GlobalCAST Resources - Mentoring Missions Advocates

All People Are Equally Lost But Not All Are Equally Needy

Affirming the equal lostness of all people while informing about unequal neediness of unreached people groups with little to no access to the Gospel

Every disciple has a role in Jesus’ Great Commission

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We'd just like to stop and acknowledge something. There is a dark side to missions mobilization. Think about it, when people hear of a missions event, often they're going to find something else to do. Why? Because they're expecting some guilt manipulation. Maybe pictures of overwhelming need, maybe being shown that they're not giving and praying and going enough and they're thinking I' already know I'm falling short, Thank you very much! I don't need more of that.

Did you know that the word mobilize simply means "to put into motion"? And we found it very interesting to think about this idea in light of the nature and character of God himself. When you think about it God is the one who is put into motion everything that is. Right? He spoke the universe into being. He spun those galaxies into motion and from that time until now he is the one who has been putting things into motion and moving His story forward.

Elsewhere we’ve made a case that missions mobilization is actually more than recruitment. There’s nothing wrong with recruitment, it’s like picking fruit, right? You’ve got people who are ready to pray, and give, and go, and you help them step into those opportunities. That’s great! I hope you have a whole lot more of that. And yet, missions mobilization actually, in the long run, has much more in common with discipleship and disciple-making than you might think.

There’s a great community development principle that says “God is already there”. It’s just reminding us that we didn’t bring God into that context, He was already there and He’s already at work. And we should come in in a way where we stay present to that reality and try to evaluate what He’s doing and come alongside that.

So how do you create ownership and buy in? Well, this is a really important question especially again for those of us who are leading volunteers, who are leading a movement where you cannot just tell people "do it because I said so!".

One community development principle goes like this. "Community development starts with me". So in our case, it would be "Missions mobilization starts with me"