LUKE 10 – EVANGELISM – GETTING STARTED

This is perhaps the most exciting principle in church planting and that is the concept described in Luke 10:1-9. All over the world, wherever church planting is being discussed, people are using the principles in this story.
The passage tells the account of Jesus sending out the 72 disciples in pairs to different villages. It describes how He taught the disciples to reach out to people they didn’t know. The principles in it provide a good way for us to cross cultures or work with people we have never met before.

We see this pattern of evangelism and church planting continuing throughout the New Testament.

Let’s look at the passage in more detail. You may find it useful to have a Bible open in front of you as we study together.

• Verse 1: Jesus chooses 72 disciples and sends them on ahead in pairs to the towns He is planning to visit. Jesus had a strategy for the area. As we expectantly listen to Him, He tells us where to go, and the exciting thing is that He plans to come there too. He may send us to a certain apartment complex, or to a particular group of people. Note that He sends the disciples out in pairs – not alone, and not in large teams.
  
  
• Verse 2: Jesus gives them instructions. He says, “The harvest is so great but the workers are so few. Pray to the Lord who is in charge of the harvest, and ask Him to send out more workers for His fields.

According to Jesus, the problem is not the harvest. Christians often complain that their city or neighborhood is hard. But according to Jesus, the problem is with the laborers. Jesus had 36 church planting teams going out, and He said that was still not enough. His answer to the problem?  Prayer for workers. We are to pray that God sends out laborers into the harvest.

The word used here for “send” has an element of violence to it. It is the same word used for casting out demons. We are to cry out to God that He thrusts out workers.

There is another subtle point here. If the disciples are praying for laborers, it means that they are not those laborers. As we shall see later, they are praying to find a “person of peace” who is going to become a laborer in that field. Maybe the person of peace is not even a disciple yet.

Two friends were discussing how to see a church planting movement start across their state. As they explored this subject, they realized that Jesus had already given the key in Luke 10:2 – “The harvest is plentiful but the laborers are few. Pray the Lord of the harvest that He will send out laborers into His harvest.” They settled on an experiment. Each day they would pray this prayer together for a few minutes. Since there was no way to actually get together daily, they would do it over the phone.

All went well for a few days. Then came the day they could not connect by phone. “If that happens, we’ll leave a voicemail prayer,” they agreed.
As their praying continued, they realized they didn’t’ know how to pray the prayer consistently, so they asked the Lord to teach them. The first thing He showed them from the parable of the widow and the unjust judge was that they needed to be persistent in their praying. He also led them to be very specific in what they asked for.

Things started to happen. One was responsible for church planting for his church in his state. Before they started praying he usually had one person in a month contact him about church planting. But now it has become an almost daily occurrence. And over the last eight months, he has seen over 100 simple churches start as well as around 20 more traditional ones.

“Praying like this is now my only strategy for church planting,” he says. “I don’t have a Plan B.”

They call this prayer the 10:2b virus. They are seeking to infect everyone they come across with these concepts. Across the nation, people are partnering to pray the 10:2b prayer daily over the phone.

In other passages, Jesus tells us the harvest is already ripe (John 4:35). Maybe we are looking in the wrong places for an abundant harvest. According to Jesus, it is the sick who need a physician (Matthew 9:12). We have found it easier to make disciples if people know they have a need or if they are seeking for answers. Poor people know they need help. New Agers are seeking spirituality. And young people are looking for genuine, non-religious answers to their questions.

• Verse 3: Jesus tells us to go. Again, it is important that we are the ones crossing any cultural barrier. We are the ones to get out of our comfort zones. The verse goes on to say that Jesus is sending us out as lambs among wolves. What kind of shepherd would do that? Why is that important? There is something about our vulnerability that is attractive to unbelievers. If we go out with all the answers, they recoil from us, but if we go in weakness, they are more likely to relate to us.
  
  
• Verse 4: Jesus tells us not to take anything with us when we go – no traveler’s bag or even an extra pair of shoes. There are a couple of obvious reasons for this: The resources are going to be in the harvest, and we have to trust Jesus for our provision. But if you ask an Indian church planter, he may give you another reason. You don’t pack a suitcase because you don’t plan to stay.

When we looked at the Great Commission, we saw that a “nation” has been disciple when it has multiplying churches being led by people from that “nation.” We are looking for a new church to be indigenously led. Our experience is that if you stay too long, the new church becomes dependent on you and it becomes much harder to transfer leadership to a local person.

• Verses 5 and 6: We are looking for a person of peace. The person of peace is someone who will invite us into his home. When we enter a home we are to give it our blessing. A person of peace will open up his oikos to you. (The word oikos means “household” but has wider connotations.) The person of peace is usually a person of reputation, whether good or bad, and he has a wide circle of influence.

The person of peace principle is clearly illustrated in the book of Acts. Cornelius was a God-fearer, a Jewish proselyte, who was well-known for his generosity to the Jewish people. He demonstrated the person of peace principle by inviting Peter and his companions into his home. We see a similar situation with Lydia in Act 16. Nothing in her story implies that Lydia was seeking the God of Israel. But clearly she had a hunger for God. On hearing Paul, she opened up her home. This is characteristic of the person of peace (John 4). She, too, was a woman of reputation – a bad reputation! Her testimony opened the door to her entire village.

• Verse 7: When we enter a town, we are not to move from home to home. (What does this say about door-to-door evangelism?) We are to stay in the home of the person of peace, eating and drinking what they set before us.

What is so significant about eating and drinking? Eating with people creates relationship. If you accept someone’s hospitality, it implies that you accept them and their culture. Sometimes we may not like what people provide – we have many times been in situations where we would prefer not to eat or drink what is put in front of us. But it is important that we do so, otherwise they feel we are rejecting more than their food. Note that up until now, we have not preached or proclaimed the Kingdom in any way. All we have done is to become a friend.

• Verse 8: Eating again! This is important enough to be mentioned twice in two verses.
  
  
• Verse 9: Heal the sick. We are looking to see people come face to face with a supernatural God and there is nothing like answered prayer to accomplish this. As we get to know the person of peace, we find out what his needs are. Is there anyone sick in his family? Does he have financial challenges? Are there relationship problems? How is his work going? And then we put our faith on the line and pray for whatever the need is.

When God shows up and answers prayer, then we have the right to talk about the Kingdom of God!

One example of the Lord sending is when the Lord had broken my heart for a 12 year old boy who lived with his single parent mother.  God had drawn me to him then their home.  When I responded I discovered that his mother’s boyfriend had beaten her and she was curled up on her bathroom floor crying and feeling as though she was going to take her life.  She didn’t have a job and was about to lose her car any day because she was going to school, while her live in boyfriend paid the bills.  Now that he was gone so was all provision, car, food, rent and everything else he provided.  I asked her what she needed.  She said that she needed a car and money to catch her bills up and to not be evicted from her house and job that would meet her financial needs but also allow her to be there for her son when he gets off the school bus.  So I told her that we could ask God to meet her needs.  I encouraged her to pray with me and we just asked God.  Well, God showed Himself, His Glory, mighty to her.  He gave her one of the best jobs in town, with hours that allowed her to get off in time to meet her son getting off the bus. He provided enough finances for her not only to catch up her bills, but also buy a very nice used car. I’m talking sports car.  Isn’t the Lord awesome! You have to hear the rest.  God did this “all” on her birthday.  It wasn’t long before I was baptizing them both in the pool at our VFN Home Church.

God showed me time and time again, from that moment that as I stepped out in obedience to His voice He was more into building His kingdom than much of today’s church.  All we had to do is step out in obedience to His leading and give Him the opportunity to manifest His awesome Kingdom to those who have not yet entered in. 

The “person of peace” is such a key concept for us to understand. These are the laborers whom God is going to use to bring in the harvest. The problem is not that the harvest is not ready. The harvest is ripe. Lord, send forth the laborers into the harvest!  In VFN the House Church Leader is either a related house church leader or associated house church leader.  We seek to continually stay rightly related to the churches that the Lord plants through VFN.  Find out more about related and associate churches.

SUGGESTED STEPS FOR PLANTING A HOUSE CHURCH IN YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD

1. “Prayer saturate” the neighborhood (II Chron. 7:14; Jer. 29:7)
2. Look for a “House of Peace” to be revealed (Luke 10:5-6)
3. Convert it into “A House of Prayer for all nations” (Mark 11:17)
4. Disciple the seekers
5. Baptize those who repent and accept Jesus as Lord (Matt. 28:19)
6. Equip them for ministries for the edification or growth of the local body of Christ (Eph. 4:12). Preferably equip them on site.
7. Send them out to repeat the whole process, “As the Father has sent Me, so I send you” (John 20:21)

   Results:

   Rapid multiplication of quality churches: “And the churches were strengthened in faith and grew in numbers daily” (Acts 16:5). This should result in mushrooming numbers of churches in farms, factories, offices, worksites, coffee shops, marketplaces, schools, colleges and, of course, homes.

   Transformation of communities, cities, and nations (II Chron. 7:14).

8. Take this on war footing – until the knowledge of the glory of the Lord fills the earth. Then Jesus will come as King of kings and Lord of lords, and we will rule with Him forever (Hab. 2:14; Rev. 1:5-6).

You are commanded to love your neighbor as yourself. The best thing you can do is to pray him or her into the Kingdom (Luke 10:27, 37).
Amen. Even so, come Lord Jesus.

A part of this information was obtained from “Getting Started” by Felicity Dale. We  encourage you to purchase an edition of this book so you can read it in its entirety.