August 01, 1989 by

The European Theater. The Pusan Perimeter. The Mekong Sweep.

War has always titled its grand maneuvers. And, according to U.S. Center for World Mission Mobilization chairman Wesley Tullis, the spiritual world war raging over the globe's 12,000 unreached ethne should be no exception. “We're designating our efforts to mobilize the U.S. and Canada as ‘The North American Campaign,‘” says Tullis.

The North American Campaign to challenge and equip student groups and churches for the final task of world evangelization comprises two familiar tactics: planning the work and working the plan. “And we’re obviously not going to mobilize North America alone,” says Tullis. “We need denominational and mission organizations’ input to jointly develop a realistic apportionment of unreached peoples to be targeted by each region of the U.S. and Canada. And at the same time we at the Center can offer resources others can customize to help North American believers catch, build and act on the vision of ‘A Church for Every People by the Year 2000.’”

6,000 People Groups

Taking its cue from the Latin American apportionment plan to adopt 4,500 people groups (see discussion on previous page), the North American Campaign proposes a region-by-region allotment of 6,000 people groups to be targeted. The Center's designation of North American regions follows that of the Association of Church Mission Committees and several other groups.

“The apportionment prototype we've developed for now,’ says Tullis, “is only based on our U.S. Center core of mission enthusiasts in North America. But as other U.S. and Canadian groups add their numbers of mission-active constituents, we should get a concensus soon of how many mission-minded evangelicals populate each region of North America. Thus, we'll get a reading of how many unreached peoples each region can realistically adopt.

Can it work? Boyd Morris, director of the Proclaim Center for World Mission in Portland, has requested that his region be challenged to target 551 unreached people groups. Morris reports that 23 of these have just last month been adopted by fellowships within his network in the Northwest U.S. region. But without input from other mission networks in the region, Morris concedes he cannot yet determine whether his projected apportionment is realistic.

Tullis says the Center Mobilization Division is not planning to apportion these people groups according to overall evangelical populations in each region since so much of Christian North America is bereft of even basic mission vision: “So we've going with the goers—with those at least open to adopting a people in a realistic effort to see them reached.”

The map above reflects Mobilization's model of regional apportionment. The indicated numbers of people groups to be adopted per region is, of course, only predicated on U.S. Center constituencies and so serves only as a prototype for an actual apportionment corroborated by other organizations. Any mission organization, denomination or parachurch group wishing to pool information on the actual number of mission enthusiasts in each region should contact Tullis at the USCWM Mobilization Division.

Resources

Working the plan of apportionment demands the North American Campaign come replete with resources that help student groups and churches share, build and act on the vision of adopting unreached people groups.

“We're heading now,” says Tullis, “into final production of several resources that can be readily adapted by denominations, mission organizations and student groups.” The masters of most of the basic resources scheduled for a December 1, 1989 release are available for customization at virtually no cost to like-minded mission groups. Offered with few stipulations, on computer disk for ease of desktop publishing and customizing, some of the new Countdown 2000—Adopt-A-People Series resources include a “Catch the Vision” brochure, “A Vision for the Nations” one-Sunday emphasis on the final task of the Great Commission, an adult and college-age Sunday School curriculum based on the Bob Sjogren-Don Richardson book Destination 2000, a monthly mission fellowship video-based curriculum called The Year of Vision, a catalog of the best children's mission resources titled Kids for the World, an updated Mission Mobilizer's Resource Manual and other tools.

“Call us,” offers Tullis. “Set us straight on a realistic North American apportionment of unreached people groups. Give us input. Let us know how we can serve you. As we launch the North American Campaign into the 90s, we need to plan and work together as never before to establish ‘A Church for Every People by the Year 2000’!”

Contact: Mobilization Division 1605 Elizabeth Street Pasadena CA 91104 USA 818/398-2200