God always blesses us so we can bless others. After The Purpose Driven Life came out and sold more copies than any nonfiction hardback book in history, it became clear that God wanted to use my influence to help others. That’s when God laid on my heart the P.E.A.C.E. Plan. If you’ve been reading the Toolbox for any length of time, you’re probably familiar with what it stands for:
Promoting reconciliation
Equipping servant leaders
Assisting the poor
Caring for the sick
Educating the next generation
It’s basically what Jesus did when he was here on earth. There’s not a lot that’s unique about doing these five things. Mission organizations in all corners of the globe are doing them already. Churches have done them for 2,000 years.
It’s how these five things are done that makes P.E.A.C.E. different. In fact there are seven ways that the P.E.A.C.E. Plan is unique. These are the P.I.L.L.A.R.S. of the P.E.A.C.E. Plan.
Promotes, plants, and partners with the local church: First and foremost the P.E.A.C.E. Plan is about reclaiming the primacy of the local church in its role in global missions. Why? For the last century, the church has abdicated that role to para-church organizations, mission boards, and mission organizations. Don’t get me wrong. These organizations are doing great work, but they were never God’s Plan A. God always intended it to be done by the church.
And as we have handed over the reins of global missions, we’ve excused 99 percent of our members from participating in the five things Jesus did while he was on earth. The idea was this – let the professionals do it. Let the professional doctors care for the sick. Let the professional preachers start churches. But there just aren’t enough professionals. We all need to be a part of God’s mission in the world if we’re going to see his work get done. That’s why the P.E.A.C.E. plan is centered around the local church.
Imitates Jesus’ model: The P.E.A.C.E. Plan is modeled after the actual instructions Jesus gave when he sent out his disciples in Matthew 10 and Luke 10. You’d think that Jesus’ instructions would have long been the cornerstone of missions strategy for the church. Unfortunately, it hasn’t.
For example, Jesus says, “Don’t take a purse with you.” There are two reasons for that. First, he doesn’t want us to depend upon our money. He wants us to depend upon him. He is also saying that money can’t solve problems of the world. You can’t solve poverty by throwing money at it. When you throw money at problems, you create dependency. You create a “what-have-you-done-for-me-lately attitude.” Jesus says, you’ve got to train people to help themselves. That’s a core part of the P.E.A.C.E. Plan.
For another example, Jesus said: “Eat whatever they put in front of you.” He’s telling the disciples to adopt the local customs. You don’t ask those you are trying to reach to become like you before they become a Christian. You adapt your situation to them. They don’t adapt their situation to yours.
Jesus tells the disciples to go out in pairs. The P.E.A.C.E. Plan is done by small groups. We never send people out alone. You look all the way through Jesus’ ministry, he never sends people out by themselves. He always sends them out in groups of at least two. That’s why we send out small groups through the P.E.A.C.E. Plan
Jesus also tells the disciples to find a “man of peace” in every village – to start with someone who is open to the message and influential. We teach our teams to spot a person like that on every trip and start with that person.
Just take a look at the other commands Jesus made in those passages. Those words are the cornerstone of how we do P.E.A.C.E. Continue >>
RSS
