Rethink Our Lives
Session 6
We are all part of a timeline that stretches back to Jesus’ first disciples.
God wants us all to tie our lives to his mission. That means that knowing must become doing. The question that frequently follows learning is “Now what?”
Take a few minutes and review the previous sessions. If you are studying in a group, discuss some of the main points and share any personal takeaways you had.
What will your story be?
Session 6 - Video 1
Everyday people who came before us
Christians from all over the world are standing on the shoulders of other Christians. We’ve all had one or two people in our lives who shared Jesus with us. And others shared Christ with them. And on and on it goes, generation after generation.
THE CHURCH WOULD NEVER HAVE SURVIVED, LET ALONE THRIVED, WITHOUT EVERYDAY MEN AND WOMEN CARRYING ON GOD’S MISSION.
It’s easy to skip over the unfamiliar names in Romans 16, instead just focusing on the ones we know. All of those unfamiliar people, however, were essential to the spreading of the gospel.
At the end of his life, Paul wrote a letter to a younger friend named Timothy. He wanted him to carry on what he had been doing for the past three decades — to step into his role as a disciple who makes disciples.
“And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable people who will also be qualified to teach others.”
2 Timothy 2:2
In one sentence, Paul describes four spiritual generations: himself, who discipled Timothy, who would disciple trustworthy people, who would then pass the gospel on to others.
When you examine the entire story of Christ’s church as one timeline, you may be surprised. You would find big names like Paul, Peter, Timothy, Martin Luther, and John Calvin. However, you would find a shocking number of names that you wouldn’t recognise.
For instance,
- 635 – Alopen arrives in China from the Nestorian church in the Persian Empire. He is the first-known missionary to China.
- 1379 – Stefan Permsky returns to the place he grew up with his mother’s people, the Komi, in the northern part of Russia. He invented an alphabet and translated the Bible into their language, so that they could worship in their own language.
- 1727 – A missionary movement is born when Count Nicolaus Ludwig Zinzendorf leads the Moravian community to begin twenty-four-hour, nonstop prayer. It lasted more than a hundred years, resulting in hundreds of missionaries being sent out from the community.
- 1823 – The American Board of Missions sends African-American Betsy Stockton to Hawaii. She thus becomes the first single-woman missionary in modern-missions history.
The Lord has been pursuing all peoples since day one and, if we embrace that, we really do see it’s not so much that the church has a mission, as it is that the mission has a church.
Our story as children of God is not only a story of spiritual giants. It’s a story full of people just like you, who simply said yes to making Jesus famous among all of the nations.
WHAT WILL BE YOUR STORY ON THE TIMELINE?
Visit momentumyes.uk/timeline to investigate the growth of the Church throughout the centuries.
Discussion Questions
15 Minutes
- Discuss the idea that there is a spiritual lineage stretching back from you, an unbroken chain all the way to the first apostles. How does that make you feel? Does it prompt a response?
- Use the timeline to explore the growth of the church over the centuries. If you’re in a group, you could divide it up into sections. Ask God to inspire you with the way he has built his church through the centuries.
- Share what stood out to you as you reflected on the names and movements through the centuries. What is God showing you? What will your story be on the timeline? Respond in prayer.
RETHINK OUR LIVES Now What?
Session 6 - Video 2
The goals of MomentumYes are: becoming more like God and making our hearts and vision more like his.
Place God’s mission for the nations at the centre of your heart and life, and allow that to change every part of your life – family, work, neighbourhood, school, and church.
The Lord didn’t intend for mission to be a department or ministry in our churches. God has planned for it to be the foundation of all ministry.
The Lord wants to be in restored relationship with every nation, tribe, and tongue, having his glory reflected back to him by his creation all over the earth.
DREAM, ASK, AND IMAGINE WHAT ROLE GOD MAY BE INVITING YOU TO PLAY IN THE GRAND MISSION.
Ephesians 3:21 tells us that we serve a Lord who longs “to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine.”
Too Important to Forget!
In the 10/40 window, sixty thousand people die daily, not having heard the good news of Jesus. That’s almost one person every second.1
Scripture promises that a day will come when every knee will bow, and every tongue will confess that Jesus is Lord.2
More non-Christians are alive today than at any other point in history.
Our generation is THE generation that is responsible for taking the gospel to the end of the earth. We can be the ones to see every people group obtain gospel access.
Christ is building his church, and it cannot be stopped.
We simply have to say yes to joining the momentum.
Everyday people go, send, and mobilise.
Everyday individuals can answer affirmatively to Jesus and his mission. Saying yes requires taking a step.
WHAT STEP OR STEPS DO YOU VISUALISE YOURSELF TAKING?
What's Your Part?
15 Minutes
- Dream, ask and imagine what role God might be inviting you to play in his grand mission. Is it to go, to send, to mobilise or a combination of those? Take some time to pray and reflect by yourself on what you have learned from this course and what God is saying to you. You may want to write something down: a journal-entry, a prayer, some bullet points or make a mind map.
- Discuss your thoughts with your group. Encourage one another as you share.
- Return to the MomentumYes Engage content. Whether you’re feeling inspired to go, to send and support others, or to mobilise the church to pursue the Great Commission, there are dozens of ways you can begin to get involved. Choose at least one next step you’re going to take to keep this momentum going.
RETHINK OUR LIVES Next Steps
Session 6 - Video 3
‘Now you know these things, you’ll be blessed if you do them.’ John 13:17
Sharing is a stake in the ground: “I’m choosing to make this official by sharing it out loud and making it more real.” Share some of the insights and next steps that God gave you.
Next Steps
15 Minutes
- Write down your first step to turn what you have learned into action. It could be on some paper, in your phone or an action on your calendar.
- Choose someone to be accountable to. It might be in your group or outside of it. Tell them what you’ve learned and what you want to do and invite them to keep you accountable.
- Pray for each other in the group as you finish this course. Pray to be more than hearers of God’s word, but doers too. Ask him to protect the seeds that have been planted so that they won’t be snatched away or lost in the busyness of our lives, but instead produce a harvest for his kingdom.
Congratulations on completing MomentumYes!
If MomentumYes has inspired you to live out God’s mission or if you have used this resource to help awaken others to their roles in God’s mission, can you help us reach more people?
There are practical ways to help:
Congratulations on completing MomentumYes!
If MomentumYes has inspired you to live out God’s mission or if you have used this resource to help awaken others to their roles in God’s mission, can you help us reach more people?
There are practical ways to help:
- Curtis Sergeant, “13 Pace,” (Metacamp, November 23, 2015) accessed February 4, 2017, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s-fnImBNckU.
- Phil. 2:10 (New International Version).
Follow us on Facebook and Instagram.
We’d love to hear how God is speaking to you!
Share your MomentumYes story with us.