Window on the World

From Randal Dick,
Superintendent of Missions

Asking the right questions:
around the world

I want to share excerpts from an article published in the July-August 2003 edition of Mission Frontiers, the magazine of the U.S. Center for World Mission. This article is by Rick Wood, communications director for World Inquiry.

Rick gives fascinating information about a process that has been under way since 2001, and in fact is just reaching its conclusions.

 By Rick Wood

For several years from the late 1980s to the end of the year 2000, thousands of faithful believers spared no effort in attempting to reach the goal of “A Church for Every People and the Gospel for Every Person.”

This vision was the driving force behind the AD2000 Movement. As a result of this movement, hundreds of people groups were reached for the first time and every unreached people group over 10,000 in population was selected by mission agencies for outreach. Tremendous progress was achieved.

But then the year 2000 came to a close, the AD2000 office closed its doors and everyone began asking the same questions. “Now what?” “Where do we go from here?” “What should our goals for the future be?” The mis­sion movement seemed to be adrift with no clear direction and goals.

Luis Bush, director of the AD2000 Movement, took note of this and launched the Evangelizing Our World Inquiry or The World Inquiry, for short, in 2001. A survey was developed with six basic questions.

* What are the major external challenges facing the church re­garding evangelization in your city or country?

* What are the major obstacles to world evangelization internal to the church?

* What do you believe God is calling His people to do in world evangelization over the next 25 years?

* What would be a suitable phrase (watchword) to capture the essence of world evangelization to serve as a unifying paradigm for the next 25 years?

* How important are the following for Global Evangelical Structures to provide to local believers to en­hance world evangelization efforts?

* You made a decision to trust (place your faith in) Jesus Christ as your Savior because of?

Each question has several possible choices provided, from which each participant can choose or add his own.

The goal of the World Inquiry is to get Christian leaders together in hundreds of cities around the world and to listen to what God is saying through the leaders of his church. Thus far over 5,000 Chris­tian leaders in 600 cities in 66 countries have par­ticipated. A remarkable accomplish­ment in just a year and a half.

But what does this mean to you and to the church as a whole? What difference is the World Inquiry mak­ing and where is it headed? And how can you be involved? Let’s examine these questions.

From the very first World Inquiry meeting of Christian leaders in September 2001, something re­mark­able became evident. The very process of leaders gathering together to wrestle with spe­cific external and internal challenges to the church and the future of world evangelization has had a tremendous catalytic effect.

The World Inquiry is not just a means to gather information, it is a process by which the dreams and visions in the hearts of God’s people have taken on flesh and bone and begun to walk.

Even after the survey forms have been complet­ed, leaders often-times have remained for hours to continue the process of discussion, dreaming and planning. So far 42 major new initiatives have been birthed in China, India, Africa, Mongolia and various other regional and religious spheres out of the World Inquiry process. See the full list at www.missionfrontiers.org.

The leaders participating in the World Inquiry events were often so excited by the process itself that they took it upon themselves to organize World Inquiry events in the major cit­ies of their country or region.

The fact that the World Inquiry has had events in over 500 cities in 66 countries is not a result of great organizational expertise and effort. It is simply the result of people catching the vision for the process itself and volunteering their time and resources to host these events. Essentially the World Inquiry process has flourished because of the volunteered efforts of hundreds of people in various avenues of ministry.

The World Inquiry has come to an end. The findings are beginning to be analyzed into a road map for the coming decade of Great Commission work by the church. 

Copyright © Grace Communion International, 2004