January 01, 1997 by Debbie Wood, Publications Director, AD2000 & Beyond Movement

Have you ever considered helping your church to adopt a people group? Has your church made a commitment to a particular people group, but doesn't know what the next step should be? Do you need help linking with a mission agency to bring the gospel to an adopted people? Would you like to learn more about what other churches are doing?

Tom Wood of the AD2000 International Office has created the Adoption Guidance Program (AGP) to help churches begin and maintain a people group adoption. The AGP pulls together the writing and expertise of many key resources, such as Bruce Camp of the Evangelical Free Mission, Stan Yoder of the World Partners of the Missionary Church, the US Center for World Mission, and Adopt-a-People Clearinghouse.

The program was inspired by PACE, a program designed by Doug Lucas and Eric Derry for the fellowship of Christian Churches/Churches of Christ. The WEB was selected because of its flexibility through links and hypertext, and the ease by which users can browse and share applicable information. It also allows the program to grow and be edited quickly. In order to serve the needs of a broader audience, however, the information contained in the AGP will be available in print once it is finalized and reformatted for publication.

Beginning with an initial section of foundations such as "Terms and Concepts" and "Biblical Basis for Adoption," the program presents five aspects of adoption, with resources for each one:

1. Selecting a People Group
   
   This contains a "how to" article, checklist and lists of mission agencies, publications and web sites.
    
2. Organizing Prayer
   
   This section covers material on interceding for unreached peoples, resource lists for learning more, links to Praying Through the Window III, and a subsection about organizing an on-site prayer journey
    
3. Conducting Research
   
   This contains a number of lists and hotkeys to other resources for gathering information about unreached peoples. A subsection provides guidance for organizing a research journey to the people group.
    
4. Networking
   
   This will cover how to work with other churches in a network, where to locate existing network partners, and how to become a people-group advocate, gatekeeper, or non-residential missionary. This is currently an expanding section.
    
5. Church Planting
   
   This unfinished section will link to other sites and will reference helpful articles on aspects of planting a church in another culture (through an agency or denomination) and field- based partnerships for church planting.

The final section is designed to help the in-church adoption advocate keep the adoption ball rolling by giving helpful advice and examples from successful church adoptions.

Using the Program

Using the World Wide Web, program users may quickly review only the basic documents, or click to more depth with the many resources under each section. A clickable program map helps users stay oriented and jump to resources they need on return visits.

Anyone seeking information about unreached peoples will find useful information at the site. Churches interested in or already involved with an adoption, or individuals who want to focus on a particular people group will benefit the most.

The Adoption Guidance Program may be found on the World Wide Web at

http://www.ad2000.org/adoption or fr,om the AD2000 home page (http://www.ad2000.org) by selecting the AGP icon (a handshake).

This is a first edition program, still under construction in some areas. Your suggestions regarding content and/or ease of use will be considered and appreciated. Email comments to

[email protected], or postal mail to Thomas Wood, AD2000 and Beyond, 2860 So. Circle Drive, Suite 2112, Colorado Springs, CO 80918, or telephone (719) 576-2000.