Friday, May 24, 2024

From Missio Dei to Motus Dei: The Recovery of Movement

We tend by a secret law of the soul to move toward our mental image of God. This is true not only of the individual Christian, but of the company of Christians that composes the Church. Always the most revealing thing about the Church is her idea of God.

-A.W. Tozer

I usually feel okay about my appearance when I look in the mirror. But when someone shares a photo of me from a different angle, I realize, “I am clearly an overweight, middle-aged man who needs hair implants.” A slight shift in viewpoint changes a lot. Sometimes painfully so.

Similarly, common ideas we believe to be “okay” can seem very different when we shift our perspective. And some theological concepts become stale over time. Might we be facing that issue now when talking about “mission”?

Keep reading…

Wednesday, May 8, 2024

Cabbages in the Desert

New book alert: Cabbages in the Desert: How God Transformed a Devout Muslim and Catalyzed Disciple Making Movements among Unreached Peoples by Aila Tasse with Dave Coles:

Are Disciple Making Movements really happening among Muslims? If so, how are they happening? And what do those movements look like? You’ll find answers to these questions and many more in Cabbages in the Desert, where a zealous Muslim teenager meets a kind Christian teacher. Radically transformed then banished from home, Aila receives a vision of unreached peoples coming to Christ. After successfully planting many churches, he hears a challenge to explore a more fruitful approach: Disciple Making Movements. Find out how and why these movements, with many generations of disciples, are spreading in over a dozen countries in East, Horn, and Southern Africa, in a variety of social and religious contexts. Discover the vital role of indigenous leaders, and how movements can take root and grow, even among nomadic peoples and oral learners.

Cabbages in the Desert provides inspiration and insight about the dynamics of Disciple Making Movements. It also goes beyond that, encouraging practical application for all who want to see the Lord do similar work in their life and context. The same God who does amazing things in East, Horn, and Southern Africa, also desires to work in and through you!

I was happy to endorse the book. Here is what I said:

Dr. Aila Tasse, an African follower of Christ from a Muslim background, has witnessed significant success in his decades of ministry. Yet only after undergoing a transformative paradigm shift did he discover a path to even greater fruitfulness among least-reached peoples—an uncommon vision symbolized by "cabbages in the desert." Through compelling stories, Aila and his colleagues urge us to recalibrate mission back to the matchless standards for sprouting disciple-making movements: Jesus Christ and the Bible.

Get it on both paperback and Kindle.