OPEN USA Team Update | May 2024

In Acts 8 we see ordinary followers of Jesus taking the Good News as they scatter from Jerusalem to the coastal plain to Phoenicia, by boat to Cyprus, and north to Antioch. Michael Green says: “This must often have been not formal preaching, but the informal chattering to friends and chance acquaintances, in homes and wine shops, on walks, and around market stalls…. All this makes it abundantly clear that in contrast to the present day, when Christianity is highly intellectualized and dispensed by a professional clergy to a constituency increasingly confined to the middle class, in the early days the faith was spontaneously spread by informal evangelists, and had its greatest appeal among the working classes” (Michael Green, Evangelism in the Early Church, page 243-245).

Green says elsewhere in his book, and is quoted by Tim Keller: 

“80% or more of evangelism in the early church was done not by ministers or evangelists” but rather by ordinary disciples doing life the way God designed it (Tim Keller, How to Reach the West Again: Six Essential Elements of a Missionary Encounter, quoting from: Evangelism in the Early Church, Michael Green). 

I want to thank each of you because in running a network that facilitates “ordinary followers of Jesus” living “normal” lives and doing B4T, you are helping the church return to its first century roots. We must re-learn what the early church well understood in Jesus’ statement, ”As you go, make disciples of all nations…” (Matthew 28:18, more faithful to the original Greek). 

This year, we are supporting both the biennial OPEN Connect and the annual OPEN Expo. We are praying through the Expo theme now; but for Connect, the discernment team has prayed and sensed the LORD’s guidance already. The 2024 Connect theme will be: Venture Together.

The word “venture” is an old word, stemming from Latin and is defined as: “to risk going somewhere or doing something that might be dangerous or unpleasant, or to risk saying something that might be criticized” (Cambridge Dictionary). Think of venture capital: it is the riskiest form of investment, pouring money into early-stage startups that often haven’t created their product-market fit yet. Venture Capitalists risk the most for the highest potential reward. As B4Ters, we know what it is to put everything on the line and need God to show up, or we will fail. But we can easily feel like we are alone, forgetting that we are in a JOINT venture with God and with each other. We will walk through stories from the Scriptures and from within our network to encourage one another that not only are we venturing with God, we are also venturing with one another. 

Thanks to each of you for venturing together through your incredible service to God in the B4T movement through OPEN, and for venturing alongside those that labor among those who have no local church!

Coaching

The Coaching Team wants all to know, and be thankful for, the fact that several new coaches have joined their team. Some of those coaches reside outside of the US, which sometimes provides an opportunity for more visits and easier time scheduling.

The team is also continuing to work on raising the visibility of coaching services and the advantages of B4Ters having one.

Mentoring

During the last couple of months, the Mentoring Team has seen an increase in the number of difficult issues that some of our B4Ters are experiencing, and both the mentors and B4ters have seen the fruits of the mentoring process working to help in those situations as experienced mentors come alongside mentees to help work through those situations.

Lions’ Den

The Lions’ Den team is hard at work preparing for Lions’ Den 2024 at Connect in July. Founders are being prepared, and many Investors have stepped up to participate. They ask you to join them in praying for God to bring more B4T Founders and Investors as well as the decision of whether to hold portions of the Lions’ Den virtually.