Jean and her husband Dave served in Indonesia for 24 years, is founder of Freedom for the Captives Ministries (freemin.org), and author of Becoming Whole a prayer resource. She serves as Beyond’s (beyond.org) Director of Prayer Strategies and Associate to the VP of Team Development. Email [email protected]. All Scripture references are ESV.

Just five years ago, the January-February 2018 issue of Mission Frontiers, with its theme “Are You In?”, introduced the global 24:14 Coalition (2414now.net). This group of CPM practitioners has grown and matured in the few years since its launch. It includes house church movements from South Asia, Muslim-background movements from the 10/40 window, mission sending agencies, church-planting networks in post-modern regions, established churches and many other groups. 

In 1996 and afterward, our motivation was right, our desire was great, tremendous prayer and mobilization happened, and many people made great sacrifices. But we made a fundamental mistake. We thought sending workers to all these groups would result in reaching them. But the vast majority of us used traditional methods to try to reach groups that had been either resistant or cut off from the Gospel for centuries. We saw some bright spots, but for the most part we failed to make enough impact to offer real hope of reaching these groups. 

Around the world, there has been an upsurge in attention to the unreached in the last 30 years. But the results are not better.  

– 2.25 billion (28%) of the world’s people do not have access to the Gospel.2

– 3.37 billion (42.5%) of the world’s people are members of the world’s 7,415 Unreached People Groups³.  

– Only 18.3% of non-Christians personally know a Christian, and if current trends continue, that will grow to only 20% by 2050! How can they hear unless someone tells them?  

And the problem is more complicated than just these facts.  

The pastor told him, “I don’t have time to talk to people right now, because I’m going to a hotel. But maybe next time we meet I’ll have time.”.

So Oliver said, “Okay, show me the hotel. Maybe I’ll sleep there tonight.”. When he went to the hotel, he met Mbonyeyesu, who worked as a night security guard at the hotel. He stayed and chatted with Mbonyeyesu and started sharing with him.

After a while, Mbonyeyesu asked him, “Can you come to my house and talk with my wife as well?”. Mbonyeyesu brought Oliver to his house and they started to do Discovery Bible Study together. Mbonyeyesu said, “I feel I understand Scripture better, now that we are doing a Discovery Bible Study. I want to spend more time learning together so I’ll know more about Jesus.”.

Soon Mbonyeyesu and his wife had a number of women coming to the house to discuss Bible stories, including some stories especially appropriate for women. Those stories helped the women understand the Bible’s message.  

After four months of growing in the Lord, Mbonyeyesu had planted 20 churches in that area. His daughter, Niyokwizera Nicole, married a man named Revenian. When Revenian married her, she had already planted two churches. They went to the southern part of the province and started a Discovery Bible group there, which multiplied and became 68 new groups.  

When the young men went the next day to water their families’ animals, the boss was there at the well. He asked, “What are you doing here? We fired you!”. They said, “These animals belong to our parents. We just want to get water for them”. The boss said, “No. There’s no way that you as Christians can have water from a well dug by a Muslim leader”. So they went back home. Their parents told them, “It’s okay. Jesus will take care of us”.  

The next time I visited, one of the chiefs said to me, “Hasan, we have a problem here,” and he explained it to me. Then he added: “But we prayed, and we remembered what you told us about the story of the woman at the well. Jesus promised that if you believe in him, there will be a source of water. We believe a source of water will come. We prayed, and this is what we believe. Do you want to join us in prayer?”.

Movements among Muslims in West and Central Africa

In 2003, directed by the Holy Spirit, Younoussa Djao, Jerry Trousdale, and Shodankeh Johnson of Final Command Ministries began to pray that by December 2013, churches would develop in all the largest Muslim Unengaged Unreached People Groups (MUUPGs) in West and Central Africa. These groups with broad geographic footprints and large populations included the Hausa (today 54 million in 18 countries²), the Fulani (40 million in 16 countries³) and the Kanuri (13 million in six countries¹). 

In February 2005, Final Command launched trainings led by David Watson, a former missionary to India who had taken a strategist-trainer role, in what eventually became known as “Disciple Making Movements” (DMM)⁵. Over 100 leaders from 12 countries gathered in Sierra Leone and Guinea to learn about DMM. Then Final Command seconded Djao, Trousdale, and Johnson to join Watson with the CityTeam International team to pursue the DMM vision. 

The following year, after fasting and praying, the team concluded that the best way to engage all the UUPGs in the region was to focus their efforts on 18 of the least-reached and most Gospel-resistant people groups (later adding the Pygmy people). What made these groups special was the unusually high influence, power, size, and/or wealth, that persuaded other groups to absorb aspects of these groups’ culture. 

Consequently, if large portions of these key people groups were to embrace the Gospel, it would very likely spread to the others in the region. The team called them “gateway people groups,” and Trousdale dubbed the approach “proximate strategy”. In his words, “It’s easier to see a culture change when you have existing links to that culture. When a neighboring UUPG has linguistic and cultural connections to one in which you’re already seeing results happening, it’s much easier to make a difference”. 

In 2007, the 99-percent-Muslim Fulani especially captured New Generations’ attention. Fulani communities stretched over a wide swath from Senegal to the Central African Republic. Djao, a Fulani himself, knew they were responsible for bringing Islam to Sub-Saharan Africa centuries before, so he began praying that they would become those who helped other people groups discover Jesus. Through God’s grace, by 2021 these leaders saw five distinct Disciple Making Movements among the Fulani, one with 10 generations of multiplication. These consisted of 1,761 churches composed of 22,863 new disciples (averaging 12 per church) planted in the Fulani cluster (Fulani, Fulfulde, Fula Jalon, Peuls, Fulani Maroua, and others). The Fulani cluster is just one success story. By 2022, 94 engagements had begun through these 19 gateway people groups, resulting in 249,001 new Christ followers, in 11,191 new churches.  

² “Hausa People Cluster,” Joshua Project, https:// joshuaproject.net/clusters/186
³ “Fulani/Fulbe People Cluster,” Joshua Project, https:// joshuaproject.net/clusters/173
⁴ People Cluster: Kanuri Saharan https://peoplegroups.org/ explore/ClusterDetails.aspx?rop2=C0063
⁵ A DMM is a chain reaction of at least four generations of churches planting churches, encompassing at least 100 new churches.
⁶ the precursor to New Generations  

James returned home, and a few days later he got an unexpected phone call. The senior government official in the village wanted to meet. The chief told James, “Many groups and organizations have come to serve this poor community. But I can honestly say yours is the only organization that has actually changed our community. I see you as a man of wisdom. As chief, I have many difficult decisions to make. I would like for you to meet with me once a week and help me gain wisdom from the Bible.”.  

Word spread quickly about these meetings, and other local leaders asked to join. Soon, 18 community leaders were attending. At least two of the leaders were Muslim. Several mentioned they were not interested in talking about church. James promised to teach them only how to hear and obey God through the Bible.  

One of the Muslim community leaders worked as a guard for a wealthy family nearby. Within a few weeks, the guard’s employer noticed a difference in his behavior and asked what was going on. The guard told his boss that he was now reading and obeying the Bible, to grow in wisdom. The businessman called James, and a couple of days later, James found himself in a beautiful home sharing coffee with Padar and his family, talking about Jesus. James texted his American friend, “This is an Asian family, Hindus. They have touched the Bible for the first time.”.  

James taught the family how to study the Bible by reading a passage and asking simple questions to discover the meaning. They started with the book of John. The family met each evening to read and study the Bible. James visited them about once a week. One evening, they asked James if Jesus really was Lord over all the gods their ancestors had worshiped for generations. James pointed them back to the Scripture, and encouraged them to keep reading and asking the discovery questions.  

Less than a year later, when I called them all together and did the mapping of the fruit, we had 100 churches!. Using the 4 Fields (CPM model) approach, we had reached the goal of 100 churches 12 years ahead of time!. I asked the Lord “Where should I go now?” He said, “Don’t go anywhere. Coach churches. Train the 100 churches to plant three more churches each.”. As I trained my local church leaders, they trained their people. Some churches planted five new churches. Others planted none. By the next year the network of 100 churches had grown to 422. We trained those churches to plant three more churches each. By the following year we had 1268 churches.  

Then the Lord told me: “Cast vision to other churches.”. So I began to do this in other parts of the country. I told people, “Come and see what the Lord is doing; see how our believers live and serve.”. As people came and were trained, they multiplied to the third and fourth generation. I asked for 5000 and the Lord gave 5000. When I asked for 50,000, the Lord gave 50,000.

Second, these various languages overlap in their usage, one with another. There’s no clear-cut line where use of one language ends and another begins. Also, believers often move because of relationships, such as getting married or having a job offer elsewhere. As people in the movement have traveled or moved, the good news has gone with them. Some people came back and said, “We see God working in this other place. We would like to start a work in that area.”. We told them, “Go ahead!”.  

So they came back a year later and said, “We’ve planted 15 churches there.”. We were amazed and blessed, because it happened organically. There was no agenda, no preparation, and no funding. When they asked what was next, we began to work with them to help the believers get grounded in God’s word and quickly mature.  

Third, we started training centers which expanded the work, both intentionally and unintentionally (more God’s plan than ours). Sometimes people from a nearby language group would come to a training and then return home and work among their own people. 

What could I say?. For the last several years our friendship had bonded into a deep commitment to walk the same path with Jesus and work together toward fulfilling the Great Commission. We were working feverishly to train leaders who would multiply our passionate surrender to Jesus, carrying His message of love to the nations. Now Harold was asking me to take another step deeper into rescuing people from slavery to sin and the horrific crimes of ISIS. I responded: “Yes, Brother, I am ready. Let’s see what God will do.”.  

Within hours, teams of trained, experienced local church planters from the Middle East volunteered to leave their posts to do whatever it would take to rescue these people from ISIS. What we discovered changed our hearts forever.

Now, 30+ years later, I’ve been asked to carry an assignment I don’t deserve and could never earn-but by His grace and leading, requires that I constantly return to what I was first shown. Today, as a co-founder of one of the world’s largest families of Church Planting Movements-796 languages, 3+ million house churches, and 58+ million adults- younger leaders often ask me questions like: “What are the keys to this kind of fruitfulness?”. “Have you written out best practices?” “How did you foster a culture where movements multiply movements?” “How can we replicate what you have seen?”.  

My mind instantly reverts to what I learned as a little boy: that the God of wonders still leads with a cloud by day and a fire by night. Yes, He demands our full obedience and the excellence of honed skills, but He longs even more for us to embrace Him, to discover His ways, and to daily live in covenant with each other so that we learn to listen and radically obey His voice. 

In fact, looking back, some of the most satisfying moments of my life have come when God has interrupted the best of my plans to connect me with other like-hearted men and women. People who value preparedness and excellence but who also share a common “all in” passion to pursue Jesus and His heart for the nations. Together, we have learned to exchange our models of ministry for a complete dependence on His direction and guidance. Practically, this means that rather than relying on any predictable model, we ask each other questions and prayerfully seek answers.

Sending Pioneers

Because many movements have been started through a strategic sending process, we often view this as the primary way new movements begin. This continues to be an important part of how Jesus is causing kingdom expansion around the world. And nowadays, we often see that it is near-culture partners, rather than far-culture pioneers, who experience early breakthroughs among an unreached group. Some movement families rely on continual training of new cadres of near-culture workers to expand their movements or multiply movements into new regions.

However, the number of true pioneers, gifted at breaking into new cultural areas, is relatively small compared to the task that lies before us. I do not want to minimize the importance of these pioneers, or of the deliberate training and sending many of them do with their own disciples. But we were surprised to find that over half the new movements started among the 69 ethnic groups above were not started by our top leaders, or by a trained leader being sent out, but by organic growth through ordinary believers who somehow crossed cultural barriers.

It turns out that many people within movements go into new places without ever being sent. This natural and persecution-driven migration of people has happened throughout Christian history. It began on Pentecost with visitors in Jerusalem from many nations, and is seen in Acts in the persecution that scattered believers from Jerusalem, and that which pushed Priscilla and Aquila out of Rome. When those who go into new cultures or regions are empowered with movement-compatible ministry patterns, Jesus may begin new movements through simple organic growth. Because this has happened many times, some of the leaders in movements we work with no longer focus resources on strategic sending, but rather on strategically supporting organic growth when they see disciples move into new cultures and regions.  

Since 2015, I have been laboring to document the spread of rapidly multiplying movements around the world. As of 2022, over 1% of the world’s population are disciples of Jesus in such movements: at least 114 million people in 8.5 million churches, found in 1,967 movements.

Additionally, 3,500 teams are working to start more movements, steadily aiming toward the promise found in Matthew 24:14-…this Gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world, as a witness to all nations… 

A seminary professor was urging prospective American church leaders to redistribute God’s resources to the rest of the world instead of lavishing it on ourselves. He said, “I say it respectfully, but I say it forcefully. God is not that stupid a general.”. The disciples in movements are our most effective and strategic front line Gospel messengers. We need to realign our Great Commission efforts to fully support them.

They are not asking or waiting for logistical and financial support to reach other people groups. They are already reaching out because they are empowered by the Holy Spirit and driven by their love for the lost and their desire to glorify God. But they recognize help from outside can enable them to reach more groups more quickly.

We need to avoid a misplaced nationalism that says, “Citizens of each nation must reach all their unreached peoples and places with no outside help, lest we promote dependency.”. The movements are not asking for help for their internal costs (to develop and sustain their movements). They fund those things locally. Yet as they plan and work to reach groups outside themselves, we can come alongside them and help with reaching each and every unreached group.  

An example:

The newly minted believers from the dramatic event at the festival of Pentecost in Jerusalem began to experience the dynamics of a movement. Day by day the Lord added to their number, we are told. They saw the dynamics of growth and they experienced the inner life of Acts 2:42-47.

Many of those believers were not from Jerusalem, so following the persecution described in Acts 7, we are told they began to make their way back to the many places from where they had come. Not that they were fleeing the persecution; they were just going home.  

We don’t know most of their stories. But we do know that some of them, for some reason, began to speak to Greeks of the Good News. It is unclear from the vocabulary if these were Greek-speaking Jews, or Greeks who had converted to Jewish monotheism but not Judaism (the “God fearers” described in Acts).

We don’t know if they knew about Jesus’ words in Acts 1:8, but they were certainly examples of what he spoke about: they were empowered as witnesses, and it bore fruit. The result was not just the church in Antioch, but a breakthrough in a new cultural context which, as we see in Acts 13 and following, is crucial in the leap into the Gentile world.  

The aspect of this I want to highlight is that the whole process can be described as a movement being fostered by another movement. Later, we see that Paul’s dynamic apostolic band was made up largely of people drawn from very new, still-emerging movements. I think it is common for most readers of Acts and Paul’s letters to only see the specific churches that are named as the results of his work. But we have hints that these churches were not just isolated communities of believers. While this may be most explicit in Thessalonica, where we hear of the word expanding throughout a region, there are hints elsewhere that this was not an exception, but a norm (for example in the early verses of Colossians).

It does seem to be a norm, and it also seems to be natural. Natural does not mean automatic, but it does mean by nature. That is the key dynamic in movements fostering other movements: there is something in the nature of a movement that carries with it more than expansion. Movements carry a DNA that “naturally” causes more movements, because being a movement is part of the DNA itself.  

I have seen this firsthand, but since you will read stories of such dynamics in this edition of ME, I won’t tell my stories here. For some readers this will seem new. And, again, experientially it has been recent. But Acts shows us this is in the original blueprint, seed, and foundational DNA.  

A Misunderstood Role

Mission mobilizers are a misunderstood role in Christian ministry. We understand a pastor, mission pastor, worship leader, children’s ministry leader, prayer leader, etc. But a mission mobilizer- who is that and what do they do? Ministry in a local church is generally understood as are those directly involved in global evangelism, yet the person bridging this gap is minimized. This appears to be beginning to shift as the Spirit emphasizes mobilization, raising voices (Isa. 40:3) preparing the way of the Lord. These are growing in confidence, though still misunderstood.  

Mission mobilizers are in every local church, denomination, and parachurch ministry, often not knowing they have this role. God has sovereignly placed them within His people already. They are pastors, teachers, evangelists, while others are lay leaders and lay people within a community of believers, each one emphasizing God’s redemptive storyline and how every believer can be involved. Many are leaders within denominational structures or church networks, marked by the Lord as His voice to mobilize and equip within these ministry structures.  

Fight or Flight

Fight or flight are two common physical and mental responses to stress. Fight. We face the threat head-on, ready to engage in battle. Flight. We run from the threat, escaping it and finding a place of safety.  

Our world is a place of increasing turmoil. A war between Russia and Ukraine causes concern about nuclear threats around the world. While the COVID-19 pandemic is no longer as deadly as it was, it is far from gone. Floods, hurricanes, and other natural disasters bring loss of life and property, making headline news.  

How should a disciple-maker and Jesus follower respond? Is it fight or flight? Perhaps neither. God is often amazingly at work in chaos and turmoil. God leans into chaos and so must we.  

In some cases, this might involve a specialized skill, but more often it involves applying a basic-level skill in an area of need.

Possibilities include:

– Prayer and mobilizing prayer from outside the
– movement
– Communication efforts
– Job and business start-up training
– Computer and technical support
– Video and/or audio recording and/or editing Fundraising in ways that do not create dependency Social media help with creation and/or distribution Hosting vision trips for potential outside partners

– Administrative help
– Hosting and supervising outside interns
– Disaster response service and/or training and/or connections
– Medical service and equipping medical response within the movement
– Assisting with support, networking, or whatever else might be needed to help bring the Gospel where it has never been
– Assisting in Bible translation and distribution
– Anything and everything that is needed

In many cases, the movements cannot give a specific job description, as their needs keep changing. Or they may start with a specific need and job description, but circumstances change the needs. They want people who are willing to do whatever is needed. They value the relationship first and the task second. In other words, they want to become friends and co-laborers with brothers and sisters who they can trust, and the ministry roles and tasks will emerge from those relationships and the needs in the field.

One movement leader, discussing this movement servant role, said, “Westerners we talk to do not really want to do what we need. For instance, we would ask them not to go live in Afghanistan, but seek to reach Afghans in Europe and partner to raise prayer and funds and key outside connections for Afghan believers in Afghanistan. That has not been appealing to anybody we have talked to. They all want to go live in the country and be the frontline workers.”

I was leading a meeting of about 30 local national church leaders from various different ethnic groups. I asked everyone, “What’s the biggest struggle you’re facing?” One leader from the Hmong tribe stood up and said their biggest problem was that salaries had been cut and the ministry of the church was suffering. He explained that the national denomination office had been sending a salary subsidy each month (received from foreign donor sources) for the leaders of his local church.

“Thank you, teacher,” I replied. “Allow me to ask a few questions, to understand how the local church ministry is suffering. I know in your tribe you train up Theological Education by Extension (TEE) small group leaders each year. When the subsidies were coming, how many TEE small group leaders did you train up each year?”

He said, “Two or three new leaders each year.”

I continued, “In the year since the subsidy was cut, how many TEE small group leaders have you trained.”

“We have trained two or three leaders.”

“Let me see if I understand correctly. You have trained the same number of leaders, with or without subsidy.”

“Yes,” he agreed.

My second question, “In the typical week when subsidies were given, how much was the weekly church offering?”

He answered an amount. Then I asked, “Since the subsidy was cut, what has been the typical weekly offering?”

He said the offering had more than doubled!

“How can that be?” I asked.

He replied, “It’s very obvious why: because everyone realized that this church depended on the local members to make it work.” They showed their ownership of the church by giving.

“Teacher, please indulge me with one final question. How many people did you baptize each year while receiving the subsidies?”

He answered, “Typically one new baptism a year.”

“How many baptisms a year, since you cut the subsidy?”

He explained that there were about 10 people baptized during that year. “Oh that’s wonderful! What accounts for this significant increase?”

Hunger for God: “Catalysts hunger for depth with God, yearn to love Him more deeply; they seek to hear God’s voice and be obedient.”

Expectant Faith: “Catalysts expect that God will grow a movement among their people group and save many soon, and they have great faith that God will show His power through their lives.”

Confidence: “Catalysts feel confident in their spiritual gifts and skills, and exhibit a sense of confidence.”

Drive for Responsibility / Dependability: “Catalysts feel responsible for the people they serve and for engaging them with the good news; they are motivated by a sense of responsibility. Catalysts are reliable and trustworthy; others can depend on them.”

Persistence: “Catalysts are tenacious in spite of challenges and amidst difficulties; they don’t give up.”

Empowering: “Catalysts empower and enable local people to be the key players by putting responsibility and authority in their hands from the beginning and by developing their gifts.”

Confidence in the Holy Spirit: “Catalysts are confident in the Holy Spirit and have faith in Him to accomplish His intended work in the life of all God’s children, as they are enabled to obey His commands.”

Confidence in the Bible: “Catalysts have deep confidence in the Bible to be their CPM guidebook, and deep assurance in its power to accomplish what God desires.”

Influencing Beliefs: “Catalysts talk often about their most important values and beliefs, consider the moral consequences of decisions with people, and emphasize the importance of living toward the purpose for which one is created.”

Inspiring of Vision: “Catalysts articulate a compelling vision of the future, talk enthusiastically about what needs to be accomplished to see a growing movement, and express confidence that goals will be achieved.”