Missions is Changing

William Carey(1761-1834)

The father of modern missions

An Enquiry into the Obligations of

Christians to Use Means for the

Conversion of the Heathens

Published 1792

Today, it is easier and harder than ever to be a missionary.

From one man He has made every nationality to live over the whole earth and has determined their appointed times and the boundaries of where they live. He did this so they might seek God, and perhaps they might reach out and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us.

~Acts 17:26-27

Global migration is happening at a rate unlike any in recorded history.● More people moving from one country to another right

now than ever before● At last count: 232 million global migrants● 42 million of those live in the United States● 150+ Unreached people groups in NC

It is no accident that God is plucking up the least reached peoples and placing them in the heartland of evangelical Christianity.

What are we going to do about it?

People Group Discovery and Engagement

Discovery:

POIs PGPs➙Points of Interest People Group Pockets➙

Discovery:

Point of Interest = any establishment (market, shop, salon, restaurant, apartment complex) that can be positively connected to a specific group of people.

People group discovery uses points of interest to locate specific people group communities and begin engaging them with the gospel and hospitality.

Discovery:

Make a plan: church members should systematically visit points of interest, asking key questions that reveal the people group networks and begin relationships based on the gospel and hospitality.

Collect information from many points of interest in order to develop a map of the various people group pockets in your city.

Begin learning about their culture and worldview.

Where they are and who they are.

Engagement:

Discovery naturally becomes engagement: If discovery is done well, gospel-oriented relationships are formed from the very beginning. Discovery flows into engagement.

A word of caution: “Relationship evangelism” done poorly makes for bad relationships and no evangelism.

Instead, be honest: It is okay, and honest, to tell them why you want to be their friend. God tells us to love our neighbors, and that is hard to do if we do not even know their names.

Engagement:

“Go & tell” vs. “Come & see”: Become a part of their network instead of isolating them and asking them to be in yours.

Multiplication not addition: Americans think one-on-one. Instead, evangelize in groups. Start evangelistic Bible studies.

Make disciples and plant churches: Depending on the nature of your group, these can fuel foreign language church plants or become small groups in an existing church. My advice: Trend toward church plants.

After this I looked, and there was a vast multitude from every nation, tribe, people, and language, which no one could number, standing before the throne and before the Lamb. They were robed in white with palm branches in their hands. And they cried out in a loud voice:

Salvation belongs to our God,who is seated on the throne,

and to the Lamb!

~Revelation 7:9-10

For more information:

The Peoples Next Door Projectwww.peoplesnextdoor.com

And sign up for:

Reaching the Nations in North Americawww.reachingthenations.net