March 01, 1993 by John Robb

The purpose of the AD 2000 and Beyond Movement is "to motivate and network men and women church leaders by inspiring them with the vision of reaching the unreached by the year 2000 through consultation, prayer efforts and written materials. The intention is to encourage cooperation among existing churches, movements, and structures to work together towards this same vision. The expected result is the establishment of a mission-minded church-planting movement within every unreached and unevangelized people and city by the year 2000 so that all peoples might have a valid opportunity to experience the love, truth and saving power of Jesus Christ in fellowship with other believers."

The Unreached Peoples Resource Network (the word "track" is not being used any more) is one of ten major networks within the AD 2000 and Beyond Movement. The purpose of the Unreached Peoples Resource Network is "to work with Christian leaders of all denominations and organizations to encourage existing or form new cooperative ministry task forces and prayer networks for unreached peoples, especially concentrating on the 2,000 least evangelized peoples so that holistic mission-minded church-planting movements may emerge in them by the year 2000."

At the very heart of the AD 2000 and Beyond Movement is the notion of networking and cooperation. We recognize that without broad cooperative efforts on the part of Christian leaders all across the denominational spectrum world evangelization will not be possible by the year 2000 or, indeed, at any time.

David Barrett and James Reapsome in their book 700 Plans to Evangelize the World, identified lack of cooperation and collaboration between Christian organizations as the major hindrance to world evangelization. They write that two-thirds of all global evangelization plans are stand-alone, self-sufficient plans, each viewing itself as at the center of world evangelization. They estimate that 96 percent of all global evangelization plans ignore or write-off all other Christian traditions with which they are not like- minded, and only four percent seek to network or connect meaningfully with those of other Christian denominations. Their conclusion is "the absence of any network is catastrophic. It is probably the major single cause of the fiasco of today's unevangelized world … largely untouched from one year to the next."

The Global Consultation on World Evangelization by AD 2000 and Beyond, held in Singapore in 1989, also recognized the need for networking and cooperation. The Great Commission Manifesto, jointly crafted by over 300 leaders from a wide variety of Christian traditions, said, "We see afresh that cooperation and partnership are absolute necessities if the Great Commission is going to be fulfilled by the year 2000. For the sake of those who are lost and eternally separated from God, we have dared to pray and dream of what might happen if appropriate autonomy of churches' ministries could be balanced with significant partnership."

But how can we practically develop structures that will both maintain the autonomy of individual organizations as well as make possible significant partnership? I would like to suggest that it will be through building networks focused on reaching unreached peoples. But what are networks?

According to the dictionary, a network is, physically speaking, "a fabric or structure of cords or wires that cross at regular intervals and are knotted or secured at the crossings." This physical picture is helpful for us in conceiving of a network from the social point of view. Socially speaking, a network is any number of individuals and/or organizations linked together by a commitment to shared values. "Networking" is that process by which individuals and/or organizations become connected with one another to achieve particular common goals. As one author describes this process: "A network is a web of free-standing participants cohering through shared values and interests. Networking is people connecting with people, linking ideas and resources. One person with a need contacts another with a resource and networking begins."

Networking has numerous advantages:

• It enables individuals and organizations to maintain a balance between autonomy on the one hand and dependence on the other. From the standpoint of world evangelization, it makes inter-denominational cooperation more feasible because participants do not have to forsake commitment to their organizations to take part. The boundaries of a network are fluid and open rather than rigid and closed.
• Its decentralized nature makes shared leadership by all its members a possibility. They relate as equals rather than subordinates to superiors.
• It facilitates free-flowing communication among all participants, promoting the flow of ideas even across cultural and organizational barriers.
• It is inexpensive since there is no heavy administrative apparatus and control mechanism to support. People work together volunteering their time on the basis of shared interests and vision.

Though we do not see the term "networking" in Scripture, we do see the theme of interconnectedness throughout the New Testament. Paul emphasizes the oneness of the Body of Christ, an organic unit made up of many interdependent parts. It is a body in which one part cannot say to another "I have no need for you" because all are gifted in different ways and have a vital contribution to make to the whole. This is an emphasis we need to recover in our efforts to reach unreached peoples, realizing that each denomination or agency has a contribution to make to the whole effort.

Networks can be developed around particular unreached people groups in a society. Over and over again, during the last eight years in Unreached Peoples Strategy Consultations held in many countries of the world, it has been my privilege to see Christian leaders of many different denominational affiliations unite to think, pray and develop common ministry approaches to particular needy groups they were concerned about. As they prayed and thought through together about their common concern for a particular group, the Holy Spirit began to knit them together so that at the end of the consultation they would often say to one another, "We have all been working independently of one another to reach the same group. Why don't we pool our efforts and resources so as to maximize our effectiveness?"

In Taiwan this happened when 15 national workers and Western missionaries, all previously working independently to reach the Hakka people, decided to form an ongoing ministry network. Since 1986 they have met periodically to pray for the Hakka and have undertaken many joint ministry efforts including cultural research, the establishment of a vocational training program for the poor, the publication of Hakka hymnals and Scripture, and the creation of many new fellowships of Hakka believers led by their own leaders. Without the formation of a network, they would never have been able to accomplish all this. Networking makes possible real synergism in which one plus one does not equal two, but rather in the mathematics of the Kingdom, one plus one equals ten. As the Bible says, "One shall chase a thousand, but two shall put ten thousand to flight." In other words working together in this way can potentially make us ten times as effective!

One practical way of building ministry networks is the networking/consultation model:

• Gather key leaders together.
• Talk about the "people group" and "unreached people group" definitions and their meaning in your context.
• Assemble a list of local unreached people groups.
• Spend time in prayer to the Lord of the harvest for the groups listed (Matthew 9:36-38).
• Participants identify those people groups they are reaching or want to reach.
• Collate participants responses according to similar people groups identified.
• Get them into discussion groups to "network" with one another through thinking, praying and strategizing together on the basis of their common vision for reaching their people group.

Five questions which have been useful in getting Christian leaders to focus on the unreached peoples in their societies:

1. What people group does God want you to reach?
2. What are they like?
3. Who should reach them?
4. How should they be reached?
5. What will be the result of reaching them?

When Christian leaders go through this process of thinking and praying together, the barriers seem to come down, the Holy Spirit takes over and often brings to birth whole new ministry initiatives. It's exciting to watch Him work! Try this approach as a way of multiplying ministry networks for the unreached peoples of your society.

This article was excerpted from the March 1993 AD 2000 Unreached Peoples NEWS, an occasional communique of the AD 2000 Unreached Peoples Resource Network. Used by permission.

Editorial Comment

We are very gratified to see the emphasis of the AD2000 Movement on networking and the success that its leaders are experiencing in bringing Christians of different backgrounds together. It has been our long held belief that Christian organizations working toward world evangelization should not have their own organizational goals which are independent of other Christian enterprises. Goals should be established cooperatively in the light of what is best for the overall cause of Christ in reaching the nations. It is our desire to support the AD2000 Movement in its work whenever possible. As a service to our readers and to the cause of the unreached peoples we will continue to feature news and informative articles from the AD2000 Movement in future issues of MF. We urge the Christian community worldwide to get involved in this growing movement and give it their full support.

Rick Wood