Thoughts from a Resident Alien

Lynn Green
  • 5.0 (4)
  • Christianity
  • Updated Weekly

Lynn Green and his wife Marti first came to England and began the work of Youth With A Mission here in 1971. From 2004-2011 Lynn was YWAM's International Chairman. He continues to convene YWAM's global leadership meetings and focuses much of his energy on international leadership development. In past years Lynn has been much involved in serving other movements and organizations, including Challenge 2000 (the DAWN movement in England), and "March for Jesus", of which he was a founder. He is currently a trustee of CARE Trust. Lynn also directed the "Reconciliation Walk", when thousands of Christians prayerfully retraced the route of the First Crusade, thereby helping to defuse 900 years of bitterness between Muslims, Christians and Jews.

  1. 12/12/2025

    #281 - Is YWAM really a faith Mission?

    Lynn Green tackles a question he says he'd happily debate: does YWAM still live out its founding conviction as a "faith mission" — taking Matthew 6's call not to worry about money literally? He traces the movement's roots in Hudson Taylor and George Müller-style faith, a formative moment where Loren Cunningham repented of pride around fundraising, and his own family's decades of tight, faith-stretching finances in England — before laying out three practical disciplines God led him and Marty to adopt, and making the case for giving as an act of trust rather than a transaction. Chapters: 00:00 — What Is a Faith Mission? Lynn frames today's topic: whether YWAM still holds to the founding "faith mission" model (Matthew 6:31–34, not worrying about provision), grounded in the historic examples of Hudson Taylor and George Müller, and how YWAM's early culture of never mentioning financial needs took shape. 09:00 — Growing Up in a Faith Mission: The English Context and Early Tests How cultural differences between the UK and US shaped YWAM's approach to fundraising, Lauren Cunningham's public repentance over pride tied to never discussing money, and Lynn and Marty's own years of thin support — including losing family financial backing and a formative story of a nearly-empty church offering that taught them not to attend events "hoping there'd be money there." 24:00 — Three Steps Toward Freedom from Financial Anxiety Frustrated by how much time they spent worrying despite Matthew 6's promise, Lynn and Marty asked God what needed to change, and received three directives: keep detailed, categorized accounts; communicate with radical honesty and transparency to supporters (without directly asking for money); and cultivate generosity by increasing their giving well beyond a tithe — plus the story of their accountability group and the friend who eventually urged them to stop raising their giving percentage further. 33:00 — Closing: Giving as Trust, Not Transaction Lynn's summary conviction: God's economy is one of giving and receiving, not a transactional exchange, and the healthiest first response to financial need is to ask "Lord, what are you saying?" rather than immediately organizing a fundraising effort. • • ** This is a personal podcast and reflects my thoughts and convictions. It does not represent any official position held by Youth with A Mission.**

  2. 12/05/2025

    #280 - Why High profile Leaders Fail?

    Fresh off the first meeting of YWAM's new Global Eldership Circle, Lynn Green tackles a hard question head-on: why do so many high-profile spiritual leaders end up failing? Drawing on a firsthand account from a former International House of Prayer leader, and looking at well-known cases (Willow Creek, Mars Hill, and others), he traces the pattern back to concentrated authority, unhealthy power differentials, and what he calls the "tripod of temptation" — money, sex, and power — making the case for plural, accountable eldership as the biblical safeguard.   Chapters: 00:00 – Intro: back from Kona and the Founders Circle meeting 01:44 – Expanding to a nearly 40-person Global Eldership Circle 03:44 – Why plural leadership matters, and why one-leader models struggle 05:19 – Today's question: why do high-profile leaders fail? 05:54 – The weakness of hierarchies: pushing problems upward 06:32 – Influence-based authority vs. transactional authority 07:38 – Allen Hood's account of the IHOP leadership collapse 08:58 – How IHOP was built around one man's charisma 10:50 – The allegations and investigation findings 11:45 – Other well-known cases: Willow Creek and Mars Hill 13:10 – 1 Peter 5 and John 10: what elders are actually called to 14:22 – Old Testament kings as a cautionary pattern 14:39 – Why God resisted a single-leader hierarchy for Israel 16:32 – How YWAM's plural eldership model works in Harpenden 18:02 – Lauren Cunningham's early accountability structures 19:09 – Why concentrated authority creates outsized temptation 19:51 – The Epstein files as an example of power differential exploited 20:43 – "Who was I to say anything?" — why people stay silent 22:06 – Why hierarchies form in the first place 23:24 – Vulnerability in early-stage, small pioneering teams 24:23 – Hierarchy, culture, and honor killings as an extreme example 25:30 – Cultural norms shaping how much power leaders are given 26:20 – Plurality as a limit on the abuse of power 26:56 – The limits of "accountability" alone 27:28 – Why leaders shouldn't hold financial authority over those they lead 28:35 – Why Lynn opposes tithing to leaders directly 29:08 – The "tripod of temptation": money, sex, and power 30:59 – Why persecuted, non-hierarchical churches see less leadership failure 32:10 – Closing: choosing openness and accountability voluntarily   • • ** This is a personal podcast and reflects my thoughts and convictions. It does not represent any official position held by Youth with A Mission.**

  3. 11/28/2025

    #279 - Apostles and Prophets Together?

    Prompted by a question from missionaries in Madagascar, Lynn Green unpacks Ephesians 2:20's claim that the church is built "on the foundation of the apostles and prophets" — and why we rarely see the two gifts operating on the same team. He defines how YWAM uses the terms apostle and prophet, walks through examples (including Loren Cunningham's "tripod message" and a story of Marti's own call to Jamaica), and argues both gifts matter most not by being co-located, but by staying accountable within mature, peer-led teams of elders. Chapters: 00:00 – Intro: a question from missionaries in Madagascar 03:25 – Ephesians 2:19–20: built on apostles and prophets 07:31 – Update: the first Global Eldership Circle meeting 08:11 – Defining "apostle" — not the traditional/academic sense 09:34 – Apostle as: pioneer, gatherer, and keeper of teams 10:33 – Embodying an organization's purpose, beliefs, and values 12:17 – The apostle's ability to operate in all five ministry gifts 13:15 – Helping people find their place vs. spiritual pressure to conform 16:06 – Trusting God to provide the right people, not just money 18:16 – Defining "prophet" from 1 Corinthians 14 20:15 – Everyone can prophesy, but not everyone is a prophet 21:16 – "Big apostles and little apostles" — degrees of gifting 22:16 – Responding to "we don't have prophets today" 23:30 – How you recognize a prophetic word 23:55 – Marty's story: "Go to Jamaica" 25:39 – Loren Cunningham as an apostolic figure with a prophetic gift 27:05 – The tripod message as a prophetic word for YWAM 29:29 – Tom Bloomberg's word about a season of "pruning" 31:46 – Summary: apostles and prophets rarely share a team, but both need one 32:43 – Why accountability to elders matters most 35:50 – Warnings: apostles who lose people, prophets who perform on demand 36:31 – Closing thoughts • • ** This is a personal podcast and reflects my thoughts and convictions. It does not represent any official position held by Youth with A Mission.**

  4. 11/21/2025

    #278 - A Job Description for a Leader

    Amid growing public distrust of institutions — including the church — Lynn Green makes the case that a leader's real job description isn't in a strategy document, it's in Scripture: shepherd the flock. Working through Ezekiel 34, John 10, and John 21, he tells the story of a prophetic word he initially rejected ("a shepherd's heart") and a late-night decision to go after a struggling young man in the freezing rain, arguing that spiritual leadership is measured by self-sacrifice and trustworthy closeness to people — not by projects, platforms, or celebrity. Chapters: 00:00 – Intro: the crisis of institutional trust 03:49 – Why threats and authority no longer restore confidence 04:51 – Ken Wright: an engineer with a prophetic gift 09:02 – The prophecy Lynn didn't want: "a shepherd's heart" 11:26 – Ezekiel 34: God's indictment of self-serving shepherds 14:27 – John 10: the shepherd, the gate, and the sheep who know his voice 17:28 – The "thief" who steals, kills, and destroys vs. the good shepherd 18:34 – Why celebrity leadership contradicts the shepherd model 20:29 – Denominational training that discourages closeness to people 21:36 – When leaders drift into self-interest: spiritual abuse 22:35 – Testing the prophecy: a needy young man with epilepsy 24:24 – The story of Eric: a midnight knock in the freezing rain 27:24 – The decision to go out into the cold after him 28:49 – "Dying to yourself" as the cost of shepherding 29:50 – 1 Peter 5: instructions to elders, not lords 31:39 – John 21: Jesus and Peter — "Feed my sheep" 34:08 – Don't lose sight of people amid projects and money 34:40 – Every leadership gift still needs a team 35:29 – Closing: leading by godly example   • • ** This is a personal podcast and reflects my thoughts and convictions. It does not represent any official position held by Youth with A Mission.**

  5. 11/14/2025

    #277 - Eldership - How are we doing?

    Lynn Green opens with a health update — the facial spasm surgery worked, though hearing loss remains — before returning to the 2002 "tripod message" that moved YWAM from executive hierarchy toward plural eldership. He revisits why God resisted giving Israel a king, why senior-leader succession is so risky, and shares real examples of leadership teams that navigated transitions well because of shared eldership — making the case, 12 years into implementation, for why plural leadership is still the goal. Chapters: 00:00 – Health update: post-surgery recovery 05:49 – Reintroducing the topic: eldership, 2002 to now 06:22 – Lauren Cunningham's concern about losing apostolic edge 07:46 – How YWAM's 1990s hierarchy grew top-heavy 09:05 – The universal tendency toward bloated support staff 11:08 – The "tripod message" from China 12:59 – The priesthood of all believers 14:21 – Why single-leader structures aren't the biblical pattern 15:57 – The risk of "God told me" without accountability 16:41 – Paul's pattern: appointing elders, not one leader 18:26 – Israel's demand for a king, revisited 20:34 – The second tripod point: why we need elders 21:40 – Why even good senior leaders can drift toward tyranny 23:39 – A letter from Africa: circles of leadership in a leadership transition 25:47 – The CEO succession story that backfired 26:25 – A smooth succession example: rotating leaders onto the elder circle 27:19 – Why plural leadership brings a mix of gifts 29:40 – Do you still need someone to run the meeting? 30:03 – Why Lynn avoids the term "director" 30:53 – Acts 15 and James's chairmanship model 32:06 – Answering the "no accountability" myth again 33:11 – Closing: 12 years in, still working on it • • ** This is a personal podcast and reflects my thoughts and convictions. It does not represent any official position held by Youth with A Mission.**

  6. 11/07/2025

    #276 - Jesus and wineskins

    Returning after brain surgery to fix his facial spasm, Lynn Green digs into Jesus's wineskin metaphor from Matthew 9 and asks what "new wineskin" the current revival actually needs. Looking back at the Jesus Movement of the 1970s — and forward to the explosive underground growth of the church in China and Iran — he makes the case that congregational Sunday services alone won't sustain this generation, and that small groups and deep fellowship are the real container this move of God requires. Chapters: 00:00 – Intro: back after brain surgery 03:21 – Matthew 9: the wineskins passage 05:31 – Jesus's answer to John's disciples on fasting 06:44 – Explaining the wineskin metaphor for a modern audience 08:12 – The principle: every move of God needs the right container 09:16 – Looking back to the 1970s Jesus Movement 10:03 – The "stay or leave your church" debate 12:01 – Which churches thrived 50 years later 15:55 – Today's quiet revival: what the polls are showing 17:17 – Why young men are drawn to liturgical, historic churches 18:26 – Is liturgy the new wineskin? Lynn says not quite 19:33 – Digital-native young people and their hunger for real connection 22:01 – The explosive growth of the underground church in China 23:36 – The same pattern happening now in Iran 24:44 – Why persecution-era growth outpaces congregational growth 26:26 – What we should be looking for: small groups as the new wineskin 27:33 – The Send's neighborhood groups as an early example 30:14 – Jean Darnell's "pinpricks of light" vision 31:37 – Closing: praying for the pinpricks to become a movement • • ** This is a personal podcast and reflects my thoughts and convictions. It does not represent any official position held by Youth with A Mission.**

  7. 10/31/2025

    #275 - Is this truly a Revival? part 2

    Picking up from last week's stats on the UK's youth revival, Lynn Green looks at the ~50-year gap between spiritual "waves" (the 1970s Jesus Movement and now), and argues hopelessness is the common thread driving both. He unpacks Jesus's parables of the growing seed and the sower (Mark 4 and Luke 8) using stories from decades of street evangelism — including a dramatic account of a discipleship house gone wrong — to explain why most seed doesn't bear fruit, but the harvest that does multiplies exponentially. Chapters: 00:00 – Intro: upcoming surgery & recap of last week's stats 02:12 – Comparing today to the wave of the early 1970s 03:41 – Hopelessness as the common thread across generations 04:36 – Learning from the Oxford Street coffee bar outreach 06:53 – The "harvest" and why students are more open now 07:48 – Mark 4:26 — the parable of the growing seed 08:49 – What the parable actually means: seed vs. soil 09:14 – The Reconciliation Walk and finding God already at work 11:14 – Why prayer prepares the soil 12:42 – Luke 8 — the parable of the sower, in full 14:27 – The footpath: people who don't engage 14:52 – The rocky soil: quick joy, no roots 15:25 – Story: the street gang who moved in — and the knife incident 18:58 – The thorny soil: choked by riches and busyness 20:41 – Why pursuing what we want disappoints in the end 22:31 – The math of the harvest: why one in ten still means exponential growth 24:24 – Seed sown now can bear fruit later 25:22 – Closing: pray, look for opportunities, be a laborer • • ** This is a personal podcast and reflects my thoughts and convictions. It does not represent any official position held by Youth with A Mission.**

  8. 10/24/2025

    #274 - Is this truly a Revival? part 1

    UK church attendance is up 50% since 2018, with young men leading the surge — a fivefold jump from 4% to 21%. Lynn Green digs into the Bible Society's latest polling, shares a firsthand account of the 1740 Whitefield revival, and tells two recent stories from his own town — a street evangelism encounter and an unexpected healing — to ask whether this is genuine revival or just the beginning of an awakening. He closes with his theory on why hope is breaking through now, for a generation that's run out of it. Chapters: 00:00 – Intro & framing the question 01:33 – The Bible Society poll: Bible sales up 87% 03:40 – Church attendance among 18–24 year olds 04:42 – The standout stat: young men up fivefold 06:01 – What "revival" actually means 06:28 – The Hebrides revival — Duncan Campbell's stories 08:21 – Book recommendation: the Great Awakening & the US Constitution 10:38 – Reading Nathan Cole's 1740 account of hearing Whitefield preach 18:02 – So, are we in revival? Not yet — an awakening 19:25 – Street evangelism story: the group of boys who committed to Jesus 21:12 – Backstory: the Kurdish-Iranian shopkeeper couple 24:14 – The phone message and the healed eye 26:25 – Why now? Looking back to the Jesus Movement of the 1960s–70s 30:38 – Comparing hopelessness then and now 34:52 – The gospel as a message of hope (John 10:10, Jeremiah 29:11) 35:24 – Why more young men than young women are returning 37:12 – Closing: looking ahead to teaching on the harvest • • ** This is a personal podcast and reflects my thoughts and convictions. It does not represent any official position held by Youth with A Mission.**

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About

Lynn Green and his wife Marti first came to England and began the work of Youth With A Mission here in 1971. From 2004-2011 Lynn was YWAM's International Chairman. He continues to convene YWAM's global leadership meetings and focuses much of his energy on international leadership development. In past years Lynn has been much involved in serving other movements and organizations, including Challenge 2000 (the DAWN movement in England), and "March for Jesus", of which he was a founder. He is currently a trustee of CARE Trust. Lynn also directed the "Reconciliation Walk", when thousands of Christians prayerfully retraced the route of the First Crusade, thereby helping to defuse 900 years of bitterness between Muslims, Christians and Jews.

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