Lynn Green

Category: Leadership

  • A Tribute to Loren Cunningham

    A Tribute to Loren Cunningham

    A Tribute to Loren Cunningham

     

    Loren Cunningham, world-changer, has transferred his citizenship to “life in the age to come.” 

    Everything about Loren’s life bore witness to his unconditional surrender to the lordship of Jesus. From his earliest days, he had an unwavering commitment to do everything the Holy Spirit called him to do—to spread the good news about Jesus, Saviour of the world, to every person on earth.

    Jesus said, “My sheep hear my voice, and they follow me.”  Loren heard the Good Shepherd’s voice from a very young age and followed, whether the path led to costly sacrifice or great blessing.

    Throughout his life, God gave him world-changing vision. First, in 1957, it was to mobilize waves of young people carrying the Gospel of Jesus to every part of every continent on earth. Then, in 1969, the Word of the Lord came to them to start a new kind of training school. Before long, the fruit of these short, intensive, residential training courses were seen for what they were—an unprecedented tool for multiplication. 

    My wife, Marti, and I met at one of the earliest courses and Loren asked us to pray about going to England to plant another School of Evangelism. Now there are nearly a thousand locations world-wide where YWAM courses are available.

    By the mid-1970s those original courses were seen as the introductory modules of expanded, Kingdom of God learning and growth—The University of the Nations. The diversity and depth of the U of N continues to develop and grow, and the radical idea God gave Loren was widely employed in higher education.

    It seemed that Loren was always praying and listening to God about some vision that was being shaped in his gifted and dedicated imagination. In 2003, we were in Singapore for a leadership meeting and Loren was due to speak to a large group of Christian leaders at a dinner that evening. I asked him about the subject he would be addressing, and he said, “I plan to convey vision to get a Bible into every home in China.” My response? “Loren, you can’t do that!” As one of the leaders of YWAM, I felt an obligation to have a plan to accomplish anything we talked about.  Loren spoke on the subject anyway!

    It was a few years before I understood the spiritual, visionary dynamics of what happened that night. Loren didn’t have a plan, but he had a prophetic word. It was as if God wanted to change the world again and he was looking for someone to have the faith to speak out, in faith, what He wanted. And it wouldn’t happen unless someone spoke it out as God directed. Once again, Loren obeyed.

    That was the beginning of his primary message for the last 20 years of his life. His research confirmed that there were no sustained revivals without the Bible being available first. So, wherever he went, his message from that time on was, “end Bible poverty now!”  In the last few years, he focussed on oral Bible translation and then the essential importance of every person having access to the scriptures in their mother tongue.

    Loren Cunningham’s legacy is wave after wave of people of all ages, but mostly young, taking the Good News to the whole world!

    Following the diagnosis of small-cell lung cancer in January of 2023, the Lord gave him many months more than the medical professionals expected. During this extended time, he was largely pain-free. He also had miraculous mental and spiritual capacity to focus on Oral-Mother-Tongue Bible Translation. On that subject, he could pray, think and talk to others by the hour. So, he constantly refined the vision and his ability to explain it.

    Many people have wondered, what will happen to YWAM when Loren is gone?

    There is no doubt that no one can replace him. However, he led us all to focus on the Biblical paradigm of the Body of Christ, as it applies to YWAM. He spoke a vital message on that subject in 2002 and it became known as the Tripod Message.  If we continue to practice the knowledge of the priesthood of all believers; if we strengthen and guard our relationships; if we recognise the wisdom and spiritual gifts of elders among us, we will multiply more and more and be a blessing to the whole Body of Christ.

    Loren was never a CEO in YWAM.  He always worked with teams of leaders and leaned into the different spiritual gifts and strength of others.  There are teams of elders and leaders all over the world and the vision God has given YWAM is broad and clear. If we carefully nurture the health of our relationships, remaining rooted in our Biblical beliefs and pursuing the vision of taking Good News to everyone in every mother tongue, we will thrive.

    On a personal note: Loren and Darlene have been trusted friends and inspirational leaders to Marti and me for more than five decades.  They encouraged our relationship when we first met, they inspired us and challenged us. They modelled Godly living, good family life, team and accountability to others and an unswerving commitment to Jesus and the Kingdom of God.

    Thank God that Dar, with her outstanding leadership abilities and anointing, is still with us. We honour her and will continue be supportive and to lean into her wisdom.

    It can most certainly be said of Loren Cunningham:   

    “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, and I have remained faithful. And now the prize awaits me—the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give me on the day of his return. And the prize is not just for me but for all who eagerly look forward to his appearing” 2 Tim 4:7-8. 

  • The Big Question: YWAM Succession

    The Big Question: YWAM Succession

    March 2023 – Lynn Green

     

    Dear YWAM,

    There were many tears at the Founders’ Circle meeting earlier this month at Loren and Darlene Cunninghams’ home, as we met for the first face-to-face gathering in more than three years. Loren had just undergone extensive health scans and tests and the results reached them as the FC began. (The Founders’ Circle is a group of about 15 mature YWAM leaders invited by Loren and Dar to take responsibility with them for guarding the vision and values of YWAM and to exercise eldership for this movement, especially in the area of prayer.)

    The reports from the specialist came in two parts. The first one gave us notice that the results were not good news. With the second report came the doctors’ verdict: Loren’s condition was cancer that had spread throughout his body, and it would be terminal.

    Loren’s focus as he shared with the FC during those days was on delivering his primary message, which has been developing for most of his life, but has accelerated over the last 20 years. With unexpected energy and clarity, he spoke about the importance of translating the Scriptures orally for every person on earth, in their mother tongue. We were all deeply convinced that this is our God-given task, along with thousands of current YWAMers and tens of thousands to come. Loren was encouraged to know that we embraced the spirit of what he was saying and will pass it on. After his extensive input over the space of three days, Darlene asked him if he was satisfied. He replied with a big smile and affirmation.

    But although the FC received his message and made commitments to do it, OUR central focus was on the implications of the news from the doctors.  We couldn’t avoid it.

    We surrounded Loren and Darlene with prayer and tears. Paul Dangtoumda, leader of YWAM Port Harcourt, Nigeria, wept and prayed, “The doctors have given their verdict, but that is not God’s verdict. We will believe what God says.”

    The medical team said that Loren’s cancer “has not presented as a classical case.”  What they explained is that when cancer is discovered in the lungs, it usually moves very fast but, in this case, it is moving more slowly.  We thanked God for that good news and prayed that Loren will have every day on earth that God has ordained. This was not a faithless time; it was a faith-filled time, because God has always been faithful.

    Of course, we all knew that the day of Loren’s departure would eventually come; it does for everyone. And what a glorious hope and promise eternity with Jesus contains! Loren often revels in proclaiming “Heaven is for real!”

    But this sobering cancer diagnosis provoked us to examine the more immediate personal implications.  Grieving and a sense of impending loss are appropriate – and when the time comes, we must take time as a global family to grieve and honour this amazing man that God has privileged us to follow.

    But what comes next for YWAM?

    For the past several years, I have often been asked, “Does YWAM have a succession plan for when Loren is no longer with us?” When Darlene wrote on March 1st about Loren’s cancer diagnosis; that letter raised the succession question in many more conversations around the world.

    My purpose in writing this letter is to answer that question.

    The answer has been in plain sight for the past 60+ years but we almost always wear cultural blinders that prevent us from seeing YWAM leadership plans for a future without Loren.

    The fact is, the days without Loren are coming.  Are we ready? I maintain that Loren himself started preparing us for this from the start of YWAM in 1960, when he had a clear word from God that “YWAM is to be decentralized.” Then the entire mission began preparing from the early 1970s. I was there in 1972 when the amazing Munich Olympics outreach finished and about 100 YWAMers gathered for the biggest staff gathering ever up to that point in time. The main purpose of that meeting was for Loren to announce the membership of the [1]International Council. He made it clear that he had never intended to lead YWAM alone or sit at the top of an organizational hierarchy.  He initially appointed five others to join him as an eldership for YWAM as it rapidly became a global, multicultural movement.

    That group grew, changed, grew some more and consistently gathered at different locations globally to provide wise eldership for the movement. Loren was the obvious “senior among equals,” but the other members and many other leaders grew in wisdom and impact across the nations.  We eventually developed a [2]Global Leadership Team with an executive group.

    But that somehow didn’t seem right.  We were following the model of almost every other mission and denomination, but our sense of family and unity suffered. The usual hierarchical approach didn’t seem to fit us.

    In 2002 and 2003, we started a journey back to the decentralized way we saw ourselves 40 years earlier. Loren went on an eleven-day fasting and prayer retreat and then joined the GLT gathering in Nanning, China. There he presented a teaching on Spiritual Eldership that became known as the “Tripod Message.”  You can remind yourself of what he taught by going to https://ywam.org/for-ywamers/spiritual-eldership

    We are meant to exercise leadership within a BODY model. Look at Ephesians 4 or, Romans 12, or 1 Corinthians 12, or reread Acts 15 to see how the early leaders of the Church resolved difficult issues and provided secure leadership.

    As we review the book of the Acts of the Apostles, we see that some foundational leaders were martyred in the early years, but the Church continued to grow dramatically. Some have suggested that Peter was the senior leader of the early Church, but an attentive reading of the early story demonstrates otherwise. The apostles, then the Jerusalem elders and prophets and deacons led as a body.

    Leadership in the body metaphor results in different leaders leading at different times, according to their gifts and callings and the need of the moment. When an evangelist with boldness was needed, Peter was the leader of the moment. When a very sensitive issue with huge implications arose, James took the lead. He had the ability to process the issue in such a way that everyone had a chance to make their position known; then he allowed Peter to speak, followed by Paul and Barnabas. No further discussion was allowed; James simply stated the decision of the gathering of leaders, then prescribed a wise process of implementation. His leadership averted a huge crisis in the young Church and Peter’s preaching was the catalyst for thousands of conversions.

    I could go on, but I want to apply this to YWAM at the point when we are faced with developments that prompt us to consider YWAM without Loren.

    I first want to say that Loren’s passing will have a personal impact on me, and upon every individual YWAMer, that we cannot predict. His intervention at several decisive points in my life has been crucial. I can only say that if Loren Cunningham had not come into my life, my life trajectory would have been completely different and much less fruitful, rich, and satisfying. Probably all of us can echo the same.

    Some have asked, “Who will be the global visionary?” My response is another question, “Must we have one?” Loren has left enough vision for several more generations! But if we do need one (or more) global visionaries, God will raise them up!  We cannot appoint such a person, but if the hand of God rests on one or more people to point the way ahead for the entire mission, we will discern that and recognize them.

    YWAM will be well led if we have a good BODY of leaders who love one another and guard the oneness that Jesus has created for us.  This most recent meeting of the Founders’ Circle was marked by easy harmony and oneness.  Let’s pray for that oneness at every point of leadership in the mission!

    Most of us spend most of our lives in hierarchical leadership structures. Most families are hierarchical, as are schools, universities, jobs, clubs and civil organisations, government at every level, as well as most churches and denominations. It is no surprise that we struggle to understand a body approach to leadership. This way of looking at it is not perfect because everything we do in this fallen world has weaknesses. But I believe we will lead better and follow better as we aim for body life in all aspects of what we do.

    Do we have a plan for succession?  Yes!  It’s the way God has directed from the beginning.

    [1] 1972 The first International Council members were: Loren Cunningham, Leland Paris, Don Stephens, Wally Wenge and Jim Rogers; later added Floyd McClung, Kalafi Moala, Lynn Green and Jim Dawson. (Source: YWAM Founders’ Timeline.)

    [2] 1995 At the International Council/International Executive Committee meeting in Einigen, Switzerland, YWAM formed a new Global Leadership Team (GLT), broadening its structure to incorporate more non-westerners, women and young leaders. Jim Stier was chosen as the YWAM International President, receiving that role from Loren, and Loren Cunningham became the International Chairman. (Source: YWAM Founders’ Timeline.)

    [i]  “[In 1972]…the International Council (IC) was the recognized global eldership of the mission. Since that time the senior circle of global elders has functioned under several different names. First it was the International Council (IC). It was later called the Global Leadership Team (GLT) and then was known as the Global Leadership Forum (GLF). This body was disbanded in Singapore 2014 in order to put in place a flatter, movement framework at the trans-local level in the place of what was becoming an increasingly hierarchical organizational structure. Now there are many circles of spiritual eldership around the mission – many of them known as Area Circle Teams (ACTs). A senior group of elders has been convened by Loren and Darlene Cunningham and is known as the Founders’ Circle (FC).

    Throughout these many decades, a primary role of the body of global spiritual elders (whether the IC, GLT, GLF or FC) has been to confirm, steward and safeguard the foundational documents of the mission. Though the FC does not have the governmental oversight of earlier leadership frameworks, it does carry this role of protecting and clarifying our foundational documents.” Source: Historical Note at the end of “The Youth With A Mission Statement of Purpose, Core Beliefs and Foundational Values” (January 2022).

    the International Council (IC). It was later called the Global Leadership Team (GLT) and then was known as the Global Leadership Forum (GLF). This body was disbanded in Singapore 2014 in order to put in place a flatter, movement framework at the trans-local level in the place of what was becoming an increasingly hierarchical organizational structure. Now there are many circles of spiritual eldership around the mission – many of them known as Area Circle Teams (ACTs). A senior group of elders has been convened by Loren and Darlene Cunningham and is known as the Founders’ Circle (FC).

    Throughout these many decades, a primary role of the body of global spiritual elders (whether the IC, GLT, GLF or FC) has been to confirm, steward and safeguard the foundational documents of the mission. Though the FC does not have the governmental oversight of earlier leadership frameworks, it does carry this role of protecting and clarifying our foundational documents.” Source: Historical Note at the end of “The Youth With A Mission Statement of Purpose, Core Beliefs and Foundational Values” (January 2022).

  • Align for Blessing

    Align for Blessing

    ©Photo by Joshua Woroniecki

    I once produced a livestream on the subject of Alignment.  Within a couple of days I was dismayed to discover that one of my viewers posted a comment in which labelled it as cultish.  I then sounded it out with others who had some sympathy with that interpretation.  I felt unfairly judged!  But in the long run, it was helpful, because it became obvious that my language on the subject must be well-defined. So here is an attempt to clarify.

    The term, as it applies to Youth With A Mission and probably many movements and organisations, came to my attention via my friend John Dawson.  When he was commissioned to be International President of YWAM in 2003 in Singapore his inaugural message was entitled “Alignment”.  John has a great gift for using words accurately, so I think the subject was well and widely understood.

    His point and mine was that when we align ourselves with God’s will, we live in the middle of His blessing.  That doesn’t mean in the middle of ease and prosperity.  As nearly every committed Christian knows, living in the centre of the will of God is sometimes painful, but it’s always the pathway to the greatest lasting fruitfulness your life or mine can bear.  I think it was Gregory Boyd who said, “Life on this earth is best understood as living in a war zone”.  However, Jesus is the Captain of the Hosts of the Lord, and He has said in John 10:10 “My purpose is to give you a rich and satisfying life”.  So we might say “battle and blessing” summarises the life lived well.

    The aligned life remains in the place of victorious battle and blessing.

    Alignment applies to different aspects of our lives.

    Firstly, there is alignment with God’s ways as revealed in Scripture and applied to our lives by the Holy Spirit.  We cannot disobey His commandments and expect Him to bless our lives.

    It also refers to alignment with His specific guidance to each one of us.  Peter says in his first Epistle “we are a royal priesthood”. Each one of us lives in His presence, hears His voice, and has the grace to follow Him, so we must choose to stay aligned with His calling on us individually.

    If we are part of a church or a mission, we should be aligned with the particular calling of that body of people.  As a member of Youth With A Mission I should resonate with our beliefs, purpose, values, and legacy words.  The more I am aligned with God’s calling on YWAM, the more fruitful I will be.

    There is one more facet of alignment, which is where the controversy came when I mentioned it in the livestream.  We are to be aligned with leaders in our lives.  The problem arose because some people thought that meant unquestioning obedience.  But that is not it at all!  We are aligned when we maintain an open, honest relationship where agreements and disagreements are possible without disrupting the relationship.

    Can you easily identify those with whom you should be aligned?  For me, it has been the team of leaders with whom I lead locally, and it also applies to my relationship with Loren and Darlene Cunningham and those who comprise the team of international YWAM elders.  Loren and Dar have been faithful, honest leaders of great character, so alignment with them has almost always been easy.  However, there were a couple of occasion when I disagreed with Loren and didn’t do what he wanted me to do.

    For example, many years ago Marti and I felt we were to take our children to spend a few weeks with my extended family in Colorado, where they had many cousins of similar age.  We were there and enjoying watching the friendships between cousins, aunts and uncles and grandparents deepen when Loren phoned.

    He said he and Joy Dawson had been praying and they felt the Lord told them to call and tell me I should be at the international outreach in Canada that summer.  I explained that we were pretty sure that I should be with Marti and the Kids in the USA.  I agreed to pray about it.  Marti and did pray and felt I was not to go.  Loren rang again to say that several of them were praying together and felt I should be there.  Again, I said no.

    I think in some organisations or churches, the senior leader would have reacted angrily, but Loren didn’t.  He respected that the “priesthood of all believers” included me and knew that no leader has the right to override the divine guidance of others.  He understood that, even if I was mistaken, I should not be there unless I knew that God wanted me there.   I did not obey him, but thanks to his maturity and graciousness, I stayed aligned with him.

    Not all people in authority understand that, but we should still be able to say, with the Apostle Paul when he was on trial, “I always do my best to be at peace with everyone”.

    Marti and I have now lived together in the context of our calling which is global missions, particularly as expressed in Youth With A Mission, for 54 years.  We look back on tests, trials, and hardships, but know that the summary of our experience is exactly what Jesus promised.  He has given us a rich and satisfying life (John 10:10 NLT).  That is because God loves to “give good gifts to His children”, but our part in that rich and satisfying journey is staying aligned—with His ways, His calling, and the people He has called us to be with and to submit to.  So, alignment, when understood that way will lead to God’s blessing on our lives.

  • Queen Elizabeth the Great.

    Queen Elizabeth the Great.

    As we mourn the loss of our Queen, some are already referring to her as Queen Elizabeth the Great.  Amen to that!

    A have no doubt that she has joyfully entered into “life in the age to come” as Tom Wright translates it in the many New Testament passages that refer to eternity.

    I have had many jumbled thoughts as I  have attempted to think about the implications of her absence and the reign of King Charles III.   Perhaps you have also experienced some deep emotions—I have.  I didn’t expect to be so deeply moved.

    Early this morning, I read the following column by Allison Pearson and concluded that she conveys many of the thoughts and feeling much better than I could, so here it is (from the Daily Telegraph).

    Lynn

     

     

    “I don’t have to believe it if I don’t want to.” That was how the novelist John O’Hara reacted when he heard that his friend, George Gershwin, had died.

    Many of her subjects will have felt something similar at 6.32pm on Sept 8 2022, when we heard the seismic news that our Queen had left us.

    It is unbearably sad. A loss almost too great to process. But, as the Queen said in a message of condolence to the families of British victims lost in the 9/11 terrorist attack: “Grief is the price we pay for love.”

    How are we supposed to manage without her? Who are we without her? She has always been there – a still point in a tumultuous world; the clock face over which the hands of time revolved for as long as anyone could remember. Her Majesty’s first prime minister was born in 1874, her last almost exactly a century later in 1975.

    Her long life, the home movie of our history; her face, the screensaver of the United Kingdom; a diadem in the national firmament; the stamp on every letter; the silhouette of the national self. Our Queen. Of course, we knew that she was very old and we knew how the story had to end. “Mobility issues” was palace-speak for the fact that our longest-reigning monarch, who put one sturdy foot in front of the other like the fell pony she rode every day until remarkably recently, was waning.

    But there she was on Tuesday at Balmoral – frail, yes, but welcoming her 15th prime minister with the most wonderful smile, immaculate in a grey tartan skirt and pearls. Everything must have been shutting down by then, but duty, her irreducible core, would be the last thing to go. “It is a job for life.” That’s what Princess Elizabeth said when she lost her beloved father in 1952.

    And it was. She was our Queen until the moment of her death and, God knows, we could not have wished for a better one.

    Did we come to believe she was immortal? I think we probably did in some weird way, because losing something that permanent is impossible for the mind to comprehend, like the moon going out or the stars packing up.

    There was a sense, never articulated, that, as long as the Queen was there, things would somehow be alright. I’m so glad Her Majesty made it to her Platinum Jubilee earlier this year and the British people got the chance to show her, for one last time, how much she was adored. That great, beaming throng which surged down The Mall towards the palace, surfing a wave of joy, and the millions of us watching at home, were united in wanting to thank the Queen, to celebrate everything she means – everything she meant to us. Oh Lord, that past tense is going to take some getting used to.

    What sweeter memory could there be than the snowy, venerable and deliciously playful monarch taking tea with Paddington Bear, producing a triumphant marmalade sandwich from her handbag? It was a shock to realise what a good actress she was, but it shouldn’t have been.

    She had been playing a hugely difficult part since 1953.

    “The Crown is an idea,” she once said, “not a person.”

    Quite right, ma’am, but history has thrown up many unworthy custodians of that idea. Elizabeth II, in an act of self-abnegation almost unimaginable to the modern mind, embodied it to perfection.

    Who summed up her remarkable reign best? Philip Larkin came close when he was asked to produce a poem for the Silver Jubilee:

    “In times when nothing stood

    “But worsened or grew strange

    “There was one constant good

    “She did not change.”

    People will feel so strange now, discombobulated, tearful – I am crying as I write; can’t help it – and maybe a bit scared. A great oak has fallen and the baffled eye struggles to adjust to the new landscape.

    Even hearing an ashen Huw Edwards say the word “king” was a shock. Not yet, please, not yet.

    At such a devastating time, the country could always rely on our Queen for comforting words and reassurance. What would she have said to help us bear her loss?

    I think the address she gave to the nation in 2002, after her mother died, holds a clue as to how she would wish us to react: “I hope that sadness will blend with a wider sense of thanksgiving, not just for her life, but for the times in which she lived – a century for this country and the Commonwealth not without its trials and sorrows, but also one of extraordinary progress, full of examples of courage and service as well as fun and laughter.

    “I thank you from my heart for the love you gave her during her life and the honour you now give her in death. May God bless you all.”

    Our Sovereign Lady, Queen Elizabeth II, Defender of the Faith, is with her God now, his humble servant in whom He should be well pleased.

    Filled with sorrow and with gratitude, we will never forget her. How very lucky we were in our Queen. One constant good.

    Ad maiorem Dei gloriam.