When it comes to the spreading of the Gospel, we are living in one of the greatest movements of God in history. God is moving and the Gospel is spreading all over the world, and the world is being transformed. You may be surprised to hear this news, because if you live in the USA, you very well might not be hearing all that God is doing in the world and feel based on what you hear or see here that things are not going so well for the Church.
However, Gospel movements are happening all over the
world in amazing ways. There are movements in India that have seen millions of
new followers of Jesus and tens of thousands of churches. In fact, all over
Asia, the Gospel is spreading like it never has before. Indigenous movements of
the Gospel are spreading all over Africa, and maybe most surprising to some is
that maybe the fastest growing church in the world is in Iran and other parts
of the Middle East. In fact, Muslims are coming to Christ like we have never
seen before, many through visions of Jesus. It is truly amazing how God is
moving around the world.
But what about here, why are we not seeing the
widespread movements of God here like we do in other places of the world? While
I and others have opinions on that, that is not what I want to dive into in
this blog, but that in fact new things are beginning to happen here. And while
it may seem to some the American Church is dying at least on a surface level, I
believe there is an undercurrent and awaking happening, but it just looks
different than we are used to (looks more like what God is doing other places,
which were not used to, and so we might be missing it).
Jesus talks about new wineskins for new wine (putting
new wine in old wineskins, ends in disaster). I believe the Holy Spirit is
working in America and new wineskins (expressions of church) are having to be
used for the new wine (younger generation of Jesus followers). The Covid
pandemic revealed many weaknesses in the Church of America, a major weakness
being that too many local churches were just a Sunday gathering and little more
(what a local church looks like the other 6 days a week tells a lot more than
the weekend gathering). The American church has not been doing a good job of
making disciples, which is our direct mission from Jesus (Matthew 28:19).
Yet it is in this current culture we are living in
amid a global pandemic, deep political divisions, racism, and other
uncertainties, people (especially young people) are ripe for the truth and
peace that only Jesus can bring. While some churches continue not to adapt to
our changing world and culture, others are recognizing through the power of the
Holy Spirit the need for new wineskins. And many leaders are humbly learning
from the Church in other places in the world that are seeing great God
movements. Prayer and fasting movements are happening across the country as
Jesus followers recognize their greater need for Him and obedience to follow
His leading in the new things He is doing.
Disciple making movements are breaking out all around
the country. These often look very different from the traditional church (however,
some traditional churches are creating space for these movements to organically
happen). These disciple making movements are usually a small group of people
(5-20), often not Sunday centric or led by an ordained pastor or meet in a
church building. They are often called microchurches, missional communities, or
discipleship communities. While for some this seems weird or out of their
comfort zone, many are recognizing this as necessary to reach our culture.
Local microchurch networks like Tampa Underground and
Kansas City Underground are dedicated to the Gospel saturation of entire
cities, and more are popping up across the country. Some megachurches have
recognized this need and have radically changed their structure and function to
be mission sending centers and starting microchurches connected to their body.
If we are going to see movements like we are seeing
all over the world, we must be humble enough to learn from these churches around
the world and recognize that God is doing a new thing here as well and ask
ourselves if we want to be a part of what He is doing here, creating new
wineskins for the new wine.
