As we creep ever-closer to that huge, looming milestone called the year 2000, missionary leaders are split over an issue which for many has become a near obsession. Julian Lukins, YWAM Correspondent, asks, Is it possible to complete the Great Commission by the turn of the century?
COLORADO SPRINGS, COLO. — As we creep ever-closer to that huge, looming milestone called the year 2000, missionary leaders are split over an issue which for many has become a near obsession. Is it possible to complete the Great Commission by the turn of the century?
With an estimated 1.2 billion people still having not heard the gospel, many Christian leaders have given up all hope. They believe the goal of reaching all people by AD 2000 is now Mission Impossible. But for other, the dream is still alive. In May, more than 4,000 Christian leaders from 200 countries are expected in Seoul, South Korea, for a global summit aiming to turn the dream into reality.
The Global Consultation on World Evangelization, GCOWE (pronounced gee-co-ee), is being organized by the Colorado Springs-based AD 2000 and Beyond Movement, which names Billy Graham and Campus Crusade for Christ’s Bill Bright among its honorary co-chairmen.
Its international director, South American Luis Bush, says the aim is to establish “a church for every people and the gospel for every person by AD 2000.”
Ralph Winter, founder of the US Center for World Mission, goes as far as to say that GCOWE ’95 could be “the most strategic Christian gathering in history”giving leaders fresh strategies for evangelization.
But despite the movement’s noble aims, skeptics have attached the catchy slogan and brilliant vision as vague and unrealistic. So just how much still needs to be done to complete the Great Commission of Jesus Christ”go and make disciples of all nations (peoples),” (Matt. 28:19)and are we going about it in the right way?
According to some critics, missionary organizations and churches have made very little progress in the past two decades toward reaching the so-called “unreached peoples” with the gospel. Latest global research figures show there are 13,000 major people groups speaking 10,000 different languages in 260 countries.
It is generally reckoned that there are around 2,500 distinct ethnic groups as yet “unreached.” This can be divided into approximately 11,000 smaller ethnic clusters. Generally, the term “unreached peoples” means people who have either never heard the gospel, or who do not have a significant cell of believers and self-sustaining church movement.
These peoples are found almost exclusively in poverty-stricken nations of what missionaries call the “10/40 Window.” The 10/40 Window covers North Africa, the Middle East, south, central, and eastern Asia. Millions of those who have never heard the name of Jesus, let alone the gospel, live in communist China, while millions more are Hindus in India. Still more millions are devout followers of Islam or Buddhism.
The task seems daunting, if not overwhelming. Yet, supporters of the AD 2000 and Beyond Movement believe their mission is far from impossible. They believe it can be achieved within the next five years.
“We can see it happen,” insists David Hargrove, communications director for AD 2000 and Beyond. “We can see a church for every people and the gospel for every person by the year 2000.”
“Nonsense,” retorts Jay Gary, trend watcher and author of The Star of 2000. “The AD 2000 movement is raising false expectations. To say the completion of the Great Commission is in sight is preposterous.”
Dr. Jim Montgomery, a prominent missions strategist and president of Colorado Springs-based DAWN Ministries, also doubts AD 2000 will achieve its goal in the next five years. “It is only as all evangelical denominations and missions in a nation make a long-term commitment to such a goal that it can be expected to be accomplished,” he says.
One of the main goals of the GCOWE’95 Summit from May 17 to 25 is to encourage closer co-operation between different mission agencies and churches working in the same areas.
At the pre-summit gathering in Colorado Springs last November, it was revealed that three separate groups have been working on the same Bible translation project in Mali, Africa. Each was completely unaware of the other groups’ efforts. Now they are working together to complete the task more speedily.
Supporters of AD 2000 highlight progress in Bible translations, radio evangelization, and the enormous success of the Jesus film, as well as the impact of Adopt-A-People groups. However, Dr. Todd Johnson, a world evangelization researcher for Youth With A Mission (YWAM), says if evangelization continues at the present ratewith around 332,000 missionaries currently in servicethere will be one billion people still not having heard the gospel at the turn of the century, and 600 million by the year 2025.
AD 2000’s supporters, though, continue to bubble with plenty of optimism. For them, the goal of reaching the world with the gospel by the year 2000 is a dream within their grasp. And only time will tell if the bubble will burst.
