Live It To Sow It
David Broodryk Reflections Part 6
By Lim MY
Photo by Jametlene Reskp on Unsplash
David Broodryk has been on a long journey into discipleship movements and seeking to see cities impacted by and for Jesus. He and his team now serve teams and leaders in cities all over the world. He recently spent time with several Asian city teams as part of the Urban Wheat Project. Over a series of blog posts I will share some key highlights and reflections from our time together.
How are we living together as a team? Are we engaging scripture as a team?
Are we having conversations and intentionally moving outside of our Christian circles?
Are we praying together?
Journeying as a Team
Even as the work of the Lord expanded through David and his team, they sensed that there was more – more beneath the focus and drivenness of herding people into the kingdom of God. What they were carrying was flowing from their heads not from their lives.
The weariness and distance they felt signalled that the strategising and execution of plans had become somewhat detached from a “joyful belonging”. Prayer was more about the “them” that the team was serving than praying for one another.
The team felt that they were beginning to miss the joy of gathering together.
Ploughing
What was happening?
When the team made a most difficult decision to pull back for a close examination, some red flags surfaced. With that reflection they gained much wisdom for recalibration.
Many of the team members were not living out what they were training others to do.
It didn’t help that their busy travelling schedule to help others to do movement meant limited time to properly disciple others.
Travelling or any other kingdom work should not disengage leaders from local efforts. If we’re not living out what we’re teaching locally, we’re not spreading it. What we carry to others cannot come from a textbook but must flow from a life we are living. Otherwise, we could find ourselves or our teams collapsing on the inside.
David’s team made a commitment - they will not travel around telling other people’s stories. They will carry stories from real life practice, from ordinary people in their own cities.
Further Shifts
They formed a new rhythm: every 3 months spend 3 days together
A significant amount of time having fun, eating, praying for each other, connecting …not talking about strategy and things “out there”. Bringing the joy back.
Since then they have also introduced a rhythm of recalibration.
They do this by evaluating the strengths and weaknesses of their rhythms every 3 months and responding to changes that are happening. The goal is to cultivate a balance between working on the mission and praying with joyful belonging.
This process involves continual re-evaluation and deciding together how to move forward.
Sowing
When we are living it, we are ready to sow it.
When we talk about how to “sow it”, we’re talking about redemptive mission.
How do we take this life that we’re now living and sow it into the communities around us and our cities? How do we sow the gospel into new spaces? How do we plant the presence of Jesus where the gospel has not yet taken root?
Matthew 13:33 says, “Jesus told them still another parable: 'The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed into about sixty pounds[a] of flour until it worked all through the dough.’”
David stressed that we’re not being yeast if we’re just going to training courses and telling others about the training courses. We’re yeast if we’re living the kingdom practically in our own team and other relationships. Jesus can then sow us into cities and affinities. Then what we’re living begins to spread and transfer to other people.
How do we cooperate with that process?
David offered several key points:
Find the connections
These might be based on geography or ethnicity or children attending the same school. One thing to note, cautions David, is that solely mapping the geography of the city may not give the entire picture since cities are so complex.
Observe and pray. How do people actually relate and connect to each other? Then ask the Lord, “How do I move forward from here?”
In the process, keep pausing and praying and listening to what God is saying.
Ask each other questions like these: Who are the people in YOUR community that you are praying for? Who are the people far from God? Who are the people who are drifting from God? Who are the people with specific needs?Think strategically as a team
Consider together who God has put around each of us that we are in contact with.
Pray together for the broken and the lost on a regular basis. See what emerges as you seek God together.Obey. Don’t just pray!
Having heard what God is saying, engage with people at the point they are broken. Listen and understand how they are broken.This does not mean solving all the problems they have.
It does mean being present and connecting with them. When we’re in the place where they’re broken, they may open up their hearts.
In the cities, there are some places we can engage with people: where they live, work, play, learn. Be present and look for opportunities to engage by listening to them, showing care and building relationships with them.Learn to have spiritual conversations
Casual conversation can turn to meaningful conversation when we spend enough time listening and connecting.
Spiritual conversation is a bit more. It might just be about death, or a spiritual topic. If we learn to talk about Jesus and our faith in the process, we can progress to deeper kingdom conversations.
It helps for us to look more closely at the individuals we are engaged with and ask which level of conversation we’re having with each of them. Ponder on how we might take the conversation deeper the next time.
Discovery Bible Study is one effective tool for working Scripture into conversation. You can find out more about this by joining ITGM.
The ultimate goal is to help people discover the truth for themselves, put it into practice through obedience and tell what they’ve learnt to others who need to hear it.Cultivate new faith communities
These are communities that live the same kind of full rhythms that our team is living.
And because they’re on a mission, they will also multiply what they do.
Living It to Sow It
David and his team had discovered a foundational truth: we cannot sow what we're not living.
Their journey from burnout to recalibration taught them that authentic mission flows from joyful belonging, not frantic activity. By prioritizing rhythms of prayer, connection, and genuine community within their team, they became the very thing they hoped to multiply.
Team Reflection
1) Read Ephesians 4:11-16. How can you play your part in a way that empowers others? Who can you give more authority and responsibility to?
2) What insights do you get from church history?
3) Which of the five areas are you and your team strongest? Weakest? What can you change?
