.................................... 4 Drink from the Fountain........................................... 6 “Where Will I Go?”...................................................... 10 Pass the Oranges........................................................12 Aftershocks....................................................................13
The Path to Multiplication Editorial by Randy Friesen
Made to Multiply........................................................ 14
Staff Editor-in-Chief..................................Randy Friesen Managing Editor........................Mark JH Klassen
“Be fruitful and multiply” was God’s first command to humankind in the Bible, and it has taken on a deeper dimension with the coming of Christ and the gift of the Holy Spirit. The Church is now empowered to bear fruit and multiply globally in unprecedented ways for the glory of God.
Layout & Design..............................Darcy Scholes
What is the path of multiplication that God is calling us to take?
Illustration & Design..........................Colton Floris
I was recently visiting with my friend who leads our Khmu ministry in Southeast Asia. He told me a story about a fifty-six-year-old man named Chong who was formerly a witchdoctor, or shaman. One day, Chong attended a Christian funeral in his village and heard the Gospel for the first time. He listened carefully to the story of Christ’s death and resurrection and the offer of hope for all who would believe. Chong asked how he too could experience this hope and go to heaven. He was told that he needed to accept Christ as the sacrifice for his sin, then give his entire life to God’s mission. Finally, baptism would be his public testimony that Christ was now his life. Chong, the former shaman, eagerly put his faith in Christ and returned home a transformed man.
Writing & Prayer Mobilization......... Nikki White Media Director.....................................Daniel Lichty Circulation & Administration............Ann Wiebe
Contact 1.888.866.6267 For other contact information, see multiply.net Questions? Email news@multiply.net If you would prefer not to receive a printed copy of Witness, please contact us today.
Offices 300-32040 Downes Road, Abbotsford, BC V4X 1X5 Canada 4867 E. Townsend Avenue, Fresno, CA 93727-5006 USA For other office locations, see multiply.net
formerly MB Mission & C2C Network
Printed in Canada
In the months since Chong’s conversion, people have continued to come to him daily for healing. Every day, he explains that he is no longer a shaman, but has become a follower of Jesus. He shares the simple message of the Gospel and declares that Jesus alone can save and heal. In the past six months, Chong has led 280 people to Christ. Recently, the local police in Chong’s village arrested him. The new church family had built a meeting place and the police were doing all they could to resist the growth of this movement. Finally, they put Chong in prison, but this only led to the Gospel spreading throughout the prison and Chong leading many of his fellow prisoners to Jesus. Chong is a multiplier, and Christ’s ministry through him is just getting started! When God created Adam and Eve, his intention was threefold: that they live in relationship with him, that they be fruitful and multiply, and that they exercise God’s delegated authority in stewardship over creation. All three purposes were impacted by sin, and yet Christ’s Gospel redeems all three. Regarding authority and multiplication, Jesus says, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me, therefore go and make disciples of
all nations” (Matthew 28:18-19). Regarding relationship, Jesus says, “And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age” (v. 20). I was recently attending a vision night at a local church where the leadership team was casting their new ten-year vision for church multiplication (which they were calling, Multiply). The vision included 250 local and global church plants through collaborative strategies and partnerships, and the raising of 30 million dollars! The pastor shared how the Lord had spoken to him at our recent Multiply Conference about the purpose of the Church, and then he had repented for not investing the resources and gifts of the church in the mission of God. “The Lord gave us a Ferrari,” the pastor said, “and we have been driving it like a golf cart!” As a ten-talent church, they would no longer be burying their gifts. Wow, was I inspired that night! The Gospels give us a window on what a multiplication story looked like for the early disciples. In the aftermath of Christ’s death, they struggled in their faith and yet the resurrected Christ came to them and nurtured their passion to follow him. Before the Holy Spirit came in power at Pentecost, the disciples were on their knees together in united, concerted, earnest prayer. Is God stirring our hearts to pray? In prayer, we are led to lay down our agendas, ambition and sin and fully surrender to God and his mission. There is one way to the resurrection life of multiplication, and Jesus describes it clearly in John 12:24: “Unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds.” If we do not embrace death as the heart of Christ’s Gospel, we will remain only
as single seeds. Only death to self leads to the power of Christ in us through the Holy Spirit! Just as the Early Church waited in Jerusalem for power from on high, so we too must wait before we go. Today, the Church around the world is praying like never before. Will we in North America also cry out to God and believe him for an awakening in our day? During this next year in Witness, we want to share what we are learning and experiencing in the Multiply story. We hope that these stories will inspire you to follow God’s path of multiplication and help you understand the heart of a multiplier. God is still calling us to be fruitful and multiply. We must be ready to return to our first love, seek his face, die to self and receive his power for proclamation, miracles and fruitfulness. At Multiply, that’s our passion and our prayer. Will you join us?
Let’s Plant Churches Together Multiply exists to inspire, equip and encourage the body of Christ to multiply healthy disciples and churches. We praise God for over 150 years of global mission engagement and a vast network of fruitful partnerships in over forty countries. Last year, we partnered with over 100 denominations around the globe. As we make disciples, our strategy is church planting, and our passion is to help everyone get involved.
multiply.net | 3
Miracles Follow the Gospel By Tyler Schulz, Burundi
Burundi is a country where witchcraft is prevalent. People do not find it easy to turn away from ancestral gods and traditions, unless they see a greater display of supernatural power. In recent years, God has been raising up a generation of young church leaders through a local ministry called Harvest for Christ. Since 2014, Harvest has been sending teams of young people throughout the country to proclaim the Gospel and display God’s love in Burundi. Our team in Burundi has been working closely with Harvest to support their evangelistic efforts. This past year, the teams from Harvest were made up of over six hundred young people who were fervent for the Gospel and eager to see people encounter Jesus. Thirty-one teams were sent out in partnership with local churches and more than eighteen thousand people heard a message of healing and hope. Approximately half of those who heard the Gospel responded in faith and committed themselves to following Jesus. The following stories explain how this happened in the lives of several individuals. One day, a young man named Sindayikengera was sleeping in bed during the heat of the day when he had a dream. In the dream, he saw people coming with a message for him. When he woke up, he got out of bed and went to the door of his hut. As he opened it, he saw a small group of people in the distance walking toward his home. When the team from Harvest approached him, they asked if they could talk to him about something. “I have been waiting for you,” Sindayikengera replied. As his visitors shared the Gospel with him, the young man 4 | witness
wept. With great joy, he accepted the Good News and gave his heart to Jesus. Ndayishimiye was crippled with a badly swollen hand and arm, leaving her unable to work in the fields and provide for her family. She was also afflicted by a demon. When team members came to her home and prayed for her, they took authority over the evil spirit in Jesus’ name and it left immediately. As they continued praying for her, the swelling in her hand and arm went down. Eventually, they watched as her entire limb was fully restored to health. With great gratitude and excitement, Ndayishimiye said yes to Jesus and embraced him as her Lord and Saviour.
Eventually, they watched as her entire limb was fully restored to health. In another village, a team encountered an elderly woman who had been sick for nearly three years, unable to walk. She had been reduced to crawling or staggering with the assistance of a stout walking stick. On a previous visit, just two days earlier, team members had prayed over her, but saw no obvious improvement. During the most recent campaign, I was able to accompany the team when they returned to her home with a local pastor. When we arrived, we were alarmed to see that her home was empty. We didn’t know if she had gotten worse, or if maybe she had died. But as we were leaving the woman’s home, a neighbour called out to us, saying, “She has
gone back to work! Go, you will find her in the fields.” When we found the woman in the fields, we were dumbfounded. There she was – hard at work with a hoe in her hand! The same woman who was lame two days earlier was now strong and healthy for the first time in three years. In yet another village, young parents brought their one-year-old boy named Simplice to one of the teams. Since birth, the boy had been completely unresponsive to any visual stimuli, causing his parents to believe that he was totally blind. In the evening, the team prayed over the child in the name of Jesus, but they did not see any change. The next day, however, they were called to come and see the boy, who was alert, focused, and clearly able to see. The team was shocked! Many of the non-believing neighbours could not believe that it was the same child. They began testifying to everyone around that a miracle had occurred, although they didn’t know how. Immediately, Simplice’s parents began attending the local church, asking the pastor to explain how this miracle was possible. On another occasion, one of the Harvest teams met Magongo, a young man who was suffering both physically and socially. What started out as a small infection below his right eye had become a massive disfigured abscess that covered much of his face. He had become a social outcast. When the team reached out to Magongo and shared the Gospel with him, he accepted Jesus. But when they prayed for healing,
nothing happened. However, God had another miracle in mind. As the team began to share Magongo’s story with others in the surrounding area, the hearts of people were moved and they began to raise funds for the young man to be treated at the local hospital. Eventually, not only was Magongo helped physically, but the entire community was transformed as they responded to the love of Christ. As the Gospel is being proclaimed today in Burundi, God is healing people and bringing transformation to families and communities. It is strikingly similar to the stories in the Gospels and the Book of Acts. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever (Hebrews 13:8). Tyler and Cheryl Schulz work with the Multiply team in Burundi, which partners with Harvest for Christ, a local ministry that is focused on evangelism, leadership training, and church planting.
GIVE Is God calling you to get involved in the work of the Gospel in Sub-Saharan Africa? Consider joining our team in Burundi as they empower the Church to see nations transformed by the Gospel of Jesus Christ. To make a financial contribution to projects like this, go to multiply.net/give
multiply.net | 5
Drink from the Fountain By Mark JH Klassen, North America
Five years ago, Chris was living a nightmare.
Dennis smiled, and kept listening.
“At that point in my life, if I had a god besides myself, it was probably cannabis,” admitted Chris Hyndman, who resides with his wife and two children in Vancouver’s West End. “But I had a devastating experience of that god failing me and the rug being pulled out from underneath me. I was suicidal. My mind was out of control. I was hearing voices and seeing demons behind every bush.”
In the days that followed, Chris thought more and more about his experience at that house. “There was just something compelling about that family,” he remembered, “and the way they lived out their lives, how they loved their God. And I didn’t know who my god was anymore. I just knew I was lost.”
In the midst of his nightmare, Chris was invited to a barbecue in his neighborhood. It was hosted by Dennis and Mistin Wilkinson, a couple who had been living and church planting in the West End for several years. It was actually Dennis’ mother, Carol, who approached Chris and asked if he would join them in their front yard for a meal. Chris was stunned. He couldn’t believe that there was actually a family that wanted to share a meal with him. “You’ve got to understand,” he explained, “when I met Carol, I was a lunatic, a space cadet. I was completely out of my mind and convinced that I was going to die any second and go to hell.” As he arrived at the barbecue, the sun was shining and these strangers welcomed him into their lives. “They called themselves Christians,” Chris recalled, “a family that believed in Jesus.” Dennis introduced himself to Chris. Among other things, Dennis told him that he loved Jesus and believed the Bible was good and true. Chris was stunned again. “Do you know how dumb that is?” he asked Dennis sincerely. “You seem like a smart guy. Do you know that believing that stuff is really outdated? We’ve evolved past that.” 6 | witness
Chris began to meet regularly with Dennis. He was in and out of the hospital and was put on a variety of psychiatric medication. As they walked together in the neighbourhood, Dennis listened to Chris tell about his struggles and the difficulties he was experiencing with his new medications. “The crazy thing was,” Chris recalled, “Dennis didn’t know it at the time, but on those walks, he would share some of his knowledge about church history - the story of people interacting with Scripture over time, doctrine and heresy - and that was exactly what I needed to hear. I had a church upbringing, so I knew what cultural Christianity was about, and I was in total rejection of that. But without even knowing it, Dennis gave me the exact apologetics that I needed to unlock my mind’s resistance to the idea that the Bible could be true, and that God could be trustworthy.” Although a door had clearly opened in Chris’ heart, he was still drowning in depression and crippled with anxiety. “I would just go on these rollercoaster rides,” he said, “and it felt like God was taking me on a tour of just how lost I was and how desperately I needed his salvation.” Then something happened that changed the course of Chris’ recovery. “In the middle of one of those whiteknuckled tours, Jesus showed up. I was lying in bed and it
was like a waking dream. I saw Jesus sitting on a fountain and he said to me, ‘I’ve got this. It’s okay. Are you thirsty?’ And he offered me a drink from the fountain.” It wasn’t the end of everything that Chris was struggling with, but it was a big shift. From that moment on, Jesus was real to him and he started living with confidence in that reality. Suddenly, he was different, and people noticed. Not long afterward, in a group discussion at Dennis’ house, an ardent atheist from the neighbourhood was in a heated conversation with Dennis. In the midst of it, Chris spoke up and effectively defended the Gospel with clarity and intensity. On another occasion, Chris was walking his children to school with a family friend who had witnessed the transformation in his life. After hearing more about his faith journey, she turned to him and asked, “Are you saying that Jesus is a cure for depression?”
The church community that Dennis and Mistin planted in the West End is called Meta Communities. It’s a small gathering of believers and non-believers. But the mission is clear, especially for new believers like Chris: “We’re just trying to paint a picture in our neighbourhood of what it looks like to love Jesus and to have him live in us.” Vancouver’s West End is not an easy place for anyone to live. The neighbourhood is constantly changing, with a menacing housing crisis and a very high turnover of residents. The people of Meta Communities, in many ways, live through the same struggles as others in their neighbourhood, except they live with hope. “It’s not easy to be the Church in the West End,” Chris says, “but there’s definitely hope, tons of hope. It’s challenging when people come and go, and you don’t see things change quickly. You have to trust God and just do your part.”
“Worked for me,” Chris replied. Prior to his encounter with Jesus, Chris had been very outspoken online and in public. He had rarely held back on sharing his thoughts and opinions. “Everyone knew how lost I was,” Chris said. “So, after Jesus saved me, I felt like it was really important to tell everyone that I’d been found. You know, this is who I am now.” Not long after Chris was baptized, his wife Lee began her own journey of faith and eventually surrendered her heart to Jesus and was baptized. Their newfound faith transformed their family. Soon afterward, the couple and their two children began to lead worship together in their church community. They were even invited to other churches to serve as worship leaders. “When my kids are up on stage,” Chris remarked, “and they’re belting out these songs from their hearts, really worshipping the way we’re supposed to, I break down every time. It’s amazing what Jesus has done in our lives.” As a musician, Chris has embraced opportunities to share Jesus through his music. So he hosts a music festival in his neighbourhood and is a regular at a local Irish pub where people gather together and talk openly about life’s challenges. Chris’ songs speak about his faith journey, but he’s also willing just to be there for people. “Jesus was willing to crawl into the ditch with me,” Chris said, “so I want to be willing to get in there with others and not be afraid to get messy and dirty. That’s what Dennis and Mistin and Carol did for me.”
To watch the video of Chris’ story, go to multiply.net/chrisvideo
Chris and Lee and their kids love the West End, despite the uncertainty of life there. Together with their new family at Meta Communities, they are clinging to their hope in Jesus and taking every opportunity to serve others in their neighbourhood. For Chris, it’s a far cry from the nightmare he lived not long ago.
multiply.net | 7
“Where Will I Go?” By a worker in Europe *All names have been changed or omitted for security reasons.
In many countries throughout Central Asia, there is a tradition that the oldest son in the family is given to his grandparents to be raised. This is meant to ensure that the elderly are taken care of. In many cases, this tradition strengthens families. But in other cases, these young men become spoiled by their doting grandparents. This was the case with a boy named Tariq. The problems became evident as Tariq started school. He failed first grade because he did not want to learn and he was not obedient to his teachers. After repeating the year, he managed to get through the next few grades, but with great difficulty. He rarely did his school work and he was constantly fighting with his fellow students. By sixth grade he failed again, and by seventh grade he was expelled from school. Although his grandparents enrolled him into another school, he was promptly expelled from there as well. Tariq ended up on the street where he began to spend his time and energy stealing and pick-pocketing. He quickly earned a bad reputation within his community. Parents would tell their children, “Don’t play with this Tariq. If you live like him, you’ll end up in prison.” In time, Tariq had no friends and even his family turned their backs on him. His father was ashamed of him and said, “You are no longer my son.”
His father was ashamed of him and said, “You are no longer my son.” So he decided to end his life. He got some rope and went to a barn to hang himself. But the rope did not hold him,
10 | witness
so he just fell to the ground. As he was trying a second time, someone discovered him and said, “You cannot do this. Suicide is a great sin. You must fear God.” Tariq took those words to heart and decided to change his life. He went directly to the mosque and began doing everything a good Muslim should do, including praying five times a day and learning Arabic. However, as Tariq became more and more religious, there was a question that was burning in his heart: “What will happen to me when I die? Where will I go?” He asked everyone that question, but no one was able to give him an answer. Eventually, this drove him to despair and he became disillusioned with religion. So he returned to his criminal lifestyle. One day, Tariq became very sick and ended up in the hospital. His parents found out and they had mercy on him. They provided money for a surgery that he needed, but when doctors said that a second surgery was required, his parents could not afford it. Tariq’s father started asking people for money to help his son. Two men that he asked said that they had no money, but they could pray for him in the name of Jesus. In desperation, Tariq’s father invited them to pray, and so the two men asked Jesus to heal Tariq. Of course, Tariq had no idea that these men were praying for him. But at that very moment, he was healed. He was able to get up out of bed, walk around, and ask for something to eat. Minutes later, the two men went to visit Tariq in the hospital. As they entered his room, Tariq looked at these two strangers wearing big coats and warm hats. He
thought they were from the mafia. They asked him how he was feeling, and he told them he was ready to go home. So the men offered to give him a ride in their car. But before they left the room, one of the men took off his hat and handed it to Tariq, saying, “Hold this hat.” “Why?” Tariq replied, as he reluctantly took the hat. “Because in this hat are all of your sins,” the man said. Tariq was confused. He became nervous. He wondered if he had stolen from these men at some point and now they were ready to punish him. But then the man took the hat away from Tariq and said, “Now Jesus has taken away your sins.”
The man took the hat away from Tariq and said, “Now Jesus has taken away your sins.” Tariq was shocked. As the three of them left the hospital and got into the car, the two men explained the Gospel to him, and shared in detail about how Jesus had not only healed him but died for him and removed his guilt. Tariq’s heart was moved, and he blurted out his question, “If I believe in Jesus, where will I go when I die?” “You will surely go to heaven,” they said. “You will be with God for eternity.” Finally, he had the answer to the question that he had been asking for years. There in the car, Tariq gave his heart to Jesus. Since that day, Tariq has been involved in sharing Jesus with his friends, family and others. He continues to live in Central Asia with his wife and children. They have a vision to see a network of multiplying churches established in Central Asia so that more people would be able hear the Gospel and know the saving grace of Jesus.
The Back Story Tariq and I first met years ago at a church-planting conference. He had come from Central Asia and I had come from Germany. It was there that I told Tariq that I had served for many years in his country of origin. It was the beginning of our friendship and our partnership in church planting. Years later, Tariq was visiting Europe and the two of us were driving to a church where we would share about our church-planting initiatives in Central Asia. On the drive, I asked him to tell the story about how he came to faith in Christ (see the previous story “Where Will I Go?” by the same author). When Tariq talked about the man who handed him his hat, something sounded strangely familiar to me. I asked Tariq, “What was that man’s name?” He told me that his name was Bashir, and after hearing more about him, I was sure that I knew him. I told Tariq, “Do you know that this man became a follower of Jesus in my house many years ago when I was living in your homeland?” I had met Bashir shortly after we arrived in Central Asia. He was a wellknown shaman (witchdoctor) who had a gift for healing people, and he had made a lot of money from his gift. People would bring the sick to his home and pay him to heal them. But his simple question for me that day was: “Is my gift from God or from Satan?” I remember how dark and mysterious Bashir looked to me. I had just met him, so I didn’t immediately want to tell him what I was thinking. I started talking about how God created the world and then later Satan came to deceive mankind. But Bashir had replied, “Yes, I know all that. Just tell me your straightforward opinion – is my gift from God or Satan?” “I think it is not from God,” I had said simply. “Because you are not praying to God and not asking in the name of Jesus, and the only way to God is through Jesus Christ, his Son.” “I knew that,” Bashir had replied quickly. “In fact, I was feeling this already for a long time.” So Bashir took the book that he had brought with him – a book of shaman rituals – and he took the amulet from around his neck, and he threw them into our fireplace and gave his heart to Jesus. After telling this story to Tariq, I said, “That was the same man who led you to Christ! So, if you are Bashir’s spiritual son, and he is my spiritual son, then you are my spiritual grandson!” At the time we made this incredible connection, we were still driving in a car, on our way to a church in Germany. “At this church,” I said to Tariq, “you will meet your spiritual great grandfather. Because when I was fifteen years old, the pastor of this church led me to Christ!” multiply.net | 11
Pass the Oranges By AK, Middle East We kept pausing to pass out oranges. Listening to their stories, we were overwhelmed with the horror of what these women had endured. Three years in captivity with militant fundamentalists had etched wounds on both hearts and faces. There were moments of heavy silence, as they seemed to recall stories which could not be spoken. Our team from the peace camp didn’t know what to do with such pain. Yet the sweetness of the oranges was meant to remind us all, in some small way, that life could go on. A taste of hope. We hadn’t asked them to share. We had come to the refugee camp only to love them, not to re-open their wounds. But we had barely made it through our introductions before they began talking. So we listened, deeply disturbed by the potential of evil to rob human beings of their dignity. Yet these women still had such dignity, sitting there, eating oranges. We asked one of the younger girls if she would now go to school. She shook her head. Maybe one day. But not yet. She had been rescued only fifteen days earlier. In the silence, we heard children playing outside, children conceived in captivity. It sounded like my street 12 | witness
in North America. But everything else was different. I have no idea what it’s like to live in a refugee camp in a makeshift tent in the scorching heat. I have never had helicopters circle me with video cameras while my people experienced a violent genocide. I have never become an item in the international news, being known about, but never known, never asked how I was feeling. We asked permission to pray before leaving, unsure of how this would be received. But suddenly we found ourselves in a circle, holding hands. They smiled, more than we had yet seen, even as tears spilled down their faces. We lifted our requests to the Father, asking him to bring back their husbands and their sons, asking him to heal their wounds, asking for his blessing. My cheeks were kissed more than a dozen times before we left. All of us were embraced, our hands and shoulders squeezed tightly. We didn’t deserve such gratitude, and it made me cringe. What had we given? A listening ear? Empathy? We could barely comprehend such suffering. All we could do was to sit still, witness their pain and pray. Perhaps that was the best thing we had to offer. That, and the oranges.
Aftershocks By Masami Giesbrecht, Japan
In my head, I knew God was in charge, but it didn’t feel that way. I knew I should be caring for others, but I was unable to do anything. I just waited for the house to stop shaking. I was getting our children ready for school when it finally happened – the thing that I had been secretly afraid of since moving back to Japan. An earthquake of 6.1 magnitude hit our city. As soon as I felt the tremors, I was brought back to the bigger earthquake that hit my hometown, Kobe, twenty-three years ago, killing more than 5000 people. Even when the house stopped shaking, I could not shake off my fear. Throughout the week, there were many aftershocks, as well as a landslide warning in our area. Although our children were enjoying two days off from school, I struggled with flashbacks and irrational fears for days. When we went shopping, I couldn’t stay in the store, because I thought it was going to collapse and that I would be buried underneath. The sound of helicopters flying over our city reminded me of the time that many people were buried under their houses in Kobe. In my head, I knew that this wasn’t the Kobe earthquake, but my heart was totally back in that time. It brought up feelings and memories that I didn’t know I had.
“Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the Lord your God goes with you.” Joshua 1:9 his people did. When the tremors hit, I could either choose to be afraid, or I could choose to believe that God was in charge, and that he was bigger than an earthquake. I had to make this choice many times a day in the beginning, and still have to face that choice every day. But it is okay. He is with us in the aftershocks. Please pray for me, and for our churches in Japan, that we will be equipped to meet the physical and spiritual needs of others, even as we are facing our own fears.
In the midst of this, I was reminded of a verse from the Book of Joshua, “Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the Lord your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you” (1:9). Joshua and his people needed to hear this assurance more than once, because they were afraid. They needed to be reminded that God was with them. The thought that this brave leader might have once been afraid like me encouraged me. I could make a choice, like Joshua and
Masami and Cory Giesbrecht are serving with Multiply in Osaka, Japan with their three sons. multiply.net | 13
Made to Multiply By Andy Owen, Thailand
It was the sound that I noticed first, a terrible crash of metal against metal that will not soon fade from my memory. As I turned the car into the hotel after a long journey to visit our ministry center in the north, I did not notice the motorcycle coming directly toward us. After hearing the impact, I slammed on the brakes and caught a fleeting glance of a person flying over the front of my car. I quickly jumped out and saw a young man lying on the ground behind the car, bleeding from his ears. Another boy, the driver, was trapped under my vehicle, motionless. In an instant, our plans changed, my life changed, and my understanding of multiplication in ministry was turned upside down.
In an instant, my understanding of multiplication in ministry was turned upside down. At the time of the accident, I was hosting a small vision team of pastors and business people as part of my role as Regional Team Leader for Southeast Asia. Soon after being appointed to that role, I began to consider what it truly means to multiply. With the huge task of reaching 600 million Southeast Asians with the Gospel, the need to multiply healthy disciples and missional leaders had become more than just a mission statement. It was our central focus for ministry. I had decided to commit an entire year to focusing on what the Bible said about multiplication. What I learned in that journey would help me to understand the significance of that fateful accident in light of God’s plan. 14 | witness
God’s Plan for Multiplication As I began my study, Genesis 1:28 immediately leapt off the page. God blessed Adam and Eve, and the first commandment they received was to be fruitful and multiply. I learned that the Hebrew term for multiply, raba, refers to great increase. Throughout the Old Testament, the word was often paired with the blessing of God, and an increase in numbers. The Israelites multiplied due to the blessing of God in covenant faithfulness. As Israel fulfilled its obligation to obey, God promised to bless and multiply his people (Deuteronomy 6:1-3). In the New Testament, Jesus added to the theme of multiplication through the parable of the sower (Mark 4:1-20). When seed is planted in good soil, it multiplies a hundredfold. I saw this also happening on a spiritual level as the early church experienced exponential growth (Acts 6:7). I became convinced that we were made to multiply! However, one passage stood out to me more than any other. In John 12:24-25, Jesus said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.” This is the Gospel story – Jesus died so that you, I, and a multitude of others may live. As we follow the path of Jesus, we also lay down our lives to find true and abundant life that reproduces itself in the lives of others. What does that really look like in our lives today?
The Weapons of our Warfare I learned that one way to live out this principle is through prayer. In a meeting with other Regional Team Leaders in 2016, we were in a time of corporate prayer when one person received a word of encouragement for me. They told me
that humility and repentance would be my weapons for multiplication in Southeast Asia. My heart resonated with this word, as we had seen church planting begin to stall in the two years since I had taken the role. On the fateful night of the accident, as I pulled into that hotel driveway, this word was still echoing in my head.
that posture to our greater field, pulling together many of our national leaders and North American workers for a series of meetings in which we again spent many hours in prayer, experiencing repentance, reconciliation, and renewal. Together, we recognized humility and repentance as weapons in our ongoing warfare of reaching the unreached.
As I watched the boys being taken to the hospital, I wondered whether they would live through the night. That evening, many people were called to pray for the lives of these boys – and God answered those prayers. Miraculously, the boy who had flown over my car was released from the hospital with just a bump on his head! The other was prepped for leg surgery and eventually would also fully recover. I, however, was wrecked. Although they were partly at fault in the accident, driving drunk and without lights, I was at fault for turning in front of them. I was overwhelmed by the thought that I could have ended their lives that night. Humility and repentance felt to me like burdens too great to bear. But God was using this experience to teach me the principle of multiplication through the posture of dying to self.
Multiplication: Not a Strategy, But a Posture
The following week, I carried that posture into our Southeast Asia regional conference by both modeling and calling people to humility and repentance. The Holy Spirit met us there as we spent time renewing our hearts before the Lord and reconciling with one another. We then brought
Ever since God met us and taught us what it means for a single seed to die before it bears fruit, our church planting has been impacted in significant ways. Small groups are praying together daily for kingdom multiplication. Missionaries are dying to their need to be in control and are partnering in new ways with national leaders to reach their people. As a result, our church planting in Southeast Asia has increased by 400% in the last two years! We didn’t have a different strategy; we had a different posture. It was the posture of Jesus, who laid down his life so that others may live. As we become Multiply, it is more than just a rebranding. For me, it is the culmination of a spiritual journey, and the activation of God’s plan to spread the Gospel to a lost and dying world. Will you join us so that together the world may know? Andy and Carmen Owen are from Fresno, California, and have been involved in church planting in Southeast Asia since 2000.
Workers in Southeast Asia learn and model the posture of multiplication multiply.net | 15
a six-week international adventure with Jesus ACTION is for young adults who want to follow Jesus and serve him with their whole hearts. Join us in Summer 2019!
ready to take action? multiply.net/action