This is an article from the January-February 1996 issue: The USCWM is Charting a New Course

The AD2000 and Beyond Movement Launches Joshua Project 2000 in Global Gathering

The AD2000 and Beyond Movement Launches Joshua Project 2000 in Global Gathering

With a solid commitment to the goal of a church for every people by the year 2000, two hundred sixty-two Christian leaders representing 140 mission agencies, denominations and educational centers in 77 countries met in Colorado Springs on November 28, 1995 to consider the future thrust of pioneer missionary outreach through the AD2000 & Beyond Movement.

Much of the early discussion at this meeting stemmed from the AD2000 & Beyond Movement's Joshua Project 2000 plan for strategic missionary outreach, as published in our last issue of Mission Frontiers for Nov.- Dec. 95. The proposal included a list of 1700 cultures having the least access to the Christian message. It synthesized data produced by the Southern Baptist Foreign Mission Board, Wycliffe Bible Translators, Adopt-A-People Clearinghouse and Operation World. Dubbed "unreached peoples," these groups reside in 123 countries of the world.

Joshua Project 2000, a five-year plan proposed by AD2000 and Beyond leaders, seeks to involve the participating AD2000 and Beyond networks, found in 160 nations, to work together to establish churches among these peoples. Under the plan, churches and agencies would send research and prayer teams to each of the listed groups to lay preliminary groundwork for evangelism and church-planting.

Conference delegates from regions on the Joshua Project 2000 list arrived at the airport with additional information to submit for the next edition. Others, living under antagonistic governments or societies, came with suggestions for helping proposed research teams prepare adequately for sensitive situations.

Opening praise and worship expressed the heart of each delegate and emphasized the central goal of AD2000 and Beyond which had brought them to Colorado, "A Church for Every People and the Gospel for Every Person by the year 2000." In smaller meetings, delegates settled in to work toward refining the Joshua Project 2000 startup plans.

In the general sessions, enthusiasm built as movement leaders began to report on the progress of national initiatives and network undertakings since the Global Consultation on World Evangelization (GCOWE '95) held last May in Seoul, Korea.

The coordinator for the movement's "Gateway Cities" prayer focus last October reported that early findings revealed that over 30 million Christians had prayed for the needs of 100 influential cities within the region of the world known as the "10/40 Window," stretching from 10 to 40 degrees north latitude in the eastern hemisphere. In conjunction with that focus, 405 prayer groups actually traveled to the cities and prayed on location for the evident needs. In addition, one million children were rallied by the Esther Network to pray especially for children in these cities.

The Korean church, one of the most dynamic players in the present world missions scene, elicited cheers from the crowd as a Korean AD2000 leader reported Korea's intent to send missionaries to all 1700 of the Joshua Project peoples. Through the first half of 1996, the Korean AD2000 and Beyond Movement will organize several conferences for pastors and church leaders to foster this purpose.

Violet Mtegha of Cote d'Ivoire, Africa reported that women in 23 African nations have organized into prayer "triplets" to pray for those with no access to the gospel in their own cultures. These women are also preparing to go as researchers to the listed unreached peoples of Africa. Mtegha plans to travel to each of these nations to train women for this endeavor.

Speaking for Latin American Christians and those from Spain and Portugal, Patricio Paredes from Costa Rica reported that his groups plans to "adopt" 3000 unreached people groups, including those in the Amazon Basin smaller than the 10,000 population limit specified for the Joshua Project 2000 list. Brazil, the largest in the coalition, with over 17 million Christians, will assume responsibility for "adopting" 1650 groups. In "peoples adoption," a church or other body agrees to pray and work in support of the goal of seeing a church planted in the "adopted" group.

The Launch participants returned to their respective countries and ministries with increased excitement and enthusiasm for the AD2000 and Beyond Movement's bold new efforts and for what God is doing through it.

If you would like more information on how you can be involved in this growing global movement, please contact them at

AD2000 and Beyond Movement 2860 South Circle Dr. Suite 2112 Colorado Springs, CO 80906 or call (719) 576-2000

"The Launch" Ends With A New Beginning!

On the morning of the last day of the meeting, Dec. 2nd, the delegates were treated to a virtual showcase of future AD2000 & Beyond consultations and regional meetings, including (but not limited to) the following upcoming events.

Upcoming Major GCOWE Events

GCOWE '96 (or Panama '96)-- Dec. 27-30, 1996 -- Panama, Central America. Those attending will be: AD2000 Core Leaders, AD2000 Regional Coordinators, AD2000 and Worldwide Denominational Leaders; 200-300 along with 5000 Latin American young people in parallel conference are expected.

GCOWE '97 --June 30-July 5, 1997 -- Pretoria, South Africa. Those attending will be: AD2000 Regional Coordinators, Resource Network & Task Force leaders, some national coordinators and mission agency executives; 5000 to attend plus more than 25,000 in the final rally

GCOWE '98 -- July 21-25, 1998-- Budapest, Hungary Those involved will include: major European and selected Former USSR Christian leaders, AD2000 Core leaders, AD2000 Regional Coordinators, Resource Network and Task Force Leaders; 1500 are projected to attend. The purpose of this meeting is to add momentum to European and Former USSR involvement in Joshua Project 2000 and national AD2000 initiatives.

GCOWE '99 -- Dec. 1-5, 1999-- New Delhi, India. Those attending will include 1000 Indian leaders, 500 AD2000 Core Leaders: AD2000 Regional and some National Coordinators, Resource Network and Task Force Leaders; 1500 projected to attend. The purpose

is to assess the status of church planting among Joshua Project 2000 peoples in India and add momentum to India's involvement in Joshua Project 2000 and national AD2000 initiatives.

GCOWE 2000 --Dec. 26, 2000 to Jan. 5, 2001 -- Jerusalem, Israel Those invited will include by country quota, AD2000 Regional and National Coordinators, Resource Network and Task Force Leaders; 10,000 people from 200 countries of the world are expected. The purpose is to mobilize Christians worldwide during the year 2000 to celebrate Jesus for who He is and what He has done in building His church among the nations and to enable on-going momentum building toward completion of the task!

Major Global Mobilization Events

Belo '97 -- Jan. 25-28, 1997 -- Belo Horizonte, Brazil Those invited include: Mega-church Pastors; 600 Mega-Church Pastors (over 800 membership) and rally of 50,000 students projected. The purpose is to mobilize mega-church pastors from around the world in Joshua Project 2000.

Kona '97 -- Apr. 14-18, 1997 - Kona, Hawaii, USA Those invited will include: Church Mission Pastors (those persons in the local church who have the vision, passion and authority to release prayer, personnel and financial resources toward the fulfillment of the goals of Joshua Project 2000); 1200 are projected to attend. The purpose is to facilitate the adoption of all the Joshua Project 2000 peoples and to connect North American churches with a sister church outside North America to reach these peoples.

Introducing Praying Through The Window III October, 1997--The entire globe

An estimated 30-50 million worldwide will pray for the 1685 Joshua Project 2000 priority peoples. Current plans are for 14,000 people to participate in Prayer Journeys to the peoples on the Joshua Project list. The AD2000 Prayer Network will enlist 17,000 churches and 17,000 home cell groups to pray for each of the peoples on the Joshua Project List of Peoples. If you are interested in being a part of this global effort, please call the Christian Information Network at 719-522-1040

Reports from the Launch Praying Through the Window II

Beverly Pegues of the Christian Information Network reported that Praying Through the Window II was a resounding success. She reported that: Over 30 million people worldwide prayed. One million children participated in a special prayer initiative. 1,010,632 churches participated. 405 teams participated in 644 prayer journeys. 15 million people in 66,000 churches in Zaire participated. 166 countries participated 34,000 copies of the book, The 100 Gateway Cities were sold. 10,000 videos on the 10/40 Window were distributed.

The Radio Task Force reported that radio programs are now reaching 557 of the 1685 listed on the Joshua Project 2000 list of unreached peoples. See the Nov.-Dec. 95 issue of MF starting on page 17. They expect that by the year 2000 over 95% of the world's population will have access to the gospel through radio.

Regional and Country Reports

Africa Mali

Many have come to the Lord through radio. For the last 15 years the government has refused to permit Christian broadcasting. But through a revolution, private radio stations are now permitted. Now there are ten stations broadcasting the good news each week. The national initiative in this country now plans to use FM radio to reach 80% of the population and short wave radio to reach the other 20%.

South Africa

Willie Crew of South Africa reported that the South African churches have recently sent out 254 church planters for work in India. South Africa is actively preparing to host GCOWE 97 in Pretoria where 2100 delegates from around the world and 3,000 from Africa will be attending eight parallel conferences.

Asia

China It was reported that 20,000 people come to Christ every day in China. Of these 5,000 a day come to Christ through the Jesus film alone.

India In 1998 or 1999, millions of devout Hindus will gather in Allahabad India for the Kumbh Mela--a ceremonial Hindu gathering, where people dip themselves in a nearby river. This ceremony takes place every 12 years and is recorded in the Guiness Book of World Records as the largest religious gathering in the world. At the launch of Joshua Project 2000 in Colorado Springs, Peter Wagner of the AD2000 Prayer Network agreed to help mobilize 50,000 Christians from around the world to join 50,000 Christians from India in praying on site at this event and with their feet claim this territory of India for Jesus Christ.

Kazakhstan Church leaders from this country report that there are now over 2,000 Kazakh believers. There are also 10 churches that are Kazakh led with completely Kazakh membership. There is also a significant Korean population of 120,000 which now has 28 Korean churches. It was also reported that the first Uigher church opened recently in Kazakhstan.

North Korea To the surprise of many, the North Koreans recently asked for outside assistance after serious flood that occurred recently. It is hoped by the South Koreans that this is an indication of increased openness to the world.

South Korea South Korean leaders believe they are not only ready to re-evangelize their country, but also to help focus on the 2,000 least evangelized peoples. Different groups in Korea are targeting these remaining peoples. In January 1996; 100 key Christian leaders gather together to focus on the adoption of all of the Joshua Project 2000 list of unreached peoples. Their goal is to have 20 Korean churches adopt each of the 1700 groups listed . In May of 1996 2,000 pastors will gather to officially celebrate the adoption of these peoples.

South Pacific Australia-- Their current plans are for churches to adopt 2000 of the unreached peoples. Exciting things are happening in the South Pacific. Believers are uniting as never before. The church leaders are encouraged by the progress being made as they seek to mobilize church leaders and lay people. They currently plan to adopt 100 of the unreached peoples and send out 200 missionaries by the year 2000.

Tonga This year 45,000 people, or almost half the population of the island of Tonga, Marched for Jesus. The King of Tonga, a born again believer, started and led the march, dedicating the island to Jesus Christ. The King continues to have a significant role in the politics of this Kingdom state. According to the book Operation World, Tonga now sends out 48 missionaries.

The Caribbean

Gerry Seale from the Caribbean reported, "We were the last region to join the AD2000 movement. We really got started at GCOWE. We developed 10 objectives, which have been prioritized and summarized to four:

  1. Mobilization of prayer networks. We have appointed a prayer coordinator.
  2. We are building partnerships and networks.
  3. We are mobilizing. In the Caribbean, we have no unreached people groups and the people there have the gospel. So we are mobilizing as senders.
  4. We have launched a program to train seminary professors to train for missions.

Europe Poland, Czech Republic, and other Eastern European countries have 135,000,000 people. Many are Catholic and Orthodox. There are 8,000,000 Muslims, and 2,000,000 are born again evangelicals. Good reports from every side are indicating fresh initiative to work together to complete the task.

Portugal Lots of good things are happening in Portugal since GCOWE. Other leaders have taken the vision of AD2000. Nine networks or tracks are being established in Portugal, such as the functioning research track. Only 1% of Portugal are evangelical, but we are dreaming toward 3% by the year 2000. We expect by then to have 10,000 intercessors for AD2000. (Western Europe) In Switzerland there is much happening since we asked for prayer last year. Thirty-six key leaders came to GCOWE. Many organizations made concrete five-year plans. Top leaders got changed and have started meeting together for prayer. All the denominations now are working on church planting goals. All this has happened in just one year. Thank you for praying.

Latin America GCOWE 1995 represented an advancement for the Latin American evangelical movement. AD2000 has lighted a spark as never before. Regarding the national initiatives, 80% of the Latin American countries have national initiatives, and the other 20% will be starting them within the next six months. In those countries still without a national initiative, between two and five networks are already organized.

Colombia The Colombia Evangelical Confederation has developed an initiative entitled Colombia Today and Tomorrow. It is a plan for the growth of the evangelical church in Colombia. This covers 96% of the people in Colombia. They expect 5,000,000 additional believers and 18,000 new churches to be planted by AD2000.

Middle East It was reported that fully 75% of all churches in the Middle East are underground. One delegate reported, "We have realized that we can never reach all of the people on our own. We need the help of the worldwide body of Christ. Many things will happen in the Arab countries in the near future. Get ready to hear much good news from our area. We now have a committee meeting several times each year to discuss how we can reach the peoples in the gulf area. One of our strategies is mobilizing the many Christians from many lands who have come to work there. Prayer has been a tremendous emphasis. Last month in Dubai 1,100 people came just to pray. Pastors were reconciled. The delegation to GCOWE were not really sure why they were going, but they caught a fire which they brought back to the country."

Kuwait Recently 4,000 New Testaments and 300 copies of the Jesus Film were distributed in this country.

Yemen It was reported that 10% of all the residents of this country are now listening to Christian radio. One Sheik has said "Christianity must come, and it must sweep through our land."

Qatar In Qatar, churches are meeting underground and Bibles are prohibited. Yet the OM ship was allowed to come. Qataries carried off basket loads of Christian literature, and people recognized that the people on the ship have something they don't.

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