Lesson One
The Course Introduction
Welcome to our global on-line training school for the new generation of church and missionary leaders. This is a training school without walls, without frontiers, without any fees and one that leaps over every barrier of political, religious, racist, sexist and denominational prejudice, in the name of Jesus.
We hope that these lessons will inspire and bless both you and thousands of similar like-minded people who live and dream in the passion of their first love for Jesus.
The fact that you starting this course today means that you want to want to know the Lord better yourself, and in your heart you want to see the people in your family and nation, and the unreached peoples of the world turning to live a disciplined, holy life in the love and care of God through faith in Jesus Christ.
That was the Lord's call and vision for Paul's life and it is surely still the Lord's vision for us today. This Course will help you to do just that. Please read Acts 26.18.
This is Lesson One, it is very simple and just an introduction. The lessons that follow are more complete and filled with good things to learn and to do. I have personally done them all, taught them in class, handed them on to thousands of people and now they are yours. I hope and pray that you will be as blessed, challenged and moved towards the Lord and His ways as I have been and continue to be as the years go on.
Les Norman
Question: How does this Course work best ?
G12
This Course follows the effective approach that Jesus adopted to train His disciples, and later Paul took the same approach with Timothy,
"The things you have heard me say . . entrust to reliable men . . who will also teach others." Paul to Timothy, 2 Timothy 2.2.
We would like you to grasp this from the very start. In 2001 the approach is beginning to be known among the fast-growing churches of the world as G12, a development of the cell church principle taught originally by Pastor Yonggi Cho of Korea and now very succesfully developed by Pastor Cesar Castellanos of Bogota, Colombia who has seen his congregation grow from 8 to 120,000 in ten years. He says,
"I began to see Jesus' ministry with clarity. The multitudes followed, but He didn't train the multitudes. He only trained 12, and everything he did with the multitudes was to teach the 12. Then the Lord asked me another question: "If Jesus trained 12, should you win more than 12 or less than 12?" Jesus chose 12 to reach the multitudes. He stayed with these 12 permanently, until they were trained and He released them, gave them authority and empowered them to disciple the nations."
Pastor, leader - the best thing to do is to find 12 to meet with you to take these studies together. The Word of God and the Spirit of God will consolidate everybody's faith and commitment and reproduce Christ's character in you by discipleship and then release those who are willing to go to win 12 more each whilst staying in fellowship with the original group of 12 friends."
From our Thinking Globally World News Page:
G12 Cell Church visionIf you would like to know more about the G12 Cell Church vision that is sweeping Latin America and being introduced into the UK, Spain and Europe then go to www.mci12.com which is the church of Pastor Cesar Castellanos en Colombia which has grown from 8 to 120,000 members and has a youth group of 30,000. This page G12 at Kensington Temple comes from Kensington Temple/London City Church which has adopted the vision for London.
1. First of all we are going to pass on to you an outline of what we have learned over the years and with the help of the Holy Spirit, the Bible, our prayers and an open mind you will grasp the ideas.
The Course moves through various interlinking themes in an order which seems to most appealing and useful to the churches in the developing nations:
- Evangelism
- Mission
- Discipleship basic level for new believers
- Discipleship advanced level
- Call of God
- Believing God for Finances
- Leadership Training
- Building The Church
- The Kingdom Comes
2. Secondly, if it is at all possible in your circumstances we really want you to pass on to others all that you learn, so that the word of God spreads. We will show you how to do that without spending a lot of money which we know is hard to find. See How To Open Your Own School and Lesson 66 A Discipling Church to see how to do this.
By the way when we say a school we do not mean that you have to open a special building with professional staff. Our students meet in church halls, in homes, in shops and even under palm trees in the open air. All you need is a group of willing people, a Bible, these materials and the presence of God with you though prayer. We will help you to make a start and help you along every step of the way.
Then, what we really want is to see the people that learn from you going and telling the people they know, using the same notes and simple ways of passing on the word of God.
- Look at the incredible mathematics of G12:
- If you learn for yourself ~ 1 person hears the word of the Lord
- If you share the lesson with 12 people ~ 13 people hear the word of the Lord
- If the 12 were to tell 12 more people ~ 157 people hear the word of the Lord
- If the 157 were to tell 12 more people ~ 1,884 people hear the word of the Lord.
- If the 1,884 people tell 12 more people ~ 22,608 people hear the word of the Lord.
- And suddenly you have a move of God. This has happened in China and is happening every day in parts of South America and Africa where 'Training by Multiplication' courses such as this are proving to be the only cost-effective way to teach the thousands of people who are deciding to follow Jesus.
- No special buildings or materials required just meeting and talking.
- "The things you have heard me say . . entrust to reliable men. . who will also teach others." Paul to Timothy, 2 Timothy 2.2.
Together we can train many people to become mature believers and they themselves will go and do the work of the ministry - in evangelism, discipleship and in care for the poor, having found the faith, the works and the finances that are necessary to advance the gospel. In the first chapter of Genesis, when the Word of God came together with the Spirit of God, there was an explosion of new life and that is our prayer, that the Lord would do the same again, this time in your lives and in your community.
3. Lastly, once graduated, a student can ask for help to develop his or her own vision for new missions work in either evangelism, mission to unreached peoples, training in mission, social action or in opening a Christian business to provide funds for mission."
Relax
If leading a group or working in a group is not possible for you, if you are really sure about that, then you are still more than welcome to take this programme as an individual, or in the best way that your circumstances permit. We have no second-class students.
Is the course difficult ?
These lessons have been well tested in the churches of Africa, India and the Hispanic world, adapted of course to the local culture. They say the teaching is biblical, true, relevant to the developing world and focused on their passion, to finish the Great Commission so that Jesus can return. Many of the ideas have been born, tried and tested in the developing world, which is not very different from the first century Bible times.
With God's help the lessons will not be too difficult even for people with little or no education. The teaching is simple and uncomplicated ands the words should be easy for you to translate if you need to.
The notes are clear and easy to read and your friends can also download them free of charge and copy them by hand or by machine. Each lesson can be downloaded and copied separately so it is easy and affordable to obtain these studies. People can buy from you their photocopies of the studies one sheet at a time if necessary so even copying the whole course will not be too expensive.
Now, please go back to the List of Studies and have a good look at all the studies and see what you will learn and all that you can pass on to others.
Lesson One ends by asking you to read every section of the Information Page to make sure that you know what to do.
- © Dr Les Norman | The DCI Trust, UK
Permission is granted to provide copies at cost price for study purposes- but not for sale or commercial purposes. Freely you have received, so please freely give.