Mar 12, 2019 | Mobilize Others
CMM Global Affiliate leads the cause of mission mobilization in Pakistan When Asif first sensed God’s call to the nations, he thought, “I will change Pakistan through my prayers.” But over time, Asif realized the need was too great and the task was too big for any one man or one church to accomplish. To reach Pakistan—and the rest of the nations—with the gospel, it would require the whole body of Christ. Today Asif and the international church he pastors are leading the charge for mission mobilization in Pakistan and setting the pace for other churches to follow. Regionally, Pakistan has access to more than one third of the world’s unreached people, and nearly 200 million unreached within its borders. As one of the newest CMM Global Affiliates this past year, Asif realizes the vast potential the Pakistani church has to move the gospel into unreached areas, though it is not without challenges. He says Christians in Pakistan are often filled with fear, and even hatred toward the nation. “They feel neglected and a persecuted minority, so the natural response will be to hate the majority and other nations, especially if they’re not Christian,” he says. But as their mobilization efforts have begun to take root, Asif and the other leaders have witnessed firsthand that the love of Christ is more powerful than cultural or religious barriers. Because Asif is also the national coordinator for Kairos in Pakistan, half of his congregation has gone through the Kairos missions course, which has initiated a significant paradigm shift within the hearts of church members. He has also found the Xplore study...
Jan 24, 2019 | Mobilize Others, Prep for Ministry
New staff experience an immersive mobilization training before launching to their assignments. “I found myself at several moments being awestruck that I was even in Southeast Asia and this was the direction God was leading me,” said Cara, a new CMM recruit. “Even when I think about the difficulties facing me—transitioning into a culture so different from my own, security risks, being across the world from family, learning a new language—I feel secure and honored in moving toward the work He has prepared for me to do.” One of the responsibilities of the team here in College Station, besides mobilizing on the Texas A&M campus, is spearheading our recruiting efforts. We’ve found that for the frontier mobilizers we recruit, the time between onboarding and launching is crucial. Like Cara, many of them said “yes” to God knowing they would face many obstacles: support raising, language learning, and moving cross-culturally around the world. The CMM has developed an extensive Field Staff Training to equip and prepare laborers like Cara as much as possible before they leave for the field. Cara spent two weeks in Southeast Asia learning to utilize our resources effectively, structure her work week, understand overarching principles of movement-building and discipleship, in addition to gaining hands-on training in frontier mobilization. She also had the opportunity to get to know our senior staff and leadership from all over the world and glean from their years of ministry experience. Because the training is held abroad, she was able to practice meeting local believers and exercise her mobilization skills, as well as engage in culture-learning exercises, such as prayer-walking and interviewing...
Oct 4, 2018 | Mobilize Others
Northern Ethiopia, part of the 10/40 window of unreached people, is one of the most challenging areas for evangelical Christianity. Persecution and living ostracized from the society has been the story of believers in this area. But God is at work, and opportunities to hear the good news are growing for people living there. Partnership efforts between evangelical churches and mission organizations are raising up mobilizers who are catching God’s heart for the nations with a focus on reaching the unreached in northern Ethiopia. One such multi-organization partnership is an intensive summer mobilization training program for college students at the Legetafo Training Center. The 40 day program is offered by Horn of Africa Evangelical Mission Engagers (HOAEME) in partnership with the CMM and EvaSUE (Evangelical Student Union of Ethiopia—InterVarsity in Ethiopia). EvaSUE’s broad reach of 40,000 evangelical students on 140 university campuses is the recruiting pool for the program. Over the past 5 years, Legetafo trainings have raised up hundreds of young leaders who are are now serving as full time mission mobilizers across Ethiopia. Plus, many of the trainees who have not become full time mobilizers have returned to their campuses or cities, igniting mission fires in their churches and workplaces. One example is a female university lecturer by the name of Mastewal, who attended the Legetafo program in 2017. Afterward Matewal returned to her home church, Bahir Dar Meserete Kristos, with a vision of mobilizing her church for God’s mission. She began by leading her Bible study group through the Xplore study, and after finishing the study her group started supporting two missionaries working in the Gambela...
Sep 14, 2018 | Mobilize Others
“Now I’m aware I am a significant part of [God’s] Great Commission, and He has purpose for each one of us,” shared Anna-Lena, a German believer. Anna-Lena, along with 800 other European and Latino students, recently attended one of the two large mission conferences in Latin America hosted by MOVIDA (Moviendo Vidas, translated as Moving Lives). The MOVIDA team used the CMM’s Xplore study as the daily devotional at the conference. After being trained by our mobilization team in Peru on how to lead Xplore, the small group leaders at these two conferences led more than 80 groups through the study. As one MOVIDA leader shared with us, the Xplore study acted as a tool to facilitate discussion at these conferences and lead more students like Anna-Lena to begin taking steps to embrace mission as a lifestyle. The leader shared her perspective in full here: When you are seeking to mobilize the youth to the mission (especially when there are more than 100 international, interdenominational, and intergenerational groups), looking for written material that will not only teach and inform, but also touch and move their hearts can be a huge challenge. Finding a resource like Xplore was an answer to many prayers with so many collateral blessings. As a full-time missionary working for MOVIDA in Peru, I realized we would not only have Peruvian young Christians attending our conference. We were hosting a bi-national event together with Chile, and would also have a group of European youth in attendance who were craving the passion they see on this side of the globe. We had hoped all these participants would not only...
May 24, 2018 | God's Work, Live Missionally, Mobilize Others
“I’ve never led a Bible study. I’ve never been on a mission trip. I’ve never been baptized. I’ve never been a member of a church, and I’ve never approached an unreached person with the intent of sharing my faith. I’ve never talked with a stranger about God; I’ve never joined a worship team, and I’ve never joined a Christian organization outside of church—that is, until now.” John, a senior at Texas A&M University, recently shared these compelling words about how God has been shaping his heart for the nations throughout his college years. CMM mobilizer, Chris, had known John for years, and invited him to go through the Xplore study. Doing this study together served as the catalyst for a much longer, deeper discipleship relationship. “John is always responsive to challenges,” said Chris. “I don’t have to invite him twice.” When Chris challenged John to begin taking small steps to implement what he learned in Xplore, he responded by starting conversations with his international classmates. He also invited a friend to join the Xplore study with him and Chris. As Chris was mobilizing John, John was mobilizing his friend! John began to see that God was positioning people around him in everyday life for a purpose. He regularly played basketball at the rec center with international students, but had never before seen it as a potential ministry. He began to see those games as an opportunity to meet those who had never before heard the gospel. God began positioning John in places where he’d have more open doors to befriend people with whom he normally would not cross paths....
May 17, 2018 | God's World, Mobilize Others
When we first arrived in Kenya and got settled as a mobilization field team, Thomas Omenta became one of our first friends. When I think of Thomas’s story and his missional journey, I am reminded of when Jesus began His ministry and called some of His first disciples. “And Jesus said to them, ‘Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.’ Immediately they left their nets and followed Him” (Matthew 4:19-20). Thomas was one of the first people we took through the Xplore study, and he even invited some of his friends to go through it with us. Together, we learned about God’s heart to redeem all peoples and how He invites all believers to play a role in this global purpose. As we were finishing up the study, it appeared that Thomas was already in his most strategic role. His interest seemed to be in growing the local church where he served, and less in world missions. Thomas was serving God in mighty ways in his church and at his university, and he didn’t need our help. Eventually, we began to focus on meeting and discipling other students. But earlier this year, Thomas contacted me. Although it had been nearly two years since we last met, he shared how our relationship through the Xplore study had, in fact, deeply impacted his life. He explained he now reads and teaches the Bible differently, and that God has given him a heart for the unreached. He quit his job as a pastor and is now the East African Assistant Director of a mission organization here in Africa. After...
