APOSTLE PAUL’S METHODS
There are no dignitaries in the Ekklesia for all have sinned and come to short of the glory of God. The real heroes are mentors, mobilizers, and martyrs (Rom. 3:23).
Paul’s disciple-making chain: “Whatever you have heard from me, commit these to faithful men (Anthropos=both men and women) who can teach others” (2 Tim. 2:2).
The best form of teaching is not just transferring knowledge by lecturing but modelling; “What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me--practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you” (Phil. 4:9).
Yeshua performed many great miracles, but His greatest miracle was catapulting twelve ordinary fishermen into fishers of men (Matt. 4:19; John 14:12, Acts 17:6).
Paul trained twelve disciples and all Asia (where the seven churches of the Book of Revelation were situated) heard the gospel (Acts 19:7-10).
PAUL WAS EQUIPPED WITH THE LANGUAGE AND THE SCRIPTURES
If the Apostle Paul is the greatest missionary of all times, then His methods and the model that he set are ideals worthy of emulation. Since Paul’s time, there have been hundreds of mega plans and projects for world evangelization of which none has succeeded. Therefore, we need to seriously look at both the man and his methods. Paul grew up in an Aramaic-speaking family in Jewish ghetto in Greek speaking Cilicia. Later, he studied under Gamaliel, mastering the Scriptures in biblical and rabbinical Hebrew languages (Acts 22:3). These languages proved a boon to him and to us.
PAUL WAS A ZEALOUS MAN WHO LEARNED TO SUFFER
David wrote that he spoke out when his heart was aflame within (Psa. 39:3). Jeremiah wrote that the word of God was as a fire within his heart, that his bones would burst if he did not tell it to others (Jer. 20:7). Paul was consumed with a passion to see the kingdom of God planted everywhere (Rom. 15:19-20). To this end, he worked day and night, willing to do anything both for Jews and Gentiles to save them (Rom. 9:20-22). He underwent intense suffering for the sake of the task given to him. He suffered starvation, and beatings, and was unlawfully imprisoned many times. He was reviled, persecuted, and left for dead (Acts 14:19). At times, he was treated as the filth of the earth (1 Cor. 4:13). However, he gladly suffered all this for the sake of his Master who had suffered even more, shedding His blood for all mankind.
Paul was running a race to earn an eternal crown, and no price was too great for him to pay (2 Tim. 4:7; 1 Cor. 9:24, 26) He believed in “perform or perish.” Unfortunately, the church has replaced him with “showmen and laymen”. Yeshua finds nominal Christians nauseating, and has warned us that unless we have high levels of adrenaline running in our veins for the lost, He will spit us out (Rev. 3:16). God likes those who have a passion to do whatever it takes to bring His kingdom on earth. Sadly, in today’s declining “soft” Church, it is hard for us even to imagine such suffering. How many devout Christians today will be willing to suffer persecution of an hour-long sermon on Sunday? And how many clergy will dare to speak the truth for fear of raised eyebrows?
PAUL’S VISION WAS TO REACH THE ENDS OF THE EARTH
Paul did not plant Ekklesiaes at random, rather he chose the four strategic provinces of Galatia, Asia, Macedonia and Achaia. In fourteen years or so of his ministry, he systematically planted assemblies in these provinces, which rapidly multiplied, saturating those regions (Acts 13:49). In doing this, he was following in his Master’s footsteps. Yeshua had not focused on one place but traveled extensively on foot throughout surrounding regions (Mark 6:54-56).
Paul’s core strategy was to model, assist, watch and launch (MAWL). After Paul had planted only a few assemblies, he had the audacity to say that he had preached from Jerusalem to Illyricum in Macedonia, and that there were no more places left for him to preach the gospel (Rom. 15:19-24; 2 Cor. 10:16). He could honestly make this claim, because the apostolic Ekklesias he had planted and nurtured were so vibrant and prolifically fertile that he was sure that they would multiply and saturate those regions. He wanted to reach Spain, because he thought that Spain was “the ends of the earth” (Rom. 15:23-24). Thus, his strategy was to plant rapidly-multiplying Ekklesias in “regions” beyond.” Wherever he succeeded in doing so, “the Ekklesias were established in faith and grew in numbers daily” (Acts 16:5). What a travesty of Yeshua and Paul’s models of multiplying Ekklesias when we build a religious building and stay put forever. Celebrating stability over rapid multiplication of the Kingdom, is not of God.
PAUL USED DIFFERENT STRATEGIES FOR DIFFERENT PEOPLE
Paul always visited the synagogue on the Sabbath, where he expounded the Scriptures showing that Yeshua was the Messiah whom they had been waiting for. Many “Jews” rejected him, and in many places, they persecuted him and nearly killed him (Acts 14:1-6; 19-20; 17:1-5). However, Paul always managed to extract a handful of new believers who helped him in starting new Ekklesias. Secondly, in the same synagogues there often would be Gentile “Proselytes” (Acts 13:43) who had undergone circumcision, fully adopting the Jewish religion. Thirdly, in the same synagogue, there were also “God Fearers” who believed in the Jewish God but had not gone through the ritualistic process. Cornelius was a God fearer (Acts 10:2). Many people who came out with him like Luke, Titus and Timothy were of Gentile origin.
Finally, there were Gentiles who heard him at the Agora (marketplace), where he had opened a tent making shop, After the religious Jews rejected him, Paul turned to the Gentile “hearers”, where he had the greatest success. (Acts 18:4-8). To them he preached against idolatry, sexual immorality and the prevailing blindness caused by demons. With these, Paul did not plant Jewish synagogue model but planted Ekklesias within their own cultural context.
PAUL DID NOT CONDUCT HEALING AND DELIVERANCE CRUSADES
Paul rarely preached on street corners. He never took part in organized healing crusade. All his miracles took place spontaneously. To his credit, he never exploited those miracles to raise money or press for conversions, even though they invariably resulted in conversions. All his formal meetings took place in synagogues. When invited to speak in Athens, the event was only open to elite Epicureans and Stoics. Luke very carefully mentions the places where Paul stayed and preached. At Philippi, he lodged at Lydia’s house. There was no synagogue there, so he preached to Jews gathered by a riverside (Acts 16:13- 15). At Thessalonica, he lodged with Jason until his house was destroyed by a mob (Acts 17:5-9). At Ephesus, he preached in the school of Tyrannus (Acts 19:9). At Corinth, he lodged with Aquila and preached in the house of Titius Justus (Acts 18:1-8). Paul was often dragged out of a house but never out of a church building or an open-air crusade.
PAUL IMITATES YESHUA’S TRAINING MODULE
After Paul met twelve disciples of John, he baptized them again, and took them to the synagogue where he showed them for three months how to dispute with the Jews. There was not much fruit from this model, but the disciples learnt firsthand how to handle hostile Jews. Next, in the Hall of Tyrannus, he interacted daily with Jewish and Gentile clients while making their tents. We know this because they were touching his working apron and sweat-soaked hand towel and getting healed. He was no longer living by the sweat of his brow, but his sweat was bringing new life. As with Yeshua, the supernatural played a big part in Paul’s ministry. These highly interactive sessions turned “hearers into doers.” The result was that all who dwelt in Asia heard the gospel. This was the province in which were planted the seven Ekklesias of the Book of Revelation: Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia and Laodicea (Acts 19:1-12; Rev. 1:11; Jam. 1:22).
THE GATES OF HELL PREVAILED NOT
The Hebrew word pethen (pronounced python) means a threshold or gate. A python destroys its prey by squeezing the life out of it. A gate may be a physical doorway such as centers of idolatry, occult practices, or pornography. Both Eve and her son Cane allowed the Devil to deceive them (Gen. 3:6; 4:7). The Devil cannot enter your mind or body without your permission, leveraging attitudes of fear, intimidation, faithlessness, hopelessness, despair and other unconquerables.
It is at the mental gate that true Christians are most sorely tested. Like Cain, who was warned by God Himself (Gen. 4:7), it is here that we either fail and lose, or win and possess, our inheritance. Paul says that he kept pressing to attain that which he was intended to attain (Phil. 3:12-14). Both not trying and giving up lead to failure. Just like any fortress, the gate receives the greatest concentration of demonic forces seeking to squeeze our life out of us. Therefore, it is important to be baptized in the Word of God to face all the fiery darts of the enemy (2Tim. 3:16; Eph. 6:12-18). If we remain strong in faith and purpose, then God is always there to breath a fresh lifegiving spirit into us, leading us to victory over the Devil. (Rom. 5:1; 8:28; 1Cor. 15:45)
PAUL FOUGHT SPIRITUAL WARFARE
The Lord gave a clear job description to Paul “to open their eyes in order to turn them from darkness into light and from the power of Satan to God” (Acts 26:18). No wonder Paul spent the better part of his ministry waging war against python spirits, delivering a servant girl at Philippi, dethroning Diana of Ephesus and her demonic economic system by burning 50,000 silver coins worth of occult literature and destroying her silver shrines. Fighting the demons of violence in both the Jews and Gentiles (Ezek. 14:1-6; Heb. 4:12). Paul’s power preaching resulted in mighty signs and wonders (Rom. 15:19; 1 Cor. 2:4-5). He describes the weapons of war and how to fight against an invisible enemy. It may be safely said that even though no specific miracles are mentioned, such as those in Antioch, Thessalonica and other cities, Paul wrought ‘signs and wonders and mighty works’, which resulted in Ekklesias being planted (Eph. 6:10-18; 2 Cor. 10:3-5; 12:12). Even today, the fastest way to plant a church is through power encounters, prayer walks and spiritual warfare.
NO FIVE STAR HOTELS FOR PAUL
The first thing Paul would do upon reaching a city was to find a cheap lodging place, which came loaded with bugs, lice and mice, having no running water or toilet facilities. The next thing was to look for a strategic place in the Agora (marketplace) to set up a shop for making tents as well as making disciples. He was now set up to be the Pastor of for all the lost sheep of the Agora. Finally, he had to find the local synagogue where he would interact the next Sabbath. Some places did not have even ten Jews to constitute a “minyan” to start a synagogue, so there he would find their place of prayer, as he did in Philippi. In such places they would gather by the riverside to comply with the ritual washing of hands and feet before prayers. Over a period of days, the new believers would invite him to their homes, as Lydia did. (Acts 16:13; 2 Thess. 3:8-9).
FINANCIALLY PAUL REMAINED ABOVE REPROACH
Sacred ministry is a vocation or a calling and not a profession. It does not necessarily require financial support from churches. Paul modeled an exemplary bivocational lifestyle, doing more than full time ministry. He earned his own living and supported the ministry with his own income. He avoided asking for money wherever he went to preach (Acts 20:33-35). He had a low opinion of those who peddled religion for money (Phil. 1:15-18). However, he did not discourage those who lived by the gospel and in fact, encouraged the believers to support such people (1 Tim. 5:17).
Once he took money from the Gentile Assemblies to the famine stricken Jewish Ekklesia in Jerusalem, taking the precaution of traveling with local men, to make sure that everything was above board (1 Cor. 16:2-4). He set a model that all money matters should be meticulously accounted for and should be handled by a local Ekklesia rather than by outsiders. All the Assemblies that he planted were financially independent having no outside support.
EKKLESIA IS A CENTER FOR DETOXIFYING SINNERS INTO SAINTS
The OT patriarchs and prophets had weaknesses just as we do. Adam failed the apple test. Noah got drunk and became disorderly. Abraham, the friend of God, got scared and ditched his wife. Moses, the lawgiver, committed murder and was an absconder from the law. Aaron, the high priest, committed high treason by leading Israel into idolatry. After calling fire from heaven and boldly slaughtering 450 priests of Baal, Elijah, the fearless seer, set the record for a marathon race when a woman named Jezebel scared him to death. We do not need to mention details about David, the man after God’s own heart. The list goes on.
The NT Ekklesias were not composed of sanitized saints either. One glance at the Ekklesia of Corinth reveals incest, sex scandals, gluttony and drunkenness during the Lord’s Supper, litigation, class discrimination, demonized people, bitter rivalries, etc. Disciple-making is actually easier in this kind of “good soil” of dirty people. The Lord promised that “though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be made white as snow” (Isa. 1:18). Paul’s ministry consisted of turning sinners into saints. If your church is translating the scum of the earth into inheritors of the kingdom of God, then you are on track; but if it is all hunky dory, and you are having a wonderful happy-clappy time with the ninety-nine righteous, then you are in for a shock (Eph. 3:5-6; Luke 15:7-10).
PAUL’S CONTEXTUAL RESEARCH
Paul went to Athens, a city dedicated to goddess Athena. He first collected the Harvest Field demographic data. He surveyed religious places and practices, ethnic communities, synagogues, marketplaces, seeking Jews and Gentiles as potential audiences (Acts 17:17).
Secondly, he obtained Harvest Force data. He went to the Jews and Gentile Proselytes, for they already knew the Scriptures. He could first bring them to Messiah and then let them serve as bridges for Ekklesia planting.
He also conducted Spiritual Mapping. “While I was … examining the objects of your worship, I found an altar with this inscription: To The Unknown God” (Acts 17:23). Paul researched past curses as well as redemptive History, learning that there had been a great pestilence about five hundred years earlier, which could not be stopped by placating the local gods. Telemachus, a disciple of Mentor, told the citizens to offer sacrifices to the Unknown God, which brought instant relief. Every Athenian was curious to know about this mystery God.
Research leads to an information-based strategy. It is not only number crunching but an investigation leading to a strategy based on facts. Assumptions can be misleading. Paul delivered his keynote address on the Hill of their god Aries, a masterpiece of contextual research. Research is not new. Moses and Joshua sent spies to research Canaan. Nehemiah secretly surveyed the city at night. Everyone needs to gather relevant information to set informed goals to complete the Great Commission. Yeshua systematically covered all the villages (Mark 1:38), first reaching out to Jews (Matt. 10:5-6), then to half-Jew Samaritans (John 4:7-12) and next to the Gentiles (Luke 8:26). He held a final 40-day strategy session with His disciples for expanding the kingdom of God (Acts 1:3).
PAUL’S SEVENFOLD STRATEGY FOR WORLD EVANGELISM
Paul had well-defined goals. He was not running aimlessly or punching in the air.
- Paul’s vision and passion were to preach the gospel with mighty signs and miracles where Christ had not been named (1 Cor. 9:24-27; Rom. 15:19-20).
- Everywhere Paul went, he conducted a local and global scan to find out what the enemy was up to, demolish it and then mount a disciple saturation ministry. (Acts 17:23)
- Assault Religious Strongholds: Paul always invaded the local synagogue liberating a few Jews to act as bridges to start his ministry among the heathen (Acts 17:1-4).
- Saturation Prayer: He prayed relentlessly night and day with tears for laborers, resulting in doors being opened (Acts 20:31).
- Gospel Saturation: Paul sowed gospel seed abundantly.
- Training Chains: Paul coached Timothy to pass on his training to faithful people who would teach others, creating multi-linked, discipleship chains (2 Cor. 9:6; 1 Thess. 1:8; 2 Tim. 2:2).
- Financial Independence: He told the Ephesian elders, “I coveted no man’s silver, or gold, or apparel. My hands earned my own needs and those of my companions” (Acts 20:33-35; 1Tim. 5:8).
CRISIS LEADS TO CHANGE
Generally, change does not take place because of intellectual discourses, but only when an individual or a society is in crisis. Athens had no crisis, therefore, no need for change. Thus, Paul abruptly abandoned the campaign (Acts 17:16-34). In contrast, he got the best results in Corinth, which was in turmoil because Emperor Claudius had just expelled all the Jews from Rome, many of whom had migrated to Corinth as refugees. This included Aquila and Priscilla (Acts 18:2). Power encounters also create crisis, insecurity, and volatility, which makes people receptive to change, as happened in Ephesus resulting in a great expansion of the kingdom. This is happening right now during the current Coronavirus pandemic lock down (Acts 19:26-27).
PAUL DID NOT CONTROL OR PATRONIZE THE ASSEMBLIES
Through the efforts of Paul, hundreds of Ekklesias were planted, but it must be said to the credit of this great man that he never tried to control or patronize them, not even by remote control. All the administration was in the hands of their local leaders, nor did he impose an outsider (Acts 14:23; Titus 1:5). This does not mean that he abandoned them, for he would send one of his trusted lieutenants, such as Timothy or Titus, and at times he himself would go sort out their problems. He sent his disciples to go and grow. Even if he admonished them, it was as a father and never as an autocrat (1 Cor. 4:15). He appointed local Elders and empowered them not only to self-manage but also to self-propagate. He would send letters to them to be read aloud publicly. Paul trusted the Lord to take care of his people, to build them up so they could claim their inheritance. Failure or refusal to hand over leadership to local elders results in unhealthy, weak, dependent Ekklesias (Acts 20:32).
PAUL IS OUR ROLE MODEL
Paul’s task was to remove the middle wall separating Jews and Gentiles. He succeeded at this, because he focused on Messiah (Bringer of the Kingdom) and His presence (Parousia) among the Gentiles (Eph. 2:14; 19,20; Acts 28:28). Paul knew that “Messiah in us is the only hope of glory for the Gentiles.” Recognizing his own role as a model, he told the Ekklesias, “The things, which you have learned, heard, received and saw in me, these do.” He coached Timothy to multiply his teachings with faithful folk. He also travailed in prayer until “Messiah is formed in you.” He was a great Christian who changed the entire course of the history of the world. However, Paul did not write that history with ordinary ink but with sweat and blood (Col. 1:27; Phil. 4:9; 2 Tim 2:2; 1 Tim 2:1-4; Gal 4:19).
LIFT UP YOUR EYES AND SEE THE WINDOWS OF OPPORTUNITY
When God instructed Abraham to lift up his eyes and look, he saw as far as Egypt, and God promised to give this land to him. By faith, Abraham traveled around the Promised Land, making altars and offering sacrifices. Much later, Yeshua asked His disciples to lift up their eyes and look. They saw a Samaritan woman bringing her entire village to His feet.
Yeshua is now waiting for us to lift up our eyes and see the windows of opportunity all around us among the poor, the powerless and the marginalized, who are mostly illiterate and semi-literate and follow oral traditions. There are over 2,000 verses in the Bible which talk about the poor. A whole generation of hidden and forgotten people are at risk of a Christless eternity unless Christians seriously consider shifting from “hearers of the word to doers of the word” (Jam. 1:22).
GEMS:
- We need to understand that God is the God of Monday and the rest of the weekdays as much as He is the God of Sunday. That we do not go out to work on weekdays to earn money, but we go with anointing as pastors of our workplaces to implement the Nazarene manifesto, “The Spirit of the Lord is on Me, because He has anointed Me to preach good news to the people who work with me in the marketplace. He has sent Me to proclaim deliverance to my colleagues and help open their blind eyes with the gospel of the Kingdom, to release them from the oppression of the Devil. I will also proclaim to them the year of the forthcoming day of judgment” (Ezek. 37:114; Luke 4:18-19)
- Yeshua did not ask us to disciple individuals only but also nations. Today the Lord is already gathering new wine into new wineskins. Soon my nation will boldly proclaim, “Blessed is the land whose God is the Lord.” For this to come about, His army must march on bended knees. Only then will Satan’s forces be vanquished, and Truth (Yeshua) will triumph (Matt. 28:19,20; Psa. 33:12; Rom. 8:37).
- The business of the Ekklesia is to plunder the gates of Hades and rescue those on their way down to the murky world of Hell, populating Heaven with them (Matt. 16:18).
- God is not looking for those who only seek His will, but those who want to do His will (Luke 19:10).
- Doctrines by themselves are meaningless unless they translate into action using biblical means to reach the last Gentile (Acts 26:16-18).
- The greatest challenge before the church is to reboot comfortable weekly pew occupiers into weekday workplace occupiers.
- Even if the whole world is converted, the task will not be finished until everyone is discipled.
- The challenge before the church is that if she wants to be relevant, then she must endeavor to replicate “Paul’s model” of equipping, empowering and launching believers to go and make disciples who plant locally sustainable reproducing Ekklesias.
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