May - June 2010

Editorial Rick Wood, Editor

In 1974, Dr. Ralph Winter changed the course of mission history and world history with his address to the first Lausanne Congress on World Evangelization, where he revealed that we would never complete the task of world evangelization if we continued with the same strategies and methods. Dr. Winter clarified that the global Church had not adequately understood the vast and diverse ethnic realities of the world, with the great majority of mission resources concentrated in areas where the gospel had been available for many years while great swaths of humanity were left untouched. A dramatic course correction was needed. In his address, he reiterated the biblical mandate to reach every tribe and tongue and thus catalyzed what has been called the "unreached peoples movement." download pdf of this story

The year 2010 is an appropriate year to step back and re-visit the emphasis on "people groups" that has been foundational for the U.S. Center for World Mission and others in the frontier mission movement since 1974. Therefore, this issue of Mission Frontiers is a springboard for a series of reflections and discussions throughout 2010, a series that will be continued by our sister periodical, the International Journal of Frontier Missiology, and by the September 21-23 meetings in Charlotte, North Carolina of the International Society for Frontier Missiology. download pdf of this story

Lifting, Pushing, Squeezing and Blending: The Dynamics of Ethnicity and Globalization Brad Gill

An emphasis on "people groups" has become a common way to map our mission to the world. It was not always so. When Donald McGavran emerged from caste-ridden India in the 1960s, evangelicals were confronted anew with the strategic role of social and cultural boundaries in world evangelization. The persistent individualism at the core of our Western gospel made many nervous at the idea that large, ethnically homogenous peoples could move so quickly and powerfully towards the gospel. The idea of group conversion remained suspect. Then, in 1974, when Ralph Winter used this controversial idea to map a new demography of "unreached" peoples, the idea of "people groups" began to find its place in mission vernacular. download pdf of this story

Isabell Ides was 101 years old when she died last June. A Makah Indian, a member of a whale-hunting people, she lived in the last house on the last road on the farthest northwest tip of the United States. Isabell was known far and wide because she loved and taught Makah culture and language. Hundreds of people learned to weave baskets under her hands. Several generations learned words in their language from her lips. Young mothers brought her their alder-smoked salmon. After chewing a bit, she could tell whether their wood was too dry. Archaeologists brought her newly excavated 3,000-year-old baskets, and she could identify what the baskets were, how they were made, and how they had been used. "It’s like losing a library," an anthropologist said at her funeral. download pdf of this story

Further Responses to Paul Hiebert Bruce Graham, Duane Frasier, Omid, Ralph Winter, Bruce Koch, and Steve Hawthorne

The concept of people groups, and the dynamic of people movements, as a focus and goal of frontier mission effort brought to light ethnic realities that needed increasing sensitivity in the last 30 years in fulfilling the Great Commission. This focus well served North American mission mobilization efforts that desired a simple, clear, "manageable", measurable strategy for "completing" the Great Commission. It has launched new efforts and programs with a people group focus. Yet "field strategy" perspectives, and growing understanding of field realities, reveal that Paul Hiebert’s reflections have a lot of truth. download pdf of this story

Global mission gatherings can jump-start new directions for a global Church, and the world level consultations planned for 2010 have all the potential to do so. As we look back, we can see that the 1974 Lausanne Congress on World Evangelization sprouted two new directions from two separate critiques of evangelical mission. For more than 30 years these two streams have run parallel, only incidentally fusing their emphases at intermittent global gatherings. Regular readers of Mission Frontiers are conversant with the first stream that has emphasized people groups and especially "unreached peoples,” as revisited in this issue of MF. That stream grew from Ralph Winter’s introduction of the idea of cultural distance into the challenge of evangelizing the world. download pdf of this story

If the U.S. Center for World Mission is known for anything, it is the concept of reaching unreached people groups. We have been one of the champions of people group thinking, and our very identity is wound up in it. As a result, it would be quite natural for us to be defensive about people group critiques. We could become "intellectual tyrants" who believe too strongly in the ideas that have shaped us. download pdf of this story

Imagine a place where intercessors, adopting churches, Christian businesses, mission agencies and funding partners can form global alliances to reach the world’s remaining unreached and unengaged peoples. Or imagine a forum where experts in technology can hear from field missionaries what their needs are and custom-design solutions for them. Or a database where Christian professionals can find tentmaking opportunities in the 10/40 Window. Or a resource directory where mission agencies can see what other organizations have developed across the world to address common problems. download pdf of this story

Having worked alongside Patrick Johnstone for years on Operation World, Jason Mandryk knew the challenges of compiling its latest edition after Patrick retired. Jason was "stepping into big shoes." download pdf of this story

There are days, after nearly thirty years of my current ministry, when I wonder who is listening to what we are saying about healthy sustainability for mission churches around the world. And then I get an e-mail that gives me a burst of inspiration. The following came from a mission executive who has a burden for what he sees happening. download pdf of this story

You've seen it. After a church service, people come down to the front of the church for prayer. For some churches, this is a weekly pattern. Others designate a room where people can go for prayer. And churches want to be sure they pray for their missionaries when they are visiting (and, of course, when they are away !). download pdf of this story