The Seven Stages of Effective Engagement among the Unreached Presented by: Tim Freeman April, 2018

Jesus commanded his followers to make disciples from among all people groups. He promises his support as the Church undertakes this responsibility. However, people groups remain that do not yet have known believers. Therefore, engaging the remaining people groups without disciples must be the highest priority in missions in our generation.

Revelation 5:9 and 7:9 Revelation 5:9 and 7:9 gives vital definition to Jesus’ commission to the Church in Matthew 28:19: “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations….” Revelation 5:9: “With your blood you purchased for God persons from every tribe and language and people and nation.” Revelation 7:9: “There before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb.”

What is a people group? A significantly large grouping of individuals who perceive themselves to have a common affinity with one another. "For evangelization purposes, a people group is the largest group within which the Gospel can spread as a church planting movement without encountering barriers of understanding or acceptance.“ https://joshuaproject.net/help/definitions

The Process of Engagement Engagement occurs when workers are living among the people and are actively implementing a biblical church planting strategy on their behalf. The process of engagement unfolds through seven stages.

The Seven Stages of Effective Engagement UUPG adoption Missionaries placed among the UUPG Early disciples are made The first church is planted The indigenous church plants at least one other indigenous church A church planting movement begins among the people group The people group sends its missionaries to other people groups

Stage One: Adoption Commitment to the UUPG (“Grafting in”) Research to pinpoint the opportunity Prayer, prayer, prayer Candidate selection and training Early strategy identified Authentic platform identified Financial and member care support in place Other logistics done

Stage Two: Missionaries Fielded Missionaries arrive on the field Housing, visas other details taken care of Language and culture studies undertaken Research conducted for location with access to the UUPG Authentic platform refined which gives long term visa and also easy access to the people Relationships are developed

Stage 3: First disciples Missionaries continue relational development Fears and aspirations of the local people begin to be identified and addressed by a contextual approach to ministry The community is saturated with the Word of God through teaching, media, and practical ministries (extent may be limited by factors) First believers come to Christ and discipleship is undertaken

Stage 4: First church planted The number of new believers grows A viable discipleship approach is undertaken New disciples learn how to lead others to Christ New disciples learn how to disciple and lead others A church is inaugurated when there is sufficient numbers of disciples

Stage 5: Indigenous church plants at least one other indigenous church The local church develops its own leadership The missionary may help the church to plant others churches or this may come from within Discipleship and leadership development in the new churches undertaken by the indigenous church The new church plants at least one new church.

Hypothesis: Effective Engagement is achieved at Stage 5 Once the indigenous church has planted at least one additional church, this is a strong indication that the Gospel has taken deep root in the culture in a contextualized manner that produces local ownership of the ministry initiatives. Care must be taken that the new churches are thoroughly biblical.

Stage Six: A church planting movement begins among the people group Ordinary believers are motivated to share their faith with others They are given a simple and easily replicable process to use such as the Discovery Bible Study method New groups overcome community pressure and organize into viable churches Churches continue being planted along relational lines using simple, reproducible methods

Stage Seven: The people group sends its missionaries to other people groups The church is anticipated to be a missional church from the very beginning Early missional efforts to another people group will work best along relational lines The church is taught basic principles of cross-cultural ministry Missions to another people group can be done even as the home churches continue to reach out and grow within their own group.

Conclusion Engaging the unreached is a missiological priority. Initial engagement, deepened through the seven stage process, can virtually eliminate the prospect of regression (“unengagement”). The goal is not simply “engagement”, but “effective engagement” resulting in healthy churches and church planting movements.