• Our hope-filled future is bound up in sharing the story of Jesus, in discipling others, in bringing those disciples together into communities of believers, and in developing and releasing those believers to create other communities... till Jesus the King comes again!

18 months

Posted on February 7, 2022 by wtdavid

This month, we launch the 18-month challenge.

The challenge? To ask God, and work with all our strength and wisdom, to put workers on the ground in our two (2) global priority projects within 18 months.

These two global priority projects are each focused on an unreached people group with limited access to the Gospel.  One is in South Asia, the other in Chad.

In South Asia, over 150 million people have very limited access to the message of Christ.

In Chad, almost 60,000 people, in the specific people group on whom we are focusing, have no access to the Gospel with only one known Christian family among them.

When I read these figures, my thoughts turn to that passage in Luke 24:32 where the travellers on the way to Emmaus talk about their encounter with the resurrected Christ: “Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked to us on the road, while he opened to us the Scriptures?”

I pray that we as a World Team Global community will be stirred to join in participating in this 18-month challenge.  It will only be by God’s grace and intervention that we will finally see workers on the ground in 18 months. However, God is calling us to participate in what He longs to do: to bring to Himself people from all nations, language groups and peoples.

Maybe your part to play will be prayer.  Maybe it will be sharing your networks of potential candidates.  Maybe it will be navigating interested people through the process.  

At the very least, I pray that your hearts will burn with the passion and vision to see these two people groups touched with the Gospel in the very near future!

Filed under: Faith in God, Prayer, Unreached people groups | Leave a comment »

Considering the STRATUS-Sphere

Posted on October 20, 2021 by wtdavid

There is a new online global database which is worth a look.  It’s called STRATUS. Simply click on the word and the hyperlink will take you to the site.

As you consider the STRATUS-Sphere, you will quickly realize that among the top 30 locations [where access to the Gospel is limited and where spiritual investment is most needed] are two locations where we are committed, as a mission, to working in the future.

What the STRATUS-Sphere did for me is to re-ignite a heart commitment to pray for these two locations. Prayer is a guiding principle for us, that’s a given, but prayer is also our main access to the Father who opens doors and hearts that we could not open.

The STRATUS-Sphere also caused me to ask myself: what can I practically do to help put a team of workers on the ground among these two people groups?  I don’t have an answer to that question just yet, but it will be one of my prayer points in the coming weeks.  You might want to reflect on a similar question: What can you practically do to help put a team of workers on the ground?

The STRATUS-Sphere also caused me to wonder why I am not praying more often for the other locations which are in the top 30 locations in need of Gospel witness.  More about that later.

Might we not PRAY BIG for the peoples of these different countries where Gospel witness is so limited, that the light of Christ might shine among them?

Filed under: Prayer, Unreached people groups, Vision | Leave a comment »

I joined a movement

Posted on February 1, 2021 by wtdavid

I often say that I am part of a mission. And that is completely true.

I also say that I belong to a grouping of churches which ‘sent out’ my family and I to serve Christ in another place, in another culture.  And that is true as well.

Recently though I am beginning to say that I am part of a movement.

Saying that is more than just an exercise in semantics. There is depth and commitment behind the truth that I belong to a movement.

A movement in simplest terms is a grouping of individuals or organisations who work together to advance their shared idea, activity, or ministry objective. Being part of a movement means we work collaboratively and collectively, and leverage all our resources together for the growth and development of the movement.

There is fluidity and flexibility to a movement in its outworking in different contexts.  There is loads of room for creativity and innovation.

Yet, something ties the movement members together.  There is alignment in mission and direction.  There is a willingness to lead, and there is a willingness to follow.

What ties the movement members together though is the desired outcome.  For us as WT movement members, it’s seeing multiplying groups of disciples and communities of believers among the lost. 

But the hardest step in staying in step with the movement is learning yield; to humbly give up what we may want or think is the (our) right way to do things, to serve the larger desire and outcome of the movement.

Filed under: Church, Discipleship, Movement, Multiplication, Unreached people groups | 4 Comments »

What keeps you in the work?

Posted on January 11, 2021 by wtdavid

I’m sure that you have either asked yourself the question or been asked the question: What keeps you here?  What keeps you going when life and ministry get a bit tough? 

We’ve all had one of those days when we wonder how we can keep going in this work of cross cultural church planting.  And we’ve all had someone ask us the question as to what keeps us ploughing ahead when the work doesn’t go exactly as planned.

I’ve started reading and studying through Romans again and found the start of an answer in the very first words of Paul: “Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God” (Romans 1:1).  To put it simply, what kept Paul in the work was a thoroughgoing understanding of God’s grace, and the truth that it was God who had sent Paul into this work.

Paul was a “servant” who served because he recognized the depths of the riches of God’s grace towards him (Paul).  And if God had shown Paul such grace through the gospel, then this gospel was for all peoples, all nations. One writer put it this way: “If we would be used of God, we must have view of the gospel that is as broad as the universe.” 

Paul was also an “apostle”, that is one who is sent.  If we were honest with ourselves, we would admit that we didn’t ‘run into this work’ on our own initiative and effort.  We felt the pull of God’s call upon our heart.  Most of us remember and could put words to that ‘calling’. He was the initiator. And what He did was to send us. 

So, when things get rough, when the work doesn’t progress as we would like, our best move is to run back to the Father.  Ask for Him to restore to us the joy of our salvation, to recognize His grace at work in our own lives.  And then remind ourselves who called us, who sent us to do the work of the ministry.

When I remember that latter piece in particular, that it was God who sent me, it can cause me to see how much more I need to grow in prayer and in ‘believing’.  And it will keep my feet from running from the work, towards engaging even more in the work.

Filed under: Calling, Church planting, Serving, Unreached people groups | 2 Comments »

Praying together

Posted on February 14, 2019 by wtdavid

Praying together

So, what really happened during our World Team Day of Prayer last week?

Here are a few comments I received back from World Team Global members which I hope will encourage your hearts:

“As Spain Team West gathered to pray together on Friday, we enjoyed praying for these 2 people groups and learning more about them. It enabled us to lift our eyes from our own endeavours and surroundings and contemplate others from very different cultures and the challenges of reaching them with the gospel. I sensed it was our privilege to pray for these people groups for God’s Spirit to break through so that others can know the deep love of God.”

“We are going to Lorraine who, as you know, is wheelchair bound. It will be an encouragement for her to continue participating in this vital day. After the passing of her husband Paul into glory, our team has shrunk even more. Nevertheless, we carry on with the day of prayer and the work. First things first.”

“It is always a special time when I pray for World Team ministries in other parts of the world.  I pray a lot for our WT Americas missionary team, for new people groups and new ministries, but less for other Areas’ needs.  Praying for the Cham and Dadjo opened a new window on what the Lord is doing in other parts of the world, and in a small way, to be a part of what He is doing.”

World Team Canada met for prayer ‘virtually’ and a fair sized group was surprised to have a member of Hook Evangelical Church (UK) join them and explain their church’s passion for the Dadjo and their commitment to pray for this people group for the past 10+ years!

So, what really happened?  I believe we united our hearts in prayer, for God to work in significant ways among the Dadjo and the Cham … and we did this ‘work’ together, all around the globe [a Doodle online calendar was a first start at seeing how we prayed together over the 24-48 hour time period].

Much thanks and gratitude for your participation!  However, let us not forget that this is only the start of the ‘marathon’ of prayer for these two people groups! Press on together!

Filed under: Community, Prayer, Unreached people groups | 2 Comments »

Running in the rain

Posted on December 7, 2018 by wtdavid

In runners speak, we call it the ‘pre-wash’. That’s when you head out for a run and half way through the run, it starts to rain.  What are you going to do?  You have to get back home, so you just run through the rain and take the ‘pre-wash’.

When we woke up on the day of the Florence marathon (November 25th), I could hear the rain falling outside, and it didn’t sound like a slight drizzle.

For 42 kilometers, we got soaked.  This wasn’t just a ‘pre-wash’, but a slogging through the rain for over four hours (in the case of my daughter, a lot less time of running through the rain).

IMG-20181126-WA0009Now, I had linked this run to the challenge that I had gifted to us as a mission: to see significant impact among two unreached people groups in the coming months and year. We had chosen to focus our attention on the Dadjo (Chad) and Cham (Cambodia) peoples.

As I approached kilometer 28 and began to wonder if I could really go the distance because of the rain (the famous ‘wall’ when running a marathon), the thought came to me: ‘Is this what it’s going to be like to pray for the Dadjo and the Cham?  To ‘slog it out’ in prayer in order to see hardened hearts turn to the Creator of the universe?’

Now I don’t want to make a direct parallel between my marathon run and this call to pray for these two people groups, but the call to ‘persevere in prayer’ (Colossians 4:2-4) began to take on new meaning as I sought to keep running even though my mind was yelling for me to stop.

So, what kept me running past kilometer 28?  It was the thought of crossing that finish line in front of the Duomo (the main cathedral).

So, what will keep us ‘running together in prayer’; of persevering in our intercession for the Dadjo and the Cham?

The thought of seeing hundreds of Dadjo and Cham standing before the throne and “crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!””

It’s time to start ‘running’ together!

Filed under: Challenge, Prayer, Unreached people groups | 4 Comments »

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