For our second session of our celebration, we gathered together at the nearby elementary school for breakfast. We then had Tony and Felicity Dale (click here for their website) come speak to us.
We asked them to come give us Jesus. And that is what they did.
There is something special about having an outside speaker come in to teach. They have no relationship baggage, for one. It also allows all of us, as one body, to learn together.
They were very interactive and were terrific facilitators. They began by telling us their story of how God led them to leave the institutional way of doing church and to start functioning as the church by meeting in homes in east London. They then went on to share the story of how God led them to America to (eventually) do a similar work.
Now, the Dales are well known in regards to the house church movement in America. But though they live next door in Austin, we have had virtually no interaction with them.
Until this morning, of course.
We looked at Luke 10:1-8 together, with four symbols in mind:
With those four symbols in mind, we gathered in groups of 4-5 and talked about the scriptures, beginning with verse 1. It was a great exercise and very helpful for drawing out the Lord from others (did you know that the word "educate" literally means "to draw out"?).
Another thing that the Dales had us do was to take five minutes, find a place in the building to be alone, ask the Lord how He wanted us as individuals to touch our world, and then to write down what we believed the Lord was telling us. How can you argue with a teaching that directs you to go to God, listen, and do what He says?
The Dales also stretched me in gentle but powerful ways. It is clear that they have a heart for the unreached and believe that house churches should multiply as a way of shining God's light into dark places. I do not have an evangelical mindset, but I also know that God's purpose is not just about us (our church as we currently are made up).
The Dales in no way pushed anything. They just encouraged us to go to Jesus and listen to Him. They also encouraged us to not be afraid of going with Him.
One last thing from this morning: in all my years as a Christian, I have never encountered a married couple minister Jesus Christ to people. It has almost always been a man, and on rare occasion a woman. To see a married couple as equal partners in sharing the Good News was incredibly inspiring. Tony and Felicity Dale are a modern day Priscilla and Aquila.