EMQ » October–December 2019 » Volume 55 Issue 4
By Ryan Shaw
We are living in extraordinary times—when the Holy Spirit is highlighting the possibilities of the fulfillment of the Great Commission in our day. Never before has the global body of Christ been larger nor more ethnically diverse. Never before has a potential harvest force from every continent and region been readied and prepared by God to engage directly with His Great Commission. Simultaneously, it’s a transition time when the Lord intends to bring alignment in global, cross-cultural mission through paradigm shifts from what ‘has been’, to what ‘is coming.’ To be effective, we align with the Spirit, aware of what is taking place, discerning and embracing His shifts to see global harvest among unreached and unengaged people groups.
Several years ago, I was driving near my home in Chiang Mai, Thailand when the Lord spoke clearly to me. It came with authority accompanied with peace. The Lord said, “I am changing the face of missions.” I immediately discerned that God was orchestrating a massive alignment from the traditional way the body of Christ has done missions to biblical, Spirit-led strategies and means. Seeing the realization of the psalmist’s proclamation accomplished, “All the peoples will praise you, O God, let all the peoples praise you! (Psalm 67:3),” requires that the global Church’s current, “business as usual,” approach to mission and mobilization give way in order to become aligned with Jesus’ own. Traditional approaches of five, ten, or fifty years ago produce some fruit yet are not sufficient for where the Holy Spirit is taking the global Church toward the literal fulfillment of Jesus’ Great Commission.
On a ministry level, the Holy Spirit has been leading SVM2 (Student Volunteer Movement 2) into our own season of alignment. An important aspect has been considering if the name continues to serve us effectively. In August of 2002, when first organizing as a mobilization ministry, we took the name Student Volunteer Movement 2 (SVM2). We believed God wanted to raise up a massive, global, mission mobilization movement with the same spirit as the original Student Volunteer Movement. We still believe this. In fact, this passion has only grown, becoming more mature as it has been tested over time. The historic Student Volunteer Movement was an inter-denominational movement that lasted more than forty-five years, from 1886–1935, raising more than 20,000 new long-term laborers for the nations. The name “SVM2” served us well for sixteen years. Yet the work has evolved, serving the global Church and no longer primarily revolving around the student generation.
During a trip to Lilongwe, Malawi in September 2018, a SVM2 colleague from Malawi listened as I described SVM2 as an “international mission mobilization initiative made up of national mobilization initiatives.” After the meeting, he excitedly suggested a new name–Global Mission Mobilization Initiative, or GMMI for short. It came with authority and seemed to check the important boxes. Subsequently, as of August 15, 2019, SVM2 officially became GMMI.
Alignment refers to “the right positioning of parts in relation to one another.” The purpose of alignment is to produce streamlining for effectiveness. What are core areas of alignment in global mission the Lord is orchestrating for a greater harvest among the unreached, toward the literal fulfilling of the Great Commission? These alignments are long-term, wide-ranging and largely provable through considering various growing evidence in the mission movement. I have observed the beginnings of these areas of alignment in my seventeen years of serving the global church in mission mobilization ministry.
The Foundational Calling of Mission Mobilization
God is growing a focus on mission mobilization in His global body today. Over the last decade many mobilization courses, trainings, tools, and networks have sprung up that were not around before. Mission mobilization momentum in every national church globally will grow and mature in the years and decades ahead as the Holy Spirit sounds the trumpet. Ralph Winter, founder of the US Center for World Mission (now Frontier Ventures), once said mission mobilization is the most strategic role in the missionary movement as it keeps God’s mission purpose of the Church before the Church in a proactive way.
While it is the nature of the Church to be moving out with God in mission, it is rarely, if ever, natural and automatic that believers and local ministries move into costly mission endeavor without the teaching, challenge, counsel, and encouragement of other followers of Jesus.2 The work of mobilization is normal and essential—as important as discipleship or spiritual formation. So, what is mission mobilization? It is sounding a rallying cry, working to see believers and entire local ministries educated, inspired and activated in the Great Commission. Mission mobilization awakens local ministries and believers to the fact that God’s global mission purpose, a key thread in Scripture from Genesis to Revelation, is the primary assignment of the body of Christ between Jesus’ first and second coming.
The Global South inCross-Cultural Mission
The Lord intends the body of Christ in every nation to intentionally engage in His Great Commission—no matter the national percentage of believers, status, poverty, or any other external factor. The literal fulfillment of the Great Commission will be realized as the result of a global prioritizing of cross-cultural mission and involvement of every national body of Christ. We are well aware of the growing body of Christ in the global south (nations in Asia, Africa, and Latin America). This numerical and spiritual growth is turning into greater vision, understanding, and obedience to Jesus’ Great Commission. This is only going to increase in the coming years. For the first time in history, we have a global Church realistically able to significantly contribute to cross-cultural mission.
Some questions are necessary. Should Global South churches and organizations embrace western financial support models to do mission? Do they need to join western organization mission teams? Will indigenous organizations operate like international mission sending organizations? Do they need to speak English? The clear answer from the Holy Spirit to all of these is an emphatic, “no.”
GMMI has dedicated itself to strategic mission mobilization among Global South national churches, aligning with this growing shift of the Holy Spirit. This exciting fact does not mean western mission organizations are no longer needed. The whole global church together contributing to Jesus’ global harvest is necessary and the Biblically accurate approach. We need all hands globally involved, each in our assigned roles, and we are in a day when this could be realized.
Mission Rooted in “Abandoned Devotion” to Jesus
Bearing His message among ethnic peoples in our human strength is impossible to sustain and produces burnout. This is an all too common problem in cross-cultural mission. Many serve out of pity for others and their conditions. This appears noble and right yet is produced by human emotion. Jesus wants genuine compassion for others burning in us, motivated by His love. We love Him, and out of the reservoir of this love, obey His commands to go and serve. We do not love others first. The Great Commission is the natural outflow of a life marked by the Great Commandment, “Jesus said to him, You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind and your neighbor as yourself” (Matthew 22:37). The foundation of mission is obedience to our Master who gave the Commission in the first place. True mission vision emerges from seeing what He sees and hearing what He hears. We hear His call, surrender all to Him, allowing His will to be done in and through our life. It is then, “out of his heart will flow rivers of living water (John 7:38)” for the nations.
In GMMI circles we call this “Abandoned Devotion” to Jesus. Consider these words for a moment. Abandoned means forsaking someone or something. Devotion refers to profound dedication or consecration. Abandoned devotion then is to forsake all in pursuit of Jesus alone. We abandon what is dear yet interferes with wholeheartedly following and obeying Jesus. Abandoned describes the totality and extent of our devotion. Devotion is no longer casual, comfortable, or convenient. Devotion calls us to dedication costing time, money, security, friends, and family. Living this way produces the greatest measure of true freedom and satisfaction. The Holy Spirit is aligning the global Church with mission practice rooted in abandoned devotion to Jesus.
Mobilizing and Equipping Entire Local Ministries
It is common in mission mobilization to focus on mentoring one or two people who may have a leaning toward mission. We have tended to take an individualized approach to mobilization. In doing so, we have made a fundamental mistake of overlooking the big picture nature of the Great Commission in the redemptive purpose of God. It is not just for a few specialized believers, but every born-again follower of Jesus.
What if every local ministry made cross-cultural mission an integral part of their focus on an ongoing basis? What if whole denominations motivated each local ministry under their umbrella to do so? Historically, the greatest cross-cultural ministry impact has come through entire local ministries/denominations mobilizing and equipping their members for cross-cultural mission. This does not mean every member becomes a cross-cultural message bearer (alternative term for missionary). Yet they do identify their unique roles in the Great Commission, engaging in them with all their heart.
Multitudes of entire local ministries in every nation mobilizing and equipping their own is a foundational strategy of the Holy Spirit in fulfilling His Great Commission. They emphasize “abandoned devotion” to Jesus in their discipleship, while implementing Great Commission vision using proven tools within the life of the local ministry. A result is every member over time becoming activated in their unique roles. A second result is that local ministry executing a sending strategy of message bearer teams to the unreached. Imagine millions of local ministries of 50–200 members globally engaging with Jesus in this way. Imagine your local ministry prioritizing mission in this way. We would see a tremendous push in mission mobilization globally.
Embracing the Scattering Principle
A growing shift is happening from traditional message bearers (alternative term for missionary) to regular, everyday disciples being scattered from local ministries in teams with the gospel. Traditional message bearers will continue, yet these “scattered” message bearer teams are growing significantly. They relocate homes, families, and jobs to unreached peoples for Kingdom purposes. They are financially sustained differently from the traditional support model—through careers, professions and other self-sustaining means, as the apostle Paul was. They may not have a Bible college degree yet possess experiential knowledge with God, having on the job training as a witness in their home community. This global scattering of hundreds of thousands of message bearer teams is a growing shift in missions and is needed to see the fulfillment of the Great Commission.
Most of these will go to “near culture” unreached peoples, even within their own nation, where they share cultural similarities, language, and overall understanding. Finding pockets of unreached in “near” cities, these message bearers live and work among them, incarnating Jesus and His Kingdom. A minority are scattered to “distant culture” unreached people groups, with a completely different culture, not knowing the language, crossing many national borders to get there. This global scattering of everyday disciples is a key Biblical emphasis often overlooked in favor of the traditional, professional missionary model. Jesus intends many more to be “sent,” or “scattered,” to both near and distant cultures than is presently being done. Most of our current sending models don’t allow for the widespread, financially sustainable, scattering type approach. This will be a great shift in the coming years.
Multiplying Church Planting Movements
The Holy Spirit is stirring the vision of a church for every town and village among unreached and unengaged peoples. How will this be realized? Scattered message bearer teams do not see evangelism, nor justice types of ministry, as an end. Neither do they see individuals becoming born again as an end. They bear the message toward the gathering of simple, New Testament-style churches multiplying among a group. The sowing is accompanied by purposeful reaping. Reaping implies ingathering into simple groups called churches. All true ministry gathers peoples into simple, reproducible, culturally relevant, fellowships of believers. The Holy Spirit intends a spiritually vibrant, wholehearted, reproducing, fellowship of believers within walking distance of every person globally. Seeing this realized requires aligning with the Holy Spirit’s paradigm of church planting movements.
A simple definition of “church planting movements” is, “a rapid and exponential increase of indigenous churches planting churches within a given people group or population segment.”3 Another definition is, “a rapid reproduction of culturally relevant, simple churches which reproduce themselves within the culture over and over again.” In other words, they are disciple-making movements where obedient disciples make obedient disciples and reproducing churches make reproducing churches. A church planting movement begins with the idea of seeing a multiplication of many simple churches happening across a people group. This is entirely possible, happening presently in various places. David Garrison and David Watson have helped the mission movement immensely in their teaching on this subject over the last few decades. Yet many are still holding out. Seeing that all ministry flows toward the ultimate goal of sustainable, reproducible communities of disciples being multiplied is a shift the Spirit is orchestrating globally.
Pursuing “People Movements” to Christ
As we know from Scripture, God sees humanity, not as geopolitical nations such as Thailand, the United States, or Germany. The Psalms are full of declarations of the “peoples” declaring the adoration, worship, and praise of God. The Lord sees the many myriads of ethnic people groups that make up these geopolitical nations. In India, for example, there are around 950 distinct ethnic groups throughout the whole country. God sees each as an individual people sharing culture, customs, language, history, and traditions. It is His will that every one of these distinct “peoples” has opportunity to experience His redeeming power, set free from the darkness of spiritual bondage, restored into all the benefits, blessings and inheritance purchased for them through Jesus’ death and resurrection.
Yet how will all these “peoples” experience that transformation? This is a key question needing Holy Spirit revelation and not cliché answers. Is Jesus really asking message bearer teams from every nation to scatter, crossing cultural barriers and individually communicating the gospel to every person on the planet? Probably not, as that is an individualistic, western cultural outlook. Instead, He seems to be identifying a different target, providing a different strategy. He is asking the global Church to target “peoples” among the unreached, not merely individuals, igniting “people movements” to Christ. The gospel runs most swiftly along “peoples” lines of relatives, neighbors, coworkers, trusted friends and subcultures. Donald McGavran and Ralph Winter were major advocates of this concept in the 1960s and ’70s yet it generally still has not taken root in the mission movement, relying instead on a one-by-one individualistic approach to evangelism.
Most cultures of unreached, frontier peoples are communal—not individualistic. Most consider their families and relatives before making decisions impacting their lives. They decide as a group, not on their own. In these societies, an individual does not think of themselves as a self-sufficient unit. They are part of a group, their business situations, marriages, or problems are settled through the group finding solutions.4 And this is exactly how God created them, moving together in unity as they come to faith in Christ, growing as a community of disciples. To reach all ethnic peoples we must align with the Holy Spirit’s purpose of igniting “people movements” to Jesus among unreached and unengaged people groups.
Announcing the Full Range of the Gospel of the Kingdom
Jesus declared in Matthew 24:14, “and this gospel of the Kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come.” He reveals the message we bear among all ethnic people groups—the gospel of the kingdom. The gospel of the kingdom provides a clear roadmap for experiencing God’s fullness for every human being as intended in the heart of God. Yet we tend to reduce it in its scope, making it appear vague. Is our message among the nations consistent with the biblical, New Testament gospel, culturally relevant to the hearer—or something altogether foreign to Scripture and hearers alike?
Jesus taught more on the kingdom of God than any other topic, using that phrase over one hundred times. His very gospel was the message of the kingdom (Matthew 4:23). He focused on the kingdom in his parables (Matthew 13) as well as in his major discourses—the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5–7) and Olivet Discourse (Matthew 24–25). Throughout his life and ministry, the kingdom of God was the master passion of Jesus’ life.
The Kingdom was also Paul’s primary message. Acts 19:8 reveals, Paul “went into the synagogue and spoke boldly for three months, reasoning and persuading concerning the things of the kingdom of God.” Since the kingdom was the essence of Jesus’ and Paul’s message, we must ask if his kingdom is also our primary motivation and message among unreached and unengaged peoples? The Spirit is bringing an alignment related to our core message, enabling his global Church to engage all peoples with the fully-orbed gospel of the kingdom, not merely the gospel of eternal salvation.
Summing Up
To progress in our corporate work of reaching all peoples for Christ we need to align with biblical, Spirit-led wineskins. Aligning with these eight specific shifts in mission, organizations, and denominations as well as seminaries and ministry training schools will take us far. We need focused effort in cross-cultural mission, not merely shot in the dark approaches. The Holy Spirit has laid out his plans, patterns and ways in his Word. It is high time we allow him to truly be the “director of mission” that he is, leading us into his ways, not simply those of tradition.
Ryan Shaw is International Lead Facilitator/ President of Global Mission Mobilization Initiative (GMMI) (formerly SVM2). A fourth generation message bearer, Ryan graduated from Azusa Pacific University with a BA in ministry and Fuller Theological Seminar with a Masters in Intercultural Studies. Passionate about spiritual awakening in the body of Christ and global harvest among unreached and unengaged people groups, Ryan and his wife Kelly live with their two children in Chiang Mai, Thailand where GMMI has its Great Commission Equipping Center.
1. Traveling Team Article, http://www.thetravelingteam.org/articles/mobilization.
2. Steve Hawthorne, self-published article, “Mobilizing God’s People For God’s Mission,” May 8, 2015.
3. Garrison, Church Planting Movements booklet, 7.
4. McGavran, Bridges of God, 12.
