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Habits Relearned

Lorna Johnston /Wednesday, March 8, 2023

 

What habit do you want to change?

I recently read a blog post that suggested that rather than the thirty days we may think it takes to break a bad habit and establish a new good one, it takes a year… or longer. When we’re tired or stressed or just not paying attention, it is easy to slip back into familiar patterns and have to haul ourselves back to the new pattern we’re trying to establish.

Have you ever thought about the habits you have developed around your faith walk? The patterns and grooves that feel normal, but actually aren’t really aligned with the pattern that scripture lays out to describe the rapid expansion of the early church?

Here are some faith-walk habits you may share with me:

  • Going to church on Sunday to worship in community and listen to a sermon.
  • Participating in a small group midweek with other believers.
  • Reading a devotional book for our quiet time.
  • Going to Sunday School.
  • Serving somewhere in a church-based ministry.

These all are reasonable activities, and some have been part of the pattern (habit?) of the church for many centuries, but collectively these patterns trend towards passivity that serves to gradually disempower ordinary believers. By contrast, ordinary believers in the first centuries were the source of exponential growth in the early church.

In the Acts account of the dramatic growth of the church, the record is clear and simple. Ordinary believers prayed, were empowered by the Holy Spirit to be bold courageous witnesses to the Kingdom of God in both word and deed characterized by sacrificial service and accompanying miracles and deliverances, resulting in many coming to faith, but also, in increased opposition by the power structures that felt threatened by the growth of the church. Ordinary believers carried the gospel to places it had not yet reached. They knew how to tell and retell the stories of Jesus wherever they went. And they knew how to train others to do the same. As a result, the church rapidly spread to the north, south, east, and west, and impacted every layer of society from the slave to the king.

2 Timothy 2:1-2 describes the core philosophy of the early church:

You then, my child, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus; and what you have heard from me through many witnesses entrust to faithful people who will be able to teach others as well.”

The core assumption was that those who were disciples of Jesus Christ made disciples—who made disciples—who made disciples—who made disciples…

Multiplication was the assumption…and the reality.

So, the questions I ask myself are, ‘If I’m not seeing multiplication of disciples as a result of my being a disciple of Jesus Christ, then why? What habits do I have that are preventing multiplication? Am I willing to change them?’

If you are asking these questions too, and if you’re pondering what habits need to be assessed and relearned to create conditions for greater fruitfulness, then let me encourage you not try to do it alone. In a previous blog, From Intention to Action, I talk about the value of community in starting and sticking to healthy habits. If ingrained habits are a challenge to change, how am I going to tackle that challenge? Who’s going to walk alongside and encourage the changes that will lead to greater fruitfulness?

The good news is that there are people who are a little further along in learning healthy fruitfulness habits. Check out material offered to guide your thinking at Becoming Disciples Who Mulitiply from Outreach Canada. And check out the Simply Mobilizing blogs around this topic. Reach out to those who are eager to companion with you in your journey. Murray & Jon are great resources, part of a whole network of people who are growing, learning, and training ordinary believers like you and me to build new habits that multiply fruit.

Is this the year that fruitfulness becomes your priority?


Lorna Johnston is the Diaspora Ministries Leader at Outreach Canada. She leads two national teams--Loving Muslims Together (LMT) and Simply Mobilizing Canada (SMC). She works with teams of diverse and experienced leaders and ministries across Canada to alert and activate the church in Canada to the changing opportunities to engage God's mission right here in Canada.



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It is clear to me that God has created a huge opportunity for Christians to share the gospel with the world in Canada; the nations of the world are in our neighbourhoods.

Have you ever considered that those of Muslim faith who live among us might have been sent by God to Canada in order to find Him?

Here are 5 ways to be intentional about making disciples in your neighbourhood among those of Muslim faith ...


Rachael's Story

A story from a Muslim Background Believer and a church who prayed for the mosque in their community. 

Imagine getting this email:

“My name is Rachael. I am a born-again Christian of 2 years. I actually used to be a Shia Muslim. I attended the mosque on your street for many years of my life. The Lord pulled me out of the darkness of my former life as a Muslim and brought me into His loving light...

I recently heard that your church prays specifically for salvation over people at the mosque. Is this true? If so, I’m not sure how long your church has been doing this, but I wanted to email you as an encouragement to you and your congregation to let you know that the Lord has heard your prayers and is AT work in this Muslim community.

I thank you and your congregation for committing to pray for your neighbours. It is funny to me how not once in my years of attendance at this mosque had they ever thought of praying for your church! I guess the proof is in the pudding. If you’re not filled with perfect love--how can you pour out perfect love? My heart yearns for them to know how much God actually loves them, that God would shatter the scales over their eyes, and lead them to take their seats as Children of God in the house of our Father.”

Keep reading to hear Rachael's testimony ...


Love your Muslim Neighbours this Ramadan: Ways to Pray and Engage

Jesus exhorts us to love our neighbour as ourselves. Are you looking for opportunities to pray for and engage with the Muslims in your neighbourhood this Ramadan? Here are six opportunities to pray, and five opportunities to engage with the Muslims in your community... 


Habits Relearned

What habit do you want to change?

I recently read a blog post that suggested that rather than the thirty days we may think it takes to break a bad habit and establish a new good one, it takes a year… or longer. When we’re tired or stressed or just not paying attention, it is easy to slip back into familiar patterns and have to haul ourselves back to the new pattern we’re trying to establish.

Have you ever thought about the habits you have developed around your faith walk? The patterns and grooves that feel normal, but actually aren’t really aligned with the pattern that scripture lays out to describe the rapid expansion of the early church?


The Letter

The story of just one letter and how God used it to bring many to Himself! 


Rediscovering Disciples, Leaders & Churches that Multiply

Evangelicalism in Canada is in steep decline, shrinking below 3% of the population. When we reach 2% we'll begin to qualify for what mission agencies describe as an “unreached people group”. Even more sobering is to realize that the last time North Americans were adding new believers faster than we were sending them to heaven was 1927.

Not only have our prevailing models of ministry been failing for nearly a century, they have also proved to be especially fragile during the COVID crisis. New and proposed laws are gradually weaving, whispering threats of overt persecution.

What would we need to change to not just survive, but thrive?

How can we turn the corner from decline to multiplicative expansion?


Living and Active

On an isolated hillside surrounded by miles of forest and mountains, Murat found a large rock to sit down and take a break. He’d been trekking though the uneven terrain all day keeping a protective eye on his sheep and goats. Although there were no established roads, he and other members of his community had worn many paths throughout the area over the years. 

Murat reached into his coat pocket, pulled out his phone and raised it up in the air as high as he could looking for a service signal. Most of the other shepherds that Murat worked with were relatives: brothers, cousins, uncles, and other connections. Despite being separated for most of the days, they were a very close family. They regularly checked in with one another when they could get reception on their cell phones. In the late evenings, when all the livestock was safely returned to the stalls, they would all gather again on the homestead.

Over the past few months, though, something had changed. Murat had been doing some soul-searching and came across a website that offered access to the Bible. He signed up and began getting text messages every few days of a Bible verse from the New Testament, followed by four simple questions: What does this tell me about God? What does this tell me about mankind? How can I obey this scripture? Who can I share this scripture with?

Most of the scriptures had to do with Jesus, of whom Murat had heard of before ... but never in this way!