WEC International
A People Partnership?
Me?
My Church?
My Home group?
Strategic value in a people partnership
It
builds the kingdom!
There are 600 Evangelical churches for
every unreached people, so if we all found a people, the world would be reached
very quickly.
It transforms the
tough spots!
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Sixty of us took on our hearts the Jola people of
It
makes your missionaries successful.
It’s not just lack of a 4x4, or an illness
in the family, that sets them back. It’s the spiritual opposition. And that
is something you and your church can overcome. Begin an active partnership
with their people. Pray down the obstacles one by one in the name of Jesus.
Throw down the strongholds of powers that exalt themselves against the knowledge
of God. Spiritually, they are tough nuts to crack. Each needs a team of intercessors committed to that people deeply
enough to find out the situation in detail, and pray for it weekly if not
daily. By focusing on just one people, the church can be sure it makes an
impact.
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A
People Partnership-can motivate others in your church for the first time.
The various activities could well draw
in a host of people with a wide range of different gifts. There are activities
for every age-group and every small group in the fellowship.
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Children and teenagers can partner a people. Help them choose
from ‘Window on the world’ by Daphne Spraggett,
published by WEC International with Angus Hudson / Three’s Company. These have prayer points all ready for children.
Most of the missions mentioned in the books can provide information for children.
The WEC Children’s Resources Unit, Bulstrode, Oxford
Rd, Gerrards Cross, Bucks, SL9 8SZ, UK has a growing
selection of activity and visual information for various age groups.
An eight-year-old in 1990 had been to a ‘You can change the
world’ club. That night her parents asked ‘What do you want to pray about?’
and she replied ‘I want to pray that
It transforms the
church too!
I’m learning to pray! Never in my life
have I been so deeply motivated to grow into holiness. A people partnership is
good for you! Many churches have found it useful to focus the whole
congregation’s attention on one people, praying and working together for its
evangelisation.
Want to do more than
pray?
·
Organise
prayer trips, missions exposure trips, fact-finding
trips, teams to work on aid projects, ministry and counselling trips.
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·
Draw
maps, take photos and videos, make displays and overhead transparencies to
raise the profile of the
people before the church.
·
Visit
home groups, ladies groups, youth groups and even other churches to talk about
the people.
·
Offer
to assist with furlough needs for missionaries.
·
Send
birthday cards, home news, current magazines and latest books to your
missionaries. Is there any food they may crave that is not available out there?
·
Arrange
reverse visits to interested churches by a national believer who may not be
damaged by a trip to your country.
·
Get
involved in development projects, a sponsorship plan for a child or a
·
Offer
to be purchasing agent for missionaries in the area. Find car parts, electronic
equipment, etc. and then find ways of getting it there safely. Unimatco, a department of WEC
·
Write
children’s stories and activity projects based on this people for use in churches.
Send a copy to the mission organisations working among your people.
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Partner which People?
How do I choose?
·
Does
your church already support outreach to one or more unreached peoples? If so,
one of these would be an obvious choice.
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·
Which
missionary societies does your fellowship support? Ask them to help you in the
choice. Any mission will be delighted to do so!
·
Do
you have a particular religion in mind - should it be among Muslims, Buddhists,
or Hindus?
·
Are
you thinking urban, rural, or nomadic?
· Do you relate better to any particular
continent?
·
Does
one of the following families of peoples leap out at you?
·
What
size of population did you have in mind? The larger the unreached people, the
more strategic it is likely to be.
·
Do
you prefer a people that is accessible for a possible
future visit?
·
Do
you prefer a people that already has missionaries on the job, so you can get
instant news; or do you prefer a totally unreached people for whom you will
have to pray in the very first team? This is a much tougher option.
·
Would
you like to choose from the Joshua Peoples list? See page 7.
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How to begin
1.
Discuss it among the church leadership
Take time to seek God’s will. Discuss
it among yourselves as the church leaders. Assess the impact on the
congregation. It would mean a commitment to pray until your people
has a thriving national church. It may involve a selection of activities
listed further down this brochure. Is this something you are sure God wants you
to do? Is now the right time to begin?
2. Appoint a coordinator.
Pray that God will indicate the right person. It must be
someone who has a heart for reaching the unreached; who is able to get things
done, and who is able to motivate others.
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3. Job description for the coordinator
This should
include:
·
To
whom is he/she responsible?
·
To
communicate with missions committee and with pastor and elders.
·
To
communicate with the mission agencies working among your people.
·
To
raise and maintain the profile of the people in the church.
·
To
coordinate prayer for the people.
·
To
commission research on the people and make it available in the church library.
What are their physical needs eg water, food, health,
literacy? What are their institutions eg family life,
government, education, ways of communicating, religious beliefs and practices?
What is their history? Describe the geography of their area. What is their
spiritual state?
·
To
keep financial records.
·
To
link with other churches interested in your people. These may be discovered via
the AD2000 movement, or in the book ‘Global Guide to unreached peoples’.
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4. Selling the idea
The pastor will want to teach about the need and the benefits
in a morning service. Strengthen the impact with an ethnic evening with special
food, displays, cultural events, and prayer.
5. Launching the partnership
At
this time, you will all commit yourselves to this people.
·
The
pastor or coordinator could teach about the people, and their current need.
·
Explain
the remaining task in world evangelisation, and your
church’s part in this by choosing this particular people.
·
Read
together a statement of commitment to this people.
·
Have
the entire congregation pray a prayer of dedication.
6.
Pray for the people
·
Include
a prayer request for them every Sunday.
·
Read
an extract from a missionary’s letter in a service.
·
Have
a special prayer meeting for them once a month.
·
Have
every home group, youth group, men’s group or women’s group take a prayer point
once a week.
7.
Celebrate answers to prayer with worship
and praise.
There will be times of discouragement, and times of battle.
It is essential to celebrate the times of progress and victory. Worship reminds
us that God is the greatest!
8. Ideas to help
sustain the interest
·
Have
regular short updates and prayer times in services.
·
Locate
a visual reminder in the church entrance.
·
Meet
regularly with leaders to seek counsel. The continued support of the senior
pastor is essential to the success of the project.
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·
Prepare
a well-presented information folder about the people, a photo album, a video,
a selection of children’s stories, a drama script, artefacts, coins.
Circulate these around children’s, youth and adult groups for special emphasis
days.
·
Ask
the women’s group to make ethnic clothes, or ask the missionaries to send
some.
·
Plan
an ethnic dinner with a speaker, a drama, a cultural game, and taped music from the area.
·
Arrange
visits to the church by missionaries working among this people.
·
In
consultation with the mission agency, arrange visits to the people by the
senior pastor, other church leaders, and church members.
·
Write
a spot in the weekly bulletin.
·
Give
regular teaching about missions and the responsibility of the church to evangelise
the remaining unreached peoples.
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Resources
www.iroteam.com/pl is a website that gives
you a list of some of the least-reached peoples on earth, ones WEC has chosen.
Click on any people group and information on that people group will appear.
Click on any advocate and you can email that advocate to ask for regular updates
to be emailed to you. It’s brilliant! Try it!
Global
Guide to Unreached Peoples,
compiled by the AD2000 movement, was published in June 1997, and is available
from 2860 S. Circle Drive,
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Operation
World, by Patrick Johnstone lists all the major peoples in every country on
earth, and gives excellent prayer points and insights.
WEC International,
·
Extension
Office, from which you can order a list of the RUN (Reaching the Unevangelized Now) peoples, and buy or borrow a video.
·
Research
Office offering information on every country and ethnic group on earth (some
more than others!) and
·
Children’s
Resources Unit, offering stories and activity work about a number of peoples.
Window on the world by Daphne Spraggett (WEC
International with OM Publishing). Coffee table book which gives 26
countries and 26 ethnic groups suitable for adoption, each with a story, a
picture, a map, and seven prayer points. Children can pray through a
volume in a year.
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Other great websites:
www.peopleteams.org
www.calebproject.org
www.joshuaproject.net
www.oscar.org.uk
www.gmi.org/products/peoplesfile.htm
www.prayingnations.com
www.myglobalimpact.com
www.thetravellingteam.org
www.missionfrontiers.org
John Bardsley
WEC
International
Bulstrode,
Gerrards Cross, Bucks
Tel: 01753 88
46 31
Email:
jbardsley@btopenworld.com
win@win1040.com