Layo Leiva: Ruth, Love and Transformation
Layo has been working in one nation for 30 years. God has enlarged his borders to responsibility for all of
It is good for me to interact with people who are not Campus Crusade staff.
In Campus Crusade it is hard to disagree with others.
I want to share some things with you. I am a Campus Crusade person. My father started a CCC ministry in 1966. Now I coordinate 14 countries in CMC:
I want to share my quest to understand the idea of transformation. In 1978 I was 17 and I joined the ministry. I wanted to change the world and change my country.
My country was starting a 12 civil war that killed almost 100,000 people. It destroyed the [physical, moral and spiritual fabric of my country.
In university I was taught all Marxism. In the midst of this I was called to change my country. God called me to be a revolutionary to change my country.
I thought that if we did the job right and worked hard, that enough people would come to the Lord and the country would change.
We thought the crime rate would go down and the bars would close because they would have no more customers.
I wanted my life to count for something that would make a difference. That was 27 years ago.
Not everything went as planned.
Between 1980 and 2005 we can trace the growth of the church. In 1980 5% of the country were evangelicals.
The war made us all revolutionaries. We did radical evangelism. People died showing the Jesus film and sharing the Gospel.
Now they estimate that at least 32% of the people are Christians. We should be very satisfied.
But there is another arrow. We have seen a decline in morality. I did not give my life for this.
We now have more abortions, divorces, alcoholism and violent deaths than another time in our history. Last year there were 7 violent deaths per day. Today there are 9 per day.
Increase in Christians; Decrease in signs of the Kingdom
I have been on a search to understand why this is.
I have the same passion to see my country change. I grieve when I see the evil and immorality in my country.
In 1993 we returned to our country and saw gang warfare I the wake of the war. Gang members had no sense of morality. They would kill you for one dollar. No one told us about the horrible growth of these gangs and how they terrorize the cities.
The government responded with the “iron hand” by putting everyone in jail. The current President promised a “super iron hand”. If you have a gang tattoo, you go to jail.
We began to read the papers of the dozens of gang members arrested every day. They had names like Abraham, Isaac, and Isaiah. This means that they come from Christian families. A lot of these young people probably come from families of Christian parents.
I read a research project that found that 32% of gang members come from evangelical families. This is the same percentage of evangelicals in the nation.
I’m not sure that church planting is the answer. We have 1 church for every 700 Salvadorans. I think that no country has had more effective church planting than our country. It has not helped with morality. We have tons of Christian organizations and workers.
What we need is a movement of God’s Spirit that will engulf the cities of our countries. What must we do to reverse this trend of evil?
I want to share with you from the word part of my search.
How do we go from ministry to movement? Movement is like a wind that will blow. You can feel it but you don’t know from where it comes.
We have seen ministry and organizations. We have denominations. What we need is movment. We need a movement to affect every aspect of society.
My quest is how do you go from ministry to movement?
Ministry is conversion
Movement is transformation
Minsitry is control
Movement is empowerment
Ministry is one generation
Movement is 4 generations.
Ministry is short term because one generation runs out.
Movement is long term.
Ministry consumes resources, always a need for subsidy.
Movement produces resources.
Ministry is tiring and frustrating.
Movement is renewal and strength.
Ministry ends with you.
Movement goes on with out you.
Ministry is protective of turf because there is only one generation. Playing it safe.
Movement is risk oriented. You put it all on the line for the movement.
Ministry is limited scope of one audience or one place.
Movement is unlimited in scope.
Ministry is leader centered. Pastors or staff do everything. The people watch a tennis match. The pros do the work, the amateurs watch.
Movements make people king. They people lead. The leader’s role is to resource but not to shine.
[I know a lot about airplanes but I’m not a pilot. The way to have a ministry with pilots I should train a pilot, not become one and do it myself].
Ministry ends in death.
Movement ends in reproductions.
Layo's Ministry vs. Movement
I thought death was the worst thing. There’s something worse: irrelevance. You have materials and buildings and people. But who cares. Nobody cares.
Movement is transforming impact.
When I joined staff I joined to build a movement. But if I am honest I have been in ministry. It’s not that ministry is sin. But it’s not what God called me to do. When you are not doing what God calls you do to it produces exhaustion.
My question for God is how do we move from Ministry to Movement.
I found my answer in a strange place in the Bible: Ruth
Ruth was probably 19-23 years old.
Naomi’s husband and her two sons moved to
She finds herself a widow with now male descendants: the worst position that a Jew could be in. The land was given to families but must be passed on by males. Every Jewish mother dreamed of having male children. This is the ancient idea of homelessness.
For me, I have felt many times like I am a widow with now male children. After two and a half decades, what do I have? I have only past glories.
Ruth 1:7 7 So she set out from the place where she was with her two daughters-in-law, and they went on the way to return to the
They made a decision to go back. This is the same word for repentance.
The secret to change is to start with a decision. We are often focused on strategy. The strategy is not sin. We have numbers and graphs. Most of the numbers are true.
My repentance is of not being in the place where God wants me to be. I have worked hard. Next year CCC will be 40 years in
In 1992 we had 27 staff. Now we have 9. We still are dependent on the
In elementary school I got good grades. My sister got an award for attendance. What do you want to be celebrated for: presence or effectiveness?
We often feel that we need no repentance if we have not murdered or stolen. But if we are not where God wants us to be, we must repent. God has given everything for you to be where he wants you to be, and you resist it in order to remain safe. That is sin. Maybe you are not sleeping with your secretary, but you are in sin.
Change will start with repentance. Naomi went back to her roots. Ruth went with her.
Ruth was very young. Most young people today major in “undecided”. This young girl Ruth knew exactly what she wanted to be: with Naomi. She was stubborn in a good way.
Ruth 1:22 22 So Naomi returned, and Ruth the Moabite her daughter-in-law with her, who returned from the country of
There is a harvest. People don’t want more organizations, they want movements. They want a cause, a movement.
The harvest will not stop for me to figure it out. People are looking for significance. They will not stop for you to figure it out.
In
The harvest of transformation is virgin territory. I salivate to think about this, because that’s what God called me to. My best years are ahead of me. I want to see my country change. God has put turmoil in the hearts of people to desire transformation.
The President of El Salvador asked ministry leaders for help to deal with gangs. All the church planting and Jesus films have done nothing to transform these problems.
In Ruth God uses interesting metaphors to show us his will. In CCC we use military metaphors and sports metaphors. In Ruth, God uses a love story. I learn from this that God is wooing me, pursuing me.
When I pursued my wife, I did crazy things on a daily basis to pursue her. I worked for an airline. The airplane was never on time. I would travel at night by a long last bus to see my wife for 10 minutes, 5 minutes. More than half of the time the bus back to my house would not come. So I would ask other people to join me to share a taxi, and then I would still walk for miles to finally reach my house.
This is God’s metaphor: a love story.
Ruth 2:3 3 So she set out and went and gleaned in the field after the reapers, and she happened to come to the part of the field belonging to Boaz, who was of the clan of Elimelech.
Act One: Who is that girl?
Ruth 2:8-9 8 Then Boaz said to Ruth, "Now, listen, my daughter, do not go to glean in another field or leave this one, but keep close to my young women. 9 Let your eyes be on the field that they are reaping, and go after them. Have I not charged the young men not to touch you? And when you are thirsty, go to the vessels and drink what the young men have drawn."
Boaz is falling in love. The butterflies are starting to fly in formation.
We often think we should start with strategy. God knows that it starts with love. God is looking for somebody to deposit his divine seed so that generations of children will be like him.
I have discovered that I have not produced disciples because God does not want me to reproduce. God has sterilized my seed until I am ready to reproduce his divine seed, which begins with love.
Ruth 2:14 14 And at mealtime Boaz said to her, "Come here and eat some bread and dip your morsel in the wine." So she sat beside the reapers, and he passed to her roasted grain. And she ate until she was satisfied, and she had some left over.
The passion is heating up. There were many girls around, but Boaz sets his eyes on this one. He invites her to eat with the master and eat at the table.
Throughout the whole Bible, God is inviting us to have meals with him. Rev. 3:20; Psalm 23. Jesus told Zacheus I want to dine with you. If a man invited a woman to dine, there is something going on there.
Ruth gathers the equivalent of 6 months of barley. Naomi is excited. But what will happen after 6 months? They will need more. What if the harvest ends and they run out of barley?
This is the problem with one generation. It runs out. Addition is good but it runs out. Chapter 2 is a chapter of addition. In CCC if you go to the storage room where you keep projectors and stuff, you will find a box of old comment cards where people have indicated decision to follow Christ. Because the ministry is based on the staff, they can’t possibly follow up on them all. They have to raise support and be trained and all the rest. So the conversions gather dust.
Ruth 3:1 Ruth 3:1 Then Naomi her mother-in-law said to her, "My daughter, should I not seek rest for you, that it may be well with you?
We need a husband and a home where we will forever provided for?
Two key elements of movements: Descendants and Ownership.
Disciples, not converts are the key to movement building. It takes much more work. Have we given people ownership of our ministry? People who don’t have ownership, employees, they leave at 5. Owners work all night. I want to work with owners.
The ideal city is a city of owners. People who build there house and live in the house. People who work in their vineyards and enjoy the fruit of the vineyard. God wants to build a city of owners.
In
Unless we open up ownership to others, we will never have a movement.
In Chapter 3 the time comes to close the deal: marriage.
Listen to how Naomi prepares Ruth for the final assault.
Ruth 3:3 3 Wash therefore and anoint yourself, and put on your cloak and go down to the threshing floor, but do not make yourself known to the man until he has finished eating and drinking.
Wash, anoint, best clothing. God is not impressed by our titles. The only way that we will impress God is with a clean heart. We anoint ourselves with the Holy Spirit and have clean lives. We offer our best to God.
Layo's Personal Steps to Transformation
God is not impressed by our success. Only clean hearts can make us ready for the deposit of God’s divine seed.
Ruth 3:4 4 But when he lies down, observe the place where he lies. Then go and uncover his feet and lie down, and he will tell you what to do."
Stoning was the penalty for immorality. Naomi is telling Ruth to risk it all. It’s either continuing in homelessness and subsidy, or risk it all.
Naomi is breaking taboos to change things for ever.
We don’t need to do the same things better. We must do new, risky things. What if we join a city team and lose our identity? So what. When you are ready to risk it all, come back and you will be ready for movement.
Ruth and Boaz they got married. Out of this marriage a child was born named Obed, the grandfather of King David. Movements transcend generations. Years after they died, their love remains in the land and in descendants. Their family name is safe. God gave them a child who is famous: Obed. But that’s not the end of the story.
Matthew 1:5-6 5 and Salmon the father of Boaz by Rahab, and Boaz the father of Obed by Ruth, and Obed the father of Jesse, 6 and Jesse the father of David the king.
David, the greatest guy in the history of
Matthew 1:16 16 and Jacob the father of Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom Jesus was born, who is called Christ.
This is the end of the story: Jesus will be the King of our nations, our cities. I want to be in love with God, in love with Jesus, so that he would be King in my country.
My country is the only one that has the name of Jesus:
posted by Ryan @ 6/09/2005 10:56:00 AM
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