from February 6, 2011 prayer update

I am handling the resource table (selling books, DVDs, etc.) at one of Austin’s two Perspectives on the World Christian Movement classes this spring. This class, hosted by my home church, has more than 120 students participating, with a healthy mix of older and younger students. We have already completed 3 of the 15 sessions.



I love this class. It looks at missions through four lens: Biblical, historical, cultural, and strategic. It brings in a different expert from across the U.S. to serve as the speaker each week. And there are excellent reading assignments between each class with articles written by global experts. I have the privilege of teaching the lesson “the task remaining” in Kansas City and Columbia, MO this spring. And teaching the lesson “world Christian partnership” in Fort Worth, Tyler, and Costa Rica this spring.

The class is fantastic at casting vision for unreached (least reached) peoples around the world. According to Joshua Project there are 16,594 distinct people groups living today on this planet. 9723 of these are reached (more than 2% evangelical Christian), 6871 are unreached (less than 2%). Of the 6871 unreached peoples, approximately half have Christian outreach efforts that have begun among their people. Sadly half (approximately 3400 people groups) are totally unengaged. And 632 of these unengaged unreached peoples involve populations of at least 50,000 people. These 632 largest unengaged unreached people groups represent the highest priority of missions sending organizations like Pioneers.

These unreached peoples stand in strong contrast to the U.S. where, according to the 2010 edition of Operation World, 77.6% of the population are professing Christians and 28.9% are evangelical Christians. This is not to say there is no longer a need for evangelism in the U.S., but not nearly on the scale of many other places around the globe. The issue is access to the gospel. Many people groups still do not have any access whatsoever.

The Perspectives class has been rightly critiqued as being too conceptual, without enough hands on experience and practical ways for participants to engage in what they have been challenged with. Virtually everyone leaves the class with a new view of their Bibles and the world. They are highly motivated to get involved in some way with missions. Local churches that have folks attending Perspectives this spring would be wise to plan ahead. Make certain you have tracks that goers, senders, welcomers, and mobilizers coming out of the class can travel down long-term. Be an excellent steward of this God provided opportunity. Take the initiative to meet one-on-one with each class participant before June and help them identify specific and appropriate next steps. Then walk with them as they embrace (perhaps for the first time) God’s global mission.