How To Adopt An Unreached People Group

1. Envisioning your church

   During this stage, vision for church planting among an unreached people is proclaimed, taught, and nurtured among the fellowship by church leadership. The goal leadership is moving towards is for the church as a whole to own the overall mission. . . to have a God-given passion for it.

   Members of the congregation can be the catalysts for the envisioning process to begin, but until senior leadership has embraced the vision and is leading the way, we are not yet dealing with the process of a church.

   An important milestone is for the church as a whole to reach the place where it can fully embrace the idea of focusing its resources . . . giftings, energies, finances . . . to reach a particular people group.

   Three Key Components to this Stage:

   	Prayer - The church enters a season of seeking God for His will in this matter. There must be a sense that "We have heard the Lord."
   	Mission Education - The church seeks to understand God's overall mission on earth, studying the Biblical material, the history of missions, and the progress of world evangelization to date. What is God's mission on earth? What has been completed? What is there specifically remaining to be completed?
   	Exploratory trips among unreached peoples - In this way, the church gains valuable first-hand information and enters a prime place from which to seek God's direction and confirmation in prayer.

2. Committing to a people group

   This stage involves the processing of information and experiences that have taken place during the Envisioning Stage, so that a decision can be reached about adopting a specific unreached people group. During the Envisioning Stage, a philosophy of focus has been embraced and direct exposure to unreached peoples has taken place. Now it is time to narrow down the possibilities and discern which particular people group God is calling the church to target.

   Three Conditions in this Stage:

   	The senior leadership is committed to the mission - They must sense that this is part of God's call upon the church. It is not enough for them to just bless what others want to do.
   	A growing sense of ownership throughout the Body - This will be a fruit of the envisioning ministry of the church's leaders.
   	A counting of the cost - What is being considered here is an aggressive thrust into enemy territory in obedience to the mandate of Christ. There will be a significant price to pay, as passages like Hebrews 11 make clear. The stakes are high, and one cannot assume that there will be no losses from a human perspective. The church, led by its leaders, and in dependence upon the Lord, trusts Him for His grace, strength, protection and provision in whatever the mission requires.

   
   

3. Strategizing the approach

   This stage involves the development of a strategy for reaching the adopted people group. The resources and giftings of the church must be considered, along with the unique opportunities and challenges of the people group. The possibility of partnerships with other churches and organizations come into play at this point. The goal is to develop the foundations for a plan that get the church moving in the right direction, knowing full well that there will be additions and deletions along the way. The primary question in this stage is, "How do we practically implement our decision to engage this particular people group?"

   Four Questions to Consider in Pursuing this Stage:

   	What are the opportunities among our target people group? What are their real and felt needs? Medical . . . educational . . . business skills . . . learning English? How do we place our people among them? Do some individuals and families from our adopted people group live in our own home city? Might we begin ministering among them here?
   	What are the strengths of our church? What spiritual gifts do our people seem strong in? What areas of vocational expertise are prevalent among us? How has God led us as a church up to now? How might that experience come into play in reaching our unreached people group?
   	What are the threats to this mission? What might derail us? Among our adopted people (political realities, economic vulnerabilities, etc.)? Among us as a church... where might the enemy's attack most likely be directed?
   	What are the areas where our church will need help from others? Whom might we access for that help? What connections with the larger body of Christ do we already enjoy? Other churches? Organizations? Mission agencies? What kinds of partnerships are we going to need?

4. Training the participants

   This stage may be the most significant of all. It involves the identification, training, and release of personnel capable of implementing the strategic plan. One might assume here that we are talking exclusively about field personnel. Not at all. Training and equipping those who will be central to the initiative, but will remain at home, is also vitally important. Therefore, training becomes a critical component for those who go and for those back home.

   Training is an on-going process that spans the life of the initiative and is strongly connected to the overall success. The fact that God loves to use "ordinary people" and that every believer can play a significant role in world evangelization must never give us permission to minimize thorough and effective training in every area.

   Some of the Areas Where Training Is Needed:

   	Spiritual life formation
   	Equipping those back home to care for and empower those who go
   	Team life
   	Cross cultural ministry
   	Church planting

5. Engaging the people group

   This stage begins with the establishment of an effective ministry among the target people group, and continues on until they are reached, or until God leads the church to do otherwise. The challenge during this stage is maintaining focus and commitment over long periods of time when there may be very little to report in terms of tangible results. Church planting among unreached peoples is often a long and challenging process.

   Five Potential Forms of Engagement:

   The church can . . .

   	Send its own church planting team, facilitated through an organizational structure (apostolic), the church itself forms
   	Send a church planting team in partnership with a mission agency
   	Send some of its members as part of another church planting team, in partnership with another church or mission agency
   	Render practical support to a church planting initiative already underway among the target people
   	Provide assistance to the emerging national church among the target peoples as it seeks to reproduce

   Three Post-engagement Things to Keep in Mind:

   	Additional personnel will probably be needed . . . Over time there is every likelihood that some original personnel will need to return home. And as the initiative matures, a different gift and skill set may be needed. The training process can be ongoing, with new team members continually in preparation.
   	New partnerships can be forged - Sometimes the most powerful partnerships are those begun through informally working together while actually "on the field."
   	Pastoral care for long-term field personnel is critical. Living and ministering among an unreached people for months and years is very demanding spiritually, emotionally, and physically. The strains on family life are intense. Healthy churches are filled with pastorally gifted and experienced people who can be employed in the long-term care of "those who go." Developing the capacity to deliver that care, and sustain it over the long haul, once again highlights the level of commitment required on the part of the whole church, both leaders and people.