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Plan A

Dear Friends,

As I write this, Europe is heading into a fourth wave of coronavirus infections. Many countries are seeing an even higher caseload than last spring. Governments are struggling to find the right response at a time when leaders and followers alike are all weary of ever-changing plans.

“What if we just stick with Plan A?” That was the question our JV Poland team posed several months ago, as they tried to prepare for the school year ahead. “What if we could find a plan that would need no adjustments or changes?” they asked. “One we could execute no matter what the conditions?”

That simple question took them all the way back to the most resilient plan of all. When Jesus entrusted his mission to a small group of rag-tag disciples, he was sending them into a world filled with massive uncertainty. Powerful governments, wars, natural disasters, fierce opposition, and, yes, even disease would conspire to stop them. But, he didn’t give them a stack of careful instructions for each of these contingencies. He just gave them Plan A.

2021 12 Donor Letter In Text1

Make disciples.

Simple. To the point. Doable in every environment. Reproducible under any conditions. That plan worked. We know it did, because you and I are following Jesus today.  

With this realization, our JV Poland team doubled down on Plan A. Whatever else they were able to do, youth leaders needed to pour deeply into a few individuals in disciple-making ways. But many of them had never experienced this kind of investment themselves. 

To give them this understanding, each of our team chose a “Timothy” youth leader they would invest in. To be a “Timothy,” the youth leader had to commit to deeply invest in 2-3 others. To keep our team growing themselves, each of them picked a “Paul” to help them deepen in four key areas, as well as 4-5 people in their local area they would disciple. Everyone involved committed to work together to focus their efforts. This included participating in five weekends of in-depth discipleship training where they could hold each other accountable and spur one another on.

2021 12 Donor Letter In Text2

In total, over 200 key Polish leaders have been mobilized into intensive disciple-making as a part of “Plan A.” When possible, each is also ministering in other ways: by holding regular youth group meetings, retreats, and training events. But all of this just creates the context for the most strategic work of all—the all-important task of making disciples who make disciples.

As you celebrate the birth of Christ this Christmas season, remember how the Father never wavered from his core mission. Thanks for joining us in his resilient plan.

President, Josiah Venture

 

 

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