Today we hear from movement catalyser and author, Cynthia Anderson who joins the conversation to share about her book, ‘The Multipliers Mindset: Thinking Differently about Discipleship’. Be equipped as you listen to Cynthia share some of the paradigm shifts needed to release God’s movement based from her own story as a disciple making practitioner.
Cynthia carries a deep passion for the unreached which has seen her serve with YWAM for more than 30 years, along with her husband Todd in places like Nepal and India. We hear inspiring stories including how God first moved across an unreached valley region of Nepal. These days over 10% of this area is now reached with the gospel!
The turning point
However Cynthia tells us about the crossroads moment in her life where she was about to give up on God’s vision for multiplication. God led her and others through a process of repentance as she saturated herself in the Gospels and the book of Acts. Faith was once again put in her heart.
Cynthia says,
“God loves to use ordinary and even broken people to bring his glory amongst the nations. God did it in the New Testament and he can do it again.”
This was one of several mindset shifts Cynthia needed to have to see God release movement through her.
Shifting what we believe about God includes…
Faith
Cynthia describes how it is God’s desire to reach the people around us. We need to put our faith in His capacity not our efforts.
Expand
Cynthia tells us a great parable of the Nepali farmer that illustrates the need for us to have a God sized vision as we pray. She says,
“Don’t ask God for school books when God can give a ‘Tata’ truck…God wants to do more through us that we can imagine.
Shifting what we believe about others can include…
Baptism
Baptism “by all and for all” represents the theology of the priesthood of all believers. Cynthia describes how this is a New Testament concept comparable to the caste systems of Asia. She shares how important it is to give people a sense of ownership to baptise and therefore to also disciple and train others.
Women
We hear Cynthia refer to ‘Uncle Victor’ (a familiar movement leader in India to many of us listening) and his comments on women in leadership.
- “Not empowering women, is stupidity at the highest level”
- “Its easier to convince an Imam to come to faith than to convince some traditional pastors to allow women to do the work of ministry”
She refers to her journey as a woman with an apostolic calling and hopes the biblical foundation she writes about in her book will also set other women free to also be confident in their gifting and calling. Besides, as Uncle Victor says:
- “Not empowering women is not only unbiblical, it also just doesn’t make sense since half of your workforce is lost.”
A God sized vision of her own
These days Cynthia specialises in training leaders to catalyse Jesus movements. Through not only her book but also her podcast, ‘Dare to Multiply’, Online Courses and other resources, she is aiming to see at least 50 new movements birthed by 2025.
She tells us that there are 17 mindset shifts mentioned in her book. But Cynthia hopes everyone who reads it can make a shift in a couple of key areas (at least to start with!). She believes these paradigm shifts will make a difference in seeing fruitfulness as we get unstuck by responding to the Spirit’s activity in our lives.
Pain and passion
Cynthia shares a final encouragement to not only remain faithful in what we are doing but to also be open to change. She finishes by saying how two things can help us change. One is pain and the other is passion.
“If you feel pain of not seeing fruit, let God turn that into an openness to change…Let the pain turn into the passion of God!”
You can also check out Cynthia’s ‘Multipliers Mindset Assessment Quiz’ here
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 47:56 — 17.0MB)
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