The Spiritual DNA of a Church on Mission

Rediscovering the 1st Century Church for 21st Century Spiritual Awakening

Bob Burton

• Publisher: B&H Academic
• Year: 2020
• ISBN:
  9781433645884
• Topic: Théologie et religion
• Subtopic: Église chrétienne

In Spiritual DNA of the Church On Mission, author Bob Burton compares the missional foundation of the early church to human DNA. He argues that understanding the Church's missional DNA is the most effective starting point in engaging your church members on God's mission for the sake of total gospel transformation. 

1

Spiritual Preparation: Wait, Pray, and Expect God to Work

(Jerusalem)

He [Jesus] also said to them, “This is what is written: The Messiah would suffer and rise from the dead the third day, and repentance for forgiveness of sins would be proclaimed in his name to all the nations, beginning at Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. And look I am sending you what my Father promised. As for you, stay in the city until you are empowered from on high.”

—Luke 24:48–49

Expect great things from God; attempt great things for God.

—William Carey

I like to wait!” . . . said no one ever. If there were a DNA gene for patient waiting, then William Carey would likely have possessed it. The shoemaker-turned-missionary, also known as the “Father of Modern Missions,” spent years in faithful preparation. Early on, God used him to challenge a church in England paralyzed by hyper-Calvinism to rediscover their first-century spiritual DNA. From there he went on to India and, amazingly, didn’t see anyone come to Christ for seven years. God did eventually give breakthroughs, the work did multipy, and others also answered the call to join him. Yet at his death, after forty-one years in India, his converts numbered only in the hundreds. We love the stories of thousands and tens of thousands coming to Christ. We love the stories of God invading our world and quickly doing what only he can do. But Scripture tells us of a critical step prior to any action. William Carey understood that the quiet work done in secret was as important as any great success in public.

Think for a moment about just how quickly and widely the gospel traveled in the book of Acts. Within only a few decades, much of the known world had heard the good news. The church in Jerusalem numbered 120 in an upper room, and exponentially grew in the city (some estimate 10,000 people), then moved from city to city, village to village, and continent to continent within a relatively short time.¹ That’s a great deal of action happening in a great number of places. Now think about how it all began. Where did it start? With a command to wait.

At the end of Luke, Jesus instructs the church in Jerusalem to wait for the promise of the Father because they would be clothed and indwelt with the power of the Holy Spirit (24:49). The early disciples were people of action. Waiting was likely counterintuitive for them. However, the book of Acts—the book of action—begins with waiting and preparation. For the first-century church, the measure of the effectiveness on the mission field was directly related to the measure of spiritual preparation—praying, waiting, and expecting.

The first strand of spiritual DNA in the church is to commit to the Father’s work of spiritual preparation. Jesus prepared the church at Jerusalem with forty days of instruction before his ascension, followed immediately by ten days of praying and waiting. When the Holy Spirit came upon them after that time of preparation, the church exploded with growth. Peter preached the gospel on the day of Pentecost and 3,000 received the gift of salvation through Christ. It’s worth noting that the twenty-first century church tends to invert these priorities: it prays for minutes and then preaches for days, expecting Pentecost-like results.² If you and your church desire to see and experience an Acts 2 move of God, then you will need Acts 1 spiritual preparation.

There is always a direct connection between prayer and missions. Consider how prayer weaves through the account of the church start in Philippi:

•Paul and his companions went to the place of prayer with the gospel and met Lydia and the other women (Acts 16:13–14).

•They were on their way to prayer when they met the fortune-teller (16:16).

•Paul and Silas were praying and singing praise to God in prison chains when the Lord delivered them out of their chains and delivered a jailer and his household from their sin (16:25).

Preparation was the foundational missional principle for the church. It all began with a lifestyle of prayer, waiting, and expectation.

When a church takes the posture of wholeheartedly praying and waiting until the Lord says go—rather than relegating prayer to an event, program, or strategy—God does incredible things. To experience a move of God’s Spirit and see lives transformed, we must not skip or shortcut the preliminary steps in the book of Acts.

God’s Conditions to Revival

In the Bible, God sets forth conditions for revival. These conditions begin with spiritual preparation. It’s important to note up front that we do not glibly say, “If we do x and y, then God will automatically do z,” or assert that God is obligated to respond to our prayers in a prescribed manner. God is sovereign and chooses to move with revival on his terms. However, his word does provide example after example of conditional promises related to revival and awakening. Billy Graham insightfully comments:

As we have seen in this book [Acts], Pentecost was the day of power of the Holy Spirit. It was the day the Christian church was born. We do not expect that Pentecost will be repeated any more than that Jesus will die on the cross again. But we do expect Pentecostal blessings when the conditions for God’s moving are met, and especially as we approach “the latter days.” Christians are to prepare the way. We are to be ready for the Spirit to fill and use us.³

Consider 2 Chr 7:14. In the history of Israel, this verse was a call to spiritual preparation, and the life-changing actions are just as applicable to God’s people today. The expectation and promise from God is: “If my people which are called by my name humble themselves, pray and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, forgive their sin and heal their land” (2 Chr 7:14 KJV). There is an “if” condition followed by a “then” outcome. Another conditional example is Moses’s charge to God’s people: “Now if you faithfully obey the LORD your God and are careful to follow all his commands I am giving you today, the LORD your God will put you far above all the nations of the earth” (Deut 28:1–2). The remainder of the chapter details the “then” blessings of obedience and the curses of disobedience. The prophet Joel gives us yet another conditional example when he called the nation to revival:

Even now—this is the LORD’s declaration—turn to me with all your heart, with fasting, weeping, and mourning. Tear your hearts, not just your clothes, and return to the LORD your God. For he is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger, abounding in faithful love, and he relents from sending disaster. Who knows? He may turn and relent and leave a blessing behind him, so you can offer grain and wine to the LORD your God. (Joel 2:12–14)

This if-then pattern is repeated throughout Scripture.

Although Acts is not prescriptive in nature with “ifs” and “thens,” it is a living description of what can happen when God’s people pray, wait, and expect. If the early disciples would obediently wait for the Father’s promise, then they would be baptized with the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:4–5). Jesus also instructed his disciples to ask the Lord of the harvest to send forth workers (Luke 10:32). Likewise, we should eagerly lean in to prayer as we wait and expect the Holy Spirit’s power to permeate our lives, our churches, and our communities. In so doing, we can expect God to mobilize his people who are prepared and ready for the Holy Spirit’s work.

The Purpose of Spiritual Preparation

God’s principle lessons during times of waiting are trust, obedience, and character building. The Jerusalem church’s experience points to this truth. Stephen, one of the first deacons, preached a powerful sermon in Jerusalem about the redemptive history of God’s people, giving us a glimpse of these lessons. Look at how God uses seasons of preparation in his mission:

•Stephen starts with Abraham and how God worked in his life (Acts 7:1–8). Abraham waited twenty-five years to see God’s promise fulfilled (Gen 12:4; 21:4). He was told God’s people would wait for 400 years to be set free from bondage (Acts 7:6–7). God taught him to trust and obey (Rom 4:16–25).

•He mentions Joseph in Egypt (Acts 7:9–16). Joseph waited thirteen years while God built his character and a heart to forgive (Gen 37:2; 41:46). God sent him ahead to prepare the way (Ps 105:17–22).

•He turns to Moses (Acts 7:17–50). God shaped Moses’s character to match the assignment. That work took forty years in the desert and forty more years wandering in the wilderness (Acts 7:30, 36).

Seasons of preparation hold serious purpose. God is not delaying action but rather making us ready to carry his agenda. God expects trust, obedience, and character from his servants on mission with him. It’s in his waiting rooms (or upper rooms) where he prepares his people. The Jerusalem church would be no different.

Spiritual Preparation Leads to Specific Direction

In addition to the work it does in our hearts to build our faith, spiritual preparation also provides specific direction to our steps. Jesus spent extended time in intense personal prayer. He often retreated from the crowds in order to seek the Father. It may sound like an odd question, but have you ever considered what Jesus prayed about? Could it be that Jesus was asking God to reveal his next steps to him? What town do I go to next? Who do I talk to? Jesus received direction and strength as he waited on the Father for his next steps.

Friends, this is our example. How do we know what city or neighborhood to plant a church in? How do we know what our role is to be in a missionary endeavor or what new ministry our city needs? How will we be able to discern when God is bringing someone into our lives to share the gospel? The church in Jerusalem had a clear command from Jesus to wait for the promise of the Father. If we follow his lead, we will experience his power and presence.

Each word from God will be unique to your context and always in alignment with his Word. God may direct you to start a new ministry inspir...

Table of contents

• Acknowledgments
• Preface
• Introduction
• Chapter 1 Spiritual Preparation: Wait, Pray, and Expect God to Work (Jerusalem)
• Chapter 2 Spiritual Authority: Rely on the Holy Spirit’s Power (Jerusalem)
• Chapter 3 Spiritual Understanding: Focus on Peoples and Places (Jerusalem/Caesarea)
• Chapter 4 Spiritual Leadership: Identify and Nurture Missional Leaders (Antioch)
• Chapter 5 Spiritual Synergy: Work Together for Greater Impact (Philippi)
• Chapter 6 Spiritual Receptivity: Discover Persons of Peace (Philippi)
• Chapter 7 Spiritual Sowing: Evangelize and Make Disciples (Thessalonica/Berea)
• Chapter 8 Spiritual Bridges: Leverage Points of Connection (Athens)
• Chapter 9 Spiritual Giftedness: Gather and Give Resources from the Harvest (Corinth)
• Chapter 10 Spiritual Warfare: Fight the Good Fight (Ephesus)
• Chapter 11 A Church in Action: Personalize the Spiritual DNA Principles
• Afterword: The Next Act for You and Your Church
• Appendix 1: Preview of The Spiritual DNA of a Church on Mission Workbook
• Appendix 2: The Spiritual DNA Principles and Churches in Acts
• Appendix 3: The Spiritual DNA Principles in the Life of Christ
• Appendix 4: The Spiritual DNA Principles in the Missionary Discourses
• Appendix 5: The Spiritual DNA Principles as Modern Mutations
• Appendix 6: The Spiritual DNA Principles in the Church at Philippi
• Appendix 7: The Spiritual DNA Principles in the Parables
• Appendix 8: The Spiritual DNA Principles in Awakenings and Revivals of North America
• Appendix 9: The Spiritual DNA Principles in Entrepreneurship
• About the Author
• Name and Subject Index
• Scripture Index