On very rare occasions we take the time in MF to honor a remarkable individual who has made a significant contribution to our understanding and pursuit of the ultimate goal of world evangelization. This issue of Mission Frontiers pays special tribute to the extraordinary vision and work of just such a person: Dr. Steve Smith. Through his books, Kingdom Kernels columns in MF and leadership of the marvelous 24:14 Coalition, Steve pointed the way forward to achieving the goal of movement engagements in every unreached people and place by 2025. In this issue you will read more about his great desire to see Matthew 24:14 fulfilled in our generation and the tremendous legacy he has left.
EditorialOn very rare occasions we take the time in MF to honor a remarkable individual who has made a significant contribution to our understanding and pursuit of the ultimate goal of world evangelization—to provide access to the gospel to every person and to make disciples within all peoples so that God would receive the glory He deserves. (Rev. 5:9; 7:9) Dr. Steve Smith is just such a person.
Tags: kingdom movements, movements
FeatureEarly in the first decade of this century, the Holy Spirit guided and empowered Steve Smith in launching a Church Planting Movement among a minority people group in East Asia. Steve then teamed up with Ying Kai to write T4T: A Discipleship Re-Revolution: The Story Behind the World’s Fastest Growing Church Planting Movement and How it Can Happen in Your Community! Steve went on to supervise and coach many others in starting similar movements.
Tags: no place left, steve smith
FeatureDr. Steve Smith devoted his life to following Jesus and leading people to faith in Jesus and then discipling others to do the same. It was his great desire to see the Great Commission fulfilled in our generation. This article is an updated version of an article from January 2018 that lays out that challenge for us.
Tags: 14 coalition, 24, steve smith
FeatureThe things we loved about Steve Smith were reflections of Jesus in him. Our family had the privilege of becoming close friends with the Smith family when we all lived in Singapore and were part of a house church and lived life together. Our son, Seth, wrote this about Steve: “Through Steve I learned that Jesus’ truth was synonymous with His love. As I saw an unworldly, unnatural, amazing love pour out of Steve’s mouth and actions, I eventually saw the truth it stemmed from…. the truth of Galatians 2:20 hit me and I saw Steve, but more importantly I saw Christ living in him.”
Tags: steve smith
FeatureWhen I was 15 years old my grandfather introduced me to an elderly missionary mobilizer. And in the course of the conversation he asked me Oswald Smith’s powerful question: “Why should anyone hear the gospel twice, before everyone has heard it once?” Clever use of language, but not something to change your life—right? It changed mine.
FeatureI had been serving among a Muslim UPG for more than 15 years. During some of those years I had led a team of over 30 adult missionaries, pursuing what we considered to be a well-crafted strategy to reach that group. I had worked with a team of national partners to plant a contextual church with local leadership. Then a number of factors challenged me to ask: “Is what we’re doing really God’s best?” When I read David Garrison’s Church Planting Movements, I realized that some of what we had done had hindered the hoped-for reproduction.
Tags: growth challenge
FeatureMay 2019 through May 2020 A time of united, informed prayer for the largest gaps in work among the unreached! Join prayer networks around the world in prayer for God’s blessing through Jesus to be embraced among each of the 400 largest Frontier People Groups (each over 500,000 in population).
Tags: go31.orgyof, year of the frontier
Raising Local ResourcesMacro-compassion projects from the West tend to swallow up micro-compassion lifestyles for the rest. Compassion in the hands of the few on behalf of the many is extremely limiting. How can we help to reverse this syndrome and make compassion every Christ follower’s natural rhythm of life in their micro-spaces, thus becoming a global movement?
Tags: micro-compassion
OtherA Church Planting Movement (CPM) can be defined as the multiplication of disciples making disciples and leaders developing leaders. This results in indigenous churches planting churches. These churches begin to spread quickly through a people group or population segment. These new disciples and churches begin to transform their communities as the new body of Christ lives out kingdom values.
Tags: 14 coalition, 24, church planting movement, cpm
OtherWhen we arrived at their home, his wife ushered us in. “Please sit down,” she said. The room was tiny and dark. We bent down to enter the low doorway and saw him lying on the bed. From the dark corner came groans of pain.
Tags: strategy, supernatural
OtherBy now I am sure many of our Mission Frontiers colleagues and family have heard about the decision to sell part of the WCIU campus and a small portion of Frontier Ventures’ Pasadena property to EF,...
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Further ReflectionsBranding experts today don’t like them, but every industry has its “inside” list of initials. One of those for those of us who are passionate about seeing people groups reached, is “Finishing The Task” or FTT. This was more popular in the 1990s and before. For some, it is still used as a call to the church to reach beyond its “walls” to a world in need of the truth of the gospel. I understand the vision and passion behind the idea.
Tags: finishing the task, ftt
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