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THE FLOW is aptly illustrated by the beautiful analogy of a river. It describes the good and natural work that God desires to do in churches through four different levels of discipleship training. This is not something new. The command to equip, train, reach and disciple God's people has long been with us in Matthew 28:19-20. Jesus summarized the underlying working principle of THE FLOW in John 17:17:
A river symbolizes the flowing grace of God. God's desire is to bless and grow His people. The river bed is the path where God's grace freely flows in our churches. There are many things that hinder the flow of God's goodness in the churches and in our own individual Christian lives. These block or divert God's good grace that otherwise would run through us and keep us growing. Most churches don't have a discipleship program. Some haven't even heard of the concept. Equipping God's people in most cases is assumed to be done through a sermon or Sunday School class. In the past, the support of a strong Christian family aided in the instruction of God's people. This can no longer assumed to be true. Problems are devastating God's people because a lack of God's truth and grace. One of China's greatest rivers, the Yellow River, actually changed course several times. We need to work along with God's flow of grace rather than diverting it. Once this flow of God's goodness streams through our churches, God's gospel will be gladly proclaimed throughout the world. Through the following pages on The Flow we will present an overview of the whole discipleship process and especially as it has to do with training leaders. We will discover that wherever we stop the flow, then the whole process breaks down. On the other hand, when we allow the purposes of God's abundant grace flow to operate freely, it becomes easy, natural and abounding.
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