I just got back from two international missions conferences, Missio Nexus and Global Alliance for Church Multiplication (GACX), reconnecting with many friends and colleagues. They have different purposes and different constituencies, but what they have in common is a love for Jesus and a passion to see Him known among every tribe, people, language, and nation.
Missio Nexus represents over 53,000 staff members of organizations, churches, and businesses engaged in various ways to accelerate fulfillment of the Great Commission. GACX is less generic and more targeted toward church planting. They are a global alliance of churches and mission organizations committed to seeing a healthy, multiplying church for every 1,000 people on earth, churches located in every village, neighborhood, high-rise, or digital space.
I was moved by what I observed at these two gatherings and I wish you could have been with me. Missio Nexus had over 1000 attendees, with dozens of workshops (one of which was mine on “Forming Diaspora Coalitions”), while GACX had smaller at about 250 people with 20 workshops. But each one generated a visceral feeling of determination to use every means possible to glorify Jesus on the earth.
I was sitting in a seminar describing four software platforms that are being used to map out the work that remains to be done in missions. There was something striking about God’s people investing time and money to find out where people live who don’t know Christ.
For example, they found out that the country of Nepal has 84,000 villages. Through collaboration of many organizations, they found out which of those 84,000 villages have no church, and which have no Christians. Then they color coded a map to prioritize those villages so someone could be sent there to invite them into God’s family.
What an amazing God we have, who would put it the hearts of people to relentless scour every village, in every country, until every place gets the opportunity to follow our dear Lord. Please pray with us this month that the gospel will be preached among every ethnic group on earth by 2025. And let’s thank Him for giving all of us passion for His heart to include ta ethne.
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