A Simple Way to Lead So that Everyone Grows
David Broodryk Reflections Part 3
By Lim MY
Photo by Kenny Eliason on Unsplash
David Broodryk has been on a long journey into discipleship movements and seeking to see cities impacted by and for Jesus. He and his team now serve teams and leaders in cities all over the world. He recently spent time with several Asian city teams as part of the Urban Wheat Project. Over a series of blog posts I will share some key highlights and reflections from our time together.
“Why don’t people grow up?”
As pastor of a church, David often found himself asking this question in frustration. His congregation members seemed unmotivated and apathetic.
He would preach up a storm, do trainings, mobilise and vision cast, but often with little or immature response on the part of his people.
Then God challenged him through Ephesians 4.
“Now these are the gifts Christ gave to the church: the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists and the pastors and teachers. Their responsibility is to equip God’s people to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ. This will continue until we all come to such unity in our faith and knowledge of God’s Son that we will be mature in the Lord, measuring up to the full and complete standard of Christ.
Then we will no longer be immature like children. We won’t be tossed and blown about by every wind of new teaching. We will not be influenced when people try to trick us with lies so clever they sound like the truth. Instead, we will speak the truth in love, growing in every way more and more like Christ, who is the head of his body, the church. He makes the whole body fit together perfectly.
As each part does its own special work, it helps the other parts grow, so that the whole body is healthy and growing and full of love.” (Eph 4:11-16 NLT, emphasis mine)
What had previously been veiled to David now became blindingly clear.
What Ephesians 4 revealed to David was that if his flock seemed like spiritual children, it was because he wasn’t equipping them to do the work.
When God’s people do the work, the church grows up.
This changed his path radically and David found himself learning to operate in a renewed ecosystem.
Previously, David’s desire to reach people got him into ‘crusading’.
They built a Gospel Truck with big sound systems, did lots of marketing, and set up big meetings with a gifted speaker on the platform. They travelled through Africa to reach anyone who would listen. Each night, hundreds would raise their hands up to sat they want to follow Jesus, and David would challenge them to return the next day. But few came back the next morning.
Having had his thinking transfomed by Ephesians 4, David changed his approach. He would simply take 2 ordinary people, put them in the car and drop them off in a village. A month later, he would come back to a new thriving church.
Without the speakers, without the microphones, without all of the advertising… just ordinary people who had learned how to pass the gospel on to other ordinary people.
Initially, many of his friends, colleagues and pastors thought he was crazy. Today, they’re walking alongside David’s team and asking how they can do the same thing.
In the places where leaders pursue the call to serve and empower others,
incredible movements are happening.
As a result of this paradigm shift, David and his team are focussed on multiplying the gospel through ordinary people. The team sees their role as helpers to the pastors and ministry leaders – serving them so that they can to do what is on their heart to pursue to the vision God has given them. They are now working with teams in 52 cities around the world.
God is raising up harvest workers who are dreaming the dream of taking the love of Jesus to their cities. They don’t want to condemn or criticise or try to convert people. They are asking, “How can we carry the love of Jesus to those around us in a way that is so attractive that they want Him?”
David’s conviction is that such work cannot be done while standing on a stage - that work belongs to us, the ordinary people.
How do we mobilise our people?
Sometimes those we lead seem to lack motivation or conviction. Sometimes we see this in ourselves! How do we equip and mobilise workers in a way that they can move and persevere over the long term?
As each part does its own special work
David’s advice is clear,
“God has put something on the heart of every believer. Some care about the homeless, those who are hungry, marriage and families. So begin by listening to their expressions and help them figure out what God is stirring in their hearts. Our role is to help them move towards that.”
Many current methods to reach those outside the church can come across as confrontational – telling the man on the street that I’m right, I have all the answers and you should learn from me.
However, evangelism is not something we tell people to do.
Two Simple Steps to Helping Disciples Toward Fruitful Disciple-Making
Firstly, we can help disciples by asking them about what God has already deposited in them:
“Who are the people that God has given you special compassion for?”
“What is God stirring in your heart in this season?”
“If you could choose to see healing and wholeness come to a specific group of people in your world, who would it be?”
It could be anyone. Children, older people, people with no wealth, people who are rich, business people, politicians - anybody! If we help disciples reach those they already care for, they are more likely to persevere. This is the first step.
Secondly, we can help support them in moving closer to the needs or brokenness of the groups that are on their hearts.
Train disciples to help people to think and wrestle through their struggles.
Build relationships with them. Rather than approaching people with a prescriptive message, start having spiritual conversations with them. Jesus did this when he talked with Nicodemus and the woman at the well.
Train believers to move from everyday casual conversations to serious conversations, to spiritual conversations. David’s observation is that you can basically measure how effective you'll be in evangelism by how many spiritual conversations you have.
Jesus did this masterfully and John 4 is an excellent starting place for reflecting on this.
The bottom line for empowering God’s people to take their place in His mission?
Prioritise drawing out the desire that God has placed in the hearts of the believers. Sometimes this desire is there, but has been buried -much like a dug up well that has been filled up. Sometimes we need to help bring it back to light.
As we do these things, it is possible to be in a movement where every disciple grows.
For Reflection
1) Do you have dream for God that has been buried? What might it look like to bring that to light?
2) Who could you ask about the group(s) God has placed on their heart?
3) What insights does John 4 give you about spiritual conversations with people from different backgrounds?
Discipling the Urban Harvest provides practical insights and encouragement to walk with God in multiplying discipleship in an increasingly urban world - growing as children of the Father, serving the communities He has called us to, and discipling those hungry to know Him.