A pastor urged churches to make disciples rathern than pursue growth alone.
In his plenary session of the Chinese Mission Convention held on December 29, 2021, Jimmy Tam, Pastor at Sunrise Christian Community in Los Angeles, shared an evangelizing strategy designed by Jesus, by investigating passages in the Gospel of Matthew.
Pastor Tam spoke on the second day of the Chinese Mission Convention, a ministry established in 1983 dedicated to the vision of “multiplying healthy churches locally and globally”, whose theme for 2021 was “Faithful and Fruitful”. Titled “Jesus Strategy for Reaching the World”, this pastor and missionary pointed Christians to the strategy that Jesus designed for changing the world after he himself ascended to heaven.
Having been a pastor for over twenty years, Pastor Tam shared his own experience of shifting from pursuing church growth to disciple making. For over ten years, Pastor Tam has been focusing on attracting new church attenders using various ways such as holding all sorts of special events, until about 7 years ago a missionary helped him realize that Jesus made disciples in a completely different way.
He reflected that the traditional church expansion strategies more or less failed to work during the pandemic because the traditional church model functioned best only in a free country during a peaceful time. Yet during the period of the pandemic when people were in fear and anxiety about the future, the important thing was, instead of drawing people to the church, that “the people of God, Christians, and disciples of Jesus should be the light.”
Pastor Tam explained that this disciple-making strategy is “about partnering with the Holy Spirit: how to find the right people that He has prepared, that the Holy Spirit is already working in their lives. You just need to partner with the Holy Spirit to see how you can minister to them and let them experience Jesus.”
The pastor turned to Matthew 4:18-20 to explain the strategy that Jesus designed for his disciples to continue to evangelize to the world after he was lifted to heaven.
“While walking by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon (who is called Peter) and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. And he said to them, ‘Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.’ Immediately they left their nets and followed him.”
The lead strategist of a disciple multiplication network and the house of prayer explained, “First of all, what is a disciple? Jesus very simply said two things: follow me, and I will make you fishers of men. So two things define a disciple. A disciple follows Jesus, intimates Jesus, and obeys Jesus; and Jesus wants all of his disciples not only to follow him but also to fish for people: to make disciples.”
“In Jesus’ three and half a year ministry, he modeled this strategy. He showed how his disciples can continue what he did. It’s a strategy of disciples making disciples, for every single disciple to continue his mission.” Pastor Tam said, “It’s a strategy that he intentionally trained his disciples and modeled for them so that when he went back to the Father, they knew exactly what they needed to do.”
Simple as it is, this strategy wwas by no means easy. “’Follow me’ is a simple and direct command, but it’s not easy to obey this command”, he added.
And yet, the second part “to make disciples” had been even more often ignored. Pastor Tam stressed that making disciples was different from discipleship training, but “is being on mission for Jesus, continuing his mission to change the world. For me, that is the definition of a church - a community of disciples on a mission together.”
By looking at Matt 7:24-27, Pastor Tam illustrated a third criterion for being a disciple. Through this “build your house on the rock” passage, he pointed out that true disciples not only gained knowledge of God - which had been a main focus of conventional discipleship training - but also obeyed God’s words.
Pastor Tam remembered that by using the Discovery Bible Study, they did not teach just for the sake of knowledge, but were able to train people, model people, and hold people accountable to obey the word of God. “Every time we read God’s word together, we hold each other accountable to obey God’s word.”
From Matt 9:35-38, Pastor Tam concluded the “where, who, what and how” elements in Jesus’ disciple-making movement. Jesus traveled from place to place to proclaim the gospel to people with needs, who were harassed and helpless, who were willing to see God. Apart from preaching the word, Jesus also healed every disease and affliction. Helping people experience the power of God by means of healing still remained an important ministry. Additionally, each Christian should be willing to be sent out to the field of harvest.
“The Lord doesn’t want us just to stay in the church. Instead, he said to ask the Lord of the harvest to send out his workers. Not just the missionaries, pastors or leaders, but every single disciple of Jesus should obey him and say ‘Jesus I want to be part of your strategy to change the world, I want to see a movement of disciple making disciples and I want to make my life count for your Kingdom,” claimed the pastor who has spent recent years doing mission work among Syrian refugees in the Middle East.
Pastor Tam urged, “It’s for everybody. The only thing Jesus wants from you right now - he said - pray to him, respond and obey. He said not just hear my word, but you have to practice my word.”
一位牧师敦促教会培养门徒，而不是一味追求人数增长。
在2021年12月29日举行的全球华人差传大会全体会议上，洛杉矶日出基督教社区的牧师吉米谭（Jimmy Tam）通过研究马太福音中的部分段落，分享了耶稣所设计的传福音策略。
谭牧师在华人宣教大会的第二天发表了讲话，该宣教大会成立于1983年，致力于“在本地和全球范围内增加健康的教会”的愿景，其2021年的主题是“信实和多结果子”。这位牧师兼传教士以“耶稣接触世界的策略”为题，向基督徒指出耶稣为在他升天后改变世界而设计的策略。
担任牧师二十多年的谭牧师分享了自己从追求教会增长转向门徒造就的经历。十多年来，谭牧师一直专注于以各种方式吸引新的教会成员，例如举办各种特别活动，直到大约7年前，一位宣教士帮助他意识到，耶稣是以完全不同的方式来培养门徒的。
他表明，传统的教会扩张策略在疫情期间或多或少都失效了，因为传统教会模式只有在和平时期的自由国家才能发挥最佳作用。然而，在疫情期间，人们对未来充满恐惧和焦虑，重要的不是把人们吸引到教会里，而是“神的子民、基督徒以及耶稣的门徒应该成为光”。
谭牧师解释说，这种培养门徒的策略是“与圣灵合作：如何找到圣灵已经预备好的合适的人，圣灵已经在他们的生活中动工。你只需要与圣灵同工，看看你如何服侍他们，让他们经历耶稣。”
这位牧师转而用马太福音4:18-20来解释耶稣为他的门徒设计的策略，使他们在他被提升天后可以继续向世界传福音。“耶稣在加利利海边行走，看见弟兄二人，就是那称呼彼得的西门和他兄弟安得烈，在海里撒网。他们本是打鱼的。耶稣对他们说：‘来跟从我！我要叫你们得人如得鱼一样。’他们就立刻舍了网，跟从了他。”
这位门徒倍增网络和祷告之家的首席策略师解释说：“首先，什么是门徒？耶稣非常简单明了地说了两件事：来跟从我！我要叫你们得人如得鱼一样。所以有两件事定义了门徒。门徒是跟随耶稣，效仿耶稣，顺服耶稣的人；并且耶稣希望他所有的门徒不仅要跟随他，而且要得人如得鱼：使人成为门徒。”
谭牧师说：“耶稣在三年半的事工中设计了这个策略的模板。他展示了他的门徒要如何继续他所做的事情。这是一个门徒培养门徒的策略，让每个门徒都继续他的使命。这是一个策略，他刻意训练门徒并为他们树立榜样，这样当他回到父那里去时，他们就明确知道自己需要做什么。”
这个策略尽管如此简明，但实行起来却绝非易事。他补充道，“‘来跟从我’是一个简单且直接的命令，但要服从这个命令并不容易”。
然而，第二部分“使人成为门徒”却更经常地受到忽视。谭牧师强调，使人成为门徒不同于门徒训练，而是“为耶稣宣教，继续他改变世界的使命。 对我来说，这就是教会的定义——一群一起践行一项使命的门徒。”
通过查看马太福音7:24-27，谭牧师阐明了作为门徒的第三个标准。 透过这段“把房子盖在磐石上”的经文，他指出真正的门徒不仅获得了对神的认识——这是传统门徒训练的重点——而且还顺服了神的话语。
谭牧师记得，他们进行查经学习，不只是为了教授知识，而是为了能够训练人、给人模范，并让人们将遵行神的话语视为责任。“每次我们一起读神的话，我们都告诫彼此要遵行神的话。”
从马太福音9:35-38中，谭牧师总结了耶稣门徒训练运动中“在哪里、有谁、做什么和如何做”的要素。耶稣从一个地方到另一个地方，向有需要的人传福音，这些人疲惫不堪、无依无靠，愿意看见神。除了传道之外，耶稣还医治了各样的疾病和痛苦。通过医治帮助人们体验神的大能仍然是一项重要的事工。
此外，每个基督徒都应该愿意被派往收割的禾场。
“主不希望我们只是待在教会里。相反，他说请求庄稼的主派遣他的工人。不仅是宣教士、牧师或领袖，而是耶稣的每一个门徒都应该服从他，并说‘耶稣，我想成为你改变世界战略的一部分，我想看到一个门徒造就门徒的运动，我想让我的生命与你的国度有份。’”这位牧师如此说，他近年来一直在中东的叙利亚难民中开展宣教工作。
谭牧师敦促说：“这个使命是给每个人的。耶稣说，他现在唯一向你的所要的，就是对他的祷告、回应和顺服。他说不仅要听他的话，而且必须践行他的话。”
全球华人差传大会：吉米谭牧师分享耶稣接触世界倍增门徒的策略
A pastor urged churches to make disciples rathern than pursue growth alone.
In his plenary session of the Chinese Mission Convention held on December 29, 2021, Jimmy Tam, Pastor at Sunrise Christian Community in Los Angeles, shared an evangelizing strategy designed by Jesus, by investigating passages in the Gospel of Matthew.
Pastor Tam spoke on the second day of the Chinese Mission Convention, a ministry established in 1983 dedicated to the vision of “multiplying healthy churches locally and globally”, whose theme for 2021 was “Faithful and Fruitful”. Titled “Jesus Strategy for Reaching the World”, this pastor and missionary pointed Christians to the strategy that Jesus designed for changing the world after he himself ascended to heaven.
Having been a pastor for over twenty years, Pastor Tam shared his own experience of shifting from pursuing church growth to disciple making. For over ten years, Pastor Tam has been focusing on attracting new church attenders using various ways such as holding all sorts of special events, until about 7 years ago a missionary helped him realize that Jesus made disciples in a completely different way.
He reflected that the traditional church expansion strategies more or less failed to work during the pandemic because the traditional church model functioned best only in a free country during a peaceful time. Yet during the period of the pandemic when people were in fear and anxiety about the future, the important thing was, instead of drawing people to the church, that “the people of God, Christians, and disciples of Jesus should be the light.”
Pastor Tam explained that this disciple-making strategy is “about partnering with the Holy Spirit: how to find the right people that He has prepared, that the Holy Spirit is already working in their lives. You just need to partner with the Holy Spirit to see how you can minister to them and let them experience Jesus.”
The pastor turned to Matthew 4:18-20 to explain the strategy that Jesus designed for his disciples to continue to evangelize to the world after he was lifted to heaven.
“While walking by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon (who is called Peter) and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. And he said to them, ‘Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.’ Immediately they left their nets and followed him.”
The lead strategist of a disciple multiplication network and the house of prayer explained, “First of all, what is a disciple? Jesus very simply said two things: follow me, and I will make you fishers of men. So two things define a disciple. A disciple follows Jesus, intimates Jesus, and obeys Jesus; and Jesus wants all of his disciples not only to follow him but also to fish for people: to make disciples.”
“In Jesus’ three and half a year ministry, he modeled this strategy. He showed how his disciples can continue what he did. It’s a strategy of disciples making disciples, for every single disciple to continue his mission.” Pastor Tam said, “It’s a strategy that he intentionally trained his disciples and modeled for them so that when he went back to the Father, they knew exactly what they needed to do.”
Simple as it is, this strategy wwas by no means easy. “’Follow me’ is a simple and direct command, but it’s not easy to obey this command”, he added.
And yet, the second part “to make disciples” had been even more often ignored. Pastor Tam stressed that making disciples was different from discipleship training, but “is being on mission for Jesus, continuing his mission to change the world. For me, that is the definition of a church - a community of disciples on a mission together.”
By looking at Matt 7:24-27, Pastor Tam illustrated a third criterion for being a disciple. Through this “build your house on the rock” passage, he pointed out that true disciples not only gained knowledge of God - which had been a main focus of conventional discipleship training - but also obeyed God’s words.
Pastor Tam remembered that by using the Discovery Bible Study, they did not teach just for the sake of knowledge, but were able to train people, model people, and hold people accountable to obey the word of God. “Every time we read God’s word together, we hold each other accountable to obey God’s word.”
From Matt 9:35-38, Pastor Tam concluded the “where, who, what and how” elements in Jesus’ disciple-making movement. Jesus traveled from place to place to proclaim the gospel to people with needs, who were harassed and helpless, who were willing to see God. Apart from preaching the word, Jesus also healed every disease and affliction. Helping people experience the power of God by means of healing still remained an important ministry. Additionally, each Christian should be willing to be sent out to the field of harvest.
“The Lord doesn’t want us just to stay in the church. Instead, he said to ask the Lord of the harvest to send out his workers. Not just the missionaries, pastors or leaders, but every single disciple of Jesus should obey him and say ‘Jesus I want to be part of your strategy to change the world, I want to see a movement of disciple making disciples and I want to make my life count for your Kingdom,” claimed the pastor who has spent recent years doing mission work among Syrian refugees in the Middle East.
Pastor Tam urged, “It’s for everybody. The only thing Jesus wants from you right now - he said - pray to him, respond and obey. He said not just hear my word, but you have to practice my word.”
Pastor Shares Jesus’ Strategy for Reaching World, Disciple Multiplication
