The Bible: More Than a Story

At East-West, we believe in the Bible. Because this is one of our core statements of faith, we work to heed what it says about God, man, and missions.

It is our roadmap for the journey to reach the unreached, which is why we treat the holy text as more than words to be learned. The Bible gives us guidance to be lived out. It’s more than a story to our ministry. It’s our strategy.

^“Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.” -James 1:22

We strive to do what the Bible says. This command from James, brother of Jesus, convicts us to search the text for missions methods. In doing so, we’ve discovered trends that inform our strategy for church planting movements.

What We Learn from the Gospels

“As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world.” -John 17:18

Jesus broke 400 years of silence. In a profound way, God spoke His love for all people by sending His Son to seek and save the lost. Since that moment, the world has never been the same. As he moved from town to town, Jesus taught and displayed insight into the Kingdom of God. And he invited his followers to do the same.

In Matthew, he sent his 12 disciples with specific ministry instructions. In Luke, he sent the 70 with similar directives. He commanded them to...

• Proclaim the kingdom (Matthew 10:7, Luke 10:9)
• Heal the sick (Matthew 10:8, Luke 10:9)
• Drive out demons (Matthew 10:8)
• Give freely (Matthew 10:8)
• Bring only what you need (Matthew 10:9-10, Luke 10:4)
• Seek and stay with people of peace (Matthew 10:12-13, Luke 10:5-7)
• Move on when rejected (Matthew 10:14, Luke 10:11)

As we prayerfully act to spark movements of churches planting churches among the unreached, we seek to put what we’ve learned from these sending passages into practice. We send teams of missionaries and national partners from place to place to share the gospel, make disciples, and start reproducing churches.

What We Learn from Acts

With the good news announced in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, the Kingdom continues to spread rapidly through events documented in the Book of Acts. The disciples originally deployed in the Gospels are filled with the Holy Spirit, giving them new courage to take great risks in the Name of Jesus.

And a global movement begins.

East-West studies these stories in great detail to implement the first disciples’ strategies in our own church planting efforts. In our searching, here is what we’ve consistently observed:

• Believers move into new fields with no churches. In essence, these places are unreached.
• Believers boldly share the gospel of Jesus Christ often in the face of great persecution.
• Believers stay with the people and households that come to faith. They teach the word of God and disciple new believers.
• Those new to the faith gather together.
• Leaders are developed to oversee and care for disciples within these new churches.
• Leaders are raised up to take the gospel to new peoples and places to start new churches that multiply.

We believe the amazing works of God we witness throughout the New Testament can still happen today—here, now, through us.  This is why we are devoted to discovering the strategy woven throughout God’s redemption story.

The Bible contains not only the greatest story, but the greatest strategy to sharing the message of Jesus Christ in the world’s spiritually darkest places.