Longer Reads | Beyond

Igniting a Fire in Dark Places

Sep 3, 2025 | Africa, Longer Reads, Stories

by Aychi B. R. with Dave Coles

My life was transformed one dark night in 1996. I heard a knock on my door and opened it to find a man with a dark beard standing there, holding a small pamphlet in his left hand. I didn’t know him at all, so after the usual greeting, I asked, “What do you want? Can I help you with anything?”

He just stood there, looking very upset, then asked, “Is your Jesus able to cleanse the sins of the whole world?”

I didn’t expect this at all. I thought, He doesn’t know me, and I don’t know him. Where is this coming from?

I said, “Come again?”

“Is your Jesus able to cleanse the sin of the whole world?”

I didn’t want to answer directly, as it felt like a trap–especially since he looked so angry. I said, “Come in. Let’s discuss this.”

“No. You give me an answer: yes or no.”

Because he pushed me so hard, I had to answer bluntly. I said, “Yes, Jesus can cleanse the sin of the whole world.”

He said, “You are a liar!” And as he said it, he entered the little house I was renting (three by three meters–less than 100 square feet) and sat down.

I didn’t want to argue with him about different religious doctrines, so I said, “Let me share my story with you.” I told him how Jesus came into my life. I briefly shared about the life I used to live before I met Jesus, and how Jesus had come into my life. I told him about the forgiveness I had received and how my life had changed. I told him, “That’s not just my personal experience, but…” Without mentioning names, I told him the biblical story of Saul’s conversion on the Damascus Road and other stories. I shared them in an oral storytelling way.

Suddenly, he said, “Okay, your Jesus may be able to cleanse your sins. And maybe the sins of other people you know about. But let me tell you: He will never cleanse my sins.”

I don’t know how he came across the pamphlet he was still holding in his left hand, but it apparently mentioned the verse from 1 John 2:2, which says Jesus’ blood can cleanse the sins of the whole world. I told him, “Jesus forgave me. And Jesus forgives everyone who comes and asks for forgiveness.”

He shared with me his struggles with a sin that had bothered him ever since he committed it a long time ago. He was involved in religious leadership and was an educated, well-respected person. But he said, “I can never sleep. This thing bothers me day and night.”

The Lord softened Abdu’s heart and allowed me to lead him to saving faith that night. I started discipling him day after day on many different topics. His life changed completely, and God broke many bondages in his life as he prayed through issues with me.

One day, he asked me, “What do you think about people from my religious background, especially religious leaders? Do you consider it scary to share the gospel with them?”

I said, “Yes, I think so. You came looking for me; I didn’t come looking for you.”

He said, “Even though we look scary on the outside, our inside is empty. My people need this message. But they will never come and knock on your door like I did. This was a rare opportunity. To get the good news to them, please don’t expect them to come knock on your door. Instead, go and knock on their door; they need this gospel.”

That was so challenging, I felt like a bomb had exploded in my mind. I began weeping because I had considered such people almost unreachable. His words became a wake-up call that has stayed with me every day: Go to them; they can’t come to you.

While I was God’s messenger to Abdu, he was also God’s messenger to me. My interaction with him spurred me on in my passion to reach those in people groups who have never heard the gospel.

A Calling to the Unreached
Early in my ministry, the Lord had put one specific people group on my heart. But I struggled a lot with that. I prayed, “God, please change that call. I’ll go anywhere, but not to those people!” During a war a few years back, some of my extended family had been killed by people from that tribe, so I grew up not loving them. They were one of the many tribes living near my family, but we intentionally didn’t have anything to do with them, even though they were close neighbors.

I thought that after fasting and praying, the Lord would change his mind about that calling. But he didn’t. I finally said, “Okay, God. I love you and I want to obey you. But if you are serious about this, give me the one thing I don’t have. I’m struggling with a heart issue. I have no love for these people. I need a deep, desperate love—a passion for reaching them with the gospel.”

Then God did it! A supernatural change took place, and he put a burden and love in my heart for the people group I had once struggled with. I focused on learning: observing, listening, praying, becoming more fluent in the language, and studying their culture. I got to know the people firsthand and developed relationships. This laid the foundation I needed to prepare for the upcoming ministry.

I realized I had been wrong in my prejudice toward them—that they all had hard hearts. I thank God for the unique privilege of being one of the very first Christians from my country to serve cross-culturally among that tribe. I began reaching out to them and started two house churches among them. I also trained and coached many others, including workers with other groups. As a result, churches began to be planted among them, both in the capital and in the eastern part of our country, and leaders began to emerge. Even now, the number of believers among that group is not large, but many who have come to faith are the fruit of the ministry we started at that time. After six years of personal ministry among that group, I began equipping other leaders coming into our region. I started to intentionally lead cross-cultural internships. After another six years of focusing on that group and equipping others in cross-cultural ministry, the Lord spoke to me. “I want you reaching more than just that people group. You need to see the bigger picture of all the Unreached People Groups in your region, encompassing many nations.” I realized we needed to make significant changes to pursue completing the Great Commission among all these people groups. We noted that the local churches didn’t give any attention or priority to reaching the UPGs from a different religion. In fact, many considered them too aggressive and unreachable.

The Lord gave us a burden to plant 10,000 churches within 10 years. That seemed like a huge task, but we saw it as God’s way to reach that region. For three years, from 2003 to 2005, we planted churches using traditional methods: winning one person, then moving on to another, conducting open-air evangelism, and distributing tracts. I wouldn’t say those methods are wrong, but they didn’t produce much fruit.

Shifting to a More Effective Approach
I got my first real exposure to Disciple Making Movements (DMM) at a training in late 2005. At first, I resisted all that was being presented. But the Lord convicted me that I should listen and consider the simple principles I was hearing. These included immediate radical obedience, finding a person of peace, the discovery process, focusing on families rather than individuals, and multiplication like we see in the book of Acts. After that training, I felt eager to go back and share these things with my partners and the network I represent.

In 2006, we revised our mission and vision statements, very intentionally choosing to implement a movement strategy. What happened next amazed us. In the previous three years, from 2002 to 2005, we and our partners had planted only 220 churches. After this training and reshaping our strategy, we and our 15 partners planted well over 300 new churches in just the first year. I personally went to check some of the places because I had a hard time believing the reports. (Any time we suspect inflated numbers, we go to visit and check.)

Then, in 2007, more than 900 churches were planted. The Lord gave us a multiplication of disciples and churches being planted every day. We now have well over 100 partners planting churches. God is doing amazing things here. I’m very grateful for this—not because some superhero or big man has come to make it happen, but because ordinary disciples in their natural networks are obeying the simple command of Jesus, “Go and share what you have experienced.” Disciples are making disciples who can make more disciples. We see individuals, families, and communities coming to the Lord and being transformed—falling in love with Jesus and his word. God is showing his greatness through dreams, miracles, and wonders as he expands his kingdom.

At present, we have a ministry among around 40 different UPGs. About 50% of those groups profess a different faith, and about 40% of the fruit we’ve seen so far has come from that background. Roughly 25% of the groups we serve have a background in tribal religion, and another 25% are nominally Christian.

We have identified 22 factors the Lord has used to ignite, accelerate, and sustain Disciple Making Movements among these diverse groups. While a few of those factors are unique to our African context, at least 15 of them could be applied by any believer, in any social or religious context. I’ll briefly describe just two of them.

Factors in Fruitfulness
Healthy dissatisfaction opens our hearts to pursue God for greater things than whatever ministry fruit we have experienced so far. In 2005, I had already been doing contextual ministry among unreached peoples and planting churches among them. But I didn’t feel satisfied with the results I saw, because God had given me a passion for something much greater.

I saw in Luke 15 that God takes attendance by who is missing. The shepherd in the parable has 99 sheep safe and sound, together with him. Ninety-nine percent of his flock is doing very well. But he’s not at all satisfied with that. He leaves the 99 to go look for the one lost sheep. When we begin to see the world from God’s perspective, it breaks our hearts and stirs a longing to see more lost people come to know the Heavenly Father. If we compare the need with what we’re currently accomplishing, we have to ask, “Are we in line with what must happen to fulfill the Lord’s command?”

Showing Jesus’ radical love has opened countless doors for bringing the gospel to the unreached. When persecution or hardship comes, we receive these as special opportunities to show Jesus’ love, often in ways that surprise others. This paves the way for sharing the gospel verbally, after we’ve already demonstrated it through our Christlike response to mistreatment.

These are just two of the factors God has used in our ministry. Both these factors, and over a dozen others, could be fruitfully applied by any person or ministry that wants to see God do great things among the unreached. In Living Fire, we describe and illustrate in detail each of the factors God is using to ignite, accelerate, and sustain Disciple Making Movements among unreached peoples in our region. We’re thrilled to invite all God’s people to join together in bringing good news to peoples and places where the gospel has not yet reached, for the glory of his name.

Excerpts from Living Fire: Advancing God’s Kingdom in Challenging Places by Aychi B.R. with Dave Coles, © 2024 are used by permission. This article was first published by lausanne.org and is used here with permission.

From Muslim to Movements

Aug 20, 2025 | Longer Reads

by Aila Tasse with Dave Coles

I was born into a staunch Muslim family in Marsabit, northern Kenya. I started going to the mosque with my father at a young age. My family were all very devout, with daily life centered on the mosque in the afternoons and evenings. Our community was predominantly Muslim, and other faiths were scorned and rejected outright. Those we thought of as Christians were few and disliked by our community.

While growing up, I took my Islamic studies seriously and avoided the Christians. At around the age of nine, I developed a deep desire to know more about my Islamic faith. I remember longing deeply for a personal relationship with God. While watching my father’s cows, I would often look up at the sky and ask Allah, ‘Can you speak to me?’ I felt sad and frustrated that I went to prayer five times a day and didn’t know to whom I was praying. The answer eluded me for years, even as my desire to serve Allah grew.

When I was 13 years old, I went to a Muslim-dominated boarding school in Moyale, about a day’s drive from my home. I quickly joined the Young Muslim League. A preacher from a very conservative Muslim sect came every Wednesday evening to teach those of us in the group. He taught that the primary duty of a young Muslim is to propagate the religion of Allah.

My searching soul cried out for more of Allah, and the allure of this presentation of conservative Islamic teachings gripped my soul like talons that dug deep. My desire for relationship with God led me to embrace these teachings. My gradual radicalization had begun. It wasn’t long until I was ready to pay the ultimate price for my faith: to die for Islam.

That year in the school’s second term, an intern teacher named Teacher Francis, from a university in southern Kenya, came to our school for three months. He was a born-again Christian. I didn’t know what that meant, but God used him to bring me the message of life.

During that term, a deadly malaria and yellow fever outbreak occurred in our area. Medical services were poor: just one small, ill-equipped health center served the whole town. Many students, including myself, became so ill that we had to be admitted to the health center for treatment. Some students and many from the local community died in the following weeks.

Every day, more dead bodies were wheeled through the hall outside my room. This birthed in my heart a great fear of death. ‘Will I die? Where will I go if I die?’

About a week after I entered the health center, the infection caused my brain to swell and my vital organs to slow down. Medical personnel informed the school administration that they did not expect me to survive.

Then Teacher Francis came to visit. He had heard that I was the next one likely to die, and he felt led to come to the hospital and share Christ with me. He brought me some food and spoke with me for a while. Then, before he left, he asked me, ‘If you die today, where will you spend your eternity?’

I instinctively responded, ‘Inshallah’ (‘Allah knows’). The Qur’an states that only Allah knows a person’s ultimate fate. No one receives any assurance whatsoever.

‘You know, your sins can be forgiven,’ he told me.

This was the first time I had ever heard this! As he spoke, I realized that he wanted to convert me to Christianity. ‘I don’t want to be Christian,’ I told him.

He responded wisely, ‘You don’t have to be a Christian for your sins to be forgiven, you just have to believe in Christ through whom sins are forgiven.’

That night I began to hear a male voice in my sleep repeating, ‘Your sins can be forgiven.’ I dismissed it as just a thought in my head, since I was still sick enough to be in the hospital.

This continued for a whole week before Teacher Francis came back. By then, I was desperate for him to come and take away this tormenting ‘Christian spirit’! My illness was also worsening, and I had become even more afraid of dying.

When he returned, he explained to me more of the gospel. I told him again, ‘I don’t want to be a Christian, but I want my sins forgiven, so I die without sin.’

He asked, ‘Are you willing to pray for your sins to be forgiven?’

I said ‘Yes!’ And he quietly led me in a prayer of salvation. I suddenly felt complete peace, as the fear of death evaporated and my heart was at rest. That night I slept soundly for the first time in three weeks. My newfound peace was so profound that I didn’t notice the rapid changes taking place in my body. To the astonishment of the doctors, my health had taken a dramatic turn, and I was undergoing a rapid and noticeable recovery! God had healed me.

During the following weeks, Teacher Francis discreetly discipled me, telling the other teachers he was helping me catch up with studies after my long illness. When the time came for him to leave our area, he told me to do three things to grow in faith: Pray every day to God in Jesus’ name, read the Bible (giving me his Gideon’s pocket New Testament), and ‘share with others what happened to you’.

For many months, I did the first two secretly while fear prevented me from doing the third. But months later, while I was back at home, the Lord allowed my new faith to be discovered by my parents. My father was irate, and after I resisted days of pressure to recant, I was thrown out of the house. The Lord provided a Christian family three hours away who took me in, enabling me to finish my studies and attend church regularly.

One day, I went to a campsite in the Marsabit forest to pray in solitude. Suddenly, I felt such a strong presence of God that the environment around me totally changed. As I started praying in his presence, I went into a dramatic vision that lasted for many hours. The climax was a vision of cabbages growing in the desert. I realized God was calling me to bring the gospel to my own people and other unreached tribes in Northern Kenya, and was promising to bring fruit in those efforts.

Over the next few years, the Lord allowed me to plant many churches among unreached peoples and attend Bible school. He also expanded my vision to include taking the gospel to all the unreached groups in Kenya.

Then in 2005, I began applying the ministry approach now known as disciple-making movements. The Lord blessed this approach with multiple generations of disciples making disciples and churches planting churches. In the 20 years since then, thousands of groups and families from other faith backgrounds have come to Christ—grounded in biblical faith and sharing that faith with others. Our network has now multiplied to impact multiple unreached peoples in nations throughout East Africa, the Horn, and Southern Africa. To God be the glory!

Excerpts from Cabbages in the Desert: How God Transformed a Devout Muslim and Catalyzed Disciple Making Movements among Unreached Peoples by Aila Tasse with Dave Coles, © 2024 are used by permission. This article was first published by lausanne.org and is used here with permission.

Translation Quality and Scripture Impact for Last Mile Bible Translations

Apr 2, 2025 | Longer Reads

by Stan Parks

Everyone deserves to have the Word of God in their heart language. Today, we are closer to seeing the Bible translated into every language than ever before, but significant barriers remain. Over 20% of the world’s people are still waiting for the Bible in their own language (6,600+ languages).

“Last mile” is used to describe the short final segment of delivery of services or items to customers. Last-mile logistics are usually the most complicated and expensive aspects of completing the service or delivery. This same dynamic occurs in completing the task of translating the Bible into every language. There are reasons for the lack of the Bible in the remaining “last-mile” Bible-less languages. Many of these do not yet have the Bible in their own language because they live in areas hostile to the gospel. Unlike traditional translations of the past and present where translation teams locate in a place and work together for years, outside translators seeking to do translation in politically restricted and/or hostile regions often cannot gain access to these areas.

Translators who do have access are often faced with working in secret, moving from one location to another and keeping their work secret from friends, family and the community. Often due to death threats and persecution, translators wait until the work is completed, secretly taking the finished product to partners to print and share with others. In recent years, there have been numerous incidents of translators in these types of areas being kidnapped and/or killed.

One challenge faced in these circumstances is to ensure the translators receive the appropriate mentoring, assistance and funding they need. However, traditional patterns of translation assistance and measurement are not possible. Those of us assisting from the outside must adjust to the new realities and recognize that these men and women risking their lives deserve our best efforts and servant-hearted support instead of asking them to fit into our previous patterns and paradigms of translation.

However, no one involved wants a haphazard and poor- quality translation of the Word of God. How then can we assure quality and accountability for the outside supporters while not risking the lives of those who are at the last mile translating in these restricted areas?

The Antioch Family of Churches alliance of Church Planting Movements (CPMs) has pioneered a seven-step process that has produced quality translations while also giving the measurements and outcomes that meet the needs of the outside supporters. Leaders of 24:14 have endorsed this process and are exploring how to help other CPMs follow this model. A CPM has four plus generations of churches planting churches (parent churches planting children, grand-children and great-grandchildren churches with multiple branches of the family-tree)— this usually means a minimum of 100+ churches and 1500+ baptized disciples. The broader 24:14 Coalition of Church Planting Movements represents 1053 CPMs with over 74 million disciples, primarily in hostile areas formerly unreached with the gospel.

The Translation Quality and Scripture Impact Assurance Seven-Step Process for hostile areas is:

Translation Quality:

1) Language Selection: The leadership of a Bible‐less CPM discerns through prayer and counsel with other 24:14 members that a translation of the Bible in a certain language(s) is warranted. After extensive prayer and discussion, the language(s) is selected based on the following criteria:

commitment of the leaders to complete the translation process and make the best possible use of distributing and using the translated Scriptures;
the current capacity of the CPM and outside partners able to assist the process;
security for the translators is also a consideration, which is more feasible with a larger group of believers such as we see in CPMs;
other language‐related movements in different countries;
available trainings, translation tools and resource texts;
the need and possibility of translation into two or more closely related languages or major dialects of a mega-language.

2) Translation Team Qualification and Recruitment: In each language, an initial group of 25‐30 full‐time mother-tongue bilingual literate speakers are pre‐qualified by their local church leaders.

3) Translation Team Training/Preparation: A 24:14 Translation Mentor(s) begins training the translation team. Self‐learning tools and other helpful resources are also provided to help teams address gaps and find opportunities for further learning.

4) Initial Translation Drafting Begins: Once qualified by their local church leaders and the 24:14 Translation Mentors, these teams work full‐time collaboratively to define key words and produce quality drafts of Scripture. Each initial draft is reviewed by the Translation Mentor according to the 24:14 Translation Guidelines.

5) Checking/Editing of Texts: Scripture portions are peer‐checked, local church checked and then sent to the Translation Mentors for review. Once approved as an initial draft, the text is community tested through an approved set of questions to help determine clarity, naturalness, accuracy and acceptability. Adjustments are made and tested again. In total in each language, an average of 500 people are expected to be involved in this process.

6) Ongoing Coaching from Translation Quality Advisor: A series of web‐based and offline tools are used to help ensure the accuracy, clarity, naturalness and acceptability of Scripture. Throughout the checking process each language coordinator that leads a translation team has frequent access to full‐time Translation Mentors who, in turn, have remote access to translation quality advisors.

7) Movement Church Leadership Evaluation: Once the texts have been assessed, evaluated, edited and checked by the local church network, the community and approved by the Translation Mentors, the drafts are forwarded for final evaluation by the larger church leadership in the CPM.

Scripture Impact

Commitment to completion, distribution and use of the Scriptures is critical.
Capacity: Priority is given to CPMs because they have greater maturity and capacity to complete the translation and effectively use it.
Bridging: Obviously, producing a translation that can be a bridge to help translation in other related languages or major dialects will increase potential Scripture Impact.
Translation Team Discipleship: The initial Scripture impact begins to happen with those on the translation team as they learn and apply God’s Word more deeply in their lives.
Discipleship: A second avenue of Scripture impact is in the lives of the believers helping at this stage who are deepened in their understanding and application of Scripture by testing and using biblical passages indiscipleship processes.
Evangelism: A third avenue of Scripture impact comes by asking local nonbelievers to help in checking whether these translated passages are understandable. This is an effective way of sharing the gospel with family and friends. Often it is during this time of asking nonbelievers to participate (with caution) that the heart of the nonbeliever is softened and turned toward the gospel. Some come to faith just reading the Word of God.
Distribution: The next phase is to distribute the Word of God for ongoing discipleship and evangelism. Dependent on the circumstance of the local churches, distribution may be through print- on-demand and/or digitally through microSD cards, audio devices, Bluetooth, off-internet local Wifi devices such as Lightstream, etc.
Fruit Measurement: We know the Word of God will not return void, so measuring the impact in lives is a critical and often overlooked aspect of Scripture translation and use. Measurement of the increase in both quantity (number of new churches and disciples) and quality (discipleship metrics of transformed lives and communities) are the necessary final piece in measuring Scripture Impact.
Ownership: By involving at least several hundred people in translating and checking the translation, the community has a strong sense of ownership which will only increase their respect for and use of the Bible.

In conclusion, many of the languages included in the “Last Mile” in Bible translation involve some difficulties and dangers that we cannot overcome with the traditional translation processes that God has used so effectively in the past and continues to use today. The inability of outside translators to gain access and the persecution and dangers faced from opponents of the gospel mean that the Bible will not be translated into these languages unless we find new pathways. It is exactly these high-persecution areas that most desperately need the Bible in their own language.

Church history tells us that the Bible in a heart language is not necessary for initial evangelism and discipleship. However, the Bible in a heart language is one crucial factor for surviving and enduring persecution. One example is the longstanding survival of the church in Egypt and

Ethiopia compared to the rapid demise of the Church in North Africa after the assault of Islam. A primary reason for this is that Egypt and Ethiopia had the Bible in local languages, while the church of North Africa had the Bible in Latin spoken only by the elites.

God is not surprised by these challenges. God in His wisdom has used existing trade language Bible translations to begin multiplying disciples and churches in many of these “last mile” Bible-less languages. These disciples are positioned inside these language communities and are willing to face life-threatening risks in translation because they deeply yearn to provide the Bible to both the believers and the lost in their own heart language. Additionally, God has allowed us to live in a day where we can strengthen and support those who risk so much by training and using the latest technological breakthrough for translation.

As has been seen, this seven-step translation process not only assures a quality translation but also assures Scriptural impact during and after the translation process. As we observe how the Holy Spirit has already used this process, we can trust and work and pray to see many more translations done until in our generation there are no more Bible-less languages. God is giving us the opportunity to see the world full of God’s glory, but it is a day that challenges us to trust and rely on Him as never before!

Reprinted with permission, from the July 2020 issue of Accel, Vol 1, No 6, pages 3-5.

Stan Parks, Ph.D. was a trainer and coach for a wide variety of CPMs around the world. He currently co-leads a global 2414 Coalition to start Church Planting Movement engagements in every Unreached People Group and place by 2025 (2414now.net). As part of the Ethne leadership team he helped various Ephesus teams seeking to start cascading CPMs in large UPG clusters. He is the VP of Global Strategies with Beyond (beyond.org).

The Importance and Complications of Polycentric Mission

Jan 29, 2025 | Longer Reads, Stories

The Importance and Complications of Polycentric Mission: 24:14 Goal – Movement engagements in every unreached people and place by 2025

by Justin Long

In September 2024, YWAM (Youth With A Mission) convened a gathering of 4,500 folks from 110 nations. The article “The Great Transition” cites this encouraging event as emblematic of the dynamic growth and vitality of the Majority World church. The now-common phrase “from everywhere to everywhere” describes what has more recently been termed “polycentric mission.”

As the Church spreads into new places, new kingdom workers of all sorts are being raised up from those places. This includes pastors, teachers, evangelists, and missionaries who go to other nearby places. This is one way in which we can see the Great Commission being completed.

The Lausanne Covenant eloquently sums it up: “Evangelism requires the whole Church taking the whole gospel to the whole world.”2 I see three aspects to the “requires” idea:

We must “pray to the Lord of the harvest for more workers.” Workers are needed, we don’t have enough, and they must come from somewhere. If not enough existing Christians will go, God will send workers from somewhere else.
All Jesus’s followers and all churches have a responsibility to obey the Great Commission, and so we should see missionaries sent from Afghanistan and Albania and Argentina and Australia.
This idea contains an element of becoming family along the way. As we work together in the Great Commission, we learn to be family with each other, and we represent in part the final reality: all languages, tribes, nations, and peoples before the throne.

That is all important to pursue, but it’s messy, and involves growing pains. I can categorize some of the growing pains in big buckets.

First, as the work of missions grows more complex, it becomes harder and harder to track and measure. It’s impossible to know the precise number of cross-cultural missionary workers in the world, and it’s hard to know even an accurate general number. It was getting more and more challenging after 2001 due to the global security environment. However, as the YWAM article indicates, cross-cultural mission has exploded: YWAM alone probably has something in the neighborhood of 100,000 people, but it’s changing all the time.

Mission directories were never able to track all the mission agencies. Now, tracking even “most” or a “substantial minority” is nearly impossible. Thousands of Majority World mission-sending structures exist. Some look like traditional mission agencies; more do not. As it gets harder to track and measure the work of mission, it becomes harder to know the true picture of evangelization and reachedness.

Our instrumentation on evangelization may become somewhat blunter in the years to come. Alternatively, instruments may look very precise, but actually give a limited view of just a few evangelistic forces. So, we should treat our lists and dashboards with much caution. But this is a critical question. It’s not just that some places have a low percentage of Christians. It’s that where no work is being done to address the problem, those places won’t magically have a higher percentage of Christians later.

Second, as the work of mission grows more complex, security dynamics become more severe. Many workers are laboring in places with significant security issues. But more complicated than that, different workers have different perspectives on security and thresholds of risk.

Some will willingly work in high-risk places, but don’t want to be known or talk about their work. Others are willing to work in the same high-risk places but are—in the view of the first group—too free in their communications. If the second group can be more easily seen, how does their work impact the first group?
Some will not readily work in high-risk places but may fund others who will. This can lead to an “outsourcing of risk” dynamic in which some shirk any responsibility for bravery in the face of risk, and just send money. On the other hand, those willing to go (and who can go, as some passports are more acceptable in some places than others) are worthy of their hire. How should they be funded?
Security is exceedingly messy, and perhaps best handled in the spirit of “honor the concerns of others, whether you consider them real or imagined.”

Third, as the work of mission grows more complex, authority issues will become messier. These issues have already been messy for a long time and are growing increasingly so. To take the example in the previous paragraph: If group A thinks security should be x, and group B thinks security should be y, who decides? Neither is functionally in charge of the other, so both make their own decisions, but the decisions can impact collaboration, relationships, and even existence.

To take a different example, who decides what Bible translations to undertake? Previously, translations were done by translation workers and agencies. They were huge tasks, and the agencies assessed which languages needed one and undertook those. Some translations could take the entire career of a worker. Now, translations can be done much more rapidly, and by local workers. Some groups are deciding a translation is needed into a language that the bigger agencies don’t think needs to be done. If the local group does the translation without an outside agency’s oversight, will the translation be widely accepted? This may or may not be a factor in the local workers’ decision to undertake the work.

In all of these issues, the role of the outsider (often a Western mission worker) and the (Majority World) insider is becoming increasingly complex. Westerners generally feel they shouldn’t be in charge, but they often functionally wield heavy influence—either intentionally or unintentionally. We often hear that efforts should be field-driven, but unless we take great pains to make it that way, the reality will consist of “do as I do, not as I say.” Money issues are especially sticky. But family relationships are always somewhat messy.

I offer no easy answers. However, it seems to me that a good way forward is to have fewer grand policies and philosophies of Western management, and more praying together, eating together, and collaborating as much as possible. Through this, we have a better shot at growing to love each other more, and out of that love, shifting our behaviors toward others in line with 1 Corinthians 13.

Polycentric mission can be complex and messy, but God is at work in the midst of the complexity to accomplish even greater things for his glory among all peoples.

This article was first published in Mission Frontiers in the Mission and Migration Issue #47-1, January 2025, page #33

About the author: Justin has spent the last 30+ years developing and contributing to various missions efforts including: the World Christian Encyclopedia, the strategicnetwork.org, the Ethné network, and the Movements Database. His research findings and missions articles have been published in several places, and currently publishes a weekly newsletter at justinlong.org.

Mobilizing Near-Culture Movements to Reach Frontier Peoples

Jun 21, 2024 | Longer Reads

by C. Anderson

It happened a bit by accident. Perhaps it was God’s plan, His working behind the scenes. During the COVID pandemic, our online training programs rapidly exploded with new growth. We trained thousands of Global South believers who wanted to learn how to multiply disciples. Thrilled by the growth at first, we were also concerned. Many of these trainees were not from unreached peoples groups (UPGs). “Are we drifting from our focus?” we asked ourselves. Our vision was to see movements among UPGs and unengaged, unreached people groups (UUPGs).

Yet, God brought us Christians who were hungry to learn how to multiply disciples. As is so often the case, His ways were higher, bigger, deeper, and more profound than my flimsy efforts and plans! Over the following years, we trained Global South Christians in how to be disciples who multiplied disciples in their own people groups. Their hearts were opened to the needs of frontier peoples around them. Today, many of our trainees and alumni are praying for, engaged with, and catalyzing movements among the least-reached people groups in their nations.

Mobilizing near-culture Christians to reach frontier peoples is one of the most effective ways to reach the least reached. Should we intentionally focus more efforts on this task?

Filtering for Movement Potential

I began working with an apostolically gifted woman in West Africa about three years ago.

I noticed her right away from her comments in some videos I saw. She was not only insightful; she also demonstrated sincerity and the capacity to dream big with God.

Filtering for and noticing potential leaders is an important DMM/CPM trainer’s task. I kept my eye open for more comments from her. I reviewed her End Vision statement and listened to the Holy Spirit. After she completed a few modules, I felt a strong sense that she was someone with significant potential to launch a movement. I then reached out and offered a coaching call.

Our first call had to happen through an exchange of audio messages. Her internet was too poor to sustain video communication. She spoke with a thick accent and because of my West African upbringing, I was able to understand her well. Immediately, I noticed she was different from many other trainees. She lived in an area of the country with large numbers of unreached people. However, most of her evangelism and disciple making work was not among them. She primarily worked among animists and backslidden, nominal Christians, people from already-reached groups.

Yet there was something about her that compelled me to invest time, prayer, and to be intentional about regular follow-ups. What did I notice? She had an obvious apostolic gift, a deep life of prayer, and a humble spirit. She also carried a distinct air of confidence flowing from her deep, burning passion for lost people to know Christ.

After finishing the course, this trainee immediately implemented everything she learned. She also began training many others. Groups started, leaders were equipped, and they began to multiply. We made an onsite visit to meet her and others there in that nation. We planned to eat together and see what was happening. We met her husband and kids, spent time building relationships, and ate swallow along with other local African foods.

I encouraged her to do a bonus course called “How to Invite Muslims to Follow Jesus.” Not long after that, her children participated in a short online course that Disciple Makers Increase (DMI) offers for Global South youth called “Next Steps in Missions.” That simple but engaging course explains more about unreached peoples and why we must reach them.

The groups this sister started continued to multiply into several generations. More and more people came to know Jesus. Organic growth increased. Along with it, these new believers developed a deep commitment to obey the Great Commission, including the part that talks about all peoples.

Today, the movement in that nation has grown to 13 generations. In the last six months, over six hundred have become disciples, and scores of new house churches have been started. They’ve also begun to send out apostolic teams to frontier people groups (FPGs) in their nation.

In an onsite training session last year, they were challenged to go to the FPGs around them. Many stood in response to God’s call, saying they were willing to go, even if it cost them their lives. It has. This movement has had five martyrs this year. Others stood and declared, “We will send them!” And they have done that, too.

New streams of the movement are now emerging in untouched and very dangerous areas of their land. Unreached people are coming to faith and being discipled. At least three new movements among frontier peoples have emerged from this first movement, which was initially predominant among what we’d classify as a “reached” people group. All this is happening without one dollar of outside money being sent to them. We are praying for many, many more frontier movements to grow from this movement and other near-culture movements we work with.

An Acts 1:8 Strategy to Mobilize
Jesus said, “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8 NIV). I wonder if we could think about this verse as saying something like, “The Holy Spirit is ready to give his power to you. Wait for it. Ask for it. Receive it. When you do, make disciples among your own people group, then go to nearby places where lost people are, then intentionally reach those in your area against whom you have a natural aversion or prejudice. And don’t forget to witness and share my love with people who are culturally and physically far away from you as well.” This passage gives us a beautiful strategy for mobilizing frontier workers.

Five Ways to Engage Frontier Peoples Through Movements and Churches

1. Recognize we need the Holy Spirit’s power.
Little can be done apart from a manifestation of his power through us. While we immediately train everyone to share their faith, we also must help them to be filled with the Spirit and learn to exercise the Spirit’s gifts.

2. All believers must learn to make disciples in their own people group in their own “Jerusalem.”
As I consider the Global Church, my heart longs for every congregation to train members to make disciples rather than just show up at an entertaining service. If European and American Christians became disciple makers first among their own people groups, they’d be far more likely to be used by God to reach Hindus, Muslims, and Buddhists. Every disciple must learn to make disciples everywhere!

3. Disciples need to learn to reach out to other towns and villages around them. Casting vision broadly enough is important. As the church or movement begins to send out ordinary people whose jobs or work takes them to nearby towns and areas, new groups can begin there as well. What would it look like if when people had to travel or move for work, we “sent” them to start new movements in those locations, rather than just saying goodbye and we hope you find another church there?

4. Disciples need to learn to share God’s love with people from groups they dislike. Take a moment to think about the makeup of a movement or church you work with. Are there any people groups or classes of people with whom they don’t have a natural affinity? Perhaps some barriers have historical wounds. How could you intentionally train disciples to overcome these challenges and build relational bridges of hope?

5. Disciples must be taught to care about and engage all people.
One of the best ways to do this is to begin with prayer. Once you motivate believers to pray for people groups around the world, you’re halfway there. God will begin to call people to go. Be intentional about catalyzing kingdom movements that have a heart for all people.

Primed to Reach Frontier Peoples
A colleague recently said to me, “I’ve been told that movements don’t naturally jump over into UUPGs around them.” Given the example above, I was surprised to hear this. Emerging movements are primed and ready to reach FPGs! All they need is a little information and some encouragement to do so. Disciples who are learning to reach lost people and start new groups are the best people I know to motivate to reach UPGs and UUPGs, especially if they are culturally or geographically nearby! Why wouldn’t we look to those in Nagaland and Mizoram to impact the Hindus of Assam? Or to those in Christian areas of Pakistan to reach the majority people? One key is to first equip them to be disciple makers in their Jerusalem rather than just church attendees. We must train them to make disciples, not just converts. There is great potential in mobilizing near-culture believers to the frontiers. But this process also involves training them first to make disciples at home. Are you ready?

About the Author:C. Anderson is passionate about seeing hundreds of Disciple-Making movements take off among the world’s unreached peoples. She has served as a church planter, coach, and trainer. She has been a speaker about multiplying movements of disciples for the past twenty-five years. While most of her experience is in Asia, she was worked in other regions of the world as well. She writes a weekly blog at dmmsfrontiermissions.com

This article was first published in Mission Frontiers March/April 2024 edition | Seeking Movements Among Frontier People pages 40-42. It was used here with permission.

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