By Dr. Ria Llanto Martin
Senior Research Fellow for Kwiverr Think Tank
I have followed Dr. Craig Keener’s update on Asbury’s revival from his social media account since his first post, dated 10th February 2023. A group of students stayed after the chapel service and prayed much longer than anyone had anticipated, continuing non-stop for the next two days. Dr. Timothy Tennet shared some of his thoughts from his post on “Thoughts on the Asbury Awakening;”
I have reflected many times on Jesus’ statement about the Spirit when he said,
“the wind blows wherever it wants. Just as you can hear the wind but can’t tell
where it comes from or where it is going, so you can’t explain how people are born
of the Spirit.” This is not a time to “manage” this or to try to “shape” it. This is the
time to simply receive from God’s hand.[1]
There have been some discussions on what to call this phenomenon. Some suggest it is a revival, an outpouring, or an awakening, while many were quick to give their opinion about it. My question is, what makes a phenomenon a revival? At least in my understanding, it should stand the test of time, its impact is contagious and exponential, and decades from now, people can attest to the phenomenon as, indeed, a revival– timeless and contagious, like a movement. In Kwiverr, we ask a similar question: What makes a movement indeed a movement, reaching the unreachable to finish the task of bringing them to Christ?
In his blog, Dr. Tennet mentioned that while this was happening in Asbury, both the University and Seminary did not cancel classes not because it is “business as usual, far from it… the desire is to ‘mainstream’ renewal into the very fabric of our lives so that we are transformed right where we live, and work and study. We all love mountain top experiences, but we also know that it must be lived out in all the normal rhythms of life.”[2]
Paul and David Watson co-authored a book, Contagious Disciple Making, a father and son tandem in ministry, who both witnessed eight churches that were planted within a year, forty eight the following year, 148 the year after that, and in the fifth year, witnessed more than 1,000 newly planted churches. They founded the Contagious Disciple Making, eager to help others apply the principles of the Disciple Making movement in the US and Canada “so that people who would not normally go to church would have a chance to fall in love with Jesus and live in spiritual community.”[3] David said,
God taught me, through many failures, that I had to focus on making disciples
of Christ, not followers of my church or denomination. He also taught me that I
needed to teach these disciples to obey the commands of Jesus, not my
church/denominational doctrines or traditions. This is what led to the breakthrough
that resulted in more than eighty thousand churches among a people
considered unreachable.[4]
So here we are at Kwiverr blog, where we will explore, investigate and ponder the principles of a Disciple Making movement that is timeless and contagious. We are looking at sharing ten principles, one each month beginning this month of April through to December 2023 ( we have a bonus post in December). Here is the list of topics we will explore for each month.
- Spontaneous Churches Starting Without a Missionary.
- Teach Them to Obey… What?
- The Message, the Messenger, the Messaged, the Mess and the Messiah
- Christian Culture
- Branded Christianity
- Success is Found in Creative and Diverse Tactics and Churches
- Four-Generations Discipleship Model Teaches us to be Culturally Inclusive.
- Relationally Equipping
- All-in for the Great Commission
- Disciple-Making is Mentorship and Mentorship Begins with Oneself.
These topics sound very interesting. We encourage you to read the book with us and share your thoughts by commenting below. You are in for a treat as you anticipate our first blog.
[1] https://timothytennent.com/thoughts-on-the-asbury-awakening
[2] https://timothytennent.com/thoughts-on-the-asbury-awakening
[3] https://www.contagiousdisciplemaking.com/team
[4] Watson, David; Watson, Paul. Contagious Disciple Making (p. 4). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition.
