From all nations, to all nations: IMB forges relationships with international missions partners

PRAGUE — “This might be the greatest contribution the IMB can make to global evangelization,” said Gordon Fort, vice president of the IMB Office of Global Strategy, “More than anything we’ve ever done.”

Fort spoke of the internationalization of missions– churches all over the globe sending their own missionaries into other countries to share the Gospel.

This week, leaders from the IMB and several international missions sending organizations gathered in Prague, Czech Republic, for the European National Partners in Mission Sending Consultation.

Missions leaders from the United States, Europe and South America gathered to discuss global evangelization. During the consultation, leaders forged partnerships and shared their struggles and victories in sending cross-cultural missionaries. These organizations have a salient common goal: sending people from all nations, to all nations to share Christ.

“We thought this would take years to develop, this concept of the internationalization of missions,” Fort said. “And what has become very apparent is that God has already been doing stuff that we had no idea about, and we’re just beginning to get in on it!”

During the consultation, missions leaders conveyed their passion for reaching the lost. Those from Central and Eastern Europe shared their struggles with churches that still operate under a communist-era mentality. Some shared stories of traveling to more than 300 churches, urging pastors to embrace a focus on missions. Others emphasized the urgency of sending missionaries to unreached people groups in Central and South Asia. The leaders dialogued and shared ideas and needs, pinpointing ways they could assist each other.

“When I see the pictures and I hear the testimonies, I know that we are sharing lots of things, even though we are so far [away from one another] and have different contexts,” said Carlos Gomez, leader of PAAM, a Panamanian missions organization. “We have the same challenges. We find problems with money issues [and] churches with no missionary culture. But overall the main challenge we have is to go back to the Word of God. What were we created for?”

While these international missions sending organizations are growing, sending dozens of cross-cultural missionaries annually, they are still young. IMB leaders seek to help these organizations become more established. “[The IMB] has an incredible infrastructure of 165 years all around the world, and our partners look to us for help in several areas,” said IMB Strategy Training Associate Mick Stockwell. “We need to pour our resources and everything that we have into helping the other nations to reach the nations.”

Throughout the consultation, the IMB provided insight on evangelical strategy, missionary training and equipping. IMB Strategist Scott Holste shared research on the unreached and unengaged people groups of the world, showing missions leaders the urgency of sending missionaries to countries without any evangelical presence. “If you take all the missionaries in the world… only 3 out of 100 are working with these least reached people groups of the world… so we’ve got to partner together. We’ve got to get the whole church involved.”

“We have sensed that God is really stirring the church locally in this generation,” said Fort. “And we have felt that perhaps the greatest contribution we can make to global evangelization is making it possible for those last peoples who have not heard.”

Readers can pray for these organizations as they raise funds for missions sending, develop strong and efficient training programs for missionaries and mobilize local churches to participate in cross-cultural missions.

Participating in the consultation alongside the IMB were the following organizations:

PAAM, Panama (www.misionespaam.org)

College of Theology and Education, Moldova

Asociatia Liga Crestiná Pentru Drepturile Rromilor, Romania (www.lcdr.yolasite.com)

Asociatia Rromilor Crestini Calea Adevarol Si Viata, Romania

Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, USA (www.swbts.edu)

Mission Department Baptist Union, Romania

To All Nations, Germany (www.to-all-nations.de)

Posted by Megan Finger on Jun 4, 2010

Similar: Czech Republic, Germany, Moldova, Panama, Romania