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January/February 1992 The Editorial Comment of Ralph D. Winter The third world takes the lead Inter-Agency Cooperation Between Lausanne and AD 2000 Why Shoould A Pastor Care About the AD 2000 Movement? A Church for Every People and the Gospel for Every Person by the Year 2000
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The third world takes the lead... ...THE AD 2000 MOVEMENT --Rick Wood Many people, especially in America, think of missions and world evangelization as an American led and promoted enterprise. But today in our time God is doing some earth shaking things around our world that are breaking down the usual stereotypes about missions. Today the number of missionaries from the third world is growing rapidly and far outstripping the number of new missionaries from the U.S. heading to the field. It is estimated that there will be 160,000 missionaries from the third world by the year 2000. That is almost 4 times the current number of U.S. missionaries. Hundreds of new third world mission agencies have sprung up in the last 20 years. The AD 2000 And Beyond Movement, led by third world leaders, is bringing the third world and American mission efforts together under the banner of "A church for every people and the gospel for every person by the year 2000." The AD 2000 Movement is a unique international organization involving thousands of the world's pre- eminent mission and church leaders who are working together as never before to see the world reached in the next nine years. THE LEADERS THOMAS WANG LUIS BUSH Even after he became president of Partners International, he continued as coordinator for COMIBAM, the continent wide missions conference held in Sao Paulo in 1987. The momentum of that mission movement has spilled over into a vision for the world and now his role as International Director of the AD 2000 Movement. ALVIN LOW Dr. Low was born in Malaysia and received his Doctor of Theology in 1985 from Dallas Theological Seminary. Alvin wil work closely with Luis Bush, the International Director, and will operate from the AD 2000 office in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Before coming to the AD 2000 and Beyond Movement, Alvin worked as Vice-President of Ministries of International Students Inc.. JOHN RICHARD ITS ORIGIN AND PURPOSE With all the interest in the year 2000, it became apparent that the worldwide body of Christ needs to coordinate its efforts for world evangelization. It is exciting to realize that much of the AD 2000 goals can be reached by mobilizing people in existing ministries without adding another complex and expensive infrastructure. The following purpose statement was developed in consultation with around 350 Church leaders from all over the world. The overall purpose is stated as follows: In a spirit of servanthood the people involved in the AD 2000 Movement seek to encourage, motivate and network men and women church leaders by inspiring the vision of reaching the unreached by AD 2000 through consultations, prayer efforts and written materials. The intention is to encourage cooperation among existing churches, movements and structures to work together towards this same vision. The expected result is the establishment of a mission-minded church planting movement within every unreached and unevangelized people and city by AD 2000, so that all people might have a valid opportunity to experience the love, truth and saving power of Jesus Christ in fellowship with other believers. The focus of this movement is on reaching the approximately two billion unreached people who are not within reach of Christians of their own ethnic or people group and do not yet have a vital, indigenous church movement. People refers to the larger ethno- linguistic groups, estimated to be 2,000 among which there are an estimated 11,000 smaller people groups. THE STRUCTURE NATIONAL STRUCTURE The initiative and perspective of a national AD 2000 movement comes from the national leaders. Typically, informed by the global process, national Christian leaders take the initiative to set their own goals focused on the year 2000. The form and focus that the movement takes depends on the perspective of these national leaders. The national AD 2000 plans are responsive to the call of Scripture to reach the unreached as well as the political and economic realities within each of the individual countries where these plans are developed. The sharing of vision comes through consultation as Christian leaders gather in national or regional consultations to share what God is doing around the world. The leaders from these countries involved in these consultations would include pastors, denominational leaders, Christian organizational leaders, training institutional leaders, women, young people, and lay people. These national initiatives are formed as national leaders with a vision for the year 2000 form Ad Hoc Steering Committees to bring Christian leaders together to develop and implement mobilization strategies for the national, regional, and global levels. THE GLOBAL NETWORKS Each track is charged with mobilizing the existing forces for evangelism and uniting them, not organizationally, but in prayer, in mutual respect, in interpersonal relationships, and in support of one another through sharing of ideas and resources, to prevent overlap and competition. Within the overall purpose of the AD 2000 and Beyond Movement, each of the interest networks has their own purpose, goals and objectives as they prepare for GCOWE II in 1994. One aspect that underscores the AD 2000 networks is the partnership established between different Christian leaders representing many countries of the world. Each global network typically includes in its leadership one person from the west and one from a two-thirds-world country. As these global network representatives identify, select and recruit regional network representatives, a core group of 12, representing all ten major regions of the world, will come into existence. As each of the regional network representatives select, identify and recruit two representatives for the country, the internationalism of the process becomes increasingly evident. These global AD 2000 initiatives by interest groups are seeking to: 1. Network church leaders for an intensive effort of world evangelization by AD 2000. 2. Intensify, galvanize and accelerate vision for world evangelization within that interest group. 3. Facilitate information exchange between tracks and all interested parties. 4. Encourage cooperative relationships with existing movements, networks and structures that result in coordinated efforts to evangelize unreached peoples and urban centers. 5. Foster concentrated, prevailing prayer against the obstacles for world evangelization. THE PRAYERFUL OUTCOME - Mobilization of united prayer efforts in every country of the world. Engagement in cooperative ministry efforts to reach the 2000 unreached clusters of peoples. - Revitalization of the church leaders for lay mobilization and church renewal. - Establishment of an evangelical congregation within easy access of every person in the world. - Penetration and evangelization of the unevangelized world by creative missionary methods, such as non-residential missionaries, tent-makers, international returnees and sports evangelism. - Equipping of key leadership in every country to develop and implement an effective cross-cultural missionary training program. - Establishment of permanent national missiological research functions in every country of the world. - Assessment of the progress of evangelization among the 2000 unreached peoples. - Engagement in cooperative ministry efforts to reach the 2000 unreached peoples. - Provision of a valid opportunity for every person to hear the Gospel in a language they can understand. - Establishment of a church planting movement within every unreached people group and city in the country or region. - The development of the innate and spiritual gifts of God's people everywhere, and in particular, women and young people for world evangelization. IN CONCLUSION But it is still not too late for the church in America to get mobilized into this world-wide movement. Some 170 countries at Lausanne II in 1989 expressed in the final paragraph under the 11th affirmation of the Manila Manifesto -- "We commit ourselves to evangelize the world during the last decade of this millennium. There is nothing magical about the date, yet should we not do our best to reach this goal? Christ commands us to take the gospel to all." And certainly if D.L.Moody were in our midst he would add: "It can be done, it ought to be done, it must be done!"
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