This is an article from the May-June 2018 issue: Inside North Korea: Bringing Hope and Healing to the Toughest Places

24:14 Coalition Update

God is moving!

24:14 Coalition Update

Without a full representation of the Church, we are incomplete. The lost desperately need you to be a part of this fight. Visit our website at www.2414now.net or email [email protected] to learn more and get involved.

The 24:14 vision is to see movement engagements in every unreached people group and place by 2025 because we realize that the only way to effectively reach a group or place is through movements of multiplying disciples, churches and leaders. To facilitate that vision, groups of nationals and expats are meeting in each region of the world to engage that vision with urgency.

Recently a group of movement leaders from a large region in Asia met to discuss and pray about God’s plan for the 24:14 effort in their region. The stories of the “book of Acts” like movements in this region were amazing as multiplying disciples and churches are arising in many people groups, language groups, and communities—usually despite significant persecution. They are showing God’s love by healing the sick, casting out demons, teaching literacy, doing disaster relief, transforming communities and in many, many more ways than can be described here.

This group of movement leaders felt that since God was already moving in such mighty ways, the goal for their region should be not just movement engagement by 2025, but rather to pray and work together to see at least 4th generation multiplication of churches in every one of the thousands of people groups, language groups, and districts by 2025.

One local leader said, “We know this is not the case for other parts of the world, but for our part of the world, God is doing so much that we could almost accomplish movement engagement everywhere by continuing our current efforts. Praying and working to see 4th generation multiplication in every group and district is something only God can do.”

Since the last edition of Mission Frontiers, the 24:14 Coalition has been gaining momentum and making strides toward the goal of total Church Planting Movement (CPM) engagement by 2025. Here’s some of what God has done through 24:14 in the last two months:

  • Data. CPM organizations and leaders are sharing their data like never before on CPM engagements and movements. As we collect more data, the number of known CPMs globally continues to grow and has shattered our most optimistic estimates from a year ago. We are tracking 652 CPMs (at least four separate streams of at least 4th plus generations of new churches in a relatively short period of time) but that number will be surpassed by the time this is in print. These movements are on every continent so that they provide models to practitioners in virtually every geographic region and major worldview.

However, there is still a long way to go and many gaps, which is why we are working to leverage this data to accelerate engagement of gaps.  One example of this is a meeting with leaders from six different movements where they shared which districts of a large region had multiplying streams of churches from their movements. They realized between all of them, 21 of the districts had multiplication but seven did not. Immediately they began to make collaborative plans to start work in the seven neglected districts. With thousands of unreached people groups remaining, we still need thousands of CPM strategy engagements to effectively reach them.

  • Movements Heat Map. One way we plan to leverage this data is in developing a “heat map” that graphically represents CPM data—where there are movements and movement engagements, and where there are not. We are still working through security protocols to ensure that any data shared will not compromise local leaders and churches. However, our hope is that we will be able to share actionable insights with the mission community based on hard data to inform movement engagement decisions.

Security of local disciples is of utmost importance in this effort. Recently, we had a dialogue which led to the conclusion that we can share this data on a country or regional level without unnecessary risk.

  • CPM Hubs System. When God begins to do the same process with unrelated people around the world, we must pay attention. In the last few years, we have seen a great increase in a “CPM Hub training system approach” where God has given the same basic ideas to many people in different contexts. 24:14 as a global movement includes many of these people running hubs and we are now working to help tie these various CPM hubs into a relational global hub system.

As part of the 24:14 vision we have to train many more CPM catalysts and this emerging hub system seems to be one way God is going to prepare many more catalysts. Hubs can be developed from any organization, team, or network. Our desire in connecting these hubs is to develop more consistency in “CPM deliverables”— head (knowledge), heart (character), hands (abilities), and house (who to relate to and how). A key goal is to link workers to effective coaching and training through a residency program in a series of CPM hubs from their home context to cross-cultural contexts that act   as an on-ramp to effectively engaging a UUPG with a movement strategy.

  • Global Stewardship Team. In order to fully engage every unreached people and place by 2025, there must be regional champions that own the vision. To that end, we are recruiting stewards to join the Global Stewardship1 Team (GST), who commit to helping serve regions/countries in order to get to total engagement. These individuals are responsible for tracking CPM engagements in their area and recruiting/equipping workers to engage the gaps. We have begun getting traction with CPM leaders globally to adopt regions and countries in this capacity and continue to aggressively recruit GST members with the goal of having stewards covering every UN region, country, Omega zone (geographic region of 3 to 9 million people), and Omega district (geographic region of 50,000 to 150,000 people).

Security is an issue in some areas, but we are setting up email channels for people interested in various countries, regions, zones, and districts to be able to contact 24:14 stewards for that area to see how they can partner in movement efforts through prayer, funding, translation, field efforts, etc.

  • Regional Meetings of CPM Leaders. One way we are building a network of global stewards is through regional 24:14 summits. During these summits, CPM leaders from the region (both nationals and expats) gather to seek God’s heart for their region and to explore how they might partner together to fully engage their region with movement strategies.

One such meeting is the Asian region described above, where a representative group of the region’s CPM leaders agreed to partner together as a regional 24:14 team to pursue their vision: “Movements collaborating to see 4th generation movements in every language, people, and place in the region and beyond by 2025.” Similar meetings across the globe have either recently happened or are currently scheduled, such as ones for South America, Eurasia, North Africa, Middle East, Central Asia, Africa, and Southeast Asia. Our goal is to have these types of consultations resulting in regional 24:14 teams for every region of the world.

  • Hot Coals Strategy Formulation. One of the most effective ways we see movements starting today is through “hot coals” from the fires of one movement being transplanted into a spiritually dark place to jump-start a new movement. One of our task forces is focused on developing thought-leadership in this approach by collating case studies where this approach has been effective. Our goal is to have a process where large movements can send catalysts to unreached areas to jump-start new movements, further accelerating engagement in the darkest places.
  • For example, a task force leader recruited 66 leaders from a near-culture CPM to go to the oppressed “Ro” UPG refugees in their country. Their goal was not to incorporate new believers and churches into their movement but rather to see God start a new movement among these people. Their vision was “don’t the Ro people deserve a movement of God also?” Over a three-day period of time, 681 Ro people heard a clear explanation of the Word of God and 399 Ro people accepted Christ. Nine months later, there are 12 potential 4th soil Ro leaders being discipled and a budding movement with a handful of 5th generation churches.
  • God is moving; will you join us? In order to fulfill the Great Commission, the entire Body must work as one. 24:14 is not an organization, but is an open-membership coalition of individuals, organizations, churches, and networks committed to 1) fully reaching the unreached peoples and places of the earth, 2) through kingdom movement engagements, 3) with urgency by 2025. As you commit to these three things, you join thousands of others who are in this coalition.

 

 
 

 

1 We call these facilitators “stewards” using the Biblical language that Paul used to describe his desire to be faithful with the regions and responsibilities God had entrusted to him. This is how one should regard us, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. Moreover, it is required of stewards that they be found faithful. (1 Cor. 4:1-2, ESV)

 

 

 

 
 

 

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