Missing something

I’ve been a Navigator for 30 years and spent many of those years in ‘professional’ outreach work, yet something was always missing. Getting alongside people who don’t know Jesus and helping others to do the same felt so difficult.

Perhaps it’s a bit like a cake in the oven that won’t rise because I didn’t know I had to put in yeast, or maybe a huge bridge that collapses, as I simply didn’t know how to put in the bolts.

And I found out it’s not just me – not at all – I think it might be most of us. For example, this month a lady shared with me: ‘For years, I have dreamed and prayed that I would be able to share Jesus’. When I asked what held her back, she said that, 50 years ago, ‘my father diminished me’. She had been frozen for all those years.

Churches can be so focused on building their own church that they neglect making disciples. But Jesus says that he will build his church; we are to go and make disciples. At this point all the questions start around how and when and where and who. Many have put their hopes in mission plans and strategies. None of those worked for me. They might add to the flavour of the cake, but they do not guarantee that the cake will rise.

Something so simple

All this changed in 2020, when I asked myself and others the question ‘How do you do mission in lockdown?’ The silence to that question from the church initially was overwhelming. But then a friend said: ‘Phone Michael [Harvey]’. So I did, straight away. Michael started Back to Church Sundays and the Weekend of Invitation. He was exploring a new daily discipline for mission, which he had dubbed Acorn.

My life was turned upside down because Acorn was not another missional technique or an evangelism strategy. It is so simple: an individual daily practice, that seeks to connect Christians with the work God is already doing in others through caring conversation.

I had no idea being an alongsider could be so easy.

The acronym of A.C.O.R.N. works this way: I now Ask every day, ‘Lord, who do you want me to connect with, beyond the church, today?’ Then I wait for God’s Call to bring someone to mind. Then I Obey the call and contact the person, simply asking them, ‘How are you?’ Vincent Donovan in Christianity Rediscovered points out that we make the mistake as Christians of thinking we are taking God with us into any given situation. God is already there; our job is to find out what God is doing and join God in that conversation.

But here’s the clincher for me: we then frequently gather with a small group of Christian friends to Report. This is no more than sharing stories. The wonderful thing that happens is that we Notice God together; discipling happens naturally among us.

It is the simple combination of asking God rather than coming up with strategies, of simple obedience and of gathering to share what God is doing here and now, that has ignited my faith to new heights.

Lasting impact

Around the UK I am seeing hundreds of folks being deeply impacted by this. Here are three comments:

‘I cannot believe God has a purpose for me at my age, and perhaps now more than ever.’

‘Acorn is about noticing what God is doing in us and through us in our everyday lives and then sharing and encouraging one another in the most natural way possible.’

‘Since participating in Acorn I have been amazed about how God uses the smallest things I do to reach out to others and I have been so inspired and encouraged by all the sharing.’

Imagine if a Christian in every country prays this prayer. Our data shows that when 100 people did this daily for a year, they had well over 12,000 new God-initiated conversations.

The lady who had been frozen for all those years recently started practising Acorn. The first week, she had two God encounters at her exercise class and she shared what she was learning with four local Christian friends over coffee, with a long-term Christian friend, a Christian family member, two members from her congregation and two members from another congregation, teaching them all to try the practice too. Her husband commented on the remarkable transformation he saw in her during those few days. Acorn helped her to loosen a 50-year long burden, to help her see that Jesus' words are indeed true that his yoke is light (Matthew 11:30).

Jesus says, in John 15:16:

‘You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you.’

When I see myself and others start praying that 10-second Acorn prayer, I see us trusting God more and I see the early makings of fruit that might just last.

Ready for a new adventure in 2024? Do you want to see your faith come alive in a new way this year and make deeply meaningful connections? If you want to find out more, find the Acorn faith channel on YouTube or the Acorn faith blog on Facebook. Or just reach out to me for info at paulharingman.mission@gmail.com. I would love to answer your questions or help you try out Acorn.