Adopt-A-People

1. Adopt-A-People How you can strategically impact an unreached people group.

2. Discovering God’s plan for your church • The Question: Which unreached people groups is God asking your church to accept responsibility for?

3. 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.

4. 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.

5. 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

6. 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

7. 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

8. 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

9. 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

10. 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.

11. 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.

12. 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.

13. 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

14. 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

15. 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 Formal adoption

16. 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

17. 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.

18. 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.

19. 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.