July 2024 – Missions Catalyst

Eric Liddell, the Lost in Laos, and the Great Progress of the Gospel

In this edition:

7/25/24 Note: Found two typos in this edition — one just a repeated the word, but the other more substantial: in item #3, yes, we know William Carey published his “Enquiry” in 1792, not 1892. Sorry! Fixed both on the website but won’t resend the email. If you see mistakes like that, please don’t hesitate to let us know.

If you take issue with the claim that the gospel has taken root in people groups that include 75% of the world’s population (in item #3), read the rest of the article and take it up with the authors. They assert that more than half of the unreached are in “Frontier People Groups,” no more than .1% Christian and with no known and sustained disciple-making movements. That’s a stricter definition than the “less than 5% Christian, less than 2% evangelical” standard used to measure UPGs, which is what me see more often. That’s how the source can say the segment constitutes 25% of the world population instead of 42.5%.

New Podcast: Following the Journey of Eric Liddell

Source: Radical

This summer’s Paris Olympics mark the 100th anniversary of a Christian athlete’s unexpected triumph at the 1924 games—a victory immortalized in the iconic film Chariots of Fire. But Eric Liddell’s greatest glory wasn’t winning a gold medal in Paris. It was losing his life for God’s glory in China.

Follow Liddell’s remarkable journey from victory on the racetrack to death on the mission field and find out what’s happening today with the gospel he loved in the countries he knew best.

Learn more and listen to the podcast, Glory Road. It’s well produced and insightful.

Also, in case you missed it, take a look at mission mobilizer Alicia Bennett’s Olympic Family Devotional.

The Faith Road: A True Story of Peril and Mission in Southeast Asia

The Faith Road: A True Story of Peril and Mission in Southeast Asia, by Eliot Branch. College Press, 2021. 210 pages.

Hear how an ordinary man from rural Missouri came to follow Jesus and introduce others to him in a tiny landlocked country in Southeast Asia. Eliot partners with expatriates and national missionaries to launch an effort to reach the (initially estimated) “Final 58” unreached people groups of Laos.

Follow Eliot, Nick, and a team of first-generation believers as they launch out in five-day faith journeys following the practices described in Luke 10 and attempt to stay one step ahead of the police to reach the remaining lost peoples at the ends of the earth.

Missionary biographies are many, though I’ve never read one about Laos. This one winsomely explains and illustrates key principles for walking with God and reaching the unreached in any context.

Nik Ripken, author of The Insanity of God, says in the foreword: “I beg you to hear my heart: this is not a book about missions for missionaries. This is a book for the church. This is a message for all Christians. This is a story for you.”

Learn more or get the Kindle edition for just US$2.99. Also available in paperback.

Also worth a read, Aila Tasse’s Cabbages in the Desert: How God Transformed a Devout Muslim and Catalyzed Disciple Making Movements Among Unreached Peoples. We highlighted that one when it came out in May.

Booklet: The Great Progress of the Gospel

Four thousand years ago, God made a covenant with Abraham, saying, “through your offspring all nations (families) on earth will be blessed” (Genesis 22:18). God was promising that all people groups would be made right with him by faith (Galatians 3:8).

Jesus commanded his followers to disciple all people groups (Matthew 28:19). Thus, movements to Jesus spread into a growing number of non-Jewish people groups through witnesses like Paul, who said, “It has always been my ambition to preach the gospel where Christ has not been named, not building on another’s foundation” (Romans 15:20). In each generation, God calls some, like Paul, to such pioneer work.

In 1792, William Carey worked out that the gospel had spread through cross-cultural witnesses to places containing 25% of the world’s population.
In 1974, Ralph Winter figured that 40% of the world lived in people groups with their own movements to Jesus.
In 2024, just 50 years later, the gospel has taken root in people groups containing 75% of the world’s population.

Where would Paul go today?

Read more or download The Great Progress of the Gospel as a PDF (also available in print). It’s packed with charts and data about the 5,000 Frontier People Groups who represent 25% of the world’s population. Much of the material is open source (with attribution) and also available from JoshuapProject.net/GreatProgress.

Video Series: Missionary Marriages for All Terrains

Source: Modern Day Missions

Being in any marriage has its challenges, but being in a missionary marriage takes those challenges to a whole new level. All-Terrain Marriages is a free, eight-week video resource that leads missionary couples through four main topics of conversation that prepare them to thrive in any terrain God may call them to live and serve in. It’s led by Danny and Stephanie Gutierrez who served in Peru.

New sessions will be released every Monday for eight weeks (through August 5). Check the YouTube captions for links to download discussion guides.

Watch the video playlist or learn more about Modern Day Missions. Thanks to Brigada Today for the heads-up.

Events: Conferences, Classes and More Coming up in August

Source: Missions Catalyst Events Calendar

August through October, Missionary Care Cohort (online). Help your “sent ones” stay connected. Provided for local churches by The Upstream Collective.

August 3, Turning Triggers into Glimmers (online). Training event from AllNations.

August 3-10, Classic ReBoot (Calgary, AB, Canada). Eight-day re-entry retreat for MKs/TCKs (aged 17-20) re-entering Canadian society. They also have also a wilderness edition for older MKs.

August 5-9, Engage Retreat (Union Mills, NC, USA). A spiritual retreat provided regularly by the Center for Intercultural Training. The next one will be in October.

August 5 to December 8, Perspectives on the World Christian Movement (online). A second August cohort begins August 12. New online classes begin regularly. In-person fall classes will be launching soon as well; check the website for details.

August 11 to September 6, Equipping for Cross-Cultural Life and Ministry (Union Mills, NC, USA). Followed by a Language Learning Accelerator course, both from the Center for Intercultural Training.

August 13, How to Be an Effective Church Missions Leader (online). Peer2Peer event for church missions leaders. Provided by Missio Nexus.

August 20-23, Field Security Seminar (Lake George, CO, USA). Provided by Crisis Consulting International. The next one in the USA will be in November in North Carolina.

August 24, Missions Expo (Pretoria, South Africa). Free, community-based mission conference, an offshoot of a similar event in Cape Town (September 13-14).

August 28-29, Field Leaders Contingency Planning Workshop (Cape Town, South Africa). Provided by Crisis Consulting International, and followed by an August 30 Women’s Personal Security Workshop.

View the complete calendar. Submissions welcome. Looks like much is planned for September, including a few big conferences: Missio Nexus, GACX, and the fourth Lausanne Congress on World Evangelization.

Church Multiplication by Monsoon, New Life in Myanmar & More

In this edition:

Read or share the email version, or scroll down to read stories.

Image: A former witchdoctor in Myanmar responds to the gospel and is baptized (Asia Harvest). See story below.

India: The Unseen Purpose of a Monsoon Season

Source: Beyond, July 11, 2024

Lakshmi poured some of their precious water over John’s feet and wiped them with her hands. John wept unashamedly. As she washed, Lakshmi thanked Jesus for John and the message he had shared. You see, John hadn’t just preached to the brick-makers. He had spent time with them. He had eaten their food and drunk their water. He had shown them how to follow the God who loves them and knows them by name. Lakshmi and several others soon became beloved co-laborers with John in their community.

A few months later, monsoon season arrived, [and] the brick-making families decided to go back home to see family.

But when Lakshmi and the other leaders shared their plans with John, he was sad and confused. Why leave? A year ago, when they arrived, they had been idol worshipers. Now, there were 17 house churches among the 40 families of the community. “Why go home?” he asked. “Please stay. We can pray and wait out the monsoons. Don’t go.”

That was six weeks ago. John recently learned that each of the 17 families has started at least one new Bible study in homes among their family and friends back home!

Read the full story.

From another part of the world, read about missionary explorers venturing into Amazon jungles looking for isolated people groups (International Mission Board).

Myanmar: Revival in the Midst of War and Suffering

Source: Asia Harvest Newsletter

Our Christian hosts took us to a slum where a tin door to a run-down shack opened in front of us. When we stepped inside, it was as though we had passed through a portal and entered another dimension, a heavenly one—a world where Jesus reigns.

It was a church meeting of Burmese children deep in the heart of the slums, providing a ray of hope to penetrate the darkness many were living in.

Among these bare-footed believers, we were slightly embarrassed to be the only ones with socks and shoes. But that didn’t bother these children whose eyes remained closed with tears streaming down their faces as their attention was fully on their Savior.

This experience was repeated at each of the centers we visited. Healings and deliverance from demons, drugs, and crime were commonplace. Most of the gatherings consisted of believers who had come to Christ within the past few years.

[Former] prostitutes sat shoulder-to-shoulder with former murderers and gang members whose tattoos told the tale of their past, but who had now found redemption and cleansing through the blood of Jesus.

The best part of this story is that it is not transpiring based on the efforts of a single ministry, but rather through a sovereign move of the Spirit of God that is sweeping across this vast land—a move that is finally penetrating the poorest and hardest demographic in Myanmar: the 50 million ethnic Burmese people.

Read the original article It includes more stories and pictures and reports that more than 6,000 Burmese have come to Christ through a ministry Asia Harvest reports in Myanmar.

For more encouragement about what God is doing among indigenous ministries in Asia, treat yourself to something from the Asia Harvest bookstore—including whole volumes about the growth of the church in each Province of China.

See also an overview of the situation in Myanmar and how to pray (INcontext International).

Thailand: Wesleyan Church’s Asia-Pacific International Conference

Source: Global Partners, July 1, 2024

[In May], Wesleyan church leaders and pastors from more than 20 countries gathered in Chiang Mai, Thailand for the first ever Asia-Pacific International Conference of the Wesleyan Church.

The conference was centered around the theme “Stronger Together,” igniting a vision for these leaders to work together in the efforts of extend God’s Kingdom across the least-reached, most densely populated continent in the world.

Fiji-born Rev. Atu Lagi said that learning how other countries have been pursuing global missions was a helpful experience for him. In fact, after meeting and getting to know pastors from Indonesia, he hopes to stay in touch and begin sending short-term teams their way within the next year.

Rev. Lex Akers, district superintendent of the New South Wales district in Australia, also enjoyed making new connections. One exciting connection he made was with a couple from India who is interested in planting a satellite church in Australia, to reach the growing number of Indians there.

On the last day, a leader from the Philippines stood to share what the Lord had placed on his heart during the week spent together. Earlier in the week, he shared about the success the Wesleyan Church has had with expanding and church planting [in the Philippines] but took this moment to confess to the delegates from South Asia that he hadn’t considered beyond the Philippines. Then, he asked for forgiveness.

Read the full story. Praise God for using Christians from many nations to challenge and encourage one another.