RELAX & OBEY

Last week I attended the Launch Church Multiplication Catalyst Conference in Manchester. It was one of the best conferences, if not the best conference I have attended. The vision behind the conference is a desire to see a new future for the church in Europe. With the statistical trend of decline in the church in Europe, Launch is seeking to be a catalyst for church planting and multiplication.  The quality of the speakers, worship, venue and organisation were amazing! One of the main stage speakers was a man called Jossy Chacko. I want to use this blog to try and convey some of my main takeaways from Jossy. (I plan to try and do a few blogs on my experience of Launch.)

Jossy kicked off his talk by telling a room full of church leaders and planters to RELAX! “You don’t need to build the church, He [Jesus} will do it for you! Relax.” Refreshing! I have been to  many conferences with many supposed quick fix church growth/building tools. I love how Jossy launched his message by reminding delegates that Jesus said, “I will build the church.”

“You don’t need to build the church, He [Jesus] will do it for you.” Jossy Chacko

From that simple but profound reminder, Jossy began to delve in to the Great Commission. The Great Commission is about obedience. To GO, Make Disciples and to teach obedience, not just teach knowledge but to teach obedience. It’s an incredibly simple command, Go and make disciples. Jossy explained how in a recent survey world wide Jesus is number 3 in brand awareness to McDonalds and Coca-Cola. How can this be? Why is this? Christians need to be surrendering in obedience to Jesus. ‘Let it be, whatever you say, I will do it Jesus.’  This is beautifully shown by Mary at the Wedding at Cana when they had run out of wine and she tells the servants ‘Just do whatever [Jesus] tells you.’ “Just do it! Nike stole it from Mary.” Jossy Chacko! Discipleship is obedience!

Therefore, in order to be obedient we need to realign our priorities. In heaven there are two things we won’t be able to do. Find someone to share Jesus with and help the poor and needy. If we get to do everything else  in heaven then we need to in obedience prioritise finding people to share Jesus with and helping the poor and needy while we are here on earth!

“The only reason for any Christian to exist on the earth is to fulfil The Great Commission!”

“Two things you can’t do in Heaven:

1. Find someone to share Jesus with.

2. Help the poor and needy.”

Jossy Chacko

We need to get back to the simplicity of the message of the Bible. Hear and Obey! We have often defined Christian maturity by information, how much someone knows. But maturity is measured by obedience. I wonder how do we measure success from a sermon? Is it how many pats on the back you receive at the door? What if we started to measure the fruitfulness of our preaching by how many obey God’s word.

” Obedience is not a choice, love is! To obey more, love more. The root of it all is love” Jossy Chako

But what is the root of obedience? LOVE! John 14 v 15 Obedience is not a choice, love is.

I wonder how much do you love Jesus?

Our calling as leaders is to lead people into a deeper love of Jesus. This is what the church in Europe needs if it is going to see a brighter future – a generation of radical disciples who deeply love Jesus leading to obedience. In obedience we long to see many finding and following Jesus. Dr Peter Brierley notes that where growth is occurring in Europe one the primary reasons is that those churches are planting churches. I love how Jossy ended his talk by linking church planting and obedience.

“Church planting is a result of effective discipleship. Effective discipleship is the effect of obedience. Effective obedience is the effect of love.” Jossy Chacko

Do you love him?

I really appreciate you reading this! If it has impacted you in anyway please share it with others via Facebook, Twitter or any other way so others can be impacted too. It means a lot to me. Thank you.

*This was such a good conference I am already booked in for next year! You can join me https://www.picatic.com/launch2018