World Christian Partnership

1. World Christian Partnership

2. Testimonial of the Journey

3. Presuppositions #1 • The Church is called to do Missions . • Acts 13:1-4 • Now there were at Antioch, in the church that was there, prophets and teachers: Barnabas, and Simeon who was called Niger, and Lucius of Cyrene, and Manaen who had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch, and Saul. 2 And while they were ministering to the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, "Set apart for Me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them." • Acts 13:3-4 3Then, when they had fasted and prayed and laid their hands on them, they sent them away. 4 So, being sent out by the Holy Spirit, they went down to Seleucia and from there they sailed to Cyprus.

4. Presuppositions #1 • The Church is called to do Missions Continued. • Matthew 16:18-19 "And I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades shall not overpower it. 19 • "I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatever you shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven."

5. Prep.#1 Acts11:19-26 • 19 So then those who were scattered because of the persecution that occurred in connection with Stephen made their way to Phoenicia and Cyprus and Antioch, speaking the word to no one except to Jews alone. • 20 But there were some of them, men of Cyprus and Cyrene, who came to Antioch and began speaking to the Greeks also, preaching the Lord Jesus. • And the hand of the Lord was with them, and a large number who believed turned to the Lord. • The news about them reached the ears of the church at Jerusalem, and they sent Barnabas off to Antioch. • 23 Then when he arrived and 1witnessed the grace of God, he rejoiced and began to encourage them all with resolute heart to remain true to the Lord; • for he was a good man, and full of the Holy Spirit and of faith. 25. And he left for Tarsus to look for Saul; • 26 and when he had found him, he brought him to Antioch. And for an entire year they met with the church and taught considerable numbers; and the disciples were first called Christians in Antioch.

6. Presuppositions #2 • The pervasive model in missions and ministry in the New Testament is that of Church planting. • Churches will penetrate culture through cells that can then create a body. • That body is suppose to be Jesus to the world not only sharing salvation but also meeting needs.

7. Presuppositions #2 • What about other orgs. ? • We can partner and work together • ( More on this later) • As a strategy to reach the world, to minister to people, and to also penetrate cultures, I believe the “Church” is the best model.

8. Problem We are not doing too well at our task.

9. How Are We Doing? Spending: • 87% of all church offerings stays here. • 12+% Goes to places that have the gospel. • .03% makes it to the 1.7 Billion with no gospel at all. • From SBC World , 2 cents of every dollar given to one of our 44,000 churches makes it to the IMB. The pecentage that makes it to the UPG’s is less than that.

10. How Are We Doing? Sending: • 90% of the world’s missionary work force serves in places that already have the gospel. • 10% serve in places that have no gospel access. ( Some stats show way lower #’s) • 95% of the worlds pastor serve here in America seeking to reach 5% of the worlds population. • That is why we have this !

12. How Are We Doing? Sending: Another Stat and way of saying it: • Of the 5% of ministers who become missionaries 80-90% focus on majority Christian groups. • Only 2.5 – 4% of missionaries are focused on the 25 - 28% of the world who are unreached

13. Cross-cultural Missionaries per Million in Major Blocs Source: Todd M. Johnson & Mission Frontiers Magazine, June 2000

14. How many Christians to send one missionary?

15. New Sending Countries • More missionaries are being sent from non-Western churches than from Western churches. • There are now about 4,000 Third World mission agencies. Ralph Winter & Bruce Koch, “Finishing the Task: The Unreached Peoples Challenge,” Perspectives, 3rd ed., p. 509) David B. Barrett & Todd M. Johnson, World Christian Trends AD 30-AD 2200, p. 71).

16. Yet , Look what Paul Says

17. Romans 15:20,21 20 And thus I aspired to preach the gospel, not where Christ was already named, so that I would not build on another man’s foundation; 21 but as it is written, “They who had no news of Him shall see, And they who have not heard shall understand.” • Yet America is sliding in its missionary ventures. Piper.

19. What Have You Seen as Reasons for Our Lack of Focus on the Ethnos?

20. Why Are We This Way ? • We do missions based on us, the witnesser, instead of the lost . • Needs of the witnesser VS the needs of the lost is a crucial problem in world missions. • We do what makes us “feel good” VS what will most effectively reach the culture in the long run.

22. Cheap, Easy, and Makes me good about myself….

23. More Reasons: • Market Driven Missions - • Missions done for the “customer”. • Finding out what the people want and then providing them with that “experience”. • Again, focuses upon what the “customer” wants to experience not what is needed most on the field. • The customer is a person who is already a believer. • The customer should be the lost not the saved.

24. More Reasons: • We have diluted the word “Missions” • The word missions has now come to mean any type of “ministry”. Personal definition of ministry is seeking to do “help” type work at home. • Both areministry and missions are valid and biblical. • But when we combine the words we take away what the scriptures intended. • Example: When you call local ministry “missions” then many churches settle for only doing local ministry. • When asked “Do you do missions? Of course we do” • When in fact we have not come close to a scriptural idea of penetrating UPG’s.

26. More Reasons: • Pastors , Staff and Key leaders do not understand the scriptural meaning of nations. • Dr Slack sought to have one bible translator change the word to it’s literal meaning. • Response: “We know you are correct, but we would not only not sell bibles if that happens we would receive much criticism”

27. More Reasons: • Mission Leaders doing strategy that is ineffective for reaching a culture. • Doing trips that please the witnesserare not necessarily effective. • My goal is 100 years from now. • How will that culture look if I do strategies that do not get us to church. • Individual response to salvation do not automatically get us to church.

28. More Reasons: • Fear – • Many Americans fear going overseas. • They fear loss of money. • They fear Muslims • We are a fearful people. • Overall we lack a real risk taking mentality for the Kingdom.

29. When it Comes to Risk The American Church is kind of like this video

31. Letter So much is said and shared regarding our safety and the safety of the people who may desire to receive Christ as their savior. Questions constantly arise regarding our own safety as we go to a volatile place and a harsh climate... so many fears, concerns, worries. God has spoken and clearly, to me about HIS heart on the matter :-) It is neat! It is true! I prayed about who to share this with and prayed as i went down the e-mail list. Ya'll are the ones God laid on my heart. Blessings from Him. We are so shortsighted sometimes! I pray that He would use us to help each other look the "right direction" with our HEARTS! God's definition of "safety" is totally different from ours. We sometimes "expect" God to keep us safe. That can mean many different things. Safety to us can mean that we stay healthy. It can mean that He keeps our families alive and free from disease. Itcould mean that He keeps us safe from enemies in this world. It can meanthat He keeps us safe from danger. That He protects us from death…that He would never send us into the midst of discomfort, danger ordeath.BUT Safety to Him means... Saved.That's it. Those that are saved are safe. Those that aren't are ingrave danger. The only kind that really matters. AND if we are safe... saved, then anything... ANYTHING could happen and we would still be SAFE! Forever! Praise God!!!! Do not be afraid. He has promised to be with us always! AND He hasSAVED us! Wow There is truly nothing to fear. There is truly no reason to tell Hi "no". He has thought of everything... even possible "consequences" when He calls. And His view of the consequences is that His perfect will isbeing accomplished. His ways are truly, truly NOT our ways. Aren't yaglad? 

32. Last Reason: • The reason the unreached are unreached is because it is very hard. • Money – It is expensive • Hot

33. Examples of the Problem: Heard from Churches: • “ If you can show me how missions will grow my church then I will do it” • This pastor proceeded to cut the missions budget from $90K to $15K and change the Mission pastors role in the church. • “ We had a choice to either keep the gym open for our kids to play B-ball or send money to missions. We chose to keep the gym open” • One lady in a church actually used profanity in a meeting mad about the fact here church was looking to do missions work among UPG’s.

34. In Honor of These People We Have designed a Church. Here is the first commercial for this new church plant.

36. Examples: On the other side: • A well known pastor in Atlanta called a friend to his church. • After asking how my friend like his building, tears begin to fill his eyes. • He said this: • “I have spent the last 20 years building my kingdom, it is time to build Gods” • They have since hired an M pastor and made the whole front of their foyer in the new sanctuary missions focused.

38. Part 2 Partnering Brad

40. Presups about Partnering • Church , no matter the size needs to engage UPG’s. • Therefore we will partner with someone • Missionary • An Org. • Not sure how we get around it . • Matt 28:20 is pretty clear . • “Make disciples among all the ethnos…”

41. Before You Partner • You Must have a direction with your strategy. • A strategy allows you to know where you are going. • It helps channel your churches activities. • It helps you to say no to good things… • …..So you can do the best things • The ability to set your boundaries is huge. Saying no is not evil.

42. Partnering • Keys to determining who to partner with. • Like minded theology. • We do not plant churches with people who have differing theology on: • Word of God • Nature of the Church • We will plant churches with people who may have differences on what we call minor points.

43. Partnering • Keys to determining who to partner with. • For missionaries, we look for people who view the church as an equal partner. • That means we happen to live here in the states but… we still – • Learn strategy • Learn there lingo … ( CPM, ESL, IMB, Rl, SA etc. ) • Learn about our people group.

44. Partnering • Learn about our people group. • Learn how to share the gospel with them. • Such as when David was here a few Saturdays ago to teach the Camel method. • Therefore you can provide a home base for missionaries when they need you.

45. Story

46. Partnering • Keys to determining who to partner with. • For churches we look for similar things in figuring out who to partner with. Canadian Guys are a perfect example. • Similar Theology • Seeking to reach UPG’s • Strategy is exactly what we seek to do. • Look for pastors who “get it” when it comes to reaching the ethne.

47. Types of Partnerships

48. A Few Models of Partnering • Alliance Model • A group of churches come together to reach a UPG. • They pool resources , mainly money • They have a board of directors • The group decides where the money goes. • They work together to see who goes to the field and when. Highly structured • Hired Staff ( Mainly Administrative) • Entrance is based on funding. • Equally church and field driven.

49. Alliances Look Like This People Group Field Personnel Board of Directors Hired Staff Church1 Church 2 Church 3 Church 4 Church 5 Other Partners: $ and People

50. A Few Models of Partnering • Alliance Model Positives • Can mobilize churches • Provides a good support base for projects • Hired help to attend to matters. • Web • Trip Coordination • Can be more focused into areas of greatest need. • Can be More organized.