Ideas Have Consequences
Everything that we see around us is the product of ideas, of ideologies, of worldviews. That's where everything starts. Worldviews are not all the same, and the differences matter a lot. How do you judge a tree? By its fruits. How do you judge a worldview? By its physical, tangible, observable fruit. The things it produces. Ideas that are noble and true produce beauty, abundance, and human flourishing. Poisonous ideas produce ugliness. They destroy and dehumanize. It really is that simple. Welcome to Ideas Have Consequences, the podcast of Disciple Nations Alliance, where we prepare followers of Christ to better understand the true ideas that lead to human flourishing while fighting against poisonous ideas that destroy nations. Join us, and prepare your minds for action!
Ideas Have Consequences
Special Episode: Building Good Citizens, Not Just Good Governments | Paulo Fillion
Episode Summary:
What if true government starts not in politics, but in the choices we make every day? Paulo Filion shares how his YWAM School of Government equips Christians to apply biblical principles across every sphere of life—self, family, community, and civil institutions. Drawing on his experiences in Latin America, he shows how good citizens and families, grounded in Scripture, form the foundation for strong governments.
This special episode comes from DNA's 2025 Forum in Panama, where Luke and Tim sat down with Paulo Filion, the creator and operator of the YWAM School of Government and Biblical Worldview. Hear powerful stories of how he is actively championing biblical worldview training in Medellín, Colombia.
Who is Disciple Nations Alliance (DNA)? Since 1997, DNA’s mission has been to equip followers of Jesus around the globe with a biblical worldview, empowering them to build flourishing families, communities, and nations. 👉 https://disciplenations.org/
🎙️Featured Speaker:
Paulo works with YWAM and is the creator of the School of Government and Biblical Worldview, and the founder of the Teachers for the Nations School in Medellín, Colombia.
📌 Recommended Links
👉 Our Primary Course: Kingdomizer 101: Truth and Transformation
👉 Our Newest Bible Study: 10 Words to Heal Our Broken World
👉 Guest Website: escuelagobierno.com
👉 Guest’s Instagram: Instagram
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📽️YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/DiscipleNationsAlliance/
Hi friends, welcome back to another episode of Ideas have Consequences. This is the podcast of the Disciple Nations Alliance. Here on this podcast, our goal is to show the power of true ideas to transform cultures. My name is Luke Allen, I'm the producer of this show and acting host today, and with me is my co-host and colleague, Tim Williams. How's it going? Tim Doing great.
Tim Williams:Luke, thank you, and we're excited to have Paolo Filion here with us, who's serving in Columbia, and we enjoyed having breakfast together today and learning more about his work. Paolo has been with YWAM for about 30 30 years and has a background in both film and media, but then, more recently, in the last 10 years, began to see a real need for NYWAM, a school of government, to really influence things. And so he had that experience when he was in Cuba teaching and seeing the influence of communism starting to come across Latin America and feeling really led to do something. But how do you influence ideas, how do you change these ideas? And I've been really impressed at how he's talked about the word government, the word government you know it's not just civil government that he's thinking about the word government, the word government, you know it's not just civil government that he's thinking about, but self-government how do we govern ourselves? And then, you know, going beyond that into family, into education, into economy, and so it's very comprehensive.
Tim Williams:And then I've been really impressed because he not only, you know it's like oh, we'll just come to school, because who can come to a traditional school program, you know, if they're living and impacting every sector of society. And so he said, well, we need to make it online, but just having it online isn't enough. We need to meet in small groups, and so they're meeting through Zoom in small groups, and then that's't enough. We need to meet in small groups, and so they're meeting through Zoom in small groups, and then that's not enough. We need to have a graduation and a bit of an annual gathering where we're in person and celebrating, and so twice a year there are semesters where these students are coming through, and usually it's a group of about 50 at a time, but right now they're preparing for a group of 80.
Tim Williams:And so, yeah, just an incredibly profound program, and I want you to kind of fill in the details, paolo. You know correct anything you know. Add some commentary there. And I'd especially like to hear from you a story you know. Add some commentary there. And I'd especially like to hear from you a story you know. So maybe you were telling us earlier about one person who was coming into the program and they were going into government and they had run for an office. Could you tell us that story? Or wherever you want to start, but I'd like to get into that too.
Paulo Fillion:Hi, hi, thank you guys for having me here talking to you today. Yeah, it's exciting to see how God lead us when you ask, you know, when you have questions and you say you ask. You know when you have questions and you say how we can bring the kingdom of God. You know, in our nation and it was kind of my story, you know, seeing my country and all Latin America being influenced for lies, many lies in our culture, and destroying family, destroying economy, destroying many good things that we have. So, yes, I used to go to Cuba to teach worldview, something that I learned in DNA. I developed a conference or a series of conferences about the three philosophies that govern the world, something like that, talking about secularism, animism and biblical worldview or Judaism. Yeah, so I used to go there when I went the first time.
Paulo Fillion:That impacted me so much, you know, to see the poverty, to see the destruction of beautiful cities 50 years ago and now are totally destroyed, and, yeah, it was terrible. And at the same time, it was a movement in Latin America that started in 1991 in Brazil Probably some of you have heard about the Sao Paulo Forum and I realized that all those ideas were running, you know, through education, through media, and I saw that all Latin America eventually going to be as Cuba. So I started praying and asking God what we can do, what we can teach in society that we can make a change, something that you can see, something that you can see, you know, something that you can, that you can. Yeah, you can see that he's doing something. So it was amazing that time that I met some guy, a pastor from Peru, and he had some short seminar about government and it started to open my mind. And then, you know, god brings me different materials and yeah.
Paulo Fillion:I developed this school and the beginning was only three months. Now it's two years long and it's amazing. I receive testimonies, for you know people that say, wow, this course changed my family, you know. And others say, like the guy that you were telling before, he ran to be a major in his city. He didn't win. But then he came to our school and then he ran again and win. But the school he said, wow, thanks God that I didn't win in the first time because I didn't know what was God's form of government. You know what was the biblical worldview about government. So, yeah, we are really thankful with God and have hope for future in our nations.
Tim Williams:Yeah, thank you, paolo. What do you think that a graduate of your program meant? You know, when he said I didn't know about government, what did that mean to him?
Paulo Fillion:Well, something that people in general, or even Christians, they think that government has to solve all the problems. If you are poor and there is a good government, he will take you out of poverty. And that is the thinking of Christians, you know. And they think that bad governors are because they steal money. You know, because of corruption, and that is why we have poverty, you know.
Paulo Fillion:And when we study government from the Bible, so we start from the very basics and from the beginning. So you understand that God creates different institutions of government and each one of those institutions have a responsibility and has a jurisdiction, you know. So you are responsible for yourself, you know. And then family has another jurisdiction, and then government and government. God creates government with purpose, you know. God creates government to stop evil, you know, to stop crime, not to solve your economy problems, you know, not to give you education, not to give you health. You know that is not the biblical purpose of government. So when you start seeing that in the Bible and it's clear, it's so clear, you know. So our students, they open their mind and their eyes and say, wow, I was so wrong. You know I was depending on government and giving government my authority. You know the authority that God gave to me, to my family. I am giving that authority to the government. So, yeah, that is one of the principles that they learn.
Tim Williams:That's awesome, Thank you. Yeah, I'm going to let Luke here talk in a minute, but I wanted to ask first, you know, if there's. You know, how did any of this kind of correlate to DNA? Was there a truth or a direction from DNA that impacted this and kind of drove that from?
Paulo Fillion:DNA that impacted this and kind of drove that. Yeah, you know, without DNA I would not be able to understand that God has principles for every sphere of society. You know, before that I used to think that if I want to serve God I have to go to another country and evangelize. You know to do evangelization, yeah, that's all you know. I remember once when I were in one of the services in my church Probably I was 16 or 17 years old and my pastor preached about missions. So I said, well, probably I don't have to go to college. Why I just need to go to preach the gospel in any country. You know, that was my thinking before. But when I was in a vision conference and then when I read Disciples in Nations, that really opened my mind to understand that God really wants to make flourish all of our life, you know, in all our societies, and he cares about nations too.
Luke Allen:And, yeah, similar for me, that same story. In high school you always hear that, right, if you want to be a good Christian, you go into another country and be a missionary. It's interesting hearing you say that, though, because you're from Colombia, you are in another country in my opinion, but then you wanted to go somewhere else. But it's true, god's placed each of us where he wants us to be missionaries in our own sphere, whether that's in government or in family or in education all areas I know you speak into. It's interesting hearing you speak about government, specifically in a biblical worldview of government. It's been interesting for me, as you guys know, listening.
Luke Allen:We're at the DNA Global Forum right now down in Panama, and, as I'm, we've only been here a day so far, and so far it's just interesting to hear how small the world is. It feels right now the same ideas that we're hearing in the US. For me, when I was in university in US politics, whether that's Marxism, the influences of Marxism, the influences of postmodernism from the French, are just as true in Colombia, in Cuba, in Brazil, in the United States. So the world feels very small. At least these big ideas are true everywhere you go. On a practical side, when you're talking about self-government to students. What are the specific applications that each of us can make when it comes to living out a self-government in our lives? What does that look like for us? Like what are practical applications that you encourage students in?
Paulo Fillion:Yeah, well, something that we need to understand is self-government. You need to put a last name Christian self-government. You know, because you can be, you can practice self-government with Marxism ideas, you know. So the question is who governs your life? You know who is sovereign in your life. You know who says what is good or what is wrong. You know. So if you want to practice that, you need to understand what is is truth. You know how god wants to govern your life, in family, in your economy, in, in, in your work. You know, and everything. So you need to study the Bible. You need to study Bible in order to understand the principles for your life. You know, for every sphere of your life. So when you understand one principle about economy, you have to apply that in your economy. So you are practicing Christian self-government, because you are applying what Christ is saying about economy. So you are being governed by him, you are obeying him by yourself. So you are practicing self-government yeah, that makes sense.
Luke Allen:That's. That's an application that every one of us can take away from this. Um, very helpful it's. It's interesting sometimes when we get in these conversations about worldview and transformation. We so often think about big meta changes that we want to see on national levels, and yet it's. It's interesting when you read the Bible. So often Jesus talks about just what each one of us have to do and in a way, it's like leave that up to me. The big transformation. I'll play that out in my own way. That's my story. Your story is be self-governed, have Christian self-government and be obedient to that, and then leave the rest in my hands. And that's just encouraging for me because it makes us all a lot more practical. Also hard for me because it makes me feel like I have to do something, whereas just thinking about big changes in nations is theoretical and sometimes easy to be passive in. But that's a great application. Tim, did you have a closing question for Paulo, as we're wrapping up here?
Tim Williams:Yeah, I mean number one. I don't want to end already, but you know, we are kind of in the middle of kind of a session, so I want to get back to that. But I mean, I'd love to ask you kind of an open-ended question, you know. You know, if there was kind of something that we haven't covered that you said, hey, I'd love to ask you kind of an open-ended question, you know, you know, if there was kind of something that we haven't covered that you said, hey, I just want people to know about or think about this thing. You know, the people who are listening are people who care about their culture and their nation and they want to influence others, you know, and they're, you know, want to hear how God has guided you in that process. So, you know, if there's a piece of advice or a story that you want to leave people with, or just one more thing you want to share about your experience, that's what I'd like to hear.
Paulo Fillion:Yeah, you know we like to put or to use big names. You know, school of Government. It sounds wow, but at the end, again, it's what God do in each person, you know, in each family. So that is what really makes big nations. If we have good citizens, we will have good governments. If we have good families, we will have good governors. But behind that will be, again, bible. You know, we cannot have good citizens and good families if they don't have truth, if they don't have Bible, you know. So at the end, what we want our students is that they finish school, our school, loving Bible, you know. And they wanted to read the Bible every day, looking for principles. There you know, things that they can apply in their lives, things that they can live in their lives. You know lives. You know how they can teach those truths, those principles, to their children. You know it's simple All is in the Bible, but we need to go back to the Bible and study and apply.
Luke Allen:Yeah, yeah, that's a great word this is. I know this was short, but it is practical and it is so simple. In a way, it's follow the Bible. It's love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, soul, mind and strength and live it out. And the application there is so practical and it starts on the individual level. As we're talking about discipling nations, again, it feels so esoteric, sometimes so large, so difficult to comprehend how to do that, but it's love God and follow the Bible. Look for those principles, especially individually for each of us. Whether you're—if you're a teacher, what are the principles in the Bible about teaching? Again, if you're in government, what are the principles in the Bible about government? There's a lot, as you said. When you said that, I thought I don't know if everyone knows that because you don't hear those very often. The principles of the Bible and government. They're there and we have to search them out and it's a journey and then we have to live them out. Tim, did you have one last comment?
Tim Williams:Yeah, just in summary of what I'm hearing you say and kind of thinking about the story of the graduate that came through. You know, I'm hearing you say like it all starts with thinking correctly, doing the work of really understanding the principles of the Bible and how they apply to every area, and doing that work. So that's kind of one of our first tasks. If we're thinking correctly, then we'll know what action is useful to take.
Luke Allen:And one last question for you, Paulo, For anyone who's listening, who's a Spanish speaker and would like to learn more about what you do and the courses that you offer the worldview and government courses. Where can they go to learn more about that?
Paulo Fillion:Yeah, our website is escuelagobiernocom Escuelagobiernocom.
Luke Allen:Okay, great. Yeah, we'll have that link down in the show notes for anyone who's curious to check that out. I know I am. Unfortunately, my Spanish is rusty so I don't know how far I would make it in that course, but it sounds fascinating. It's run through YWAM good friends of ours over there. So yeah again, paulo, thank you so much for your time today. Really enjoyed talking to you and, yeah, we look forward to hanging out the rest of the week with you here in Panama.
Paulo Fillion:Yeah, no, thank you guys. It was very nice to talk to you.
Luke Allen:Yeah, this was great and for everyone listening. Thanks again for listening to another episode here on Ideas have Consequences.
