Since I became Christian I got impressed and amazed with the words of 2 Chronicles 7:14:
“If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.”
In that passage, it is possible to see God speaking to Solomon about the temple and the consequences that would happen when people humbled themselves before God and prayed, seeking the Lord in that place. Moving forward to the 21st century, our relationship with God is not ‘building dependent’ (and COVID highlighted that clearly), but the meaning and consequence of a life of intimacy with the Lord continues the same. God is still bringing transformation for people and communities that humbly and honestly seek the Lord.
One of the great joys of my ministry, Advance, is to see Christians develop a growing relationship with Jesus that will transform their local churches, communities, and many lives with the powerful message of Christ. Advance exists to encourage, equip and empower you for evangelism and it has been a constant reminder that God and the Gospel has lost none of its power. The following stories are just some of the examples.
Ordinary people with and extraordinary call
Ana is a committed Christian that always thought it would be impossible for her to share the gospel with people because she was not an ‘evangelist’ and definitely not an ‘extrovert’.
However, she persevered and during Session Two of her Advance Group she learned more about her identity as a daughter of Christ and that God wanted to use her with all that she was to His glory. As a result, Ana is sharing the gospel with more confidence and joy and already has two other people that are journeying with her to learn and discover more about Jesus.
God is still at work, and it is amazing to see ordinary people experiencing the extraordinary for the Lord.
Pastor, evangelists, or church planters?
One of the difficulties that many Christian’s face is the fact that they don’t fully understand that we are all called to evangelise, but then within that ‘all’ there are a small group specifically called to be an evangelist. Even pastors and church leaders don’t escape this confusion!
I recently had the joy of meeting with a church planting core team who were looking for opportunities to share their faith, to use their own life experiences and challenges as a way to evangelise and grow their newly planted church. This desire to just use the gifts and experiences God has given us to evangelise is a prime purpose of an Advance Group and so I arranged to meet and share more about the ministry.
The team were so blessed and thankful for the material, relating strongly to the content and principals of the groups guide (evangelism, bible, prayer, accountability and commitment). On the back of our discussion, they decided to start their own Advance Group and journey together through the material. Not only this, but they agreed that any church planting project that they would start would have at its core an Advance Group, as a way to keep evangelism and their pursuit of God a priority of their movement.
Evangelists and missionaries
“I’ve been an evangelist and missionary for more than 20 years and there is nothing that I haven’t heard or used in my personal evangelism” – that was the answer Vicent gave me when I shared about Advance Groups with him.
He was convinced that he had all the techniques and programs that exists about evangelism, however the reality was that he was tired and not willing to have any more “quick fixes” around evangelism.
I explained to Vicent that it was great he didn’t want another quick fix programme or technique, because that is not what we are about. Advance Groups is not about strategy or methods, but a mentoring journey where you talk about the life of the Christian person with the aim to live our lives and share Jesus with the world. The five principals of the ministry are designed to help us explore exactly that: Regular Meetings, Sharpening, Accountability, Communication and Multiplication.
During our Advance journey together, Vicent got closer to God and experienced the joy to serve and seek the Lord in his own life. As a consequence, he is seeing Jesus help him in his life, ministry and the world around him!
Today the Advance ministry is in more than 60 countries, and we believe that will double in the next couple years. But the more important fact for me is that through this ministry we seeing people seek the Lord with a prayerful and humble heart and as a consequence we are able to see the Lord healing and transforming people and communities around the globe.
Would you like to know more about our ministry and Advance Groups? Our team is here to help and would be our joy to be part of your journey with the Lord. Just click HERE to find out more.