Priorities Of The Global Church

PRIORITIES OF THE GLOBAL CHURCH IN COMPLETING THE TASK OF WORLD EVANGELIZATION I.

NEED #1: TO GIVE ACCESS TO SCRIPTURE TO EVERY PERSON IN HIS OWN LANGUAGE A. The Present Situation: 1. 2,251 languages have no Scripture and no one working on them 2. 1,953 languages have someone that has begun work but, as yet, they do not have one book of the Bible available 3. Total number of people with no access to the Scripture in their own language = 300 million people living in 4,204 groups B. Recommended Strategies: 1. Increase the hiring of national workers to do written translation 2. Immediately finance 4,204 teams of 2 people to produce an “Oral Bible” in the next 24 months

II. NEED #2: TO REACH THE UNENGAGED, UNREACHED PEOPLE GROUPS THAT CURRENTLY HAVE NO ACCESS TO THE GOSPEL Access to the Gospel is our number one criteria in prioritizing our activities in evangelism. We must concentrate on those groups who have no way to hear the Gospel. These groups have no missionary, no church, no tools of evangelism, and no known Believers. Though there are many ways of figuring the number of unreached groups, there are at least 12,000 in the world. Of these, about 6,000 have been “reached”—i.e. there are at least 2% evangelical Believers. Of the final 6,000 groups, about 3,400 groups have no witness for the Lord. There are about 600 million people in these groups. III. NEED #3: TO REACH THE 60% OF THE WORLD THAT ARE ORAL LEARNERS Most people throughout the world are Oral learners. That is, they prefer to learn through proverbs, music, poetry, and especially, stories. It’s the way we learned before we went to school. And, increasingly, those who are already literate are giving up reading. They want to receive their information by means of radio, TV, and film. Fifty-eight percent of the adults in the United States have not read a book since they graduated from high school; forty-two percent since they graduated from university. Mission leaders must rethink how they are delivering their evangelism, discipleship, and church planting strategies. IV. NEED #4: TO ENCOURAGE REVOLUTIONARY APPROACHES TOWARD MUSLIMS, HINDUS, AND BUDDHISTS – NEARLY HALF THE WORLD’S POPULATION A. What is the challenge? After hundreds of years of missions, we are still struggling to see widespread breakthroughs in church planting among the large religious blocs of the world. We must rekindle intentional outreach to Muslims, Hindus, and Buddhists at every level possible. Recognizing the slowness of our progress among these mega blocs, we must encourage every creative and innovative initiative that moves us toward more fruitful impact among them. Our most common methodology of the past has been one of Source: Lausanne Committee for World Evangelization, 2008.

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B.

“extraction”, i.e. taking people out of their family culture to worship in a setting that is foreign. We need more culturally authentic worship patterns. The Statistics: Islam 1.3 billion Hinduism 1.0 billion Buddhism/Folk Chinese 700 million Non-Religious 1.2 billion Tribals 200 million Christianity 2.2 billion Catholics Orthodox State Churches Others (250m Evangelicals)

1.0 billion 300 million 200 million 700 million _____________

TOTAL

6.6 billion

V. NEED #5: TO SEE RENEWAL AND REFORMATION IN THE CHURCH If the Church is to speak with power, it must return to a biblical message and demonstrate holy lives filled with the Holy Spirit. Every Believer needs to be obedient to both the Great Commandment and the Great Commission. We must call ourselves and the Church to love God with whole hearts and love our neighbor as ourselves. This includes loving our brothers, loving strangers, and loving our enemies. In terms of the Great Commission, it demands that we go everywhere and tell people what God has done for us in the power of the Holy Spirit. Our framework for the Great Commission has to involve the following -As followers of Christ, united in love and purpose, we are called to: 1-- Reach every person with the whole Gospel 2-- In a language he/she understands 3-- With access to a nearby local church or fellowship 4-- Led by a trained pastor or elder VI. NEED #6: TO WORK TOGETHER Jesus said in John 17 that the unity of Believers would say two things to non-Believers: • That Jesus really did come from God. vs. 21 • That God loves them as much as He loves Jesus. For those who are Believers, unity would say two things: • That you are a true follower of Jesus. John 13:35 – “By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.” • That there will be a blessing. Psalm 133:1-3 – “Behold how good and pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity…. for there the Lord commanded the blessing…” The unity of Believers is not an option in evangelism. It is a sign that God left to validate and show the deity of Jesus. It is the present day evidence of God’s love for mankind. Source: Lausanne Committee for World Evangelization, 2008.

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VII. NEED #7: TO INTEGRATE THE GLOBAL PRAYER MOVEMENTS WITH WORLD EVANGELIZATION We celebrate the emerging global prayer movement and affirm the need for mutual interaction between this movement and world evangelization. We recognize that we can’t complete the Great Commission without a strong prayer foundation. Nor can the prayer movement be all that God intends it to be if not linked to world evangelization for “His house is to be a house of prayer for all nations.” VIII. NEED #8: TO ESTABLISH A LOCAL CHURCH FOR EVERY ONE IN HIS OWN LANGUAGE There are currently 3.8 million worship centers in the world. When you add house churches to this number, the total number of churches approaches 10 million. The key objective in this facet of the world evangelism plan is to ensure that a church is within walking distance or affordable transport for every person in the world. For example, there is 1 church for every 75 people in Lynchburg, VA and yet there are no churches available in some countries of the world. IX. NEED #9: TO TRAIN AND EQUIP PASTORS AND THE LAITY FROM EVERY LANGUAGE GROUP AND CULTURE A. What is the challenge? 1. Lack of mobilization of the laity More challenge and opportunity for the laity in expanding the borders for evangelization 2. Most tools for both the laity and the clergy are only in English (a) Most reference books are only translated into the same major languages (b) Most pastor training has a literate base, rather than oral X. NEED #10: TO MAKE USE OF EVERY MEDIA DISTRIBUTION SYSTEM We will have to use every kind of and form of evangelism that is available to us. Most of the world today is getting their information and being influenced through the media, radio, television, and film. And, the delivery systems now include audio, radio, television, videocassette, VCD, DVD, telephone, cell phone, voicemail, email, text message, internet, I-Pods, etc. In terms of evangelism, we need new ways to present the message in culturally-relevant ways through every delivery system available. XI. NEED #11: TO INCREASE OUR DEMONSTRATION OF COMPASSION AND REACH OUT TO THE NEGLECTED OF SOCIETY A. AIDS Pandemic B. Children at Risk = 1.9 billion 1. Orphans = 500 million 2. Victims of Sex Trafficking 3. Child Abuse Incidents = 25 million/year C. Prisoners = 120 million D. Disabled = 600 million E. Refugees = 15 million Source: Lausanne Committee for World Evangelization, 2008.

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