Soul Winner

Victor Choudhrie's 21 steps might sound like something coming from some fringe extremists. But when you realize that from Pentecost 2009 to Pentecost 2010 we are talking about ministry resulting in over one million people baptized and tens of thousands of house churches planted, these guys have my attention. What other ministry anywhere in the world even comes close to a tenth of what these Jesus radicals are experiencing today in India?

MEGA CHURCH TO META (Beyond) CHURCH

21 Steps to transit from being a barren church to a millionaire of souls
By Victor Choudhrie, 2010

11. Challenge purposeless churches to enunciate a clear vision and a road map to translate that vision into action plan to ‘do greater things than these’. Armed with maps, stats and the Great Commission go two by two and teach divine arithmetic of planting just one multiplying church every month and in ten short months, even the least shall plant a thousand Meta Churches. John 14:12; Acts 16:5; Luke 10:1, 2; Isa 60:22

12. Unglue from the pews all those Christians who sit, soak and stagnate and send them to heal the sick, raise the dead, tread on snakes and scorpions (expel demons), bind the ‘strongman’, plunder his possessions and demolish the gates of Hell. Matt 11:12; 12:29; 16:18,19; Mark 16:17-18; Luke 10:19

13. Resurrect from being a dead organization to a living organism. Eliminate all extra-biblical cosmetic titles like Director, Chairman, CEO, and Secretary, by appointing five-fold ministry-gifted Elders, like apostles, prophets, evangelists, shepherds and teachers, as equippers. By feeding, leading and keeping the flock healthy and reproductive, they must reach those who are outside the fold. Eph. 4:11; Tit.1:5-9; John 10:16

14. Empower every Sunday school, bible school, prayer cell, women’s fellowship, and cottage meeting, by calling them full-fledged, authentic churches. They must make disciples who baptize, break bread, equip laborers and send missionaries and like the school of Tyrannus, change spiritual demography. 1 Cor. 16:19; Col. 4:15; Acts 19:8-12

15. Filter out selfish-goat church members who come only for hatching (baby baptism), matching (wedding) and dispatching (funeral), and replace them with sheep who take care of the hungry, thirsty, naked, strangers, sick and prisoners. Culling the non-productive barren sheep is a very important principle of sheep rearing. God chose David to shepherd Israel because he took care of “ewes great with young”. Matt. 25:31-46; Psalm 78:70-72

16. Simplify disciple making. Get a Bible and invite a couple of truth-seekers for a meal where the main dish is - The Lamb. Redefine authentic church as wherever two or three friends meet to eat, gossip the gospel, and to multiply. Meta church is the most cost effective strategy for city penetration and reaching the ends of the earth. Acts 2:46-47

17. Substitute seminary training by sharing the whole wisdom of God from house to house. Sound doctrine is the ability to convince those who oppose. The lost of this world do not need scholars as much as they need spiritual fathers and mothers who bring many spiritual sons and daughters to glory. Acts 20:20, 27; Tit. 1:9; 1Cor. 4:15; 2Tim. 2:2; Heb 2:10

18. Reorient your own personal paradigm. Your business, workplace or home, wherever you spend most of your time, is your ‘primary nuclear church’. It matters little whether you are the CEO, or the janitor or the kitchen queen, you are a full-time minister there and accountable. Adam and Eve were accountable for the Garden of Eden and failed.

19. Recognize ‘Hi, there,’ ‘Hello,’ handshaking, Sunday church as your ‘secondary optional church’. A church that does not send you out to ‘raise your holy hands to pray everywhere’ and equip you to make Christ ‘high and lifted up’ in your home, workplace and neighborhood is not worth going to. 1 Tim. 2:8; Isa. 6:1

20. Re-set your priorities to preach Christ where He has not been named. For this you do not have to go to church from Sunday to Sunday nor work from paycheck to paycheck. You are “ordained” to be fruitful, to multiply, and to fill your home/workplace/neighborhood and the city with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. Matt. 6:33; Rom. 15:20; John 15:16; Gen. 1:28; Hab. 2:14

21. Adopt a ‘completion mind set’. Evaluate your ministry with the Great Commission as the mandate with the number of disciples made, baptized, equipped and sent out, as benchmarks. Aim to be a millionaire of souls. Why not? After all, you claim to believe in a great and awesome God for whom nothing is impossible. At the very least, like Peter, shoot for 3000 baptisms by every Pentecost. Or like Paul, plant a multiplying church every day and claim that there are no more places left here for me to ‘fully preach the gospel’, not just with words, ‘but with signs and mighty deeds’. Acts 2:41; 16:5; Rom. 15:19, 23.