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Monday Morning Reality Check
Inform! Remind! Persuade! 1.1 billion people have yet to hear the Good News.

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Global Plans to evangelize the world
by Justin D. Long

Of 788 global plans to evangelize the world (AD30-AD1988):

Types

• 73 visions or scenarios
• 50 calls, appeals or slogans
• 25 special sermons or encyclicals
• 113 documents, reports or books
• 89 promises, intents or resolutions
• 41 unorganized attempts or movements
• 56 statements by organized bodies
• 64 plans announced but left in outline only
• 101 serious plans with some details
• 84 strategies with considerable detail
• 92 massively-detailed blueprints

Ecclesiastical origin

Protestant	513	65.1%
Roman Catholic	120	15.2%
Evangelical	112	14.2%
Pentecostal/charismatic	89	11.3%
Nondenominational	82	10.4%
Ecumenical	72	9.1%
Interdenominational	52	6.6%

Point of origin

Western world	599
Communist world	16
Third-World	173

Magnitude of resources expended

Negligible	69	One individual's work only, minimal expenditures
Minimal	110	A few individuals, minimal expenditures
Limited	137	A small team: under $10,000 p.a.
Modest	138	10-100 workers, or $10,000 - $100,000 p.a.
Sizeable	146	100-1,000 workers, or $100,000-$10 million p.a.
Massive	155	Over 1,000 workers, or $10 million to $100 million p.a.
Gigantic	33	Over 5,000 workers, or over $100 million p.a. ($1 billion per decade)

Cooperation with other traditions

None	177
Minimal	149
Partial	184
General	196
Essential	49
Total	33

Global plans in 1990

410 current global plans

260 current global plans making progress

78 global megaplans

33 global gigaplans

Decade of Evangelization names:

• Decade of Universal Evangelization
• Worldwide Decade of Evangelization (Catholic Church)
• Decade of Harvest (Assemblies of God)
• Decade of Destiny (Church of God)
• Decade of Opportunity (LCWE)
• Decade of Evangelism (World Methodist Council)
• Decade of Evangelism (Anglican Communion)
• Decade of Bold Mission (Southern Baptist Convention)
• Decade of World Evangelization (Charismatic Renewal)
• Decade of Decision
• Decade of Decisions (Presbyterian)
• Decade of Humility
• Decade of Concerted Prayer
• Decade of New Responsibilities

Current status of all plans since AD33

Fizzled out, dead, forgotten	37.7%
Defunct because of no interest	5.2%
Defunct because completion claimed	1.8%
Implemented but not achieved	6.2%
Alive but fizzling out	3.9%
Alive but in decline	4.8%
Alive but static	4.9%
Alive but redefined	3.2%
Alive and making progress	17.0%
Alive and being massively implemented	15.2%

What does it mean?

CHRISTIANS EVERYWHERE ARE CONCERNED. Christians all over the world are concerned for world evangelization. The wealth of plans in 1988 -- and the many more launched since then -- indicates this concern is not limited to a handful or a few thousand, but rather to a vast majority of the church. What's more, these 788 plans are for =global= evangelization: there are hundreds more which concern only a single country or a single region. The fact that there exist today over 200 plans that have some detailed planning--half of these with a serious amount of detail--means that, whatever conclusion you might draw from poor attendance at a missions conference, and no matter how cynical you may feel about the small size of the missions-active "core" of your church, the movement for world evangelization is alive and very, very strong.

2. MISSIONS ISN'T CONFINED TO A SINGLE REGION, TRADITION OR ETHNIC GROUP. Although clearly most of the "planning" energy is in the Protestant camp, nevertheless the wide ecclesiastical base of the database is another indicator of the strength, vitality and energy of the movement for world evangelization. Likewise, the "point of origin" is an equally important indicator. Christians of all traditions, all walks of life, all nationalities, all languages are all interested in the Great Commission. The cry for world evangelization is not confined to any single tradition, nor to any single region of the world. It's not just a Protestant thing, nor a Catholic thing, nor an Orthodox thing, nor a European thing, nor an American thing, nor even a Western thing. Global evangelization is a concern of the Christian church in Latin America, Africa, Asia, the Middle East, Central Asia... indeed, throughout the whole of the world.

3. THERE ARE MASSIVE RESOURCES INVOLVED. Another indicator of the strength of the global evangelization movement is the magnitude of resources expended.

4. LACK OF COOPERATION (THOUGH WE'RE IMPROVING): Unfortunately, many of these plans lack any level of cooperation--not just with plans of other traditions (e.g. Protestant/Catholic, Catholic/Orthodox, etc.) but even cooperation within their own tradition (e.g. two Protestant agencies). Fortunately, we have begun to see improvement in this area over the past decade. The AD2000&Beyond Movement, for example, has brought new levels of cooperation between various Protestant agencies. The World By 2000 radio broacasting initiative is an exemplary case study in cooperation. And, there are large numbers of small agencies, particularly in America, which are now going out of their way to network with other small agencies--home-based "tentmakers" and small "one-man" mission agencies which can make a sizable impact on a single ethnic group. Nevertheless, we've still got a long way to go.

5. TOO MANY SLOGANS, TOO FEW PROMISES, AND NOT NEARLY AS MUCH LONG-TERM COMMITMENT: The "Decade of Evangelization" (1990-2000) which is halfway over has had many slogans, visions, goals, ideas, plans, thrusts, media campaigns, and a lot of energy. Now, we're beginning to hear from many corners the following refrain: "That wasn't a promise... That wasn't a pledge... It was a vision, a goal, an intention, a desire, a wish..."

There's an obvious reason why we're creating slogans. There is a trend today toward an anti-intellectual society marked by short attention spans, short-term commitments, one-shot projects, feel-good programs and overnight campaigns. Even areas of the world previously untouched by this trend are beginning to feel the heat: an article out of China recently decried the Westernization of its youth which was leading, it claimed, to higher rates of immorality and divorce.

If we're ever going to see the world evangelized, short-term commitments just won't do. Breaking the language and cultural barrier of a new ethnic group can require as much as four to five years, and preaching the Gospel can require more years still. A massive influx of new missionaries for World A is needed--people who will commit to spending their life among Berber tribes, among Buddhist monks in the high, cold, Tibetan mountains, among the rice-farmers of North Korea, among the wandering nomads of southern Iraq, among the warrior tribes of Afghanistan. How are they going to be mobilized--particularly out of this short-term culture where many marriages end in divorce in the first two years, and people are retreating from cities to find an easier life in the suburbs and countrysides?

6. TOO MANY FORGOTTEN PLANS. A third of all plans have "fizzled out." They are dead, forgotten, lost in a file cabinet, dropped on the floor. They were eliminated due to an inability to raise funds, or due to too little interest, or due to bureacracy foul-ups. They're like a firecracker that we lit, and then either just fizzled out or exploded on the launching pad. Some are spectacular failures, and others are just "duds."

All too many of us make plans but fail to consult the history books, to adequately research the things that have happened before, and most especially are happening right now. We fail to take the full measure of the forces prevailing around us. And we aren't held accountable when mistakes are made. Many plans could be fixed, repaired, upgraded, and re-launched: but they aren't, because we don't want to examine our own mistakes. Too often we'd prefer just to shove them under the carpet. And, we don't want to examine the mistakes of others for lessons we can learn--or their successes, which we could apply.

In our plans we are all too often susceptible to pride, envy, jealousy, apathy, laziness and blindness. And these all add up to failed plans.

Fortunately, that's not always true. About 32% of the existing plans are alive and making rapid progress.

In summary We Christians have a massive pool of manpower, prayer coverage and financial resources. We have the way, and we have the will. There are vast numbers of missions-minded Christians who have a burden on their heart to see the world evangelized. They need to know the facts, they need a direction to go in, and they need commitment for the long haul. Facts we can give them, direction we can determine, commitment we must pray that God will grant. And those who are founding and leading plans must be willing, more than ever, to make themselves transparent, to offer their lives and their ministries up to mentors and friends who will be loving brothers, and to dedicate themselves to stamping out failure. We'll fail, it's true--but we can take steps to limit obvious temptations.

Questions

1. Do you have one individual (or department) in your organization who spends time each month searching for new ways to improve the quality and efficiency with which your organization runs?

2. Do you have one individual (or department) charged with monitoring what is going on both within your organization and within other organizations, who is able to identify potential networks and alliances?

3. Does the leadership, and the organization as a whole, have any sort of system of accountability, where people can meet with others and share spiritual, mental, material accountability?

4. Is your plan for impacting the world a "vision," a "goal" -- or is it a pledge? Can you achieve the pledge? We shouldn't make promises we can't keep, but should we make slogans that we don't think we can fulfill? Isn't that just as bad--particularly when the slogan looks so much like a promise?