The Biggest, Most Important Challenge in 16 Years of Practical Mobilization

Are there 25 of us who would commit to finding, or starting, the team that would go to one of the largest unengaged Muslim groups?

We want to see the Great Commission competed, right? Even though we may disagree about what that looks like. We want to see God’s Kingdom come, right? Again, with diverse understanding of its nature.

There must be steps and stages on the way to God’s vision of consummation. Different benchmarks, waypoints, and goals. What if the start of the problem were defined as simply as this? “We must get one reproduction-oriented team of people on the ground among each unengaged people group.”

Those teams might come from anywhere. And there would be much more to do after they arrived. But could we make that a starting point? Some of us living among all.

Friends of mine who’ve invested many years in global, Great Commission work among Muslims have developed a researched and tested list of over 500 Muslim people groups they call unengaged. That first team has yet to arrive. In many cases, it’s hard to even find believers who are thinking about moving in with them.

If I’m lucky 1500 people will read this email. Are there 25 of us who would commit to finding, or starting, the team that would go to one of the largest unengaged Muslim groups? Just two dozen of us who would receive grace from God to open the flow of his grace to one of the peoples least impacted by the gospel?

I’ve compiled a subset of my friends’ list. Take a quick look at it and a long gaze at your Father. If he directs, put your name and email beside one of the peoples on the list. Together, we might be able to start the very beginning of what will ultimately be the fullness of God’s Kingdom among some precious people.

Plans to complete the Great Commission are nothing new. Some say there have been over 2600 since Jesus gave the challenge. I’m not presumptuous enough to think this idea is the solution to everything. But I’m feeling very committed to doing what I can do to find “engagers” for these 25 groups.

Here’s the massively over-simplified plan:

  1. Choose a people: Prayerfully go over the list and put your name and email by one of the peoples. If there’s already a name there, that’s good news. Join them.
  2. Become a champion: Learn, advocate, visit (virtually or IRL when permitted), become a stake holder.
  3. Find a cheerleader (I volunteer!): Mentoring, encouragement and connecting will be essential.
  4. Charge ahead. This assumes you’re operating out of the grace of God and not simply your own ambition. But God does want this done, right?

In the words of NASA’s Gene Kranz, flight director for the ill-fated Apollo 13, “let’s work the problem.”

Thank you for considering this challenge. I’m convinced God wants some of us from somewhere living as ambassadors among every people for whom that’s not currently reality. How wonderful if he were to allow you and me to join him in making that happen.

» Please watch this video where I start the cheerleader process, then consult the list.

PAKISTAN: Rooftop Sunrise Church Service

Pakistan roof preacherA ministry in Pakistan has begun preaching the gospel and praising God from the rooftops while their city is on lockdown (BosNews Life).

Source: BosNews Life, April 26, 2020

An evangelical church and mission group has launched rooftop services in Pakistan after authorities banned regular church meetings amid a national lockdown to halt the coronavirus pandemic.

The Global Vision Ministries (GVM) blasted the gospel of Christ through loudspeakers from a rooftop in Faisalabad, the country’s third-largest city, explained its pastor Suneel A. John.

The last three worship services featuring the pastor and a small group of musicians and staff included a sunrise service on Easter Sunday. John added it was “a miracle that police allowed our service on the resurrection day of Jesus Christ. We likely held the first sunrise service on a rooftop in Faisalabad’s history.”

GVM also distributed breakfast to over 650 families living in the area. Separately it has been distributing food packages lasting a month impacting hundreds of families, the pastor stressed.

[This] comes while a growing number of people face starvation as lockdown measures affected impoverished daily wage earners. “Especially Christians suffer. I know of a Christian father who wanted to hang himself because he could no longer provide for his hungry wife and two daughters. We learned about their situation and could help the family.”

Separately, GVM has rescued 100 Christian families, all slaves, in brickyards.

» Full story includes a five-minute video from the sunrise service as well as background on Pastor John, who was delivered from a gang lifestyle after a suicide attempt.

» See also a story about missionaries in Madrid singing a gospel song for their neighbors on Easter Sunday (International Mission Board).

KENYA: How Can You Socially Distance in a Slum?

Source: Compassion International, April 23, 2020

Guadencia carefully steps across her brothers’ outstretched legs, weaving her way between family members until she reaches the doorway. Thrusting aside the floral curtain, she pokes her head outside. Fresh air cools her face, tainted by acrid smoke and the eye-watering smell of open drains. Still, it is sweet relief to escape from the stifling tin room her family of seven call home.

Her neighbors are just yards away, separated by only a few sheets of rusting corrugated iron. Around her, thousands of shacks are packed together so tightly they are accessible only by foot. Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, a steady stream of people walks past.

To curb the growing number of cases of the highly contagious virus, the Kenyan government has instructed citizens to maintain social distance and practice good hygiene. But in Kibera, a slum in Kenya’s capital city of Nairobi, physical distancing is a luxury few can afford.

Half of Kibera’s residents are unemployed. The rest work mostly as casual laborers, earning just enough each day to survive. If they don’t go out to work, their family may not eat that day. The pandemic has already left 10-year-old Guadencia’s family on the verge of homelessness.

“It has been a difficult two weeks,” says her mother Dorcas, who works as a cleaner in a Nairobi factory. Her sweet face, usually quick to smile, creases with worry. “We have not been paid this month since the boss had traveled to India and has been unable to come back.”

» Full story includes similar stories and reports from slums in Nicaragua and the Philippines. Also from Compassion’s blog, read Compassion Fatigue in the Time of Coronavirus.

» See also Are Slums More Vulnerable to the COVID-19 Pandemic? Evidence from Mumbai (Brookings).

CHAD: Believers Reach Neighbors for Christ

Source: Missions Network News, April 21, 2020

A small cluster of about 22 denominations and organizations in Chad have been gathering and praying together for a number of years. They felt the Holy Spirit was laying on their heart that they needed to be the ones to reach these unreached people groups in their own country, David Reeves of unfoldingWord tells MNN.

Surrounded by unreached people groups, Chadian believers feel the Lord calling them to make his name known among their neighbors. However, Reeves explains, they don’t have the resources or training they need to fuel community outreach. That’s when global ministries, including unfoldingWord, came alongside to help.

First, unfoldingWord taught Chadian believers how to use their open-source material to translate 50 Bible stories into the language of a neighboring unreached community. “Our Open Bible Stories project is a set of 50 stories released in Creative Commons,” Reeves explains, “so they’re free to take and translate without having to have additional permissions from us. The stories cover the metanarrative from Genesis to Revelation.”

Chadian believers collaborated with JESUS Film and World Mission to create additional evangelistic materials and load them onto solar-powered devices. Once everything was finished, Chadian church planters and evangelists immediately put the resources to use. In a three-day outreach event, believers shared the gospel with over 8,300 people.

» Read full story.

» See also Chad Is Not an Easy Location (SIM USA).

WORLD: A Different Kind of Ramadan

Source: INcontext International, April 22, 2020

Most of this year’s Ramadan celebrations have been canceled or moved online due to the ongoing COVID-19 outbreak. Egypt—along with Malaysia, Singapore, and others—has banned all prayer gatherings and encouraged those celebrating to end the daily fasts alone, or only with those in their household. In an effort to keep the community aspect of Ramadan celebrations, many mosques and Islamic groups are holding online prayer services, sermons, and Quranic recitations. Ramadan usually also provides an economic boost for many communities as the feasts lead to increased food sales in local markets. The inability to buy and sell at markets could have a long-term economic effect.

From a Christian perspective, we have seen how the coronavirus outbreak has caused many people to seek answers, and how many of them have joined online Christian services, dramatically increasing [church] attendance. As Muslims are forced in this season to conduct many of their activities in isolation, perhaps they too will search for answers in these uncertain times and find some of these many Christian resources online.

» Read full story with prayer points. INcontext also reports, “We have not seen a single event give birth to so many conspiracy theories, hoaxes, and fake news as we have seen with the coronavirus.” Read their response to some end-time theories related to the virus (and Bill Gates).

» See also In Shadow of Coronavirus, Muslims Face a Ramadan Like Never Before (Reuters).

USA: When COVID Changes Your Overseas Plans

Source: Go.Serve.Love, March 27, 2020

You planned for so many eventualities in going overseas. What if we can’t raise all our support? What if my dad goes into the hospital? What if we can’t get visas? But it was pretty hard to see COVID coming.

Now maybe you’re wondering if you’ll be able to go at all.

And the gravity of this feels real. You’ve made tremendous personal sacrifices already, upending your life like a junk drawer.

What do all these sacrifices mean if they don’t result in you going? Isn’t the need still as great, or even greater?

» Read more.

» Calling off that mission trip? Tune in to the May 26 webinar You Don’t Have to Go to Give from the Standards of Excellence in Short-Term Mission. It will feature Steve Corbett (of When Helping Hurts) and others.

More for kids | webinars & podcasts | online courses

Missions-Catalyst-no-tagline_largeIn this issue:

  1. CURRICULUM: A Children’s Introduction to Missions
  2. WEBINARS & PODCASTS: Responding to Coronavirus
  3. PRAYER: Praying for the Muslim World
  4. COURSES: Training for Cross-Cultural Ministry
  5. EVENTS: Happening Online in May

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CURRICULUM: A Children’s Introduction to Missions

Source: Pioneers USA

School’s out or gone online, same with church activities, and play dates and parks are off limits. Looking for something fun you can do as a family? Check out the WorldViews curriculum. You may remember this one. It was designed several years ago in partnership with Sonlight Curriculum, then revised and re-released by Pioneers. The idea is to give kids a global perspective with a biblical foundation and help them learn to share God’s love with people all around the world.

Each WorldViews lesson includes crafts, games, coloring pages, recipes, videos, etc. While activity booklets are still available print-on-demand format, Pioneers decided this was a good time to also give away the curriculum as a download. Check it out.

» Learn more, download materials, and watch short videos teaching kids about world religions. Note that this material is based around the THUMB acronym, describing tribal, Hindu, unreligious, Muslim, and Buddhist people in age-appropriate ways for kids aged 4-7 and 7-10.

» By the way, did you read our recent Missions Catalyst article on things you can do as a family to stay sane and love the world? We’d love to hear if you’ve put any of those ideas to use.

WEBINARS & PODCASTS: Responding to Coronavirus

Sources: Various

Having a hard time keeping up with the onslaught of new media content now available to instruct, encourage, inspire, or entertain? Sometimes it stays online so you can watch or listen at your own convenience. Consider these offerings from the missions world.

From Sixteen:Fifteen

From Support Raising Solutions

Wondering about how to adapt your fundraising and ministry partner development strategies during the COVID-19 crisis? SRS did a 7-part series of podcasts on the topic. Each features a different guest and runs about half an hour.

From Missions Pulse