The following letter from Bishop Bill Atwood first appeared in the July 9, 2013 edition of the AAC’s International Update. Sign up for this free email here.
Years ago, I laughed when I met Donald McGavran. I had read his works and been so moved by his insights about mission that I had just assumed he was a man of towering physical stature. That would only make sense for someone who had such lofty understanding of mission and the way people movements start and work. In fact, he was a man of small physical stature. It was funny and I had to laugh at myself for assuming that he would be physically imposing since I’d been so influenced by his ideas.
McGavran’s book, The Bridges of God, shows how whole people groups can come to faith in Christ. Of course liberals criticize him for imperialism, but those who understand that people really do need to come to faith in Christ are thrilled at his insights. McGavran showed how God uses networks of people to reach people, and how sparks of mission build fires all around the world. If we will cooperate with Him, millions of people can come to faith in Christ. It is the natural thing. We really have to fail to live up to our potential and our calling in order to fail to grow the Kingdom.
There are rhythms and emphases that the Holy Spirit is leading around the world. Some things ebb and flow. Other themes are emphasized for a season. For the last two decades, while a great deal of energy in the Anglican Church has been focused on trying to address the assault of heretical teaching promulgated by the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Church of Canada (and others, too, of course), God has not been idle. There has been a truly miraculous and exciting movement all around the world with other groups. That movement is the rise of apostolic order and sacramental understanding. It’s happening among Charismatic, Evangelical, and Pentecostal churches, and it is happening simultaneously on every continent. Since these churches have not had links to historic apostolic “lines” of ministry they are simply adopting that pattern of ministry and they are identifying as their leaders the people who most closely exhibit the characteristics of Biblical apostleship to lead their churches. At the same time, there has been a wave of revelation that Baptism and Communion are supernatural acts. Admittedly, there are many different explanations among them about howsacraments work, or what they mean, but the remarkable thing is that there has been a huge shift from Baptism and Communion just being memorials into the understanding that something supernatural is taking place in celebrating them. Of course one explanation is that God wants everyone to be Anglican, but even if that doesn’t happen, what is happening is that millions of people are opening their lives to God to work in increasingly supernatural dimensions. That is a very good thing.
One of these leaders is a man called Jeff. He is a gentle and unassuming soul. When we first met at a conference we wound up having dinner “by chance.” Over dinner I asked him to tell me about his ministry.
He said, “I oversee some churches.”
“Oh, I replied. Are they in a local area or spread out?”
“Spread out,” he replied.
“How big an area?” I queried.
“Six continents,” was the answer.
“Oh,” I said. “How many churches are you responsible for?”
“About eight thousand,” was the gentle reply.
Later, I found out from others that many of these churches are huge indigenous ones with many thousands of people in them.
God is at work building bridges and moving people in people-groups into the Kingdom of God. It is staggering to see. Having studied this stuff for decades, I was still completely unaware of Jeff and his church network. All the same, he continues to lead and grow The Church. Though there are many differences in the way he goes about it and the way I work as an Anglican, I think his ministry gives God great pleasure. I appreciate Jeff and I’m learning things from him.
One of the things that I have learned over the last couple of years is that he has been battling cancer. According to the first medical reports I heard, he should have died a long time ago–but he hasn’t died yet. He is battling with grace. In the last months I have learned that Jeff has been in excruciating pain. He has lost his voice and can only whisper. He can’t stand to preach. He sits and whispers as he expounds the Word of God. He is also writing more now, recording something of what he has learned from prayer and from suffering.
This week I’d like to invite you to two things. First of all, would you please join in praying for God’s best and His healing grace for Jeff? I would appreciate it and I know Jeff would too. Second, would you look around and see if you can see the heartbeat of God’s movement at work where you live? Frankly, twenty years ago I had to re-adjust my thinking when I started seeing God moving so wonderfully in the lives of other groups. I didn’t have the insight to figure it out on my own, but thankfully, God is so gracious, he let me learn from people like Donald McGavran, David du Plessis and many others. On this current trip, I’m traveling to all the dioceses in South East Asia. I’m seeing marvelous things among Anglicans here. There are other marvelous things happening with others who are not Anglicans, too. Let’s give thanks for them. Let’s pray for them. Especially pray for Jeff and 8,000 churches that are honoring God.
