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Source: Lausanne Committee for World Evangelization, 2008. Page
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of
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P
RIORITIES OF THE
G
LOBAL
C
HURCH
IN
C
OMPLETING THE
T
ASK OF
W
ORLD
E
VANGELIZATION
I. NEED #1: TO GIVE ACCESS TO SCRIPTURE TO EVERY PERSON IN HIS OWN LANGUAGE
A. The Present Situation:1. 2,251 languages have no Scripture and no one working on them2. 1,953 languages have someone that has begun work but, as yet, they do not haveone book of the Bible available3. Total number of people with no access to the Scripture in their own language =300 million people living in 4,204 groupsB. Recommended Strategies:1. Increase the hiring of national workers to do written translation2. Immediately finance 4,204 teams of 2 people to produce an “Oral Bible” in thenext 24 months
II. NEED #2: TO REACH THE UNENGAGED, UNREACHED PEOPLE GROUPS THAT CURRENTLYHAVE NO ACCESS TO THE GOSPEL
Access to the Gospel is our number one criteria in prioritizing our activities in evangelism.We must concentrate on those groups who have no way to hear the Gospel. These groupshave no missionary, no church, no tools of evangelism, and no known Believers.Though there are many ways of figuring the number of unreached groups, there are atleast 12,000 in the world. Of these, about 6,000 have been “reached”—i.e. there are atleast 2% evangelical Believers. Of the final 6,000 groups, about 3,400 groups have nowitness for the Lord. There are about 600 million people in these groups.
III. NEED #3: TO REACH THE 60% OF THE WORLD THAT ARE ORAL LEARNERS
Most people throughout the world are Oral learners. That is, they prefer to learn throughproverbs, music, poetry, and especially, stories. It’s the way we learned before we went toschool. And, increasingly, those who are already literate are giving up reading. They wantto receive their information by means of radio, TV, and film. Fifty-eight percent of theadults in the United States have not read a book since they graduated from high school;forty-two percent since they graduated from university. Mission leaders must rethink howthey are delivering their evangelism, discipleship, and church planting strategies.
IV. NEED #4: TO ENCOURAGE REVOLUTIONARY APPROACHES TOWARD MUSLIMS, HINDUS,AND BUDDHISTS – NEARLY HALF THE WORLD’S POPULATION
A. What is the challenge?After hundreds of years of missions, we are still struggling to see widespreadbreakthroughs in church planting among the large religious blocs of the world. Wemust rekindle intentional outreach to Muslims, Hindus, and Buddhists at every levelpossible. Recognizing the slowness of our progress among these mega blocs, we mustencourage every creative and innovative initiative that moves us toward more fruitfulimpact among them. Our most common methodology of the past has been one of
Source: Lausanne Committee for World Evangelization, 2008. Page
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“extraction”, i.e. taking people out of their family culture to worship in a setting that isforeign. We need more culturally authentic worship patterns.B. The Statistics:Islam 1.3 billionHinduism 1.0 billionBuddhism/Folk Chinese 700 millionNon-Religious 1.2 billionTribals 200 millionChristianity 2.2 billion
Catholics 1.0 billionOrthodox 300 millionState Churches 200 million
Others (250m Evangelicals) 700 million
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TOTAL 6.6 billion
V. NEED #5: TO SEE RENEWAL AND REFORMATION IN THE CHURCH
If the Church is to speak with power, it must return to a biblical message and demonstrateholy lives filled with the Holy Spirit. Every Believer needs to be obedient to both the GreatCommandment and the Great Commission. We must call ourselves and the Church to loveGod with whole hearts and love our neighbor as ourselves. This includes loving ourbrothers, loving strangers, and loving our enemies. In terms of the Great Commission, itdemands that we go everywhere and tell people what God has done for us in the power of the Holy Spirit.Our framework for the Great Commission has to involve the following --As followers of Christ, united in love and purpose, we are called to:
1-- Reach every person with the whole Gospel2-- In a language he/she understands3-- With access to a nearby local church or fellowship4-- Led by a trained pastor or elder
VI. NEED #6: TO WORK TOGETHER
Jesus said in John 17 that the unity of Believers would say two things to non-Believers:
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That Jesus really did come from God.
vs. 21
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That God loves them as much as He loves Jesus.For those who are Believers, unity would say two things:
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That you are a true follower of Jesus.
John 13:
35 –
“By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”
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That there will be a blessing.
Psalm 133:1-3 – “Behold how good and pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity…. for there the Lord commanded theblessing…”
The unity of Believers is not an option in evangelism. It is a sign that God left to validateand show the deity of Jesus. It is the present day evidence of God’s love for mankind.
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