Value #5

We are committed to spiritual families, spiritual parenting and God connecting the generations.

Modern technology provides easy and almost instantaneous access to the best and latest Christian books, television programs, conferences, tape series, or web sites. We need to make the most of these opportunities. Yet, effective spiritual parenting cannot be imparted this way. True parenting is time consuming, must be hands-on, is often messy, and receives little recognition. Therefore, developing healthy spiritual families will often require us to sacrifice our own agendas and personal dreams. We will need to be real, honest, and transparent. A good parent allows children to ask the hard questions without taking offense: “Daddy, why weren’t you nice to that man on the side of the road?”
Unless we have real relationship with those we are called to lead, we will fail to develop spiritual children and say to them what Paul said to the Corinthians: “For though you might have ten thousand instructors in Christ, yet you do not have many fathers; for in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the gospel. Therefore I urge you, imitate me” (I Corinthians 4:15-16). They will only imitate what we teach them by example. What legacy do you want to impart? How do you want to be remembered by the generations following you—as a prolific writer, a great preacher, an accurate prophet? More importantly, we should want to be remembered as a person of love who gave of himself for the life of his children.
As I considered how best to train our cell leaders, I read many books and listened to lots of advice. A leadership training class was established. I was attempting to train leaders fast—like clockwork. However, in a recent meeting, our cell leaders spoke honestly that they didn’t feel as connected with each other and were losing the sense of family that we once shared. I realized this was affecting our vision.
We had to get back to the basic values being discussed here. A decision was made right then and there to restructure our cell leaders training time to be more personal and reflective of cell life. It would cost some time and some of my “faith goals.” That night everyone left with renewed joy and a sense of belonging. As spiritual parents and children, our hearts were again turned to each other, relationships now have fresh soil in which to be cultivated, and our vision becomes clearer.

Robert Read is the senior elder of The Living Room, a DCFI partner church in Barbados.

Value #6

Spiritual multiplication and reproduction must extend to every sphere of kingdom life and ministry.

Our God is a God of multiplication. He tells Adam and Eve to be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth in Genesis 1:28. The early church began to multiply greatly throughout the known world as believers met from house to house and continued to start new churches in their communities as people came to faith in Christ. Cell multiplication must be the goal of every cell group, and multiplication must be the long-term goal of every church. Otherwise, we begin to become complacent and stagnate.
In DOVE Africa, we are experiencing rapid growth and multiplication of churches. New territories are being taken in areas where spiritual warfare gets intense. In such places, we find that many believers are out in the battlefront, sharing God’s love literally house to house to ensure that multiplication takes place.
For a cell in our physical body to grow, it must reproduce itself. As two become four and four become eight, an exponential growth is put into motion. The same must be true for growth in God’s kingdom.
However, an African village is a complicated spiritual phenomenon. Here in Africa, there is a great awareness of and alertness to the spiritual realm of life, be it the realm of darkness or that of light. So, a village contains many layers of dedication to witchcraft and powers of darkness. These strongholds can, of course, be pulled down through a bombardment of intercession, prayer walks and prophetic action.
Consequently, those who were held down by the deception of Satan are set free when they hear the gospel message. In some cases, dramatic healings have taken place as curses are broken. The village is transformed as households receive Christ. Hence, new cell groups are planted which then multiply to several cell groups and a church.
Spiritual warfare must precede cell and church multiplication. We are learning more and more that though the Lord has given us the tribes and nations, we need to fight for every inch.

Ibrahim Omondi, DOVE Christian Fellowship Nairobi, is DCFI’s African Apostolic Leader.