I: WHY WE’RE HERE 

While some believe there are certain skills, jobs, or relationships that they were “born to do,” we believe there’s something more. Something with an eternal purpose that stands even the test of time. Life is full of accomplishments, but we can’t take any of those with us after we’re gone. I don’t know about you, but I want to be a part of something that not only has an eternal impact but is also done for the glory of God.

​            There must be a reason for every breath we take and every day we live. There is a purpose found beyond all others in giving people what their souls long for the most: Jesus. Whether they know it yet or not, we were created to be with Him forever.

Unfortunately, not everyone has come to this realization yet. Some people have never even heard about Jesus once. It is estimated that there are still BILLIONS who have never once had the good news given to them. They have been plagued by different generational ideologies and religious influences. A large part of these people resides in the 10/40 grid window, which contains much of the Middle East, North Africa, and Southeast Asia. 

​            For some believers, their purpose is to finish the Great Commission by ensuring everyone on the face of planet Earth has at least one opportunity to accept the gospel they have been told about. It’s estimated around only five percent of all world missionaries go to unreached areas of the world and tend to gravitate towards the regions that are already reached. These unreached people groups will certainly become a common theme throughout this manual, as they are a huge piece of this puzzle for purpose. 

​            However, years from now, this may no longer be the case. Together, we can work towards planting more churches in these regions, teaching the indigenous people how to evangelize, raise leaders, and allow for this change to happen on their own accord. Until then, there is still meaning to be found across the globe and can even be done online. 

​            Let me ask you, the reader, this question: At the end of your life, which I hope is a long time from now, what do you define as making your life successful? What did you accomplish or complete that would allow you to consider yourself successful? Some people determine this with the amount of money they accumulated, the person they married, or what they could leave behind. In nature, none of these are bad aspects of life, but can we all agree there could be more to live for? ​    

Speaking for myself, when I am at the end of my life and on my way to being with the Lord for all eternity, I want to know that I did everything I could to play a role in all people coming to salvation. Thousands of years after we’re gone, what will matter is entire eternities that were changed because of the life we lived. Whether that would be by training church planters, missionaries, evangelists, or even writing this manual. When that is our focal point of life, all the difficult trials, pains, sufferings, and hardships don’t hold as much power. They were all for a purpose: that we could use them to point to Jesus. 

​            The very last command that Jesus gave to the disciples before He ascended into Heaven was this: “Go into all of the world and make disciples of all nations.” Another gospel says, “Preach the gospel to all creation.”

However, we can never forget how easy it is for us to disqualify ourselves. God has prepared us now, for such a time as this, to pursue a mission that we take with us when we leave this earth. God has called you. 

III: IGNITE & IMPACT

Now, the conversation of how something like this is possible is a fair one to ask. After all, believers have had the gospel of Jesus for around two thousand years, and yet it has not even reached the entire world. Many Christians have lost their lives trying to get the message of Jesus out to the world, so I believe the least we could do is try to impact the region we are in or even the ones around us. If each area of the world was able to do this, we would be able to finish the Great Commission in no time.

Coca-Cola has been around for about 150 years, and they have managed to reach almost the entire world with their brand and product. Some places in the world have Coca-Cola before they even have any electricity. That is the ability to affect the entire world and even doing it in a short time window.    

Does this mean that we should lose all hope or be discouraged? Not at all! There has never been a greater time than now to give the lost the gospel, whether it’s the first time or the tenth time they’ve heard it. But how do we do it?

Think about a seed when it’s planted. With the right sunlight, water, and nutrients it’ll grow into a full plant that produces more seeds to be spread anywhere and everywhere, and the entire process will repeat itself. It multiplies itself. Wherever they’re planted, seeds can multiply and spread. This is how we should all be with the gospel.

Planting indigenous churches is a huge part of impacting the world with the good news message because they’re able to be planted and easily multiplied. Church planting is so essential in this because the House Church Model allows for the gospel to spread rapidly amid areas of even deeper persecution.

A large reason why about a third of the world’s population still has never heard the gospel is because their governments will do everything in their power to prevent Christianity from flourishing. This roadblock contributes to why Coca-Cola has had around a tenth of its existence as the gospel, and that company has covered the East to the West with its brand. Because of this, let’s talk about the House Church Model.

In countries where Christian persecution is at an all-time high, the House Church Model has allowed us to see a glimpse into what could be. In China, underground churches are arising like we may have never seen before, with tens of thousands coming to know the Lord Jesus. In the Middle East, it’s the same thing. Whenever the government tries its hardest to extinguish the flame of the gospel, it only puts more and more gasoline on the fire. Now, we can use this House Church Model not only in the unreached world but in any area at all.

It’s important to remember that house churches of believers are to constantly have the goal of growing and multiplying into more churches that repeat the process. A lot of the House Church Model starts simple and small, like a seed, but out of nowhere, we can see an exponential uptick in the “fruit” produced. But how do we do this? For those starting a gospel seed, some form of evangelism is usually a good beginning point. 

This can either be with people we know, but especially to ones that we don’t. Evangelism is simply the approach to sharing the gospel of Jesus with someone, in the hopes that they would accept it and make Jesus the Lord and Savior of their life. As many of us know, this ability is available to those willing to take it. So, starting by evangelizing to those around you or in your people group will create a great foundation to build a revival. Here’s the “three circles method,” which provides an easy image of the gospel ↓

Simply put, for believers to go from where we are now to see the entire world with access to the true gospel and accept it, we must start abandoning any fears or doubts we may have. There is nothing more powerful than witnessing someone give their life to Christ and their eyes being opened. To step out of darkness into marvelous light. That opportunity awaits all of us, and it’s time we act.

After evangelizing, the objective is getting people together and forming the house church previously mentioned. As more and more people are accepting the gospel, they should be brought together. Remember, this is not about constructing a building but simply joining as believers in a people group or an area to grow more and spread out.

Here, the ability to make disciples is of monumental importance. Teaching new believers (and old ones as well) to completely surrender their life to Jesus and begin living like Him is the life blood of all of this. Without disciple-making, reaching the entire world of the gospel would be essentially impossible.

Soon after, these groups or churches need to reach out to others and raise leaders to begin the process they started originally. This is ongoing, and like the seed of a plant, each house church should recognize its need to grow, multiply, and spread. This is how it’s being done in China, Iran, Pakistan, and many other places that are seeing revival happen right in front of them.

I’ll be upfront. The days of someone having never heard the gospel of Jesus need to be over. As Christians, this should almost make us sick to our stomachs and force us to ask ourselves, “Can we be doing more?” Some may feel like this can be uncomfortable and utterly impossible, but it’s not. God has already done amazing things in your life, and some of them potentially prepared you to take the step of changing the world with the message of Jesus.

Understand a high level of impact may not happen overnight. It certainly can, and must not limit the power of the gospel, but like the growth of a seed, it will take time. This can be the case when addressing people in your evangelism efforts who are affiliated with another religion. 

No matter what background it may be, a different religious structure can be difficult to reverse, and it can be even harder to now point to Jesus. This is not meant to discourage anyone but can allow us to recognize a big piece in why the world hasn’t fully been reached, nor has it accepted the truth of the gospel. 

Statistically, someone who identifies religiously makes up a huge part of the world’s population. Around 26 percent identify as Muslim, 7 percent as Buddhist, 15 percent as Hindu, and the list goes on. Obviously, these different religions stem out to other sectors and forms, but the truth that there is a massive spread of people in our world today who are lacking the one piece of the puzzle that makes us whole, and that’s Jesus.

It’s important to have the ability to (for lack of a better term) “mold” the gospel in a way that could fit the individual’s background. No, I do not mean changing the essence and message of the gospel, and what has been offered us through the grace and love of God. What I am saying is there can be variety in how we connect it to people’s lives, backgrounds, and cultures. 

Here is an example of using proper distinction between approaching different world religions: When looking at Buddhists, appealing to the “Prince of Peace” characterization of Jesus Christ compared to Buddha would be much more effective than it would be to an Atheist, excluding some exceptions.  How Jesus is the truly source of peace is a simple introduction to the Gospel. 

These opportunities lie in any world religion if we can seek them out. Luckily, in whatever region of the world we’re in, we most likely have a decent understanding of the aspects of world religions that could tie into the gospel, and how anyone could come to receive it. For those who lack the knowledge on the surrounding religions and traditions, some research would be largely beneficial for us. 

The ability to organically reproduce and multiply these house churches is really what we’re striving for. This is the key to having many more disciples in the world. Remember this: anything that is considered healthy will reproduce. That’s true of anything existing here on earth, and a house church is no different

If one is started and then flourishing, it cannot help but give birth new generations, then those church will soon give birth to another generations of churches. As stated before, when these movements happening around the world reach the point of having four generations of churches, this really starts to take off, and the impact along with it. If a group of churches is not reproducing, then something is wrong and should be assessed.

The goal here is to understand what has worked in gospel advancements in the past and what can push it forward for the future. This idea of starting with but ending thousands of house churches across each country or people group is what we believe to be wildly effective. There have been so many people across the world who thought they were unqualified to start a house church, but ended up impacting thousands, if not, millions of lives through their efforts. We believe this process is important. If it can happen in any country, why shouldn’t revival happen in yours?

IV: ACTION

Now that we understand some of the processes to purpose, you may be asking, “Now what?” I’m truly glad you asked. We have a wide variety of ways to evangelize, church plant, and even disciple new believers remotely and in person.

Also, I heard the voice of the Lord, saying:

“Whom shall I send,
And who will go for Us?”

Then I said, “Here am I! Send me.”

Isaiah 6:8

ACTION STEP:

The Church Chain is a simple three-step process to make the church planting process repeatable for all. This first part is to share the gospel in our community. The next is to gather a small group or house church that can grow and multiply easily. Lastly, train up new leaders to start another group that repeats the process to at least four generations of church plants. These are three steps that can allow a person in society see the gospel reaching people at massive rates. Once again, these are house church plants, not necessarily a building.

ACTION STEP:

It’s important to make bringing the gospel to someone a normal act, and not one that constantly makes us uncomfortable. A good way to replicate this is to potentially remember the first time you heard and received the gospel. How did the person approach you? Modeling the act of understanding and authenticity could very well aid someone in evangelizing more people. Practicing this with someone you know could also prove to be quite beneficial.

Once we have done this enough and feel comfortable with the approach, then it’s time to put it into action. Try reaching out to someone around you that you have a relationship with. Present them with the simple gospel mentioned previously.

After this, gather the people who have responded to the gospel and aid them in starting their new walk with God. This would include reading the scriptures together, teaching prayer, and overall disciplining them. However, you don’t have to hold their hand through the entire process but be there for them. But it’s also highly important that we teach them how to reach their world of people and beyond it as well. Give them a place to start a house church or begin one of your own if there is no other place to do so.

Over time, we will begin to see revival in ways we never thought were possible, and it will all be because we were obedient with a handful of people in the start. The Lord will bless our efforts and allow us to multiply when we surrender this process to Him. In Romans, the apostle Paul writes that “God desires that all be saved.” Because of this, we can see that the Father desires us to begin our efforts to reach people with the reality of His love shown on the cross of Christ.

Ultimately, this exercise will have a catalytic effect, and it will become much more evident as we reach one person, then another, disciple them, and form a community of people that do the same in a region, and the process repeats a hundred-fold. That is the essence of the House Church Model. If each nation and people group accomplished this, we could see the entire world reached with the gospel and millions saved from eternal death because of it.

ACTION STEP:

FORM A HOUSE CHURCH:  As you win new believers, bring them together in a house church format. What do you do? Study the scriptures, pray diligently for others your group needs to reach to grow. Do this fervently, and without fail. Continue to seek the growth of your House Church both spiritually and size-wise.

This growth can vary in different ways. Some are quicker than others. Regardless, it’s important to remember the purpose behind our impact. Trying to reach 10-20 people a week with the gospel and include them in the House Church process.

Lastly, I cannot stress the importance of raising up leaders to go and start their own House Churches. This is considered “multi-generational” church planting. It’s all about the multiplication of this strategy across all nations (people groups) of the world. Raise up as many leaders as possible. This is how the entire earth can be filled with the praises of God, and the Great Commission of Jesus can be filled. It takes all of us.

V: CLOSING

But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us. We are hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed— always carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body. For we who live are always delivered to death for Jesus’ sake, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh.

II Corinthians 4:7-11

Nikolaus Von Zinzendorf, a missionary in the 1700s, gave this quote: “Preach the gospel, die, and be forgotten.” While this can appear to be a large statement, it gives us a glimpse into a simple purpose in life. The purpose of if we accomplish one thing here on earth, it would be aiding the gospel in going forth like never before.

In our last moments together, here’s what I’d like us all to know. The reason this manual was written was to simply inspire change to a large degree. To show people across the world, in all cultures, stages, and traditions that they too can change the world. They don’t have to move anywhere or turn their entire life upside down, but there is a place for them in fulfilling the Great Commission. Not just that we would know what to do, but how to accomplish it all in real time.

If we don’t find a way to incorporate this into our lives, more and more people will go to the end of their life never knowing a savior. Never knowing that God loved them so much that He gave up everything for them on that cross. There are even people that may have heard the wrong version of this gospel, and they could be closer to us than we think. Imagine the joy to be a part of the generation that saw the whole world reached, and millions of people coming to know the Lord Jesus. So, what will we do?

Here's a prayer before getting started:

“God, thank you for who you are and what you did. I am not the same because of the cross, and I will never forget that. I pray that you would use me like never before. I ask that you use me to make an impact on this world. Like you used little to feed thousands, you can use me to monumentally reach the world.

Please give me the tools I need to make your name known throughout my land and beyond it. Allow me to plant your gospel wherever I am. Help me open the eyes of people’s hearts, so that they would know you as Lord, and believe in their heart what you did for them. Thank you for all that you will do for your people. It’s in the name of Jesus that I pray. Amen.”