Global Impact - Understanding Missions in the 21st Century
What do global missions look like today?
Missions have changed. Some of us still carry the stereotypical picture in our mind of "colonial missionaries" seen in classical movies. However, quantum changes have occurred. Read about some of the issues shaping the modern missionary movement we are a part of:The great people-group awakening -- The overdue realization among Christians that the "nations" of the Great Commission are ethnic peoples, not political states, and that more than 2,000 of them--comprising nearly a third of humanity--remain unreached. Much of the missionary effort is being focused on those who have never had a chance to hear.
Church-planting movements -- The "spontaneous, rapid multiplication of churches among a people group that enables them to reach their entire people -- then to reach out to other peoples." They're indigenous, lay-led, "out of control," passionate and powerful--and they're happening where God is at work. In one province in a large Asian country, believers grew from 100 to 50,000 in 5 years.
The new student/volunteer movement -- The growing waves of college students and young people going to the ends of the earth -- not necessarily because they intend to be career missionaries, but because God has called them to worship Him and lift His name among the people of the world.
Second Career Missions -- More and more believers over 50 years of age, are exchanging their "career" for a "mission", and leveraging their expertise into effective missions around the world. From two year stints on, these "Masters" are bringing a whole new wealth into the missionary movement.
Global mission force -- The steady movement of Christianity's "center" from North America and Europe to the east and south, and the emergence of tens of thousands of missionaries from Asia, Africa and Latin America.
Chaos, suffering and persecution -- God opened many doors this century for the rapid spread of His name amid war, disaster and suffering. Example: the explosive church growth in China during and after the destructive Cultural Revolution of 1966-76.
Prayer movements -- Millions of Christians now unite to pray for world evangelization. "The decade of the 1990s has been a period like no other," contends International Mission Board prayer strategy leader Randy Sprinkle. "The spirit of prayer is upon the earth."