Month: October 2022

The ubiquitous target is designed to move our aim toward the center:  the bullseye.  Whether we are throwing darts, shooting arrows, or firing a rifle, the challenge is not simply to hit the target but to hit the bullseye.  Every serious marksman knows that it takes continual practice to consistently hit the center.

The Kingdom Target

Pray, then, in this way: ‘Our Father, who is in heaven, Hallowed be Your name.  ‘Your kingdom come. Your will be done, On earth as it is in heaven (Matthew 6:9-10).

If we step back and take a long look at God’s purposes, the above familiar prayer establishes the target.  God is expanding his kingdom; it’s the family business. When we are united with Christ by faith, we inherit the family blessings and the family business.  Jesus said, “as the Father has sent me, so send I you” (John 20:21).  When Jesus recruited the early disciples, he said, “Follow me and I will make you fishers of men.”  Peter and the boys knew about a family fishing business.  They knew that as members of their family, they inherited their father’s fishing business.  Jesus tapped into that expectation by saying that if they followed him, they would inherit a spiritual fishing business.

As members of God’s family, our family business is to expand God’s kingdom.  But within that target are many specific objectives that can help us reach our target’s bullseye.  Each concentric circle gets closer to the heart of the Great Commission.  Each is an expression of kingdom expansion but the center is the ultimate goal and as expected, more difficult to hit.  As the disciples followed Jesus over the three-plus years, they were trained to not only hit the target but to aim at the bullseye of making disciples who make disciples (Matthew 28:19-20).

Circle 1:  Serve others

Let’s let the outer circle of our target represent the broadest expression of kingdom expansion:  acts of service.  In the Sermon on the Mt., Jesus said, “Your light must shine before people in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven” (Matthew 5:16). 

Mother Teresa is the icon of this expression of kingdom expansion.   She is world-renowned for modeling sacrificial service for the sake of others.  This is not unusual as Christianity has been responsible for some of the most effective humanitarian movements in history.  Early first-century Christians, medieval monastic movements, the Red Cross, Samaritan’s Purse, and Doctors without Borders are just a few examples.  From the international to the local, people of faith are expanding God’s kingdom influence by sacrificially serving their communities.

Circle 2:  Gospel proclamation

The gospel is not a concept that can be deduced from nature or acts of kindness.  It is a message that must be told.  “How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? How will they believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how will they hear without a preacher” (Romans 10:14).   God commissioned his family to verbally declare the message of Jesus and serve as his ambassadors to this broken world (2 Corinthians 5:20).  

Circle 3:  Make disciples

Paul modeled not only the importance of taking the message of Jesus into the Gentile world but of conserving its fruit.  The Epistles are “follow-up” letters to new converts who were asking, “So, now what?”  Helping develop new believers to become mature image bearers of Christ, is our third circle on our target.  Using a physical metaphor, it is the development of mature spiritual adults.  Spiritual maturity is not sudden or simple.  Regardless of the strategy or effectiveness, developing disciples as mature followers of Christ has been the desire of most local churches and para-church ministries. 

Based on the lack of authentic Christ-like image bears, we could call into question the effectiveness of hitting this circle of our target.  The failure, however, is not due to a lack of desire or effort.  Nor is the problem restricted to our current age.  The early apostles and church had their shots miss this target circle also.  “You are aware of the fact that all who are in Asia turned away from me, among whom are Phygelus and Hermogenes” (2 Timothy 1:15). 

Circle 4 (The bullseye):  Disciples who make disciples

When Jesus gave those initial disciples the mission to make disciples, he was launching a generational, missional strategy.  This strategy not only stresses circles 1 to 3, but it establishes the basis from which to hit the bullseye which includes making not only mature, healthy, spiritual adults but also producing effective spiritual parents.                        

We could all give testimony regarding the personal growth that results from having children.  It is hard, for example, to be a parent and remain self-focused.  It is even hard to maintain the illusion we have all the answers.  Parenting is a pathway for maturity developing qualities like perseverance, courage, and at times, humble authenticity.    

There is something beautiful about the dynamics of a healthy, three-generational family:  Grandparents, parents, and grandkids.   Each generation needs the other and provides God’s design for healthy communities.  The same dynamic occurs with a three-generational spiritual family. It doesn’t always happen, but it is healthier if it does.

Leadership guru Stephen Covey made popular the phrase: “Begin with the end in mind.”  What a difference it would make if our ministry activities were designed with the “end” of developing three-generational family lineages.

Tightening our shot pattern

Poor aim is not the only reason we miss the bullseye.  Every accomplished marksman knows that the longer the shot, the more chance there is for drift.  Gravity and wind are two of the more common causes of a shot that misses the target.  Aiming to make disciples that make disciples is not without the opposition of spiritual gravity and winds that can take our shot off center.  Sometimes the drift forces are within us like discouragement, at other times it can come from those we are trying to help.   Sometimes it is the complexity of living life in a broken world that takes our shot off target.  So, we need to factor in the drift forces and keep our aim on the bullseye.

While personalizing the bullseye for my own life, I remember a message by Lorne Sanny (past president of The Navigators) gave on 1 Corinthians 15:58. “Therefore, my beloved brothers and sisters, be firm, immovable, always excelling in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.”  I have returned to this admonition and promise many times over the years as I keep aiming for the bullseye.

For reflection

1.  What are some other forces that cause our shot to drift off target?

2.  How many generations are there in your spiritual family?

For generations, the refrigerator door has been the family bulletin board. Since everyone in the family comes through the kitchen at least several times a day, the refrigerator was the most central family gathering place. Before post-a-notes were invented, Scotch tape was used to stick notes and information to the door. Masking tape replaced Scotch tape since it could easily be removed. Magnets soon dominated the adhesive duties which worked quite well unless someone slammed the door too hard. With the introduction of nonmagnetic doors, I guess we are back to masking tape!

You can usually tell what stage of development a family is by simply looking at what is on the fridge door. Initially, it is shopping and do lists along with pictures of the dog. These are eventually replaced by sonograms and baby pictures. Eventually, these too are replaced by children’s version of modern art followed by school progress reports and team sports pictures. Then comes the bitter-sweet phase when we post graduation announcements and senior pictures.

Then there seems to be a lull when it is back to do lists and pictures of the dog, who is now so old he can no longer stand up for his picture. Excitement returns to the fridge door once grandkids start arriving. Once again it’s sonograms and pregnant mommy on the door as the dog pics get moved to the side of the fridge.

The fridge door is a place to announce what we are celebrating; what we wanted others to celebrate with us. More than once our kids would ask, after giving us their recent Crayola drawing, “Are you going to put it on the refrigerator?”

So, what does the door to our spiritual refrigerator look like? What are we celebrating? Is it covered with Bible study schedules and missionaries we support or pictures of our spiritual children and grandkids? Celebrating physical generations is so natural we take it for granted. Why not spiritual generations?

The Old Testament model of spiritual expansion was through family relationships.

He commanded our ancestors to teach them to their children, so the next generation might know them—even the children not yet born—and they in turn will teach their own children. (Psalm 78:5-7)

Fathers were to teach their children who in turn would teach their children. The temple and priests were a complement to the family strategy. It seems that Paul had this same relational strategy in mind when he told Timothy to invest in faithful men who could teach others also (2 Timothy 2:2). Early believers during the first centuries expanded the kingdom through this relational model.When Paul wrote to the believers in Thessalonica, he commended them for the way their faith story had made its way into the areas of Macedonia and Achaia without him. Without access to public forums, these new believers just “gossiped” the gospel where ever they went. They didn’t wait for a public crusade or a captivating orator. They took serious Christ’s commission “as you are going, make disciples

For the word of the Lord has sounded forth from you, not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but in every place the news of your faith toward God has gone out, so that we have no need to say anything. For they themselves report about us as to the kind of reception we had with you, and how you turned to God from idols to serve a living and true God (1 Thessalonians 1:7-9).

But at some point, after Constantine made Christianity fashionable, we lost the relational, generational model in favor of an institutional one. As a result, instead of families, we created orphanages. Spiritual refrigerator doors no longer celebrate spiritual generations but organizational activities.
Recently my wife and I attended a “Grandparent’s Open House” for our kindergarten grandson. As we huddled with our grandchild admiring his artwork and his box of Crayolas, I heard a boy in the middle of the room, sitting all alone, shout out, “Where are my grandparents?”

I recently met with a college grad who had come to faith at the University of Missouri during his freshman year. He is now living and working in the Marketplace in Kansas City. When I asked him about his faith story, he pulled out his smartphone and showed me a picture of his spiritual family tree. He could trace his spiritual family back multiple generations. Then he told me about a student he had led to Christ before he graduated who was now growing and learning to share his faith. He had a keen awareness of his continued responsibility to help the next generation not be the last link in the chain.

Jesus instituted a relational and generational strategy when he passed on to his disciples his kingdom mission to go and make disciples (Matthew 28:19). The great commission strategy was disciples who make disciples. I don’t think that his strategy was solely for the exponential potential of multiplication over addition. I think it was also because he knew what would happen in the lives of his people when they became spiritual parents and grandparents.

Children have a way of challenging our self-focus and teaching us how to love sacrificially. They expose our weaknesses and demand our attention. They cause us to rethink what we know so we can pass it on in an understandable way. Children help us mature, up close and personal.

Today, couples in America are increasingly opting out of having children. Maybe they are scared off by the composite cost of raising a child in today’s economy ($310,000). Or maybe it’s the reluctance to forfeit the pursuit of the “good life.” The reasons are many and varied. The result, however, is that refrigerators are void of family pictures, displaying only schedules and pictures of the dog.

But what about spiritually? What’s posted on our spiritual refrigerator door? The Apostle John wrote in 3 John 4, “I have no greater joy than to hear that my (spiritual) children walk in truth.” There is a God-designed joy that comes from our children and grandchildren’s pictures hanging on our refrigerator door. The concept goes back to the original command in the Garden of Eden. “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth.” Sin made the job harder but it didn’t change the strategy.

What would it take to make “family” the celebrated focus of our spiritual refrigerator door?

For reflection

1. What barriers do you see that prevent us from a relational, generational approach to expanding God’s kingdom?
2. What does your own spiritual family tree look like? Who played the role of your spiritual parent? Siblings? Who would look to you as his/her spiritual parent?