Good Training - Oasis NT Church Planting Movement

We are a New Testament (NT) Church Planting Movement, training, equipping, troubleshooting and improving any New Testament Disciple, Leader, Fellowship or Movement.

Before I speak about “Training” and “Instruction in Righteousness” let me tell you a story.

A GOOD TRAINING STORY

A man went to “GOLF CHURCH” and for 40 years he sat in a building once a week to get information about Golf. After 40 year he said to himself, “I have never actually played golf, I wonder what it’s like”.

He proceeded to a local golf course and went to the pro-shop. He hired some clubs and purchased a very large bucket of balls and went onto an 18 hole golf course. After several hours and about the 11th hole, he returned to the pro-shop very frustrated.

The friendly young man at the pro-shop greeted him and said “How did you enjoy your golf today ?”. In anger and frustration the man threw the golf clubs on the floor, as well as the empty ball bucket. He said in a grumpy voice “I lost all my balls in the water or in the forest. I am thirsty, sweaty and dirty. I hate golf !!”.

The kind young man asked the gentleman “How long have you been playing golf ?” and the man replied “this is my first time doing it“. The young man, desperately trying to be helpful said the man “you know it’s your lucky day. I happen to live next door to Tiger Woods, and if you would like some practical coaching on how to play golf, like improve your swing, improve your chipping and improve your putting game… I can help arrange for some excellent training for you. Would you like that ?”.

The grumpy man pridefully replied “I have been learning Golf for 40 years at Golf Church. You insult me. I know everything there is to know about Golf”.

The grumpy man left the golf course, returned to Golf Church and never played golf again.

THE MORAL OF THE STORY

The moral of this story is, that in every phase of life, and every phase of our Christian walk we need a good Mentor or a good Coach to help us be effective in the next level of our walk, and pride (the original sin) and a bad attitude is what keeps us away from a getting the practical training we need.

Now let’s talk about Kingdom Training

To be instructed or trained we need to be teachable, and we need a “trusted” instructor or mentor, and we need an “agreement” for the training relationship to occur. Without this the Bible describes us as unteachable and a “fool”.

Paul had Barnabas. Timothy had Paul. The twelve disciples had Jesus and called Jesus “Rabbi” or teacher.

Here’s some scriptures that admonish us in the concept of submitting to “instruction”.

Look them up and read each one. Let the Word and the Holy Spirit start training you right now…

Psalm 50:17
Proverbs 1:7
Proverbs 8:3
Proverbs 10:17
Proverbs 12:1
Proverbs 13:8
Proverbs 15:32
Proverbs 15:33
Proverbs 23:12
Jeremiah 17:23
Jeremiah 32:33
2 TIM 3:16

Discipleship is difficult, time consuming and personally expensive. This is why the western-Church tend NOT to disciple people. The western-Church tends to lean towards monologues and not dialogues (biblical and more helpful), and tends towards mass communication of “information“, but the hands on demonstration and coaching one-on-one tends not to exist in western-Churches. This is why church members get discipled into a shallow, transactional form of Christianity in measured “measurement/metric” realms like Church Attendance, Giving, Volunteering and Performance. The quality of these Christians is measured in terms of Attendance, Giving, Volunteerism and Compliance. They are unable to reproduce and are therefore barren, unable to reproduce a Jesus disciple.

In contrast, Biblical discipleship is more like an “apprenticeship”. There is knowledge and information to learn, but there are practical and applied lessons to navigate and complete. This is why a fully trained Jesus Disciple stays on “mission” to learn, observe, go, share, teach and bring the Kingdom into the earth realm in example, power and demonstration. Not just “empty or powerless words”. The other thing that is noticeable about a fully trained Jesus Disciple is that they “reproduce”. This means they are making new disciples. In other words, Jesus Disciples make more Jesus Disciples. This “fruit” is what Jesus is looking for… not just “behavioural” fruit as in Galatians 5:22 speaks about, but producing fruit in His vineyard, reproducing more believers. They are spiritually reproductive and fruitful.

Keys to Good Training

Be humble. Be teachable. Get in a agreement with your coach. Change coaches when you need to and do that respectfully and in an honouring way so that you are continually blessed.

Instructors vs Fathers

in 1 Corinthians 4:15 Paul spoke about the difference between Instructors and Fathers. Instructors can be clever, but also barren. Fathers are a “father” because they are spiritually reproductive, producing “begotten” new born-again babes in Christ. Paul observes, even in the early church, that there were lots of “instructors” but not many “fathers”. If you are looking to be trained in the Kingdom, what you are really looking for is a “reproductive” father to coach you.

BUT THERE IS MORE..

As a disciple we are all called to evangelise, we are all called teach, we are all called to prophesy, we are all called to nurture/pastor and we are all called to plant churches. But how is this even possible ?? What do you lack in your faith, doctrine and training ? What skills or revelation are you missing ?

Jesus has a solution for you.

In 1 Corinthians 12:28 we see a range of amazing and poorly understood supernatural Gifts that the Holy Spirit distributes richly amongst believers. You can read what these gifts are. These gifts are made available to help YOU in the mission of disciple-making and church-planting. You might have one or more of these gifts so you can also help other disciple-makers.

This Training stuff gets even better.. so buckle up.

Ephesians 4:7-12 KJV But unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ. Wherefore he saith, When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men. (Now that he ascended, what is it but that he also descended first into the lower parts of the earth? He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens, that he might fill all things.) And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; For the perfecting of the saints (that’s all believers including you), for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ.

What Paul is telling us, that if we lack anything in these ministry areas, we are to call upon these “super trainers” to get equipped, and also the ministry is performed by ALL BELIEVERS, not professionals on a platform. If you are a believer, then this is for you.

These are special “trainers” who have extra insight, understanding, revelation and extra Holy Ghost power to TRAIN and EQUIP you in ALL these areas. This way you lack nothing for YOUR mission. Jesus made a way for every believer (that’s you) to be successful in your ministry. Yes you are reading this correctly… every believer is in full-time ministry where ever you find yourself… in the workplace, in the hospital, on the construction site, in the office, at college, at school, at the bank, at the supermarket… you are to minister Jesus. Working a job in the marketplace like Paul who was a “tentmaker” is no barrier to ministry, in fact, it’s a big advantage because it gets to talking to unsaved people all the time !

The mission of these special “trainers” is to TRAIN and EQUIP you in these ministry areas. That is their primary function and purpose. They are looking for you, and hungry to impart amazing Revelation and skills and abilities to you so you can be a successful and fruitful Disciple-Maker, and NT House Church Planter. This is how God built them to function.

For example a traditional Church might say “Let’s do a marketplace outreach, so let us call the Evangelist to do it”. This is incorrect. What we should be doing is calling the Evangelist to TRAIN and EQUIP us all to go into the marketplace and evangelize effectively. Different approach and completely different outcome.

The important thing to understand here is that if we have a bad attitude to training, then we could miss out on the special supernatural help that Jesus has sent us in the form of these gifted people.

This is what Kingdom Training, or Discipleship is all about.

TRAINING QUESTIONS

Have you discipled anyone in Christ ?

Are you discipling or training anyone right now ?

Are you able to train or disciple anyone ? Are you trained yourself ?

Are you fruitful and reproductinve in the Kingdom, repriducing born-again believers ?

Do you need help or more training or coaching ?

Do you know any Ephesian 4 “Super Trainers” who can help add to your fruitfulness and success ?

We would love to help you to start becoming fruitful, and if you are already fruitful… to be even more fruitful.

Are you willing to be trained ?

Oasis “Urban Mission Basic Training”

These Oasis training sessions below are delivered in a safe and relaxed setting, usually over a meal, where we unpack scripture, look at practical examples, discuss the personal application in our lives and talk through any questions you might have. You may have intellectually learnt some of these topics before, which is good, but when put together in a repeatable sequence and workshopped/discussed as a group, with the input of the Holy Spirit, we become unstoppable, and reproduceable.

Track 1. Encounter God

1. Who is God, and Jesus ? Why was Jesus so special ?

2. The Words of Jesus. What did Jesus say and teach ? Why are they important ? How can I apply them to my life ?

3. The Gospel of Jesus and how to share it properly, anytime. What’s in the core of the message ? Who do I share it with ? When do I share it ?

4. Learn to Pray Effectively about anything. What is prayer ? How do we pray ? Why is prayer so powerful ?

5. Bread and Wine with Jesus. What is this ? Why do we do this ? How do we do this ?

6. Your Water Baptism into a New Life. Is this really necessary ? How can I do this ?

7. Baptism of the Holy Spirit‘s power. What is this ?

8. What is the Kingdom of God ? Where is this ? What is this ? What is my role in the Kingdom ?

Track 2. Encounter the Church

1. What is the Church ? Why are there so many different churches ? What did the original church look like ? How did the modern Church get to this point, and why do they do the things they do ?

2. Being Obedient to Jesus. Learning to do what matters to Jesus. What does Jesus want from me ? How do I learn what matters to Jesus ?

3. Special Holy Spirit Gifts from Jesus. Why are these needed ? What do these gifts do ? How do they work ? How do I get them ?

4. Doing the Jesus Life Together as a Like-Minded Family. How do I get along with my Jesus family and friends ? What new skills and behaviours do I need to master ?

Track 3 Encounter Your Mission

1. What is Your Jesus Mission ? What has Jesus called you to do ? How do you know if it’s real ?

2. Know Your Enemy. What enemy ? Who is that ? How can recognise him ? What does the enemy do ? How can I defend myself ?

3. Learn to Overcome the Enemy. How do I learn how to tackle the enemy head on. What is spiritual warfare ? How do I do that successfully?

4. Define Your Mission Field. Who am I meant to reach ? Where are the people I am meant to reach ? What do I do when I go to them ? Am I authorised to go ?

5. Get Ready. Your Jesus Tools, Preparation and Equipping. How can I reach people that God is sending me to ? How can I get prepared ? What do I need to know when I go ? What does success look like ?

6. Get Support for your Jesus Mission along the way. Where do I go for help in my Jesus adventure ? Who can help be when I get stuck ? Do I do this alone ?

Do you need training, coaching or improvement in any Kingdom area ? We can help individuals, leaders, fellowships and movements sharpen what they are doing to be more effective in the Kingdom.