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Can you believe we get to live in the greatest time of human history for bringing the Good News of Jesus Christ to the people of the world?

Never before have we had access to so many people in such diverse ways. We can travel to nearly every people group in the world, and they can travel to us. With social media, we can make friends and share the gospel around the world without even boarding a plane.

We’re not alone in our travel mobility either. Foursquare is now a growing, global church where each nation has Acts 1:8 in their Bibles just like we do.

More of Christ’s followers are taking the Good News throughout their nations and unto the “ends of the earth,” which if you’re from Papua New Guinea just might land you in Dallas (true story).

Partnerships

What does this mean for us? It means that we can develop partnerships with others who share our mission—working together is our specialty. An old African proverb says: “If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.”

Foursquare Missions International (FMI) is poised for partnership. FMI can help equip you for global ministry and link you with catalytic nation changers from your family around the globe. Through these strategic partnerships, the spread of the gospel can be increased exponentially.

We are not naïve to the perils and threats throughout the world, nor are we looking through the glasses of the 10 spies who missed out on divine destiny because their viewfinder had the lens of fear; rather, we’re looking through the glasses of Joshua and Caleb, who saw opportunity and promise.

Go

Catalytic people see the harvest where it’s the hardest. Those hard places are where we need to go. Millions are waiting to hear the Good News of Jesus. However, before we jump on a plane to those difficult places, we must acquire essential preparation and training. The world has changed, but the Word has not. So what do we do?

Proclamation and Demonstration

Packed right into the first verse of Acts 1, Luke, the writer, gives us clues and says that he’s written about all that Jesus began to do and teach. Simple but profound, Jesus was a person of action, or “demonstration,” and teaching, or “proclamation.”

His promised Holy Spirit empowerment is given to us so that we might experience this and bring the kingdom of God to where it isn’t. This proclamation is written into the Great Commission of the Gospels as we teach and proclaim with our words. Demonstration, according to Jesus’ ministry, involved power to heal and deliver as well as compassion to serve, care and love.

Interesting that these have really been genetics of the Foursquare movement since the onset. We are a proclamation and demonstration movement, that the world might not only hear the gospel, but also see the gospel. This empowerment is the reactor core of catalytic ministry. It is this type of ministry that deserves the term “catalytic.”

To be globally catalytic requires that we be contextual and incarnational. The message is the same, but the methods change. Jesus was the first missionary, and he came to us and lived full of grace and truth among us. True catalysts are boundary-crossing missionaries who live out Christ’s message in the power and compassion of His Spirit. They are clothed in Christ in such a way that the locals see Jesus as one of their own.

Great things are happening today, and they can happen through all of us. I’m not sure how you feel, but I don’t merely want to watch these great things happen through the window. I want to be right in the middle of it all. Let’s go do this together as a Foursquare family on a mission.

Here are nine ways you can help develop a catalytic cross-cultural culture:

  1. Invite people to pray in languages in addition to the primary language of your church; platform and celebrate other nations, and build a culture of praying for them.
  2. Frequently and expositorily, teach from the Scriptures about mission.
  3. Get involved locally with the nations in your neighborhood. God has brought many unreached people and under-reached groups to your city for a reason. Learn about these neighbors, and share what you learn with your congregation.
  4. Build relationships of respect with your neighbors from other nations (add coffee, tea and food). This is great for families, seniors and youth alike.
  5. Identify the homelands of your city’s immigrants. Consider connecting with Foursquare in their home nations. If you love their nations, they’ll often love you and want to help you as you help their homeland.
  6. Mobilize everyone. It’s harvest time; equip and unleash your global force.
  7. Connect with global missionaries and leaders through FMI. They know their area needs and how you might be most effective in catalyzing the world there.
  8. Discover those in your church whose hearts are already being stirred by the Spirit to reach the nations. Appoint a point person for global ministry at your church to keep the awareness and opportunity always in front.
  9. Build a culture of response to the Great Commission: Teach people to pray consistently and tenaciously that strongholds will be broken so that the gospel can be proclaimed effectively.

is the senior vice president of global operations for The Foursquare Church.
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