Seeing Is Believing

Does the unraveling of Western culture amid crisis after crisis leave you bummed out? Or are you brimming with hope that Jesus can multiply disciples in record numbers in North America today, as He did in the 1st century? When we hear about Disciple-Making Movements occurring on other continents, we ask: What does it look like?  Can it happen here too?  

Suggestions and Quotes

Here are ways to get the most out of Love One Another, coupled with quotes from the film.

1. View it with others.  Even if you watch it solo, view it again with friends or family.  Ask yourselves: Is this what we are lacking?  Is this what God is calling us to do? 
2. Give yourself time to get into the flow of the film.  A documentary featuring many people requires time to grasp what these folks are about.  One of them states: “If we want to see things that we have never seen, we have to do things we have never done.”  Their task?  To become a community that loves one another and loves their neighbors.
3. Be willing to rethink how you were taught to do church.  A young Black man says, “So, when I started off [as a Christian] I was like, man, if I could just learn a few more things, if I could just find that final piece of the puzzle to make it all fit.  But… it’s not about what I needed.  It was about what I needed to give up, what I needed to unlearn.”
4. Accept the paradox of simplicity and difficulty.  Although Discovery Bible Study is simple and therefore reproducible, “It’s hard.  It’s a lot harder than any other ministry I have done, because it involves time and intentionality, and you’ve got to invest deeply in the few….  It’s much easier to stand up and… invest shallowly in a group and then be gone.”
5. Reprocess the significance of obedience.  Near the film’s end, a pastor observes, “The overarching thing that hit me about this bunch in Tampa, I thought to myself…. I have a PhD in Theology, and my new friends — as I watch them— I am persuaded that they have PhDs in Obedience.  It is my desire to join them.”
6. Welcome the Holy Spirit.  A Latino fellow rejoices that his community is changing due to “honest genuine transformations that happen only because the Holy Spirit comes into their lives through the Word of God, through obedience, through discipleship, through just a transformation of lifestyle that pours out deeply into other people, because it’s so, it’s so… wonderful.”

To catch a glimpse into this wonderful life watch Love One Another at https://loveoneanother.life.  May seeing become believing. Then to learn how to practice what you see, click on Get Training in the Menu.