Nov 6, 2019 | God's Work, Mobilize Others
A small group of Asian pastors journey into the mountains of some of the most unreached peoples in the world There are an estimated 2,000 churches in our city with an estimated average of 40 people/church. That’s 80,000 Christians, with 99% of them coming from the country’s ethnic majority. This ethnic group is considered a reached people group. That is to say that there are, essentially, enough believers to evangelize their own people through indigenous growth. While that 80,000 is only 0.57% of the population of the city, it’s still a lot of believers. It’s hard to fathom in a place that often feels so dark and lost that there could be so many clinging to the hope of Jesus. An hour west of our city you cross a river and immediately enter into another world. This is the “T world” (I will use ‘T’ to refer to the nomadic groups that make up the largest unreached ethnic group in our province). Despite a relatively large population of believers in our city, you can count the total number of workers (or m*ssionaries) sent to T areas on two hands. From an estimated 80,000 believers, there are less than 10 workers engaging people with the Good News of Christ among an ethnic group of nearly seven million people within their own province. These pastors are traveling in their own province, yet they will be crossing into another world… Once you cross the river, the terrain drastically changes from flat plains to sub-Himalayan snow-capped peaks. Many mountains climb above 20,000 feet and are visible very quickly. The oxygen becomes thin and...
Oct 24, 2019 | God's Word, Mobilize Others
Chinese believers go outside their comfort zone to learn more about the UPGs surrounding them Deep in Western China, there are many places that are known as “zero regions.” This simply means that there is no known engagement with the Gospel in these places, with entire minority groups with their own cultures, languages, and beliefs in which no one knows anything about Jesus. On a long holiday weekend, my team and I invited a handful of local Chinese believers to travel with us out to one of these valley villages and spend time learning about and praying for the people there. Though we all had some reservations about the trip, we trusted God that He had great things planned. Most of our friends came into the trip with some nerves. They had never been to a place where they (Han Chinese) were the minority. Within China, there are many different people groups. The Chinese government only recognizes 56 of them, when in reality there are over 500. These people groups have different belief systems, languages, and cultures. In China, there is oppression and prejudice towards minority people groups. Our friends who are Han Chinese (the majority people group) often have been taught their whole lives that the minority groups are dirty and dangerous people. It takes a lot for them to unlearn these beliefs. Therefore, it took a lot of bravery to even say yes to joining us on this trip. We set out on our journey with very few expectations because we had no clue what the place was going to be like. We prayed on the way...
Oct 10, 2019 | Mobilize Others, Mobilizing Students
Pictured above: Kenyatta University medical students passing out sanitary towels for women in an unreached people group within a traditionalist Kenyan town A Kenyan medical student experiences the impact of real-life missions through Ghanaian Christian midwives “I may be a little biased, but I truly believe doctors have one of the greatest opportunities to impact the world in missions.” I first heard Miriam Ndanu share these words with her classmates as she was introducing me as the guest speaker in their weekly Christian Union meeting. Miriam is a medical student at Kenyatta University who realized that God has given her unique gifts and opportunities to be a witness of God’s love and grace to the rest of the world. When we first met Miriam, she didn’t know much about the 10/40 Window or the Biblical basis of missions. Like most Kenyan believers, Miriam saw missions as a Western idea, not something for African believers. Because Miriam held this belief, she did not see herself playing an active role in accomplishing the Great Commission. For her, being a good Christian meant going to church every Sunday while staying away from the things of this world. During her fourth year of medical school, Miriam was able to connect with a few of the CMM field workers in Nairobi, Kenya. It was during that time that God showed her what following Jesus was truly about. Through Scripture, Miriam saw that she was truly blessed by God to be a blessing to others. Verses like Genesis 12:1-3 and 2 Corinthians 5:17-21 gripped her heart. This was a complete paradigm shift in her Christian...
Sep 24, 2019 | Mobilize Others
“We have the people to do this work. What we don’t have are the resources to mobilize them.”—Buddy Bartido, CMM Global Affiliate Like many mobilizers, Buddy Bartido has a big vision for his country. With a vibrant evangelical community of 10 million Christians, the Philippines has access to 400 million unreached people. Government programs actually facilitate and encourage Filipinos to live and work abroad, in what has become known as the Filipino Diaspora. For Filipino Christians, this has become a popular mechanism to strategically place themselves near the unreached. Buddy sees the vast impact the Filipino church can have throughout Southeast Asia and the rest of the world, and he is committed to seeing more Filipino missionaries sent to the unreached. As the executive director for Pioneers Philippines, a missions service provider in the Philippines, he has all the needed resources to plant churches. He is also a certified facilitator and coordinator for at least half a dozen missions courses, giving him a broad recruiting pool to urge people to join in God’s mission. However, Buddy found he needed resources that were acutely focused on mission mobilization. He began looking for tools to help bring awareness of the urgency of the gospel message and infuse a passion for living out God’s heart for all nations. When he first discovered the Xplore study through the CMM website, he downloaded it and began using it as a mobilization tool. We connected with him to offer support and encouragement, and found in Buddy a like-minded mobilizer who shares our DNA to see mission to the unreached multiplied. Because of our shared vision...
Sep 17, 2019 | Mobilize Others
A third-generation Chinese believer gains a heart for the lost around her for the first time “I’ve never read the Bible like this before!” Though my friend Nina had heard the 1 Samuel 17 story of David and Goliath countless times, she was blown away to learn the deeper truths of this particular passage for the first time. We were in the middle of our weekly Xplore study when it all seemed to click in Nina’s mind. We read verses 46 and 47 that said, “All the earth may know that there is a God in Israel, and that all this assembly may know that the LORD saves not with sword and spear… (emphasis added),” and from that point on, Nina’s eyes were opened to God’s overarching purpose of redemption for the whole world. God clearly displayed his desire and purpose for David’s defeat of Goliath: so that His name may be worshipped by all the earth. Nina shared that she always had been taught that the importance of the story of David and Goliath, however, was only to teach that God is bigger than the giants you face. She had no idea that the original intent was so that God would receive glory from all peoples, until she read this particular passage herself with a fresh perspective. Nina is a third-generation Christian in China, which is very rare. China has been under communist rule for many decades; therefore, the majority of the population is classified as “unreligious.” Her grandparents have incredible stories of God displaying his power through healing and miracles, but the idea of God was somewhat...
Sep 12, 2019 | Mobilize Others
One Xplore Study Impacts Countless Arab Lives Last semester, I sat among a group of believers who shared stories of how God had awakened their hearts to His immeasurable love for the nations. Some explained how they had began praying for the nations regularly, and others explained that they began sharing their faith with their Muslim coworkers. Though their stories were different, they all were gathered in the room together because they shared something in common. They all wanted the Arabian Gulf to experience God’s love for the nations, and they all ended up in the room together because of one guy named Trevor. Trevor is one of those guys who talks to everyone. He is quick to encourage and pray for his friends, and he is bold in sharing his faith with colleagues from other faith backgrounds. He gives of his finances to send others to the unreached, and he gives his time to mobilize those around him. The impact this one man has had on the church in Dubai is significant, but Trevor was not always like this. In fact, up until three years ago, he was disillusioned and completely separated from the church. In Trevor’s words, “All of that changed with a cup of coffee.” After stepping away from the church for thirty years, Trevor found himself re-entering in 2016. Though he was exposed to church in his childhood, he never truly understood the truth about Jesus. So when Jesus began revealing more of Himself to Trevor in 2016, Trevor’s life began to change. Trevor started attending an international church in his city. After six months...
