FAV O R & THANKFULNESS
2017 Year in Review JOURNEY WITH US THROUGH STORIES OF GOD’S BLESSING THIS YEAR.
MOBILIZATION.ORG
The worldwide church is bigger than it’s ever been before — more than half a billion evangelical Christians. That’s something to celebrate! However, more than 3 billion
in Asia, Africa, and Latin America. In fact, 80 percent
people are still unreached —
of evangelicals live in these three regions today,
they have no access to the
right alongside some of the darkest, most unreached
message of hope found in
places on the planet. Yet the church in these regions
Jesus Christ.
sends just 20 percent of all missionaries, and of
But as Christ’s body, we were
those missionaries, very few go to the unreached.
blessed to be a blessing. Like
That’s why we labor to see mission sending move-
others, we wrestle with the
ments arise from the largest evangelical popula-
fact that the harvest is still
tions in the world in Asia, Africa, and Latin America.
plentiful, and the laborers are
Through our partnerships with mission leaders,
still few (Matt 9:37). Through
pastors, and churches globally, we are convinced
our research, partnerships,
the Christians in these regions are poised and
and experience, two simple
ready to lead the way forward in mission sending
questions have now come to
to the unreached.
inform our entire ministry. 1. W HERE SHOULD WE SEND M I S S I O N A R I E S TO?
The staff members you support are working hard to cultivate communities of Christians in these areas who can fuel a sustainable mission sending
Even though the harvest is
movement to the unreached. It takes intentional
plentiful, only 3 percent of all
discipleship to raise up believers who will be com-
missionaries are sent to the
mitted to reaching the nations with the blessing
unreached. The rest are sent
of Christ. And that’s what you are contributing to
to areas that already have
through your prayers and finances. We praise God
access to the gospel. While
for your partnership. Thank you for supporting our
these places still have needs,
staff as they mobilize Christ’s church throughout the
we believe God is calling us to
world. Join us in thanking Him as you read stories
help prioritize mission sending
of His favor over our teams this year.
to those who are unreached. But that’s just the first part of the equation. 2. W HERE SHOULD WE SEND M I S S I O N A R I E S F R O M?
The church is larger than it’s ever been before — and most
For His Glory,
Steve Shadrach, executive director
of that growth has happened
Sources: Operation world and the traveling team
In this Review: Cultivating Mission Movements 2 field team reports Asia 4 Africa 8 Latin America 12 Europe & Russia 14 The Middle East 16 Growth of the Organization 18 Overcoming Barriers to Mission Sending 19 The Fruit of Mobilization 20
Cultivating Mission Movements As the Center for Mission Mobilization, we are committed to seeing mission sending movements to the unreached arise out of Asia, Africa, and Latin America. But mission movements don’t happen overnight. The unreached cannot hear the gospel unless a missionary goes to them. And it takes
more than missionaries to sustain a movement — we also need World Christians who send them and more mobilizers who multiply the vision. These roles are the building blocks for sustainable mission sending movements. Our frontier mobilization teams strive to connect and disciple Christians around the world in each of these roles.
missionaries Our heart is to see more missionaries raised up who engage the nearly 7,000 unreached people groups remaining. Our frontier mobilizers challenge every believer they work with to consider committing their life to crossing a culture and becoming a missionary to the unreached. Our teams help connect these Christians to opportunities to be trained and sent.
World Christians These believers live strategically so that wherever they are and whatever they do, they give time, talent, and resources to see Jesus glorified among all nations. They pray for the unreached. They support missionaries serving among the unreached through prayer and finances. And they engage unreached people living around them by building relationships and sharing the gospel. Our teams intentionally disciple Christians in these disciplines and connect them to practical ways they can live out the Great Commission right where they are.
mobilizers Mobilizers act as a catalyst helping believers connect to the mission of God. Our frontier mobilization teams focus on raising up national mobilizers who can multiply our efforts beyond the reach of our own staff. These national mobilizers help raise up even more missionaries, World Christians, and mobilizers within their communities of faith to reach neighboring unreached people groups with the gospel.
Through God’s grace, we are seeing His people around the world embrace their strategic roles as missionaries, World Christians, and mobilizers. We're excited to share their stories with you.
Source: Joshua project
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FAV O R I N Asia
AS IT IS WRITTEN, “ T H O S E W H O H AV E NEVER BEEN TOLD OF HIM WILL SEE, AND THOSE WHO H AV E N E V E R H E A R D W I L L U N D E R S TA N D.” Romans 15:21
ASIA MOBILIZING MISSIONARIES
Indonesians are bringing the gospel to Muslims
Dozens of people were coming forward. The platform at the front was crowded with young Indonesian students, some with heads bowed down in worship, others with hands and faces raised high in surrender. On that summer day in Indonesia, our executive director, Steve Shadrach, and an Indonesian mobilizer challenged 300 students to commit at least three years of their life to take the gospel to an unreached Muslim people group, and more than 80 of them came forward. This was the culminating moment of the Finishers Conference, one of many such events led by the National Unreached Peoples Network in Indonesia. Ananda, director of the Network and a CMM global affiliate, has used these conferences, along with others, as a strategy for expanding the mission movement in Indonesia. At another Finishers Conference, more than 100 people committed to go to the unreached. As part of the Network’s follow up plan, many of these students are placed into Xplore small group studies. After completing the study, they are then connected to training opportunities that will prepare them to go to the unreached. Stories like this are the result of months and even years of groundwork being laid by the CMM’s PA G E 4
Southeast Asia Catalytic Team. For the past three years, they have been teaching, networking, and partnering with influential mission leaders and church pastors throughout 11 countries in Southeast Asia. These relationships have created opportunities for new collaboration and partnerships, which have led to initiatives like mobilizer trainings and the Finishers Conferences — all of which spread mission vision to the body of Christ and help launch more missionaries to the unreached. The relationships our teams cultivate undergird our mobilization strategy and help create sustainable mission sending movements by encouraging and empowering indigenous mission leaders.
MOBILIZING MISSIONARIES
Chinese missionaries are the missing link
The towering mountains of southwest China are home to thousands of Himalayan Buddhists. Flat-roofed village homes nestle in the lush green river valleys below, and on the outskirts of town, yak herders live in tent dwellings as they have for thousands of years. In this remote region, where many Buddhists have never heard the good news of Jesus, God is moving in surprising ways. In one such village of 70,000 people, a Buddhist temple gleams white in the sun. Overhead, strings of colorful prayer flags flutter in the breeze. Large Buddhist prayer wheels line the outside walls, awaiting worshippers who will spin the wheels in hopes of gaining merit. In the monastery, young boys live together as monks-in-training. They receive a basic education, as well as training in Buddhist scripture and practices like meditation. The man in charge of their education is called a Living Buddha, who is highly respected by the people and has great spiritual power and authority in the community. For more than 20 years, a Western missionary team has made yearly trips to visit this Living Buddha and build a relationship with him and others in the village. As their friendship developed over time, the Living Buddha began to trust this group of missionaries. Although they have shared the gospel with him, he has never professed faith in Jesus.
Mobilizing Chinese
But a couple years ago, this Living Buddha made the surprising announcelead in engaging China’s ment that he wanted the unreached is the ‘missing 300 monks under his tutelage to become Chrislink’ in helping reach the tian. He requested that his unreached. monks be trained in the Bible, English, Mandarin Chinese, health, and math. So at his request and under his authority, the first training class was held in a nearby city.
believers to take the
This first-of-its-kind class was birthed in partnership between the CMM China team, Chinese house churches, and several other mission organizations. Our team had already been building relationships with Chinese Christians, sharing about the role of every believer in the Great Com-
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mission. They saw it as a chance for these Chinese believers to engage face to face with one of the most unreached people groups on earth, and began mobilizing and recruiting Chinese believers to participate in leading the Bible classes. The young monks traveled by bus to the city and stayed with a house church for their month of classes. CMM Chinese staff member Li Hua and others taught the young monks, along with Chinese believers. During this time, the monks heard and retold dozens of Bible stories orally, as is their customary learning style. At the end of the training, one monk named Chodak seemed to make a profession of faith in Jesus. This past summer when the missionary team visited Chodak’s village, they discovered that he was indeed following Jesus and had left the Buddhist monastery. Rather than being upset, the Living Buddha was pleased with his monk’s decision. But Chodak is the only follower of Jesus in his whole village. He has no one to disciple him. The missionaries and our team are praying together for Chinese believers who will move there to disciple Chodak and continue reaching out with the gospel until more Buddhists begin coming to Christ. Time after time, veteran missionary workers have noted that mobilizing Chinese believers to take the reins in engaging China’s unreached is the “missing link” to help reach villages like Chodak’s and the other nearly 450 unreached people groups remaining in China.
FAV O R I N Asia, cont’d
Our staff and the Chinese believers they're mobilizing were welcomed and offered the customary cup of yak butter tea.
One of the Han Christian women on the trip prays over a Buddhist altar decorated with prayer flags.
On the way up to the village, our team often saw Buddhists spinning prayer wheels, trying to accumulate good karma.
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MOBILIZING MISSIONARIES
Local Chinese house church engages the unreached
When CMM mobilizer Bri showed up to a university campus “English Corner” one Friday night, she never anticipated the kind of connection that would come from this gathering. It was here that she met Cindy, a bright Chinese girl with impeccable English. Cindy and Bri began having a spiritual conversation and quickly realized they were sisters in Christ. That was the simple and unexpected beginning of what has become a key mobilization partnership for our team in China. Cindy’s house church consists of a small but passionate group of young believers. Most of them are college students or young professionals, and many of them are first generation believers. As Bri began to invest in Cindy and visit the weekly church meeting, she developed relationships with the pastor and others in the fellowship. The more Bri shared her vision and heart for China to be a mission sending force to the nations, the more people wanted to learn. She often heard them comment, “We are young and immature.” But as she gathered a group of them to study Xplore, they began to realize that joining God in spreading the gospel is a simple, yet profound path toward spiritual maturity that God invites all believers into. Last spring, our team led an Xplore study with the church leadership, and momentum for reaching the unreached continued to grow. Just weeks later, the church sent The Chinese believout their first cross-cultural missionary. On the day of ers became convinced the commissioning, CMM that these unreached mobilizer Mark was asked to preach on the roles of people were just like missionaries and sendthem, but in desperate ers. The entire church of young people pooled their need of truth. resources to provide for the missionary they were launching, praying for him and sending him out with power. Meanwhile, as our team was building relationships within this house church, they were also becoming connected with a group of missionaries who has labored for decades among an unreached people group of Himalayan Buddhists living in the western mountains of their province.
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These missionaries began sharing with our team the need for more missionaries to join in helping take the gospel to the many unreached people groups in the area — many of whom have no known mission effort reaching out to them. This is exactly why the CMM is in China. The Chinese church is poised to become a major mission sending force to unreached groups like these Buddhists. After praying and planning, our team began plotting a course to help Cindy’s house church become more directly involved with the unreached. Our team shared their vision with the pastor of Cindy’s church, who immediately jumped on board. This summer, they took five of the church members on a vision trip to one of these unreached people groups. Though many of them had grown up in this province or lived there for years, these Chinese believers had never traveled so far west into the mountains. They were concerned about the altitude and sickness, and even fearful they wouldn’t be welcomed. But once they reached the village, at an altitude of 13,000 feet, they were immediately welcomed by a woman who owned a local guest house and spent several hours with them. After prayer walking through the area and conversing with a monk in his home over yak butter tea, the group gained confidence these unreached people weren’t so different and scary, but rather in desperate need of truth, just as they once were. Our team prays that this is only the beginning of a movement of Han Chinese churches toward unreached peoples. The Chinese church has a unique and necessary role to play in God’s plan, and we are honored to play a role in mobilizing more Chinese laborers for the harvest.
FAV O R I N Africa
AFRICA AND HOW ARE THEY TO HEAR WITHOUT SOMEONE PREACHING? AND HOW ARE THEY TO PREACH UNLESS THEY ARE SENT? AS IT IS WRITTEN, “HOW BEAUTIFUL ARE THE FEET OF THOSE WHO PREACH T H E G O O D N E W S!” Romans 10:15
MOBILIZING MISSIONARIES
No longer sidelined in God’s mission
“As believers, we are all called to missions — get off the sidelines!” That’s how Hannah would passionately encourage you if she met you today. But that wasn’t always the case. Hannah grew up in a missionary family and spent part of her childhood in India, Hannah chose to move across the world to leverage her life for the Great Commission. where her family ministered to Hindus. But even so, Hannah felt sidelined when it came to the Great Commission. She thought missions was a special calling and felt inadequate to reach out to others with the gospel. Merceline, a Kenyan mobilizer trained by our Kenya team, invited Hannah to go through Xplore and Go Mobilize. As Hannah spent time with Merceline, she began to see practical, tangible ways she could participate in God’s mission. God began showing her that every believer has a significant role to play in the Great Commission — including her. Hannah began to
ple Xplore studies and teaching students how they too can play a role in the Great Commission.
Earlier this year Hannah decided to further her education as a teacher, but she wanted to go somewhere she could bring the knowledge of God’s glory to the nations and study among the unreached. By realize every believer has God’s grace, this desire led her to a significant role to play in a university in Indonesia, home to the largest population of Musthe Great Commission — lims in the world.
Hannah realized that God was calling her to something greater than her own dreams. Her heart became burdened to take the gospel to the nations, including her. to those who have never even heard about Jesus. She began to obey the Great Commission and live her life to expand Jesus’ kingdom. She even changed her major to study teaching, which would allow her greater access to unreached people. Soon Hannah began mobilizing others, starting with her friends in church. Then she mobilized her friends from school. Before long, Hannah was leading multi-
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In August, Hannah’s church commissioned and sent her out as a full-time student missionary. She now has the confidence to get off the sidelines and own her role in the Great Commission as a faithful student and active witness to God’s grace.
FAV O R I N Africa, cont’d
Tariku (left, in blue) and the attendees of a BIG Story Training in Addis Ababa
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Ethiopian families embrace God’s mission
There is no bigger advocate for discipling families in Africa to embrace the Great Commission than Tariku, CMM global affiliate from Ethiopia. As the executive director of Horn of Africa Evangelical Mission Engagers, Tariku knows that to have a sustainable mission movement to the unreached, we must reach families. To empower and train families in living out the Great Commission, our family mobilization ministry, Weave, launched The BIG Story Training in Ethiopia three years ago. Since then, it has been embraced and championed by key mobilization partners like Tariku. Of the eight BIG Story Trainings held in Ethiopia since 2014, six of them have been led by Ethiopian trainers. Earlier this year, Tariku reported that the Amharic translation of the training was complete and had been distributed to 15 trainers from two key regions of the country. Tariku sees The BIG Story Training as a core piece of his organization’s mobilization strategy. He shared with us, “In light of Africa being the youngest continent, and because of the strategic place family and children have in building missional culture, our organization is taking The BIG Story Training as our top mobilization tool of igniting mission movements for the decades ahead.”
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God has used this mobilization tool to cast vision across the nation of Ethiopia for the role families can play in the Great Commission. Tariku and the Weave team celebrate Ethiopian families like Shemel’s. After attending a BIG Story Training, Shemel and his family began embracing the habits of a World Christian family. The father of two daughters, Shemel and his family continue to pray daily for the unreached, as well as for major world events and disasters, by placing their hands on a world map. Shemel and his oldest daughter have also been intentional in getting to know their Muslim neighbors and sharing the love of Jesus with them. Shemel’s family is just one example of the practical ways families can reach the unreached right from their homes!
MOBILIZING MISSIONARIES
Living a new Kenyan dream When the CMM team in Kenya met Peter, he was studying at the most secular and prestigious university in Nairobi, in full pursuit of the Kenyan dream. He hoped to someday work for the U.N. and help support his family in the village, as any good and educated Kenyan is expected to do.
Great Commission Jesus gave to His church. As a former Muslim, his heart began breaking for others still adhering to Islam. He began sharing this new passion with his fellow classmates and inviting them to live their lives in obedience to God’s mission.
As our team began getting to know Peter, they went through the Xplore and Go Mobilize studies with him. At first, Peter clung tightly to his personal dreams and his idea of being a good Kenyan. But over a twoyear period involving life-on-life discipleship and a cross-cultural training project in Ethiopia, Peter’s heart began to change.
training to be a missionary in North Africa. Peter is now part of a mission training school in a city that is a well-known stronghold of Islam, where he and other Kenyans are being trained as missionaries to Muslim peoples. Instead of pursuing his own dreams, Peter now believes his strategic role is to be part of a church planting team in North Africa among an unreached Muslim people group.
Peter, a former Muslim in Kenya, is
After the training in Ethiopia, Peter realized his life purpose was not just to get a good paying job, but to participate in the
RAISING UP MOBILIZERS
Ugandan mobilizer points more Africans to the unreached Pastor Francis is a humble man who grew up in the same rural Ugandan village as his parents and grandparents. He is married with five children, but is a father to many more as the leader of an orphanage, school, and four churches. Two years ago, CMM mobilizer John met Pastor Francis through one of our BIG Story Trainings. From that initial meeting blossomed a friendship that included many trips back and forth to Uganda, Kenya, and Tanzania, meals in one another’s homes, culturally awkward moments, and lots of mobilization. After the first Xplore training in Uganda, Pastor Francis started training four key leaders and leading the training in other villages nearby. After a second Go Mobilize training led by CMM staff, he and his team returned to those same churches to begin
training other mobilizers. He has trained Christians in many distant places far from his home, including western and northern Uganda and Tanzania. By God’s grace and with some basic training using Pastor Francis has created a growing one of our books, The God mobilization ministry in Uganda. Ask, Pastor Francis has raised funds both in Uganda and from friends in the U.S. to attend trainings, host trainings, and even start a mission and mobilization ministry. He is also working on translating CMM resources into Lugandan. He ultimately hopes to go to Eritrea as a missionary, but as his mobilization ministry has grown, he has felt led to stay in Uganda and keep mobilizing others to join him in obeying the Great Commission. Through his ministry, many people have come to Christ in three different countries, hundreds have become World Christians and mission supporters, and many new mobilizers have been raised up in multiple countries. Pastor Francis is what mobilizers pray for. PA G E 1 1
FAV O R I N Latin America
L AT I N A M E R I C A
Our team expands in Latin America
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God opens new doors through relationships
Our team in Peru has been working hard to build solid relationships in the missions community throughout Latin America, which is the foundation for long-lasting partnership. This year, our team was asked to attend an invitation-only conference, called Cooperación Misionera Iberoamericana (COMIBAM). It’s one of the largest gatherings in the Spanish-speaking world and has helped fuel the mission movement from Latin America to the unreached. Our team distributed several hundred Spanish Xplore studies to key people at the conference and are currently following up with more than 100 specific contacts. In fact, they found out later that at least three other agencies were distributing CMM materials as well. Pray with us that God would exponentially multiply the number of missionaries sent out from Latin America to the unreached. PA G E 1 2
Until recently, the CMM team in Latin America consisted of a husband and wife living and working from Lima, Peru. This September, they were thrilled to welcome a new family to their team. Manny and Jenny and their two children moved to Lima, and together they will be digging into school and language learning for the next year, while learning Latin American culture. The team also welcomed their first associate staff member, Yussei. Yussei is a Peruvian who has worked in various ministry roles for the past 15 years. She brings a wealth of experience and cultural insight to the Latin American Catalytic Team. Early next year, the team will be joined by Sussi, who has served on the CMM’s finance team in Fayetteville, Arkansas since 2004. Born in Mexico, Sussi is fluent in Spanish and will be a tremendous asset to the team. She is eager to make the transition to field ministry. Join us in praising God for the way He is growing our Latin American team as they mobilize not just in Peru, but in all Spanish-speaking countries in Central and South America.
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Perspectives and the CMM: A healthy synergy
Our CMM teams around the world are involved in many thriving Perspectives programs, which has repeatedly proven to be a beneficial partnership. The Perspectives on the World Christian Movement course equips missionaries and missionary candidates throughout the world to understand the dynamics of cross-cultural mission work, while also casting a vision for all believers to find their strategic role in following the Great Commission. Perspectives lays the foundation for sustainable mission movements by cultivating mission vision within churches and communities of faith. Our teams have often found it serves as a catalyst that stirs Christians with the desire to begin practically living out the Great Commission. Graduates of Perspectives are often eager to be discipled in missions or go through an Xplore study with a community of believers who want to live missionally together. The CMM team in Peru has been involved in the launch, development and growth of the Spanish version of Perspectives in six Latin American countries with immense mission sending potential: Costa Rica, Mexico, Peru, Colombia, Argentina and Bolivia. This past year they also laid the groundwork for launching Perspectives programs in Chile and Panama in the spring of 2018.
Perspectives lays the
The Peru team has experienced firsthand the foundation for sustainsynergy that comes from partnering with Perspecable mission movements tives. They have repeatedly within churches. seen that using Perspectives resources can open the door to introduce CMM resources, training, and discipleship, and vice versa. For example, after helping launch the first Perspectives course in Bolivia, our team met Adrian, the director of a young adult ministry. They shared with Adrian about the CMM and some of our mobilization resources. The Xplore study in particular sparked his interest. Some folks in Bolivia had already helped us translate the study into Spanish, and Bolivia had become one of the first Latin American countries to print Xplore on its own.
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Bolivians study Xplore, which is often used as a mobilization tool after Perspectives. This connection opened the door for Adrian to invite Dave, CMM catalytic director for Latin America, to speak to several hundred young adults at his ministry’s main conference this year — and invite him back again to teach at two conferences in early 2018, where the Xplore study will be used as the devotional for everyone attending. Such opportunities and invitations are evidence of God’s favor and blessing on the CMM’s relationships in Latin America. They open the door for our team to continue casting mission vision to the church throughout Latin America and see more Latinos sent out to the unreached.
FAV O R I N Europe and Russia
EUROPE AND RUSSIA FROM THE RISING OF THE SUN TO ITS SETTING MY N A M E W I L L B E G R E AT A M O N G T H E N AT I O N S . Malachi 1:11
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Refugee crisis offers unprecedented access to the unreached The world is in the midst of the greatest migration of Muslims in the last 100 years, and Europe, specifically Germany, is the destination for many of these refugees. They are coming from some of the most difficult areas to reach with the gospel, such as Syria, Iran, Iraq, Turkey, and Afghanistan. Many of these Muslims are now disenchanted with Islam, and as they have the chance to exercise religious freedom for the first time, many of them are showing up at the church’s doorstep to learn about Jesus.
The CMM’s new Germany team launched this fall and is eagerly settling into life and ministry in Frankfurt.
Every ministry leader we have met with agrees this is an unprecedented window of opportunity for reaching many unreached peoples with the gospel. The evangelical church, especially in Germany, is seizing the opportunity to reach these desperate people, but many more laborers are needed. Churches and ministries in the area have asked for the CMM’s help to raise up more World Christians to join in the work of reaching refugees with the gospel. This fall we launched a new CMM team to Frankfurt, Germany to partner with existing efforts to regionally mobilize the European church. The team has already been invited to partner with several churches and ministries, including Africa Inland Mission. AIM has been
planting churches among the unreached for more than 100 years and has invited our team to train and coach their mobilizers in three different European countries. Our team also will have the opportunity to train churches that want to welcome Arab Christians into their congregations and begin outreach efforts to refugees. We are eager to join the work God is doing through His people in Europe to reach refugees and are humbled by His favor that has paved the way forward for our Germany team.
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Russian pastor mobilized to missions Our Russia team has been given great favor as they forge relationships with Russian churches and ministries and point believers to the unreached. In the past year, they have traveled to speak at conferences, churches, and youth groups throughout their region of Russia, encouraging congregations to be active participants in the Great Commission. They frequently share the Russian Xplore study as a way to cultivate a culture of mission to the unreached within churches. Earlier this year, the team was asked by a local Kalmyk pastor to teach a support raising seminar. He pastors a Russian church that he hopes to mobilize to go as missionaries to the Kalmyk people. Kalmykia is the only European region where Buddhism is the primary religion, and the Kalmyk people are completely unreached with the gospel. Through the support raising seminar led by our Russia team, this pastor was able to fund mission trips to this people group. This is a key step since our Russia team and others have repeatedly found that short-term mission trips to an unreached people group can be a highly effective mobilization tool in helping believers understand their role in the Great Commission.
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CMM mobilizer and the Kalmyk pastor Photo altered for security purposes
FAV O R I N the Middle East
THE MIDDLE EAST P R OT E C T E D C O N T E N T Future stories to come
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RAISING UP MOBILIZERS
Mission and mobilization leaders gather in Dubai
A core principle of the CMM and many of our international partners is that mission mobilization must be intentionally developed in every country as a key strategy in completing the Great Commission.
The main worship center at the church that hosted GMC 2017
hundreds of ministry leaders from more In 2013, the Global Mobilization Consulthan 40 countries who are passionatetation (GMC) was birthed in East Java, ly seeking to mobilize their nations to Indonesia. Mission and mobilization become mission sending forces to the leaders from all over the world gathered unreached. and began envisioning a new network specifically for mobilizers. Two years later, GMC 2017 brought great opportunities a larger group of more than 200 mobilizers for international collaboration, resource gathered from five contisharing, encouraging, nents in Nairobi, Kenya for and equipping for the second GMC. They votThe past two GMC mobilizers. But we are ed to officially create a neualso eager to see what events led to accelerated tral global network focused God continues to do in on mission mobilization, growth in missions and the host region of the called the Global MobilizaMiddle East. The past mobilization within the tion Network (GMN). two GMC events led to host regions of Indonesia accelerated growth in The CMM is privileged to missions and mobiliprovide much of the operand East Africa. zation within the host ational needs for the GMN regions of Indonesia as well as the biennial GMC and East Africa. Join us in praying that conference. The CMM team in Dubai and God would use GMC 2017 to catalyze even a partner church provided local support more mission and mobilization efforts in for the conference in November 2017, the Middle East region. which once more brought together
Mobilizers from all over the world gathered for GMC 2015 in Kenya.
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Growth of the Organization
As the CMM, our goal is to ignite mission sending movements to the remaining 3 billion unreached people in the world. But it will take all of God’s people working together to complete that task. That’s why we’re focusing our mobilization efforts in the 50 countries of the world that have the greatest potential for growth in mission sending, with populations of 1 million or more evangelical Christians. With CMM teams already placed throughout Asia, Africa, Latin America, Europe, and the Middle East, and global affiliates in multiple countries, we are committed to growing our teams and partnerships to cultivate mission sending movements from these regions. God blessed us with 20 new staff this year, and we added new teams in Frankfurt, Germany and Dubai, UAE. The field teams in Fayetteville, Arkansas, and
College Station, Texas, have raised up the majority of our staff over the past several years through grassroots mobilization on college campuses. But beginning in the fall of 2017, we added a regional and national recruiting strategy to meet our recruiting goals. Our recruiting team is based in College Station and will be working with and speaking at churches, campus ministries, and Perspectives classes to spread the vision about frontier mobilization and opportunities to serve with the CMM. If you or someone you know would be interested in learning more about opportunities to serve with us, contact us at info@mobilization.org or visit Mobilization.org/join.
Staff conference This summer more than 200 CMM staff and families gathered in Arkansas to share stories of ministry all across the globe. There were 10 different countries represented at our staff conference, along with national staff members from Kenya, China, and Russia. During the conference, CMM leaders shared and encouraged staff in our vision to mobilize believers in the 50 countries with 1 million or more evangelicals. We also heard stories of ministry from CMM global affiliates working in Egypt, Indonesia, Ethiopia, and Kenya — which strengthened our resolve to continue working together toward our common vision.
These are the staff and families you support around the world. each of them are executive leaders of their own ministries. We have officially linked arms together for greater collaboration because we recognize that mobilization is more effective when led by national mobilizers. It was a blessing to have them and many of their families join us at our staff conference. Praise God for the work He’s doing through our staff and partners around the world! Join us in praying for our teams to continue to see God move in miraculous ways.
CMM global affiliates are our international partners, and
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Overcoming Barriers to Mission Sending
The biggest obstacle that keeps missionaries from the field is fundraising. Gabriel, a Nigerian mobilizer who is raising up and equipping missionaries, said, “You can mobilize people for mission, but how do they take care of These 27 men and women were equipped to raise personal support at the first ever Kenyan themselves and their families? SRS Bootcamp. Support raising training and mission mobilization go hand in hand. Mobilization is not effective if the funding aspect is not taken care of.” Support Raising Solutions (SRS) is a specialized resource and training division of the Center for Mission Mobilization. Since raising personal financial support is the biggest obstacle for new missionaries, and lack of funds is one of top reasons missionaries leave the field, we have sought to directly address this problem. We’ve helped thousands of missionaries and more than 1,000 organizations overcome the support raising barrier. We bring biblical teaching and practical training to help missionaries realize God has created the partnership process to provide for His ministry workers. Over the past 16 years, SRS has trained more than 15,000 missionaries in its two-day training, the SRS Bootcamp. Our staff lead public Bootcamp trainings, and SRS Network partners
now lead private Bootcamp trainings within their organizations for their own staff. More than 35,000 have been equipped by reading the prerequisite to SRS Bootcamp, The God Ask, which was written by Steve Shadrach and published by the CMM just four years ago. This past year, we held an SRS Bootcamp in Kenya with 27 ministry workers from Kenya, Ethiopia, Rwanda, and Burundi. In addition, we are finalizing Chinese, Spanish, and Portuguese translations of The God Ask. Each of these translation projects is being led by ministry partners within those regions who are eager to make translated fundraising resources available because of the lack of support raising training available to them. These partnerships have also led to the full translation of the SRS Bootcamp training into Spanish, which will launch in 2018.
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Spanish, Portuguese, and Chinese translations of The God Ask
Spanish Bootcamp Translation of the Facilitator Guide and Participant's Workbook
The Fruit of Mobilization All the stories we’ve just shared are a small glimpse into how God has used our ministry to raise up missionaries, World Christians, and mobilizers around the world. As you read the ministry year statistics below, remember each number represents a story like the ones you just read.
WORLD CHRISTIANS These believers live strategically so that wherever they are and whatever they do, they give time, talent, and resources to see Jesus glorified among all nations.
11,019
new World Christians
24,836 exposed to
frontier mission and God’s global purposes Through large group trainings and small group studies like Xplore, our teams and partners introduce Christians to God’s heart for all nations.
981 people from 63
countries downloaded Xplore
We value creating resources that are versatile, digital, and free. Xplore and other resources are available for free download at Mobilization.org.
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Now translated into 10 languages, Xplore is used by our staff and partners around the world as a catalyst for disciple making relationships that help Christians live out their role in the Great Commission.
MISSIONARIES Missionaries cross a culture to engage an unreached people group with the gospel and establish reproducing indigenous churches.
2,756
missionaries raised up
These missionaries were cultivated by our staff or partners and include both short- and long-term workers sent to the unreached. Many of them are from East Africa going to surrounding unreached people groups in Ethiopia, Sudan, and Somalia.
1,500 new ministry workers trained in support raising
More than 80 Indonesian students committed to go as missionaries to unreached people groups at a conference earlier this year. Our Southeast Asia team and Executive Director Steve Shadrach continue to partner with the National Unreached Peoples Network in Indonesia who host these conferences. See story on page 4
Through our SRS Bootcamps, missionaries are equipped to raise their personal support and fully fund their ministries so they can get to the field and stay there.
MOBILIZERS Mobilizers disciple others to become World Christians and missionaries.
1,137
new mobilizers
These mobilizers establish World Christians in living out the Great Commission. And they develop some of them into missionaries or mobilizers, who can then repeat the process again.
13,007 mobilization resources distributed
Our staff and partners around the world use Go Mobilize to help develop mature and effective mobilizers who can multiply themselves a hundredfold by raising up mission-
Our teams and international partners print and distribute our resources locally to aid their mobilization efforts.
aries, World Christians, and more mobilizers.
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PO Box 3556 Fayetteville, AR 72702 mobilization.org
Thank you for your faith & generosity that have made these stories possible. Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us, and establish the work of our hands upon us; yes, establish the work of our hands! PSALM 90:17
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