The Numbers that Matter
Dear Friend and Partner of WME and the INSTAR Project,
Thanks for all you do in continuing to give and pray for the INSTAR Disciple Making Movement project in Latin America and Beyond. WME has Missionaries and Teams that are focused on seeing Disciple Making Movements happen in Central America, South America, the Caribbean, Africa, and in the United States among Native Americans, Muslim Peoples, and the general population.
By God's abundant Grace, we have seen an amazing Harvest over the last several years. Beginning in 2008 with a small team of just 13 Honduran leaders and 2 Missionary families, a movement has been birthed that has touched approximately 100,000 people in many nations. We believe over 70,000 people have come to faith in Christ and been Baptized and thousands of churches have been planted. Nearly 4,000 Discovery Groups and Churches were planted Last Year Alone! At the deepest point, the movement is 34 Generations deep (Groups and churches that plant another that plants another that plants another.....to 34 Generations).
When I type this on my computer, it is still something that is amazing to me in some ways, although we have now become accustomed to the amazing things that God is doing through the faithful work of our missionaries, our national teams, and our prayer and financial supporters. You are a part of this team that is experiencing this amazing Harvest.
Beyond that, good research is telling us that this Strategy and similar strategies that are seeing Movements Multiply worldwide has seen between 70 and 80 Million People Come to Jesus as the Christ and Savior of their lives among Many Peoples! This Harvest has mostly been in the last approximately 20 years. Never in History has such a Harvest been reaped in conversions to Christ in such a short period of time! That number actually represents about 1 PerCent of All Humans Living on Earth Today!
Sometimes we are told that Numbers don't matter. That is definitely an opinion....and like everyone else on earth, its just an opinion.
The Scriptures would seem to indicate something else. In fact there is a whole book in the Bible Called the Book of Numbers! Once I heard someone (thinking it something spiritual to say) blurt out, "God has taken me out of the Book of Numbers into the Book of Acts"! While that was kind of funny and cute.....it kind of makes me wonder.....Have you actually read the book of Acts?
Over and over the Book of Acts reports numbers of people being saved and reached....3,000.....5,000, Multitudes......again and again the Book of Acts records that the Gospel of Jesus Christ spread with the Power of the Holy Spirit
So we celebrate the Advance of the Gospel as Multitudes are turning to Christ in our Day! This is the Good News that the Nightly News is not Reporting at all in our world of Crisis.
And Yet....
There are Numbers that grab my attention more than the ones I have just shared. That is the number of People Groups and Tribes that are still listed as Unreached People Groups in our world. In spite of the Harvest that is happening, our work is not done. Over Half of all Humans on Earth today.....more than 50 percent of all living Human Beings, are part of Unreached People Groups. In the Western Hemisphere, where our Primary focus for Disciple Making is located, there are still 374 Unreached Indigenous Tribes and People Groups.....less than 2 percent responsive to the Gospel. And of those groups, 217 of the tribes are still listed as Unengaged with Church Planting at Present. Those are the numbers that concern me.
While the Number of New Believers is increasing, I want to see the Numbers of the Unreached go down, until there are None Left......None Unreached. This is our Burden and this is our Goal at WME and the INSTAR Project!
Currently the INSTAR Team is engaged with many groups. And Currently we are either already engaged to some degree, or targeting about 7 of those 374 groups and we are working to train partners to engage others of them with the Gospel and Disciple Making Strategy. Please Pray and continue to support WME as it moves forward in this mission of Focusing on the NUMBERS THAT MATTER MOST! The NUMBER of the UNREACHED!
Thanks for all that you do, once again. May God Bless You as you continue in Prayer and Service of the King of Kings!
David Parish
President
World Missions and Evangelism, Inc
www.worldmissionsevangelism.com
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