A Publication Of World Outreach • world-outreach.com/news-stories • Issue 2, 2019
nations S PECIAL E D ITI O N
CHIEF EDITOR: Bruce Hills
A magazine produced by World Outreach.
PUBLICATION MANAGER: Andrew M World Outreach is an intercultural fellowship of Christians and ministries that exists to evangelise and disciple unreached people groups, equipping them to disciple their own and other peoples. We do this through:
DESIGN: Rachel McColl Prisca P EDITORIAL SUPPORT: Robin Merrill
Raising Leaders Evangelism and Church Planting A ll Nations Mobilisation Children’s Ministry Humanitarian Aid
ISSN 2624-1528
Melbourne (Australia)-based, International Director Bruce Hills heads an heads an executive team of missionaries and leaders. WO follows recognised international standards and procedures for child safety. View the magazine online. All Nations stories are released on our website at world-outreach.com/news-stories. The full magazine can also be read on your tablet. It’s the closest to the real thing! By following us on issuu you will be the first to receive the latest magazine straight to your digital device. Visit issuu.com/worldoutreach
PUBLISHERS: PO Box 97230, Manukau 2241 New Zealand T: (64 9) 263 5434 T: (64 9) 887 7150 M: (64 21) 330 874 E: id.office@world-outreach.com PRINTERS:
Thumbprints Utd Sdn Bhd Lot 24, Jalan RP3, Rawang Perdana Industrial Estate Rawand, Selangor Darul Ehsan, Malaysia
world-outreach.com
Countr y Offices International Office:
Netherlands:
Meint Kisteman (Board Chairman) Oogstweg 12 8071 WS Nunspeet Netherlands T: (31 62) 467 1758 E: holland@world-outreach.com
Singapore:
PO Box 97230, Manukau 2241 New Zealand T: (64 9) 263 5434 T: (64 9) 887 7150 M: (64 21) 330 874 E: woi@world-outreach.com
Australia:
Malaysia:
South Africa:
Val Ciacia (Country Director) Gail McDougall (Office) PO Box 136 Flinders Lane Post office Melbourne VIC 8009 T: (617) 5313 8591 T: (612) 8203 4530 M: +61 0456772107 F: (617) 3319 8928 E: admin.au@world-outreach.com
Canada:
Ed Tetrault (Office) PO Box 183 Stn St. Norbert Winnipeg, Manitoba R3V 1L6 T: 1-204-793-1500 E: canada@world-outreach.com
Philip Chieng (Board Chairman) PO Box 8541, Kelana Jaya 46792 Petaling Jaya Selangor Darul Ehsan T: (60 3) 77325924 E: malaysia@world-outreach.com
New Zealand:
Gail McDougall (Office) PO Box 97230, Manukau 2241 T: (64 9) 263 5434 T: (64 9) 887 7150 M: (64 21) 330 874 E: nz@world-outreach.com
Tarn Ping Kueh (Office) 2 Kallang Avenue #04-09 CT Hub Singapore 339407 T: (65) 6464 8698 E: singapore@world-outreach.com
United States:
Aaron Rudd (Country Director) 615 East Sego Lily Drive Sandy, UT 84070 T: (1 801) 572 0211 ext.11 M: (1 801) 599 3370 E: usa@world-outreach.com 501 (c) 3 Tax Exemption Available
Ivan Venter (Country Director) Postnet unit #459 Private Bag X1288 Potchefstroom 2520 T: (27 18) 290 5285 M: (27 79) 084 2141 E: southafrica@world-outreach.com
United Kingdom:
Jon Hitchen (Office) BM Box 5265 London, WC1N 3XX T: +44(0) 203 642 4873 E: uk@world-outreach.com
Field Ministries Director: Peter Smith Executive Manager: Chia Shee Wai International Board: Luke Chong, Lorraine Dierck, Laura Kuimba, Wayne Freeman, Gary Levens, Rob Reid, Rachel B, Bruce Hills International Leadership Team: Chia Shee Wai, Bambi C, Bruce Hills, Peter Smith, Ivan Venter, Ben B, Maria Ramos Sarah.
COVER IMAGE: Interpreter Umesh, with a group of people praying about where they will start planting churches. Photo by David Elliott.
Reinvention and Renewal Bruce Hills | International Director of World Outreach.
Welcome to this special edition of Nations, which will feature some new and exciting changes, and highlight our five key focuses. Some years ago, Fiona and I decided to renovate our bathrooms. The shower, toilets, tiles, and baths were all nearly thirty years old and in need of updating. After a few months’ work and a lot of disruption, we had modern and stylish bathrooms. All the new features did the same job as the old ones, but it looked so much better and served us more effectively. It also added significant value to our home, which will help us in the years ahead. Similarly, every organisation, ministry, or church needs to go through times of reinvention and renewal to stay in touch with the emerging generation and prepare for the future. It doesn’t change
so much what they do, but it changes how they engage with the broader culture and community.
Humanitarian Aid. In addition, we’ll articulate who does what and underline how you can be involved.
That is exactly what World Outreach (WO) has done. For the past few years, the International Leadership Team has spent considerable time mapping out WO’s direction from 2020 to 2025. To do so, we’ve been working on some things that need updating (just like our bathroom). Our mission and focus on the unreached will remain exactly the same, but a few important things will change, such as our website, a new logo, a revised mission statement, and more. As you read the pages of this special edition, we’ll take you through each one.
We’re so excited about where we’re heading as a mission. We can’t wait to share it with you.
Bruce Hills
International Director
We’ll also showcase the five focuses of WO: Raising Leaders, Evangelism and Church Planting, All Nations Mobilisation, Children’s Ministry, and ISSUE 2, 2019
2
A Mission Statement... After a lot of deliberation and consultation, the World Outreach (WO) mission statement has been revised to encapsulate and articulate exactly why WO exists.
“World Outreach exists to evangelise and disciple unreached people groups, equipping them to disciple their own and other peoples." Here are some explanatory notes for the new mission statement.
‘…evangelise and disciple…’ World Outreach exists to bring the Good News of Jesus (the Gospel) to those who have never heard. Importantly, WO’s end goal is not just to evangelise, but to make disciples. People become disciples (followers of Jesus) through evangelism, but they grow and mature in their faith through the process of discipleship.
‘…unreached people groups…’ 1 The term ‘unreached people group’ (UPG) is used in missions circles to describe an ethno-linguistic people group ‘among which there is no
indigenous community of believing Christians with adequate numbers and resources to evangelise this people 2 group without outside assistance’.
‘…equipping them to evangelise and disciple their own… peoples.’ In the definition of UPG above, a people group is designated as ‘unreached’ because they cannot evangelise or disciple their own people ‘without outside assistance’. To WO, success is not measured by just presenting the Gospel to an unreached people group, but by discipling Christians within a people group to be able to reach (through evangelism) and disciple
(through disciple-making) their own people without external help. In short, WO’s objective is to equip, enable, and empower the people they have reached and discipled to do the same for their own people.
‘…their own and other peoples.’ WO’s goal would be that the people group it has reached would be sufficiently enabled (through teaching and training) to not only evangelise and disciple their own people, but fulfil the Great Commission by going to another UPG to evangelise and disciple them. In this way, WO is mobilising the greatest mission force the world has ever known.
1 The former WO mission statement used the term ‘least-reached people group’ (LRP), but we have decided on UPG because it is more
self-explanatory, it is used interchangeably with UPG, and WO is increasingly focussed on those who have never heard the Gospel. 2 https://joshuaproject.net/help/definitions#unreached 3
New Logo
The logo represents a number of things:
• Note the ‘O’ embedded in the ‘W’ which captures both the W and O of World Outreach. • The two wings of the ‘W’ are representative of arms reaching out to God in worship and prayer. • The logo also illustrates the process encapsulated in the mission statement. One side of the ‘W’ signifies the WO field personnel (missionaries) reaching out to an unreached people group. The ‘O’ or circle in the middle represents the process of evangelism and disciple-making. The other side of the ‘W’ speaks of the reached people group then going out to reach other people groups.
New Tagline
It encompasses the past (‘since 1932’), the future (‘advancing’) and our central mission (‘the Cause’), which is another way of saying the Great Commission.
ISSUE 2, 2019
4
Our New Website A significant part of our rebranding efforts is the launch of a brand-new website. Our previous website served us well for seven years but it has come time to upgrade and serve you even better.
5
Here are a few features of the new and improved website:
Content is location-specific. When you visit the site, your location is detected, and if you are from a country where we have a country office, the information relevant to your country is shown. This includes giving information, any country specific advertisements, or updates. If you are not in one of the nine countries represented by an office, then you will see the international site by default.
Our nationsmagazine.org website has merged with the World Outreach site. You will still see the magazine content in the section, News & Stories. This section will also include content not found in the printed magazine, including video testimonies and interviews.
A map on the homepage features the regions where we are ministering. When a region is clicked, Those in the Netherlands will soon be able to view the site in Dutch. Most pages will be translated into Dutch
you are taken to a page showing all projects, news, and stories related to that area.
with the exception of news, stories, and other frequently changing content, which will remain in English but with the ability to auto-translate.
The website is also cleaner, and easier to use and get around. We hope you enjoy it!
It’s easier than ever to give. Our new donation page is simple and more streamlined. Donations are made in local currency. If you are on the international site, you can choose your currency, but if you are on the site of a certain country, the local currency is chosen.
Take a look at the new features by visiting
world-outreach.com
ISSUE 2, 2019
6
Follow Us On Social Media Instagram For a visually rich experience of mostly photos, follow us on Instagram.
@wo.worldoutreach Like and comment on our photos. We love hearing from you!
Facebook Keep up-to-date with all our news by following us on Facebook. This will also be another avenue to donate to World Outreach.
@WOworldoutreach We love it when you comment, react, and share our posts. Spread the good things that are happening in WO!
Youtube and Vimeo Watch inspiring stories, testimonies, and reports from the field by subscribing to us on Youtube or following us on Vimeo.
www.youtube.com/user/worldoutreach vimeo.com/worldoutreach Like and comment on our videos. We love your feedback!
7
Where We Serve Our workers are in many different locations all over the globe, reaching people who have little or no access to the Gospel.
240+
Cross-Cultural Workers
350+
National Workers
70+
Nations
149+
Current Status Of World Outreach:
• 240 expatriate missionaries from 30 nations • 360 national workers serving in WO ministries • 50% of total personnel from majority world • Thousands of pastors, leaders, and workers • WO missionaries serving in 70 nations • Engagement with 149 unreached people groups • 9 Country Offices • Nearly 1/3 of WO’s missionaries using pseudonyms due to security problems
Unreached people groups
ISSUE 2, 2019
8
Who’s Who In World Outreach? International Board
Pictured above (from left to right): Laura Kuimba, Bruce Hills, Wayne Freeman, Gary Levens (Chairperson), Rachel B, Rob Reid, Luke Chong. Absent: Lorraine Dierck.
World Outreach (WO) is domiciled in New Zealand. The International Board provides governance to the WO operations and ministries, and meets biannually.
International Leadership Team
International Director
Pictured above (from left to right): Chia Shee Wai (Executive Manager), Ivan Venter, Bambi C, Bruce Hills (International Director), Maria Ramos Sarah, Ben B, Peter Smith (Field Ministries Director).
Bruce Hills
The role of the International Leadership Team (ILT) is to oversee the operational management of World Outreach, along with setting and implementing mission, vision, strategy, goals, initiatives, and policies. The ILT meets twice yearly.
*Some names are abbreviated for security reasons
9
The International Director is the leader of World Outreach. Bruce is based in Melbourne, Australia. He is married to Fiona and has three grown children, two daughters-in-law, and one granddaughter.
One World
7.5 billion people
3 billion people are living in unreached people groups
40% of the world’s people groups are unreached
Unreached people groups (UPG) are culturally unique ethno-linguistic groups that require outside assistance because they do not have sufficient resources or communities of believing Christians to effectively evangelise their own people. ISSUE 2, 2019
10
Our Distinctives Unreached People Group (UPG) Focus
We focus on peoples within the main cultural and religious blocs who lack indigenous communities of believers able to effectively evangelise their own people group without external help.
Holistic Ministries
Practical care, evangelism, and church planting ministries combine for transformation of communities and people groups.
Training
We train and equip pastors, leaders, and children’s workers among the unreached. Our personnel receive training and coaching, particularly for cross-cultural mission.
Field-Driven Initiatives
Vision, ministry initiatives, and strategies come primarily from the field in response to the specific needs of unreached peoples.
Intercultural
Our personnel come from many cultural backgrounds and ages at all levels of ministry involvement and leadership.
Global Partnerships
Partnerships are initiated with local churches, other ministries, and mission agencies to accomplish strategic outcomes.
Personnel
We believe it takes more than enthusiasm to be a good missionary. Commitment is essential and so is character. And most important of all, we need the power of the Holy Spirit.
Leadership
World Outreach is accountable to an international board of Christian leaders for policies and procedures.
Finances
Sound stewardship is the hallmark of our ministry. We seek to be responsible in our management and highly cost effective in the promotion of our personnel and their ministry.
11
Our Values Faith and Initiative
We believe that God has called us to serve him responsibly with faith, vision, and initiative.
Teamwork and Relationships
We recognise that effective Christian ministry is best accomplished in relationship with others. We therefore value every effort to work together harmoniously in teams and to maintain the unity of the Holy Spirit. We also value working in partnership with other mission agencies and the various expressions of Christ’s body for God-honouring outcomes.
The Body of Christ
Jesus Christ is building his church from people out of every nation, tribe, people, and language. We therefore value the body of Christ and seek to do all that we can to encourage, strengthen, equip, and challenge believers from every nation to fulfil Christ’s Great Commission.
Leadership and Accountability
We believe that God has made Jesus Christ the Head of all. He has also placed leaders in WO to model his lifestyle and to give oversight, supervision, and point of accountability to the ministry.
Flexibility and Innovation
We recognise that biblical principles are inviolate but in an ever-changing world, ministry methods must change in order to meet felt needs and cultural distinctives.
Integrity and Stewardship
We are conscious that all we have and are has been given to us by God and that one day we will give an account to him for the way we have managed this trust.
Spirituality and Character Development
We believe it is crucial that every believer maintains a vibrant personal relationship with Jesus Christ. We therefore value the importance of prayer and fasting, studying the Word of God, and regular worship.
ISSUE 2, 2019
12
Our Focus With a long and fruitful history of pioneering ministries around the globe, we are able to strategically partner with churches, businesses, and individuals to reach ethnic communities who have never heard the Good News.
We have five major ministry focuses through which the Gospel is being established among unreached people groups. Using the acronym R.E.A.C.H., they are:
aising Leaders vangelism & Church Planting ll Nations Mobilisation hildren’s Ministry
umanitarian Aid
13
R
aising Leaders
We are committed to the equipping, development, and mobilisation of pastors and leaders across the majority world for ministry and mission through intentional, focused, and contextuallyrelevant leadership training. Since 1978, we have conducted such seminars and training events in the majority world. Pastors and leaders in the majority world are often untrained or have limited Bible knowledge or ministry skills to lead their local churches; however, they love God deeply and are passionately committed to the kingdom of God. The cry for relevant training from these leaders across the world is staggering in size and scale.
We also recognise that conventional missionaries are not going to be able to accomplish the massive task of reaching the unreached people groups alone. The answer is to equip and mobilise the church in the majority world to reach out to near-neighbour people groups with whom they share an affinity of culture, ethnicity or language.
An enthusiastic leader during a leadership seminar (Malawi)
Christian Discipleship Centre (Bangladesh)
Men at a leadership seminar (Malawi)
Leadership seminar (Nepal) ISSUE 2, 2019
14
This group of people is praying about where to plant churches next (Nepal).
Women praying for each other (Mozambique)
Praying for a woman (Thailand)
A boy reading the Bible (Indonesia)
vangelism & Church Planting WO is seeing an explosion of church planting in many places in Asia and Africa as our church planters boldly declare the name of Jesus with miracles accompanying the preaching of God’s Word.
15
Our church planting is combined with training and mentoring of church leaders to help them disciple new believers so that generations of new leaders are raised up and a movement of new churches is birthed.
ll Nations Mobilisation WO believes that the Great Commission is not just some task to be attempted, but a goal to be achieved. The only way this can be done is if Christians throughout the world are equipped and mobilised for mission, especially cross-cultural mission. As a mission agency, WO therefore seeks to serve churches by providing practical resources, effective training programmes, and pathways for mission experience.
When someone feels a call to mission service, WO provides the proven training courses, mentorship, and field leadership to facilitate their call onto the field. WO is committed to see women and men from both the majority and minority world, from all generations, actively encouraged, equipped, and engaged in mission service.
Participants at The Nations Course (Thailand)
Teamwork at a Nations Course
Kairos participants praying for a UPG
Participants at a Kairos course (Guatemala) ISSUE 2, 2019
16
hildren’s Ministry In most nations in the majority world, more than 50% of the population are under the age of 15 years. We conduct hundreds of outreaches in schools, local communities, and in churches. Children are often the door that opens the way to reaching whole communities for Christ.
Outreaches include correspondence courses that bring children to faith in Christ and, wherever possible, these children are directed to local churches to be discipled. WO is committed to equipping children’s workers with contemporary resources to not only reach, but disciple and teach children about the Word of God.
Young students at ACE School (Ivory Coast)
Village children (Indonesia) 17
Two boys (Mozambique)
Children praying (Thailand)
A young boy at Maziotela Ministries (Mozambique)
A young baby (Mozambique)
Devastation after an earthquake (Indonesia)
Unloading supplies (Mozambique)
umanitarian Aid When natural disaster strikes, as resources permit, we are able to initiate a response to communities in need, providing them with funds to buy food, water, medicine, and replace household goods that have been destroyed. Our aid includes a commitment to disaster relief in partnership with WO missionaries on the ground and/or other respected charities or non-governmental organisations.
In some areas of Africa where famine ravishes many families year after year, we run feeding and nutrition programmes to bring relief to those affected.
ISSUE 2, 2019
18
How To Support Missionaries Through Prayer
Bruce Hills | International Director of World Outreach. Ask any missionary what their biggest needs are, and they generally answer with two things: (1) more prayer support and (2) greater financial support. Prayer for World Outreach’s (WO) field personnel (missionaries) is vital. We invite and challenge you to support WO’s field personnel in prayer. There are two ways you can do so.
PRAYER CHALLENGE – Monthly Prayer Guide Each month, WO Prayer Coordinator, Tina Wessels, sends out an email that will focus on a particular nation and our personnel serving in it. These emails will provide specific needs in the nation and in our personnel’s lives. If you would like to commit yourself to partner with others in unified, concerted prayer to change the world, please sign up at world-outreach.com/pray.
either posted on the PrayerMate App or emailed to you each day. This means you can easily pray at home or on the go by receiving these updates. By subscribing through the PrayerMate app, you will receive Frontline Prayer requests each time you use the app. PrayerMate is available for Apple, Android, and Amazon devices. Either download the app or visit world-outreach. com/pray. Alternatively, you can subscribe to receive daily emails by visiting world-outreach.com/pray. When you commit to daily prayer, our missionaries are backed up and supported spiritually while facing challenges on the mission front. Prayer makes a difference!
FRONTLINE PRAYER – daily prayer guide
"Pray for me, too. Ask God to give me the right words so I can boldly explain God’s mysterious plan that the Good News is for Jews and Gentiles alike…pray that I will keep on speaking boldly for him, as I should." (Ephesians 6:19-20, NLT)
Frontline Prayer provides you with the daily, up-to-date prayer needs of our WO mission personnel. A fresh prayer request is
Your prayer can make a difference!
SPECIAL NOTE – A MAJOR CHANGE TO FRONTLINE PRAYER IN FUTURE EDITIONS OF NATIONS For decades, there has been a special 3-4 page spread in every edition of Nations displaying the names, photos, and locations of our missionaries under the title of Frontline Prayer. However, nearly a third of our missionaries have had to adopt pseudonyms and cannot reveal where they are working. Given this security concern, we have reluctantly made the decision to withdraw these pages from future editions. However, you can receive daily, up-to-date prayer requests via email by simply going to world-outreach.com/pray and following the prompts. 19
Didasko Academy has launched! Henry and Betsy V | Henry and Betsy are the directors of Didasko Academy.
Didasko Academy is a ministry of World Outreach that produces highquality online video-based training that aims to cover all aspects of the task of completing the Great Commission. Didasko courses have some advantages over other training courses: • All the courses are free of charge. All you need is a computer or mobile phone and an internet connection. • The courses are in English but have subtitles in many languages. These subtitles scroll along as the videos play, and a video can be rewound to an earlier place by simply scrolling the text back and clicking on a word in the text. Initially, the subtitles will be computer-translated. While computers are not yet able to make good translations, the translations should help those for whom English
is not their first language. We are looking for volunteers to translate the subtitles well. Two translation projects are underway already, namely Mandarin and Bahasa Indonesian. • Didasko courses are flexible in that you can complete them at your own pace. They have been designed so that individuals can do courses on their own, or in groups led by facilitators. Facilitators do not have to be experts on the subject matter; they can learn along with the group they lead. We encourage all students to participate in the online discussion forums so that they can also learn from one another. • Upon successful completion of a course, students receive a digital certificate.
• All our courses are open and freely available to any churches, organizations, and individuals who share our purpose. Our prayer is that others will join us in this movement of freedom. Currently, these courses are available: • The Bible and Missions • Discipling the Nations • Roles in Frontier Missions • Prayer Strategy for Life and Ministry We are hard at work developing more courses. “Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.” (Winston Churchill).
Have a look at the website at www.dasko.org
ISSUE 2, 2019
20
An invitation to financially partner with World Outreach to reach the unreached
World Outreach is a faith-based organisation. This means that we rely on the giving of individuals, families, churches, and businesses to fund our ministry. We value and recognise our financial partners as an indispensable part of our work among the unreached people groups. Thank you for prayerfully considering how God may want you to contribute. There are a number of areas to which you can designate your giving.
General Donations A general donation ensures that World Outreach is enabled to facilitate and equip its field personnel to evangelise and disciple unreached people groups. These necessary funds enable us to do what we do.
Field Personnel (Missionary) Support A gift to the support of a World Outreach missionary ensures they are financially enabled to do what God has called them to do on the field. In this way, you’re directly partnering with individuals as they actively reach and disciple the unreached people groups.
Project Sponsorship World Outreach missionaries often submit project applications for their work among the unreached people groups. This ranges from literacy programmes and community development initiatives to building projects. All of these projects are linked to the primary goal of evangelising and discipling an unreached people group. All the projects World Outreach approves require funding from donations.
21
Disaster Relief / Humanitarian Crisis * Many people groups have remained resistant to the Gospel and our personnel until a disaster or tragedy strikes. Providing humanitarian aid expresses the love of Jesus in a practical way, at a time when people need it most. Along with meeting their physical needs and building trust, the Gospel may be introduced as the answer to their deeper spiritual needs. When natural disasters strike close to where we have teams, we have a compelling desire to help quickly and practically. By contributing to this fund, you are actively empowering World Outreach with the resources necessary to respond to a humanitarian crisis. *Some Aid and Relief Projects offer tax-deductibility in some nations. Please see the website for details of the tax-deductible eligibility of projects in your country.
Bequests Including a gift to the ministry of World Outreach in your will is a special and personal way to continue making a difference in the world after your life on earth has passed.
Simply go to www.world-outreach/give and follow the prompts
The new WO website now makes it easier than ever to give. It now offers the opportunity to give in many more major currencies.
ISSUE 2, 2019
22
Join an exciting two-month long exposure trip! Ever wondered what your role is in fulfilling God’s plan for your life? Discover your place in missions by going on an extraordinary experience to the nations. The Mission Intensive will take you to authentic mission fields within Asia or Africa. Daily, you
will get to learn from experienced missionaries through formal study on various mission topics, invest in learning a language and culture, and see how different styles of ministry are bringing the Gospel to unreached people groups.
Get started on your journey to the nations. Apply now or find out more:
world-outreach.com/mission-intensive or scan QR-code