In a bustling café in Bangkok, Peter and John sat down to discuss their remarkable journey in Laos—a Southeast Asian nation where the gospel is advancing against incredible odds. Together, they have spent 50 years fostering movements that multiply disciples and churches. Peter’s journey began in the 1990s. He trained and discipled local believers, leveraging people of peace to spread the gospel through their networks. By the early 2000s, local believers had baptized thousands of new disciples in multiple streams and provinces and saw many dozens of simple churches formed.   All of this i ..read more

From a noisy cafe in Bangkok, Peter and John give an update on movements of disciples and churches in Laos, SE Asia ..read more

image source By the time Joe arrived in northern Iraq he understood how movements work. He’d spent two years in north India learning the essentials. Through training and coaching local leaders, movements had launched among the Bhojpuri and Magahi peoples. The progress attracted the attention of the authorities and he had to leave India. Joe served among Syrian refugees and Iraqi Kurds. The locals he trained, planted churches in the refugee camps. Outside the Kurdish region of norther Iraq, ISIS was still in control. During this time he met Diar, a disciple who fled across the border from Iran ..read more

Joe can’t visit this Muslim nation, but he can train and coach from the sidelines ..read more

Diar grew up a devout Muslim, praying five times each day, going to the mosque, fasting during Ramadan. His father had always wanted him to be an Imam and sent him for training where he learned Arabic, the language of God. As he studied the Quran he discovered contradictions. At the beginning of the Quran it says, “Pray for people who don’t believe in Islam.” Near the end of the book it says, “If people don’t believe in the God of Islam you must kill them.” When he asked his teacher, he answered, “You must obey. This is the Word of God.” Diar knew he wouldn’t. At the same time the Islamic reg ..read more

Diar and Miriam are going after movements of disciples and churches somewhere in the Middle East ..read more

My eyes have seen it, my ears have heard it. A movement of God in the Western world, the fruit of which is disciples and churches to the glory of God. The gospel goes out. Disciples are learning to obey Christ together. Why should it surprise us that God should do this miracle in a maximum security prison and on death row? It’s no more surprising that after a generation of Islamic rule, Iranians are among the most responsive people in the world. Do we have nothing to learn from these movements of God as one suburban pastor assured me? Our world is so different from theirs. Yes it is, but God ..read more

When I talk to disciples in Iran I know they can immediately understand what is going on in the movements in Texas prisons, or those under the Communists in Laos, or under Islamic rule in the Middle East. They speak different languages, but they know the language of movements. They read the book of Acts and say, “That’s our reality.” We suffer, and the Word advances in power. The identity of every movement of God is shaped by obedience to his Word, dependence on the Holy Spirit, faithfulness to the core missionary task — multiplying disciples and churches to the glory of God. Among every peop ..read more

I spend a lot of time on the road a lot looking for case studies and stories of movements that are multiplying disciples and churches. One thing I’ve noticed — they’re not pursuing political agendas. They do one thing well — they make disciples and form them into multiplying churches. Yet in the West politics is king. The kingdom has come and so we need to make the world a better place. God will renew the whole creation, so let’s get started. There’s optimism about our prospects of transforming society in the light of the kingdom of God. That’s been the theme of Western thinking about mission ..read more

In Acts 4:23-31, Luke shows us how a movement prays when God is their only hope ..read more