Emmaus Life Ministries

"Building a Discipleship Culture" is more like a "textbook" on discipleship. In addition to laying out the importance of discipleship, Breen presents a common language for discussing the stages of discipleship.

“Here is the thing that can be difficult to wrap our minds around: If you make disciples, you always get the church. But if you make a church, you rarely get disciples.”

“Are we just good at getting people together once a week and maybe into a small group, or are we actually good at producing the types of people we read about in the New Testament? Have we shifted our criteria from a good disciple as someone who shows up to our stuff, gives money and occasionally feeds poor people?”

“Effective discipleship builds the church, not the other way around. We need to understand the church as the effect of discipleship and not the cause. If you set out to build the church, there is no guarantee you will make disciples. It is fare more likely that you will create consumers who depend on the spiritual services that religious professionals provide.” —Mike Breen

God's Agenda

God is interested in our availability more than our ability. He already has all the ability we will ever need and he eagerly supplies what is needed to accomplish his plans.

In the Book of Mark, Chapter 5 we read how Jairus approached Jesus and asked him to heal his dying daughter. As Jesus was on the way to Jairus’ home, a woman who had suffered from bleeding for 12 years reached out, touched Jesus robe and was healed. Jesus stopped to comfort the healed woman. While interacting with the woman Jairus’ daughter dies. Not a problem for Jesus. He continues on his journey and raised Jairus’ little girl back to life.

As we walk along the road of life, we need to be flexible so we can respond to the moving of God’s Spirit. We make plans but God directs our path. Be flexible and open to what might seem like an interruption but is really part of God’s greater plan.

Approximately 12 years ago I was sitting in my office getting ready for a full day of work. As a ministry leader, my schedule was full of seemingly important, time sensitive tasks.

The phone rang. It was Sharon, the Administrative Assistant at church and she said, “Kirk, all the pastors are out. A family has called from Children’s Hospital and has requested that someone come and pray with them. Will you go?” My mind rolled through a list of excuses why I didn’t have time. I knew Sharon could find someone else. Then I heard the words come out of my mouth, “Sure. I’ll go.” Sharon instructed me to to get in the car and start heading downtown. Once I was on my way, call her and she would fill in the details.

“What’s up?” I asked once I was in route to the hospital. “You’re going to see Ken and Hollie. Their two year old son was climbing on some boxes, fell out of a second floor window and landed head first on the sidewalk 13 feet below. The boy, Carter, may not live,” Sharon said.

I was stunned. I’m not a pastor. I’m not trained for this. What God would soon teach me is that this experience had nothing to do with me, my training or abilities. This was about God’s abilities and his supernatural love for Carter.

When I reached the hospital I was ushered into a behind the scenes room where my police es**rt pointed to a door and said, “They are in there.” The officer then walked away. I opened the door to a small room where eight family members were packed into seats along the walls. They were all wailing, not just crying. Broken hearts pouring out through tears and moaning.

I asked Carter’s mom how I could be of service. “Pray that my son lives!” she pleaded through her tears. We prayed. Over the next few days, Carter teetered between life and death. They cut off his skull to relieve the pressure. For several days I returned to the hospital to sit with the family to be present and pray. Carter lived and eventually went home.

Since I was not a pastor serving 30 other families in need, the hidden blessing was my ability to focus on this one family. Our family took their family meals. I continued to write down prayers each week and mail them to Hollie and Ken.

Just this week, 12 years later, I receive an email from Hollie and the family who have since moved to another state. The lengthy message is one of the greatest treasures in my life and includes the line, “You were one of this points of light that helped show us the way out while witnessing the miracle of ‘Carter.’”

All I did was be available by saying “yes” to a phone call. In the process God gave me a front row seat to watch him work a miracle. Through the experience, God blessed me with a stronger faith and richer life that will always include Carter and his family.

More information available on our website www.EmmausLifeMinistries.com

"Let's Go to Gang"

Excerpt from "Letters to the Church" by Francis Chan. See the "Resources" tab for more information.

"When Rob describes gang life, much of it sounds like what the Church was meant to be. Obviously, there are major differences (drugs, murder--you know, little details like that), but the idea of 'being a family' is central to both gang life and God's design for the Church. Yet while we use family terminology in our churches, Rob's stories have convinced me that the gangs have a much stronger sense of what it means to be a family than we do in the church."

"From what you know about gangs, could you ever imagine gang life being reduced to a weekly one-hour gathering? No group would meet briefly once a week and call that a gang. Imagine one gang member walking up to another one and saying, 'Yo, how was gang? I had to miss this week because life has been crazy.'"

"We all know enough about gangs to know that's ridiculous. Yet every week we hear Christians asking each other, 'How was church?' Something that God has designed to function as a family has been reduced to an optional weekly meeting. And this has become normal. Expected. How in the world did we get here? Any gang member will tell you his homies have his back. They're there for him. They're loyal, committed, present. Meanwhile, in many churches, you have about as much of a connection to the people who are supposedly your spiritual family as you would to someone who visited the same movie theater as you."

I met John Nordlander through Advocate. We were talking about the New Testament model of church which is built around relationships and community. John said, "You need to meet Jeff Allen at Faith Community Church. He comes the closest of anyone I know in using the Institutional Church model to equip people to implement the New Testament relationship and community model throughout the week." I know Jeff Allen! We had been in a pastor group together seven or eight years ago. Jeff and I met and as a result I read his book, "Small Church on a Big Mission." Jeff and I agree, there is a change coming. An exciting change that is bringing back authenticity and purpose to the church.