Looking To The Future: Project Indonesia
In this week's blog, we want to highlight a new outreach that is in the preparation stages. As our work in Honduras continues, we are now looking at a future project for the advancement of the gospel. We are calling this Project Indonesia.
The focus of this project is a people group that is majority Muslim and which we will call the “B” people. Let me give a bit of history about how WME has become involved in this project along with what has been accomplished and the plans for the future.
Phase I: Adoption
In the early 1990’s, we became aware of an organization called the Adopt A People Clearing House. The focus of the Clearing House was to get churches or mission agencies to adopt one of the over 9,000 unreached people groups in the world today. In very general terms, there are over 13,000 people groups on planet earth. While there are only a few hundred nations on our planet (for example United States, India, etc.) there are multiplied thousands of tribes, ethnic groups, or language groups that live within these geo-political borders. These groups have such names as the Zaghawa of Central Africa, the Bunak of Indonesia, and the Yemeni Arabs. As an example, there are 23 distinct people groups in Honduras where our primary project is located. In Honduras, with a population of approximately 7 million, 6 million are general Hondurans and 1 million are comprised of 22 other people groups. Some of these groups are lesser reached with the gospel.
Jesus said that the gospel would be preached to all nations in Matthew 24:14. In Matthew 28, in the Great Commission, Jesus commanded us to make disciples of all nations. In both cases, the word translated nations is “ethne” meaning people groups. So to put it another way, Jesus has both prophesied and commanded that his church bring the gospel to and make disciples of all 13,000 people groups on the earth. That is the Great Commission. Out of those 13,000 groups, we could say that about 9,000 of them are still unreached and somewhere around 3,000 of those have almost zero gospel witness in any form. This is the task that remains to us.
So to get back to our story, I contacted the Clearing House in the early 90’s and told them that we would like to adopt an unreached people group for outreach and prayer. They asked which one we wanted. My response was that I really didn’t know at that time. They responded that they had assigned a people group to every zip code in the United States for just such an occasion. I gave them our zip code and they gave me the name of a people group in Indonesia that we will call the “B” people. At the time there was very little information available on this people group. I shared this with the church I was pastoring and beginning then, special prayer began to rise for this people group.
Phase II: Research
In 2005, I had the opportunity to take the Perspectives course, taught by the U.S. Center for World Missions. In that course I learned more about the goal of reaching unreached peoples as well as the strategies of CPM that we are using now. In 2006, our church hosted the Perspectives course and attending that course was a young man named Troy. Troy already carried a call to missions and taking the Perspectives course only clarified and strengthened it. What I did not know at the time was that through our prayer for the “B” people, God had planted a seed for reaching this Muslim people group in Troy’s heart.
As the Perspectives coordinator, I had the opportunity to nominate one of our students for a year-long intensive training course called “Insight” that would take place at the campus of the U.S. Center for World Missions in Pasadena, California. I nominated Troy and he was accepted into the program. He was entering that very fall, his senior year in Bible college, and his college allowed him to use the year at Insight as his senior year. In 2007, he finished Insight, received his bachelor’s degree from his Bible college, went on staff as a Insight instructor at the U.S. Center, and prepared to enter Fuller Seminary that fall to prepare to reach Muslim peoples with an advanced degree in intercultural studies. As part of his program at Fuller, he was required to do an intensive research project on an unreached people group.
In the summer of 2008, WME sent Troy to Indonesia to enter the area of the “B” people, live with them, and research the status of their evangelization. In doing this, Troy was able to complete his requirements for Fuller and do the most extensive research that has ever been done on the “B” people. The report that he presented after returning from this extensive trip was the most advanced research ever done on this people group. In the fall of 2008, I was able to present this report to the Adopt A People Clearing House in order to update their database on this people group. This report has also been presented to other groups that are tracking unreached people group evangelization worldwide.
Troy finished his degree at Fuller in December 2009 and is now in the process of raising support to go full time to Indonesia with the ultimate goal of evangelizing the “B” people.
Phase III: Project Indonesia, Reaching the “B” People
This brings us to the present and the future. After 15 years of prayer for this people group, and having conducted intensive, on the ground research of them, WME is now preparing to make an attempt to evangelize the Muslim population of the “B” people. As far as we know, we are the only organization focused on this particular group which we will call the “B” Muslims. Here is our future plan:
2010: Raise support necessary to send Troy to Indonesia. Altogether somewhere between 20,000 and $30,000 needs to be raised this year.
2011: Troy deploys to a region near the “B” people and works with a team that will be doing Muslim evangelism with another group for a period of time. While there he will be gaining field experience with Muslim evangelization in this kind of culture and also he will be acquiring the ability to speak the language that he will need to bridge into the “B” area.
2013 and Beyond: Troy will move into the “B” area and begin our project of reaching the “B” Muslims with the gospel.
We are very much excited about the prospect of moving forward with this project.
We believe we have been assigned this particular people by the Lord. How can you help? Two ways specifically:
1. Pray:
A. Pray for the “B” people group to be reached with the gospel.
B. Pray that the Holy Spirit will prepare their hearts to receive the
Word when the team arrives.
C. Pray for Troy to be blessed and protected, spirit, soul, and body as he
prepares to make the move to Indonesia.
D. Pray for the needed finances and resources to be raised this year.
2. Give: If you would like to give a financial gift toward this project, you can make your check out to World Missions and Evangelism with Project Indonesia in the memo. All funds designated this way will be used for this project. Our goal for this project is $30,000 this year.
Thank you for your prayers and support!
(As always support may be sent to:
World Missions and Evangelism
P.O. Box 790
Benton, KY 42025)
The focus of this project is a people group that is majority Muslim and which we will call the “B” people. Let me give a bit of history about how WME has become involved in this project along with what has been accomplished and the plans for the future.
Phase I: Adoption
In the early 1990’s, we became aware of an organization called the Adopt A People Clearing House. The focus of the Clearing House was to get churches or mission agencies to adopt one of the over 9,000 unreached people groups in the world today. In very general terms, there are over 13,000 people groups on planet earth. While there are only a few hundred nations on our planet (for example United States, India, etc.) there are multiplied thousands of tribes, ethnic groups, or language groups that live within these geo-political borders. These groups have such names as the Zaghawa of Central Africa, the Bunak of Indonesia, and the Yemeni Arabs. As an example, there are 23 distinct people groups in Honduras where our primary project is located. In Honduras, with a population of approximately 7 million, 6 million are general Hondurans and 1 million are comprised of 22 other people groups. Some of these groups are lesser reached with the gospel.
Jesus said that the gospel would be preached to all nations in Matthew 24:14. In Matthew 28, in the Great Commission, Jesus commanded us to make disciples of all nations. In both cases, the word translated nations is “ethne” meaning people groups. So to put it another way, Jesus has both prophesied and commanded that his church bring the gospel to and make disciples of all 13,000 people groups on the earth. That is the Great Commission. Out of those 13,000 groups, we could say that about 9,000 of them are still unreached and somewhere around 3,000 of those have almost zero gospel witness in any form. This is the task that remains to us.
So to get back to our story, I contacted the Clearing House in the early 90’s and told them that we would like to adopt an unreached people group for outreach and prayer. They asked which one we wanted. My response was that I really didn’t know at that time. They responded that they had assigned a people group to every zip code in the United States for just such an occasion. I gave them our zip code and they gave me the name of a people group in Indonesia that we will call the “B” people. At the time there was very little information available on this people group. I shared this with the church I was pastoring and beginning then, special prayer began to rise for this people group.
Phase II: Research
In 2005, I had the opportunity to take the Perspectives course, taught by the U.S. Center for World Missions. In that course I learned more about the goal of reaching unreached peoples as well as the strategies of CPM that we are using now. In 2006, our church hosted the Perspectives course and attending that course was a young man named Troy. Troy already carried a call to missions and taking the Perspectives course only clarified and strengthened it. What I did not know at the time was that through our prayer for the “B” people, God had planted a seed for reaching this Muslim people group in Troy’s heart.
As the Perspectives coordinator, I had the opportunity to nominate one of our students for a year-long intensive training course called “Insight” that would take place at the campus of the U.S. Center for World Missions in Pasadena, California. I nominated Troy and he was accepted into the program. He was entering that very fall, his senior year in Bible college, and his college allowed him to use the year at Insight as his senior year. In 2007, he finished Insight, received his bachelor’s degree from his Bible college, went on staff as a Insight instructor at the U.S. Center, and prepared to enter Fuller Seminary that fall to prepare to reach Muslim peoples with an advanced degree in intercultural studies. As part of his program at Fuller, he was required to do an intensive research project on an unreached people group.
In the summer of 2008, WME sent Troy to Indonesia to enter the area of the “B” people, live with them, and research the status of their evangelization. In doing this, Troy was able to complete his requirements for Fuller and do the most extensive research that has ever been done on the “B” people. The report that he presented after returning from this extensive trip was the most advanced research ever done on this people group. In the fall of 2008, I was able to present this report to the Adopt A People Clearing House in order to update their database on this people group. This report has also been presented to other groups that are tracking unreached people group evangelization worldwide.
Troy finished his degree at Fuller in December 2009 and is now in the process of raising support to go full time to Indonesia with the ultimate goal of evangelizing the “B” people.
Phase III: Project Indonesia, Reaching the “B” People
This brings us to the present and the future. After 15 years of prayer for this people group, and having conducted intensive, on the ground research of them, WME is now preparing to make an attempt to evangelize the Muslim population of the “B” people. As far as we know, we are the only organization focused on this particular group which we will call the “B” Muslims. Here is our future plan:
2010: Raise support necessary to send Troy to Indonesia. Altogether somewhere between 20,000 and $30,000 needs to be raised this year.
2011: Troy deploys to a region near the “B” people and works with a team that will be doing Muslim evangelism with another group for a period of time. While there he will be gaining field experience with Muslim evangelization in this kind of culture and also he will be acquiring the ability to speak the language that he will need to bridge into the “B” area.
2013 and Beyond: Troy will move into the “B” area and begin our project of reaching the “B” Muslims with the gospel.
We are very much excited about the prospect of moving forward with this project.
We believe we have been assigned this particular people by the Lord. How can you help? Two ways specifically:
1. Pray:
A. Pray for the “B” people group to be reached with the gospel.
B. Pray that the Holy Spirit will prepare their hearts to receive the
Word when the team arrives.
C. Pray for Troy to be blessed and protected, spirit, soul, and body as he
prepares to make the move to Indonesia.
D. Pray for the needed finances and resources to be raised this year.
2. Give: If you would like to give a financial gift toward this project, you can make your check out to World Missions and Evangelism with Project Indonesia in the memo. All funds designated this way will be used for this project. Our goal for this project is $30,000 this year.
Thank you for your prayers and support!
(As always support may be sent to:
World Missions and Evangelism
P.O. Box 790
Benton, KY 42025)
Comments