Adopt-A-People

How you can strategically impact an

unreached people group.

Discovering God’s plan for your church

• The Question: Which unreached people groups is God asking your church to accept responsibility for?

Term and definitions.What do we mean by Adoption?

• The Adopt-A-People program is a church-to-field partnering program designed to develop strong identification and involvement between a church and an unreached people. Adoption itself is the commitment of the church and its members to see the establishment of a strong and growing church movement among a specific unreached people group.

• This program can go by many names “Focus On A People,” “Serve a people,” “People group partnering,” “ministry partnership”, etc.

Term and definitions.What do we mean by Adoption?

• People Group (or people): A significantly large ethnic or sociological grouping of individuals who perceive themselves to have a common affinity with one another. For evangelistic purposes, it is the largest group within which the gospel can spread as a church planting movement without encountering barriers of understanding or acceptance.

• Unreached People (sometimes called ”Hidden Peoples”): a people group which has no indigenous community of believing Christians with adequate numbers and resources to finish evangelizing their community without further outside/cross-cultural assistance.

Adopting a people group is:A way to get directly involved, A way to focus.

• Caring for a people

– Different than yourself

– Who don’t have a strong church yet

– More than just caring for a missionary

• Commitment

– To God’s program for the world

– To an unreached people group

– To do everything possible to see this people reached

Adopting a people group is:A way to get directly involved, A way to focus.

• Involvement

– Directly with a people group

– All members of the church in the lives of this people

• Partnership With:

– Mission agencies

– Missionaries on the field

– Other churches and individuals with a similar commitment

A successful adoption requires

• 1. A champion

• 2. Enthusiastic support of the pastoral staff

• 3. Knowledge of missions and frontier missions in particular

• 4. The involvement of the congregation in all phases of the adoption

A successful adoption requires

• 5. Waiting on the Lord for His direction

• 6. A look at the congregation itself,

– Who you are

– What God is doing through you already?

– What you believe God wants to do through you.

• 7. A partnership with a mission agency and their mission field personal

Getting Started• Not one set way to do this

• This happens in many different and wonderful ways in different churches.

• There’s a lot of room here for a creative person to become involved

• The program normally begins with a church getting introduced to the concept through:– A missionary, pastor, a people group advocate or missions speaker who

brings the idea

– From taking a Perspective Class

– Hearing about the blessing of an adoption in another church

How it normally begins

• 1 An interested person takes up the cause to promote it in the church and in the process become the people group champion to lead the program

– Or this interested person inspires, encourages, and motivates another to become the people group champion in the church

• 2 This champion sees that the foundations for a successful program are present or are developed. Some of these are:

– The pastor and pastoral staff understands and fully supports the program.

– The proper governing structures in the church consider and support the program

– On going education of the congregation in frontier missions and the adoption strategy.

Beginning• 1. Evaluation of the church, what God is doing in it and what He wants to do.

• 2. Relationships are established with mission sending agencies seeking help, information ad guidance in this program including names of people groups for possible adoption

• 3. Contact is made with the AAP assisting agencies seeking information, assistance and AAP resources.

• 4. The concept of adoption is introduced to the congregation at large.

• 5. A list of potential people groups to adopt is developed

• 6. The church consider what kind of adoption it want to be involved in and how.

Determining the people group for the church

• 1. This is determined largely by the church’s evaluation of who they are and what they believe God wants them to do.

• 2. Extensive prayer is given by the church leaders and the congregation based on information they are learning about missions and people groups.

• 3. Consideration of the “bridges” to people groups that exist already within the congregation.

Bridges

• a. Missionaries that the church already supports or may support.

• b. The vision or burden of the pastor

• c. Denominational relationship and loyalties

• d. Mission agencies the church already has relations with

• e. People of other nationalities that God has brought to be a part of the church or live in the vicinity of the church

• f. The country or people-group interests that already exist in the church

• g. The people or nations the church has make contact with while on short-term mission trips

• h. Successful sister church adoption

• i. Occupational or geographic closeness

Developing

• Communicate to the congregation the different stages the planning group is going through

• At this stage a vision building trip to the targeted people group is often helpful

• A “critical mass” needs to develop in the congregation concerning which group is right for them

Formal adoption

• Notify your partnering mission agency of your selection.

• Conduct a formal adoption service.

• Notify the “GAAP net –Global adopt-A-People Network” of your adoption

Recommended parts of an ongoing adoption

• 1. The people-group advocate is formally recognized

– a. with formal accountability to the proper governing body in the church

– b. is the point person for the people-group ministry in the church.

– c. A people-group committee should be formed which would work with this people-group advocate.

–

• 2. Establish a regular prayer fellowship for the group.

– a. The people-group advocate could lead this

– b. This advocate will have current information on what is happening in the group

Recommended parts of an ongoing adoption

– 3 Regularly involve the congregation at every possible level of what is happening in the group.

• 4. Network with others who relate to your people group (on the field and at home)

• 5. Become informed about the adopted people group. Become an expert on everything that relates to the people.

Parts of a maturing program• 1. Recruit other churches to adopt this people group and to

partner with you.

• 2. Send church members on short-term mission trips to minister to your people group.

– This in conjunction with the field missionaries

• 3. Look for members of this people group in the United States--or in your country and reach out to them.

• 4. Send the church's own permanent missionaries to this group.

Parts of a maturing program

• 5. Assist in seeing specific projects begun through the mission agencies and missionaries on the field.

• 6. Raise funds to support missionaries on the field and for their special projects.

• 7. Involve the members of the church. The more the members are involved, the more it will impact them and make a difference in their lives.