Ten Mission Priorities and Nine Urgent Needs

Photo by GlynLowe

By anyone's estimation, the task before us in world missions is a daunting one.  Even when one narrows it down to a single nation or city or if you look only one dimension of the gospel task like church planting, evangelism, or world hunger -- even then, it is very difficult to know where to begin.

Personally, I have been wrestling with the idea of priorities for some time.  How do we establish missionary priorities?  How does a mission agency, denomination, or church decide where to engage in missions first?  In coming days, I hope to share some thoughts on this and how we've made some specific application in Chicagoland.  For today, however, I wish to commend to you the work of a couple great missiological thinkers and friends who have attempted to create their own global mission priority lists.  Here they are with some commentary:

1. Mission Top Ten - by Tim Schultz
Tim provides a list of 10 nations or regions of the world most in need of "apostolic missionary work".  His list is heavily inspired by Operation World and includes places like Japan, Bangladesh, and Russia.  Tim also includes the United States especially because of diaspora movement which is bringing in large numbers of unreached peoples into the country.

2. Nine Urgent Needs for Additional Missionaries - by Doug Nichols
Doug has provided us with a different kind of priority list which focuses on various types or categories of peoples rather than specific geographical regions.  Here we see his call for more missionaries among unreached peoples, orphans, trafficking victims, Bibleless peoples and more.  Doug also lists diasporas as one of his top nine urgent needs.

You can find other lists like these around the web, but I have a great appreciation for these two examples.  Whether we are looking at the entire globe or a local city, missionary leaders must be able to look at their fields and prayerfully analyze them in this way.  Consider the following:

Who are the people groups who currently have the least access to the gospel?  Who have the fewest churches or believers?  Whom no one is trying to reach?

What parts (geographical) of your mission field are least-engaged?

In which parts of society are sin and Satan causing the most destruction?  How are people hurting?  How are they being oppressed?

What Should Be our Priorities in Making Disciples of All Nations

Okay, I want to be simple here. First, super grateful for your prayers. I thought there would be no way for me to finish this paper - to stay awake. I even got in bed.  But as I started reading, my energy was renewed. Twenty pages finished. The paper?

"World Evangelization in the 21st Century: Prioritizing the Essential Elements of the Great Commission" by Paul Eshleman on behalf of the Lausanne Strategy Working Group (LSWG).

The paper is simple and crucial. It seeks to say to the Global Church, "As we look at the work of mission in the world today, here are the things that should be our top priorities." It is specific, Biblical, and compelling.  I read it with the eyes of a pastor, church planter, missionary, and ministry leader.  If you find yourself occupying one of those roles, read this paper.  If you are a disciple of Jesus concerned about the Great Commission, read it.

There is a lot I could say here and there in response to the LSWG paper.  However, I want to limit my comments to several specific questions that came to my mind as I thought through these priorities and specific calls.  I kept asking how this related to Trinity International Baptist Mission.  What is God saying to us?  I am expecting God to speak in powerful ways to me and to my context of ministry.  So, it is important that I bring my ministry and every component of it to the table.  I challenge you to do the same with your church or ministry as you read the LSWG paper.  Here are the questions I am beginning to ask (note: TIBM refers to Trinity International Baptist Mission and all our related ministries):

1. Can TIBM recruit and deploy one team tasked to produce an "Oral Story Bible" for one of the 2,252 language groups that still do not have one verse of Scripture in their language?

2. Can TIBM drastically increase our intentional and strategic distribution and use of the Scripture?

3. Can TIBM recruit and deploy one full-time worker to go to one of the 2,365 people groups (with populations over 5,000) that are totally unengaged with the Gospel?

4. Can TIBM launch a new ministry focused on reaching out to members of a major religious group that we aren't currently engaging?

5. Can I effectively teach effective Bible storying and narrative preaching to those I lead and mentor?

6. Can the entire TIBM team get trained in orality ministry?

7. Can TIBM start more churches where there are actual needs?

8. Can TIBM become a "house of prayer for the nations" - developing a 24/7 missional prayer ministry?

9. Can TIBM form new boundary-crossing partnerships that result in extending God's Kingdom?

10. Can TIBM become for faithfully mobilized in compassion ministry?

11. Can TIBM be renewed and refilled by the Holy Spirit?

12. Can TIBM become more effective and intentional in mobilizing followers of Christ to pray, give, and go for God's global mission?

13. Can TIBM become thoroughly and constantly informed as to the status of God's mission in the world?  Can we increase our access to and use of resources like Christian World Encyclopedia, Operation World, Ethnologue, Joshua Project, People Groups, and more?

14. Can TIBM conduct regular research and produce reliable results that are helpful to the Body of Christ?

And that's it. I am particularly looking forward to the plenary session on this topic and the interaction around the tables.  Let's pray that God will give us very clear direction.