Vital Group Pulse Check

As the Lord prepares the way for us to gospelize, truthize and churchize city after city and town after town, throughout North America, it seems to me that we need to have a reality check. That is, we need to ask ourselves what exactly are we bringing to these locales:

• Are we bringing to these cities a new vital church life characterized by the God-ordained way?
• Will the result of this move be a new church tree (or a strengthened lamp stand) that will be focused on God’s New Testament economy?
• Will the new church tree be firmly planted on the ground of oneness and continue in the teaching and fellowship of the apostles?
• Will it be in one accord with all the churches in the Lord’s recovery and move with them together as one new man, preparing the Bride for the Lord’s return?

Big questions, I know!  But the reason for this article, today, is the realization that GTCA’s long-term success does not depend on a lot of saints getting stirred up in 2011. Rather, its goal of gospelizing, truthizing and churchizing all the major towns and cities of the United States and Canada, depends on saints who are praying and getting vitalized.  And together, in vital groupings, these saints will take the long-term view to till, to sow, to water and to farm the cities of North America, until the continent becomes a forest of church trees.  Consequently, we all need to be vitalized and “groupized” by the Head through His Spirit.

That’s why I thought we all could benefit from the checklist, presented in the website of  “Living to Him”, entitled, the Vital Group Pulse Check:

Questions that must be answered by all of us who love the Lord’s recovery, who desire to see the Lord’s recovery progress in its basic components, and who are giving themselves to carry on the Lord’s recovery:

1. Are you part of a vital group and a functioning member?
2. Do you exercise daily to start the day with a personal revival?
3. Are you reading the Word at least one chapter each day and reading the ministry daily – three to five pages or one message, and also praying alone daily and calling on the name of the Lord continually?
4. Has the fire of the gospel been ignited in your small group to care for others – weak ones, backslidden ones, and unbelieving ones? Has your spirit been fanned into flame?
5. Have you started to have intimate and thorough fellowship with a companion in your small group and praying with that one at least once or twice a week? Have you and your companion made a list of backslidden ones and unbelieving ones and begun to pray for them and look to the Lord for His leading in contacting them?
6. Is your vital group corporately carrying out the four steps of the God-ordained way revealed in the Scriptures? (Begetting, feeding, perfecting, building)

[The above is taken from an outline in a recent conference given by Benson Phillips to leading ones in Texas.]

These questions, while exposing, should bring us to an honest realization of where we are and cause us to re-evaluate our situations before the Lord. They should not paralyze us and cause us to give up. Rather, we should simply start where we are and go on one step at a time.

In a fellowship given on April 6, 2008 (audio posted under “MESSAGES”), Andrew Yu said, “You need to start where you are. Don’t think big, you know, that’s one thing I learned…When you think too big you’re not going to get it. Just start from where you are and start from prayer. And it will happen.”
May we take these points to the Lord and press on.

May the Lord cause us all to ask these questions, to answer them honestly and to be led by the Lord into the reality of vital group living, so that from coast to coast this continent will be carpeted with living church trees.

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This is the Right Time to GTC Ontario!

The coming new year, 2011, is the right time for us to rise up and take North America. This continent is the land that God has given to us.  Not merely because it is our home, but more crucially, because the Lord is using it as a strategic staging area from which He may spread throughout the earth. To take North America, we need to take key city after key city, including those in the province of Ontario, Canada. For this move, we realize that God is way ahead of us, preparing the landscape for His move. He has operated in the affairs of men, using the current economic and social dislocation, uncertainty, and instability to cause people to seek for God, even if they don’t fully comprehend that is Whom they are in search.

We believe, as our brother Lee shared with us, in The World Situation and God’s Move:

The events of world history have been sovereignly arranged by God for Him to carry out His purpose. As Acts 17:26 says, He “hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation.” The rise and fall of the kingdoms of earth and the boundaries of all the nations have been predetermined by Him.

God’s move among men is wrapped up with the course of history. Whether we speak of His becoming flesh through the incarnation, or of the spread of the gospel, or of the raising up of the church life, or of the preparation of the bride, all these aspects of His move require the proper environment, as far as the world situation is concerned.

Today, North America is going through another time of social, economic and political  unrest that is putting a great deal of  pressure on people. This is sovereignly arranged by God to fulfill His purpose. And, one can not fail to notice the parallels between the 2000’s and an earlier, tempestuous time in North America, i.e., the 60′.  In that decade, too, North America went through great dislocation. And like the 60’s, the Lord is using the tempest to produce something for Himself. Take a look at some of the following parallels.

NORTH AMERICA IN THE 1960’s

The world situation in that decade was characterized by the:

• Vietnam War
• The Cold War (war of ideologies)
• Student Unrest (student strikes, flag burning, draft dodging)
• Kennedy (John & Robert) & Martin Luther King assassinations,
• The Youth Culture and the Hippie Movement
• The Civil Rights Movement

The spiritual result of this time was characterized by:

• Many people leaving traditional churches and religion in search for something real and meaningful
• The Charismatic Movement in Catholicism and mainline Protestant churches, as a response to the exodus of believers
• The Jesus people movement
• Over an estimated 300,000 seeking believers in search for answers to their spiritual thirst and hunger
• Many drawn to the Recovery through the writings of Watchman Nee

NORTH AMERICA IN THE 2000’s

The world situation in the last ten years has been characterized by:

• War in Iraq and Afghanistan
• War On Terror
• A disastrous collapse of the financial systems, recession and a weakened, unstable economy, coupled with the spectre of “peak oil”
• A youth culture obsessed with instant gratification and the need of constantly connecting with others (regardless of how superficial the relationships are) through texting, Twitting and messaging others on Facebook.
• Graduating university and college students with an unrealistic sense of entitlement and poor job prospects

This last decade has had a powerful spiritual impact as demonstrated by:

• The decline of the mega-Churches, with many leaving those institutions because of their crass commercialism, their appealing to the baser appetites of people and offering entertainment and not genuine spiritual nourishment
• Consequently, the House church movement has swelled, with many drawn to the writings of Watchman Nee
• An estimated 20,000,000 seeking Christians in North American are looking for answers to the void they feel for a genuine expression of Christ and the church
• People getting re-acquainted with the writings of Watchman Nee and discovering the writings of brother Witness Lee

Brother Lee in The World Situation and the Direction of the Lord’s Move, reminds us,

“Because of the present situation in the world, there needs to be an appropriate direction for the Lord’s move in His recovery today. We should not think that the present changes in the world situation are meaningless. The Lord is not only the Creator of the universe but also the Ruler of the entire world.”

So how should we respond? Again, brother Lee points to four verses of scripture to help us see the direction we should take:

1. The people who know their God will show strength and take action—Dan. 11:32.
2. The truths in the Lord’s recovery need to be spread to the whole earth—cf. Matt. 24:14.
3. Go and teach all the nations—cf. Matt. 28:19.
4. How beautiful are the feet of those who go and teach—cf. Rom. 10:15.

This is the right time to spread the Lord’s recovery by going and teaching (showing strength and taking action). There is no need for special signs from God. The times and boundaries of the nations have been set. We need to do is to KNOW our God and go!

If you want to help in the Lord’s move to gospelize, truthize and churchize North America and more specifically, Ontario, we urge you to:

1. Pray for this move
2. Equip yourself (go to, study the contents of and subscribe to GTCA.us and to this website),
3. Indicate the extent to which you can serve by completing the following form, GTCA Move in Guelph and Hamilton and,
4. If you know anyone in those towns who might be open to contact during our sowing time in February, share that information in this form, gtcOntario Contacts

So don’t delay; pray, know your God, be strong, take action, go, teach and spread the Lord’s testimony.

Who do you know in Guelph and Hamilton?

Between the greater Hamilton and Guelph areas there are over a million people. I’m sure that between all of us in the churches in southern Ontario and other parts of Canada, we must know a good number of people from this huge area.

We may have forged many and varied relationships with these people, over the years. The possible relationships we may have built may include any one of the kinds listed below. How many can you think of?

• Childhood friends
• Schoolmates (primary to college)
• Neighbours
• Immediate family: dads, moms, brothers, sisters
• Extended family: cousins, aunts, uncles, grandparents and
• Extra-extended family, like second cousins, aunts, uncles
• In-laws
• Former and current work chums and colleagues
• Professional associates
• Volunteer organizations
• Community contacts: mailman, grocer, bank teller, health club operators, dentist, doctor, chiropractor, favourite restaurant staff, etc.

Any of these ring a bell?  Would you please take a minute to think about all the people you know in the Guelph and Hamilton areas and list them on a piece of paper. When done, look at the list, consider the names, make mention of them before the Lord. After praying for these, consider which ones should be contacted, according to the Lord’s leading. Now, take action!  How? Complete the following form, gtcOntario Contacts.

Once you have completed the form, place these contacts in the Lord’s hands, continue to pray and, perhaps, contact them directly to gauge their openness to coming to one of the gtcOntario events or to receiving a BfC Bible or ministry literature.

What if you don’t know anyone from these towns and surrounding areas? OK, that’s fair. But do you know someone else who might know people in these two target cities?  Please share this article with them and encourage them to complete the gtcOntarioContacts form.

For the sake of His move in Ontario, let’s be strong and take action!

Seeking and Hungry Ones Sought

With the upcoming gtcOntario sowing time in Guelph and Hamilton, it is crucial that we focus on people, not mere activity. Oh, there will be plenty of activity, to be sure. But the focus of this move is people, especially seeking and hungry people.

So, who do we know in and around these two cities? Do we have friends studying at McMaster? At University of Guelph? Do we have acquaintances from work, in either of those cities? What about relatives? Work colleagues? Did we give out a “Bibles for Canada” New Testament to anyone in that area?

We need for all of us to think about who we know, especially the seeking Christians and the hungry and thirsty unbelievers. Between these two cities and including all the towns within 30 minutes of them, we are looking at a population of well over a million people. Surely, there must be seeking Christians who are waiting to hear the liberating message of God’s eternal purpose and His plan to carry it out. And among the unbelievers, surely there are many sons of peace waiting for us to knock at their doors.

To reach at least some of these seeking and hungry ones, we need to be prudent stewards.  We need to till the ground and prepare it for sowing, and even reaping, in those first two weeks of the GTCA move in Ontario. That’s why we need your help. If you have contacts in and around these two cities we would like to know about them. Our hope is that many of these would be open to on-going contact and even to having a meeting in their homes.

gtcOntario is compiling a list of these contacts so that we may better manage all our tilling and sowing efforts. Among the things we plan to do is to send them invitations to our events and to offer them free literature and/or Bibles.

Please, consider carefully who you might know in these cities and let us know about them. You may share with us that information by completing this form, gtcOntario Contacts. If you have any questions, write to us at gtcontario2021@gmail.com. Please include the most current information you have, including: name, gender, address, phone number, email address and comments (explaining your relationship to the contact and suggesting the best way to approach the contact).

May the Lord have a way to reap many seeking and hungry ones in Guelph and Hamilton, this coming February.

Grace to you!

Calling all Saints

There are many ways you can take part in the GTCA move. First all, we need to watch and pray. The enemy is alert, roaming around seeking whom he may devour, distract, defraud, delay, dishearten, detour…

So we must cooperate with the Lord to pray and carry out His will here in North America. So, pray for:

• yourself and the other local saints to have a heart for the Lord’s move
• the tilling of the ground in preparation for the upcoming sowing time
• the Teams and the gospel trips in February
• the outreach venues
• the distribution of many thousands of Bibles and literature sets
• the prevailing gospel with at least a 1000 men and women being saved
• the forming of hundreds of home meeting
• the watering of the seeds sown in February
• the farming of the tilled, sown and watered ground, coupled with saints migrating to targeted cities
• the successful planting of dozens of church trees in 2011

In addition to praying, go to the Lord and seek His leading on how to give your time and energy to serve, especially during the sowing time in February. You can also give, and not just money.  Consider, babysitting for the saints who want to serve part-time but have children to care for. How about cooking or baking snacks and lunches for the FTTA trainees. There are so many ways.

Even before the sowing time in February there is a great need to till the ground and get the word out about this move. One thing you could do is to share about this website to your friends on Facebook or you could tweet your friends about it. You could also become “friends” with this website’s Facebook page (Gtc Ontario) or follow us on Twitter (gtcOntario@Lordismoving) and encourage others to do so.

Here is another consideration. If you are planning to serve part-time, say in Hamilton or Guelph, why not do a two-minute video and upload it to YouTube, JustinTV, etc. and link it to this website and to our Facebook and Twitter pages. What can you share? Here are some things you can talk about:

• Tell people how the Lord has impressed you with His desire to spread His testimony all over North America.
• Tell viewers how you have responded and what you plan to do to cooperate in this move.
• Mention, if you would like, the city where you will serve and what you know about the city
• Share verses or excerpts from the ministry that inspire you to move with the Lord
• Make an appeal to saints you know to join you and give yourselves to be vitalized, constituted with the truth and to show strength and to take action.

Keep it simple, sincere and straightforward; be yourself and don’t perform, just share in a genuine way.

The Lord is calling us to move with Him. We must not fall behind Him, nor go ahead of Him. We pray that all of us in His recovery will heed His call.

The Lord’s Move in North America

gtcOntario is part of a larger move by God to plant church trees all over North America. This move is focused on G-T-C-A, i.e., gospelize-truthize-churchize North America.  For the next ten years the local churches in the Lord’s recovery are rising up to meet the Lord’s call to plant church trees throughout the continent.

As part of its initial efforts toward this 10 year goal, GTCA has identified 30 cities that will be the focus of these efforts. Also, GTCA will incorporate the annual gospel trip held by the Full-time Training in Anaheim, in the first two weeks of February, so that there may be an intensified time of sowing in these 30 cities and thus give our church planting or strengthening a strong beginning.

The following is a video that summarizes this move, including it roots in the work and ministry of brother Witness Lee.

We urge you to go to the Lord and seek His mind for how you can play a part in this great move of God in our lifetime. If you are interested in serving, even on a part-time basis, go the GTCA website and sign up to serve.

Young Adults Encouraged to Be Part of God’s Move in North America

We are so excited to be part of God’s present move in North America, i.e., to plant at least 250 new church trees in the next ten years.  In particular, we are happy to be part of the move to gospelize, truthize and churchize cities right here in Ontario.

This coming year our focus will be on the cities of Guelph and Hamilton. We are already arranging venues, outreach opportunities, and even appointments with seeking ones in both cities in order to have an intensified sowing time the first two weeks of February.

This move is a move of the Body, not merely of some gifted or talented people. Brothers and sisters of all ages are encouraged to pray, go and give for this move. We are especially hopefuls that many young adults will set aside time  to be part of the gtcOntario move.

If you are from neighboring cities and you have time during January or February we encourage you to come and serve, even on a part-time basis. To show your willingness to serve, please complete this google form by clicking here!