05. What a Movement Actually Needs.
You Were Made for So Much More Than This
You may have retired from the very skills a disciple-making movement needs.
You know how to encourage someone who is discouraged.
You know how to organize people, manage money, solve problems, and stay faithful when progress comes slowly.
You have learned to listen. You have relationships. You have experience that someone younger is still trying to gain.
Have you considered offering those things to help people make disciples?
In the last article, we watched eighty-five-year-old Caleb ask for the hill country.
Now let’s make the question practical:
Where could you put your hands to work?
Multiplying movements need people who help the work begin, people who strengthen others, people who pray, and people who supply what workers need.
You could serve in any of those places.
1. Movements need catalysts who help others begin.
A catalyst helps people take their first steps of obedience.
You meet someone who is interested in Jesus. You listen, share your story, and ask whether they would like to explore a Bible story together.
They invite a family member. Someone else brings a friend.
You help them discover what Jesus teaches and put it into practice. As they learn, you encourage them to share with others.
You don’t need a platform to begin.
You need a relationship, a willingness to speak about Jesus, and the patience to help someone follow Him.
Your first opportunity may be a neighbor, a former coworker, a fishing friend, or someone you meet over coffee.
Who around you might welcome a conversation about Jesus?
2. Movements need coaches who help others keep going.
Think about a young disciple-maker who has started a group.
Someone asks a difficult question. Another person stops coming. A promising leader becomes discouraged.
Who will help that disciple-maker think, pray, and take the next faithful step?
A coach can ask:
“What are you seeing God do?”
“What did you try?”
“What did you learn?”
“What will you do next?”
“How can I pray for you?”
Then the coach follows up.
You may have spent years helping employees develop, walking your children through challenges, or encouraging people at church.
With training, those experiences can help you serve disciple-makers.
A regular call from your home could strengthen someone serving in another community, or another country.
Someone may keep going because you took the time to listen.
3. Movements need people who pray faithfully and specifically.
Jesus told His disciples:
“The harvest indeed is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Pray therefore that the Lord of the harvest will send out laborers into his harvest.”
Matthew 9:37-38 WEB
You can obey that command today.
Ask a worker for the names of people they are trying to reach.
Pray for receptive households, courage to share Jesus, wisdom for new leaders, and protection for families facing opposition.
Follow up. Ask what happened. Keep praying.
Gather two or three friends who will carry those requests with you.
An open place on your calendar could become a regular prayer appointment for a community where few people have heard about Jesus.
Whose work could you begin carrying in prayer this week?
4. Movements need resources that help workers serve.
Resources include money, but they also include practical abilities.
A disciple-maker may need help preparing an understandable report.
A trainer may need someone to organize registrations or edit a teaching video.
A missionary may need bookkeeping assistance, reliable communication, or a connection to someone with agricultural experience.
You may know how to do exactly what is needed.
Financial gifts can also remove real barriers: transportation for a training visit, audio Scriptures for people who cannot read, or essential tools for a local worker.
Ask questions. Understand the need. Support trustworthy local leadership and clear accountability.
Look for ways your contribution can equip people to carry the work forward.
What do you already have that could help someone else obey Jesus?
You don’t have to fill every role.
Begin with one.
If you enjoy starting conversations, explore becoming a catalyst.
If you love helping people grow, learn to coach.
If you can give focused time to prayer, connect with workers who need faithful intercession.
If you have practical skills, relationships, or financial resources, ask where they could help.
Your retirement does not have to become a waiting room.
It can become a season of deliberate investment in people who will help others follow Jesus.
We are praying and working toward the fulfillment of the Great Commission by 2033. There is meaningful work for our generation to do.
Your assignment this week:
Choose one of these four areas: catalyst, coach, prayer, or resources.
Then contact one disciple-maker, missionary, or ministry leader and say:
“I want to give part of my remaining years to helping people make disciples. Here is what I can offer. What would a useful first step look like?”
Agree on something specific. Put it on your calendar. Follow through.
Someone is trying to begin. Someone is struggling to continue. Someone needs prayer. Someone needs help you could provide.
Will you make yourself available?
Want to go further?
All ten Zume discipleship lessons are on my site, free, with the video and the same teaching notes I use when I train leaders in person. Take them on your own, take them with a few friends, or join me live on Zoom and I will teach them to you face to face. When you finish, tell me and I will coach you personally.
Start the ten lessons:
https://internationalafricanmobilization.com/training/terrys-zume-teaching-series/
Join a live training –
https://zume.training/join-a-training
Terry Ruff
Ordinary People. Extraordinary Movements.
Your gift would be tax deductible and overseen by Northside Christian Church, our sending church. There are many we coach that could use encouragement in small ways to accomplish great things.
(Northside Christian Church links to https://pushpay.com/g/mynorthside?fnd=X2n_YvU-U0C8yPuNWc9d5A&lang=en&src=pcgl)
Next steps: Tell us where you are and how we can help.