Alan Hirsch identifies six factors that he calls 'forgotten ways'. These factors were all active in the early church and in other examples of explosive growth; think of them as the DNA of the church. Alan suggests that if you follow Jesus, you already have this DNA, but perhaps some of it is inactive. Jesus is our righteousness, but are we a 'faithful city'? (Isaiah 1:26). Have we, like the church at Ephesus, forgotten the love we had at first? (Revelation 2:4)
In the Western church, what has been lying dormant for so long needs to be brought back into activity. The next six chapters in this guide are intended to help you start the process and begin a more exciting and fruitful journey.
This first chapter of JDMC might leave you with more questions than answers. That is the intention, to get you wondering and pondering. The remaining chapters provide more focus and detail.
Discuss – Before reading on, make some guesses about what the six factors
might be. What most enables rapid, even explosive, growth?
(Extracted from JDMC Version 2.)
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