People Vision: Reimagining Mission to Least Reached Peoples
Ebook
Explore the Unreached Frontier of Global Mission
In a world full of digital connections and globalization, a startling truth remains hidden in plain sight: countless communities have yet to hear the transformative message of the gospel. A mere fraction of global missionaries—less than 4 percent—are devoted to the unreached people groups (UPGs). This glaring disparity reveals a challenge in modern missiology.
People Vision is a benchmark study of the people group paradigm that underscores its vital role in the twenty-first century. Leveraging insights from those in the Majority World, over sixty authors reexamine our understanding of people group missiology from the lens of Scripture, reflection, conversation, prayer, and case studies from field workers and church/mission leaders. Readers are equipped with the tools to navigate and overcome the barriers hindering effective mission work among UPGs and envision innovative approaches. Engage with this transformative guide and be part of a movement that redefines mission work, ensuring no people group is left behind.
Figures and Tables
Foreword I by Robert A. Blincoe
Foreword II by Rev. Samuel E. Chiang
Preface by Mary Ho
Introduction by Leonard N. (Len) Bartlotti
Visualizing the Task: Progress, Imbalance, and Need by R. W. Lewis and Robby Butler
Part 1: Impetus for the Unreached Peoples Movement: Biblical and Missional Foundations
1: To the Ends of the Earth by Leonard N. Bartlotti
2: A Biblical Understanding of People Groups by Steve Hawthorne
3: Panta ta Ethne: All Peoples and Nations by David E. Datema
4: The People Group Approach: A Historical Perspective by David E. Datema and Leonard N. Bartlotti
5: Foundations of Frontier Missiology: Core Understandings and Interrelated Concepts by Alan R. Johnson
——— Reflection and Discussion ———
Part 2: Impact of People Group Thinking on Agencies
6: Run with the Vision: The Impact of the Unreached People Groups Concept on Students, Churches, and Sending Agencies by Greg Parsons
7: Re- envisioning the World: The Southern Baptist IMB Transition to People Groups by David Garrison and Zane Pratt
8: Assemblies of God World Missions and the Unreached by Dick Brogden, Alan R. Johnson, and Leonard N. Bartlotti
9: The Holy Vision Conceived in a Prayer Cave: The Korean Frontier Missions Movement by Jungkook Han and Mark Kim
10: Sub-Saharan Africa: Taking the Gospel to “Where the Smoke Is Seen” by Peter Oyugi with Mary Ho, Clara Litzsinger, and Zaz. Lima
11: A Latin American Perspective on Unreached People Groups by Abraham Duran 101
——— Reflection and Discussion ———
Part 3: Impact of People Group Thinking on Field Workers: Voices from the Field
12: Voices of Pioneer Workers on the Challenge of “People Groups”
Central Asia
South Asia
India
Pakistan
Transnational
Middle East
Turkey
Eurasia
Horn of Africa
Southeast Asia
——— Reflection and Discussion ———
Part 4: Impact of People Group Thinking on Local Churches: Mobilizing for Strategic Engagement
13: The Local Church and Adopt A People by PCC
14: An Ecosystem for Sending: Austin Stone and the 100 UPG Cooperative by Todd Engstrom
15: Robust Commitment: The Well by Pastor C. C .
16: The Sending Process by Canyon Hills Community Church
17: Sowing Broadly Together: Swedish Pentecostal Churches by Bo Lundin, Hans Olofsson, and O. K.
18: Where Mountains Inspire Poets: Oitava Church, Brazil by Celia Margareth Oliveira Laranjo and Lu.s Fernando Nacif
19: Everyone Leaves, Everyone Is Sent Onward: Koinonia International Church, Middle East by Brian McSwain
20: The Role of Existing Churches in an African Movement by Shalom
——— Reflection and Discussion ———
Part 5: International Multiplication: Polycentric Pioneers and Collaboration
21: Iberoamerican Missionary Partnership: The Journey of COMIBAM by Cristian Castro, Zaza Lima, and Allan Matamoros
22: Sub-Saharan Africa: The Sahel by John Becker
23: “Lord, Stir Us Up!”: The Acceleration of the Nigerian Missions Movement by Mike Adegbile and Adeoluwa Olanrewaju
24: When Collaboration Blooms: Reaching India’s Muslims by Martin Hall
25: Facing Roadblocks on the Indian Road: A Closer Look by Sushil Tyagi
26: From Research to Movement: Partnership in Southeast Asia by Yahya Ilyas
27: Diaspora Peoples in Europe by Simon Lunt
28: Networking Networks by Ryan Emis and Allan Matamoros
——— Reflection and Discussion ———
Part 6: Issues Affecting Progress: Challenges, Changes, and Trends
29: Fog in the Pews: Factors behind the Fading Vision for Unreached Peoples by R. W. Lewis
30: Rethinking the People Groups Concept: Globalization, Urbanization, and Migration by Minh Ha Nguyen
31: Ferment in the Church: Missions in the Fourth Era by Alan McMahan
32: Unleashing Next Gen Pioneers by Clara Litzsinger and Lisa Pak
33: The Making of Lists by Dan Scribner
——— Reflection and Discussion ———
Part 7: Imagining Fulfillment: Purpose and Promise of People Vision
34: A Church for Every People: A Retrospect on Mapping Peoples by Brad Gill
35: Pioneer Apostleship: Twelve Principles by Daniel Waheli
36: The Unengaged: First Engage, Then Reach by Mike Latsko
37: The Rise of Muslim-Background Churches: An Eleventh-Hour Workforce for the Harvest?
by Patrick Brittenden and Parsa Zarin Ghalam
38: Reimagining and Re-envisioning People Groups by Leonard N. Bartlotti
Afterword: People Vision and the Beatific Vision by Leonard N. Bartlotti
——— Reflection and Discussion ———
Appendix 1: FAQs about People Groups and UPGs
Appendix 2: Visualizing the Task: Maps, Graphs, Figures, Charts, Lists
Appendix 3: Resources
Acknowledgments
Contributors
When I learned that the leadership of the Lausanne Movement asked my colleague, one of my heroes actually, Len Bartlotti, to produce an update on missiological thinking, I mused, “What can be said that hasn't been?” Then, when I received the manuscript of People Vision, I was stunned. This is not a book—it’s a library!—from a professor of missiology who is also a seasoned field worker. It is available to us who are still in the smoke of the battle! This book is a call to a “come up higher” with direction to sit with those who have “laid down their lives” to wrestle with what it might take to actually fulfill the Great Commission of our Lord. This is not merely another book on world mission; it's a missiological collection of thinking and observing of the best of wrestling with the issues. After over my sixty years of daily wrestling with the question of “what will it take,” I urge all “make-it-happen” leaders and our younger aspirants to seriously examine what you've assumed. And then wrestle with this collection of lessons learned by others hungry to see our Lord's mandate fulfilled exceedingly abundantly beyond all we ask or think.
-Rev. Greg Livingstone, PhD, Founder, Frontiers
In People Vision, Len Bartlotti pulled together an amazing team of mission visionaries and practitioners from across the globe to produce a timely book on a critically important subject that has truly astonishing global scope. I am confident that People Vision will prove to be of immense value as we celebrate the fifty-year milestone in global mission advance since Lausanne 1974 and renew our vision for the Father’s missions mandate through the heart of this twenty-first century. We in Pioneers are in the midst of reenvisioning and enlarging our vision for the unreached and asking God for fresh vision as we increase our efforts to engage with even more of the remaining thousands of unengaged peoples around the world. The rich resources collected together in People Vision will serve us very well at this critical juncture as we seek to strengthen our agency’s pioneering vision. I expect that People Vision will not only be used of God to help the global church reimagine what missions will look like in the next fifty years, but act as a catalyst to greatly increased mobilization, countless creative new endeavors, and fruitfulness in the God ordained task of discipling all of the hidden peoples of the earth to know, love and serve the Savior of whom they have not yet heard.
-Don Little, DMin, Missiologist-at-Large, Pioneers, Director, Lilias Trotter Center
While other belief systems may spread largely due to demographic factors, the Christian gospel is propelled by a love-fueled mandate to take the Good News to everyone, everywhere. We call this the Great Commission. But in a rapidly changing world, what does this look like in practical terms? What is the terrain yet to be traversed? Here is where People Vision harnesses the reflections of some of the best thinkers in missions today to sharpen our thinking as we press into the remaining task.
-Steve Richardson, President, Pioneers USA
Half a century since the inception of the unreached peoples movement, People Vision brings together experts from across the globe to pave the way for the next era of outreach. It transcends the confines of a mere contextualized Western gospel, instead championing a gospel that emanates from thousands of peoples to all peoples. This compilation stands as an indispensable roadmap for the evolving landscape of global frontier missions.
-Todd Johnson, PhD, Professor of Mission and Global Christianity, Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary
Amazing! It is not a coincidence that Reimagining Mission to the World’s Least Reached Peoples comes during the emergence of Arise Asia, a growing movement of young people in Asia who are called “to go to where there is no gospel” among unreached and least reached peoples. With the rise of young people prioritizing their lives to go where Christ is not known in Asia, the priority on Least Reached Peoples within the Lausanne Movement comes at the right time!
-Rev. Dr. David L. Ro, Executive Director, Arise Asia 2023, Regional Director, Lausanne Movement, East Asia
As the Facilitator for North Africa and Middle East Partnerships, I have been involved in reaching the least reached for almost thirty years. Millions and millions of lost people are a reality all around me. My passion has been to see God’s people work in unity to reach them, “so that the world may believe that You sent Me” (John 17:21). We need to plan, strategize, and pray together about how best to finish the Great Commission. So it is thrilling to see the global collaboration involved in the production of People Vision! I strongly believe that this book is both a major resource as well as an urgent invitation to all key players and leaders at every level in the church. People Vision is a call to rethink approaches and to explore imaginative and fruitful ways to collaborate in mission. I recommend that everyone who is interested in missions—indeed, every believer!—should get a copy of this book and catch
the vision presented in it.
-Edwin Caruana, Vision 5:9 Operations Team, Facilitator for North Africa and Middle East Partnerships, Malta
People Vision is a powerful and impacting read from people who are taking seriously Jesus’s commission to take the gospel of the Kingdom into all nations. The editor of this book, Len Bartlotti, is a friend of mine. When he became a member of the group of churches I was pastoring several years ago in Oxfordshire, UK, it changed our thinking about mission, and launched us into new adventures of sending pioneering teams amongst some of the least reached people in the earth, with amazing results! This book encapsulates some of that thinking and lessons that Len and his friends have learned along the way. It is a “must read” for local church pastors, and leaders of church networks who want to be missional in the way Jesus taught us.
-Steve Thomas, International Team Leader, Salt & Light Ministries
This book should be read by everyone concerned with frontier missions in the twenty-first century. As we engage in renewed focus on and discussion about the least-reached peoples with no sign of the Gospel taking root, let's give special note to a subset of UPGs called Frontier People Groups. These largely neglected peoples will require special focus, as they comprise 25 percent of humanity. God's heart for them, their families and communities is shown from Genesis to Revelation. He not only promised “every family (ethne) of the earth will be blessed” but also that every tribe, tongue, and ethne will be represented before his throne.
-Timothy Lewis, Former International Director, Frontiers
Here it is! Practical missiology and research we can effectively use. As a former missionary, global organizational leader, and now a local church mission leader, these writers are trusted practitioners, researchers, and academic leaders you can rely on. Whether you are serving locally, globally or both, this will help. Urban or rural, developed or developing communities, complex cultural issues, oral peoples, evangelism, disciple-making movements, compassion and justice, or all the above, least reached peoples must be on your radar screen. Most mission initiatives demand focus and good intel to experience lasting fruit, reproducing disciples, community impact, and great commission acceleration. This is a valuable resource as you “focus” on or “add” a least reached peoples initiative utilizing good missiology, updated research, and better practices.
-Mike Constantz, Pastor, The PEACE Plan, Saddleback Church
In the Bible, God’s salvific program through his Son Jesus Christ aims in creating a kingdom of redeemed people from every tribe, every tongue, every people, and every nation (Rev 5:9). This makes Christian mission among unreached people groups—those without access to the gospel—a priority. People Vision underscores this timeless biblical message of God’s salvific program through his Son to the nations. The significance of the mandate in our time is strengthened through the writings of these seasoned global leaders based on their biblical and missiological perspectives and their labor among the least reached people groups. This is a must-read for all earnestly seeking the coming of God’s Kingdom among the nations until all the peoples, nations and men of every language worship Him.
-Samuel Kebreab, Horn of Africa Coordinator, Movement for African National Initiative (MANI), Global Team and Training Task Force, Vision 5:9, Horn of Africa Partnership Director, Partners International
This book started out as an edition of Evangelical Missions Quarterly but has become the most comprehensive review of the unreached people group paradigm available. It arrives at an important time in contemporary missiological thinking. It is an invaluable resource as the global church seeks to obey Jesus’s command to disciple the nations.
-Ted Esler, PhD, President, Missio Nexus
What a timely, hope-filled call to the Church today to “reimagine” the “peoples” in our complex world who have yet to hear and experience Jesus. From the beginning pages of key biblical reminders of God’s heart for the lost, to a historical sweep of men, women, and groups from around the world moved and “compelled” to reach the unreached, the book gave me several more “lenses” through which to see, pray for and relationally engage with “peoples.” As a former field worker who labored in a Muslim mega-city for over twenty years, I greatly appreciated the challenge to reconsider and reconstruct my own missional efforts in light of today’s social, economic and structural realities that confront the missions enterprise today. We have a creative, imaginative, loving God who continues to call his people to believe in and give of themselves to his unchanging plan and future of a great multitude, from every nation, tribe, people and language standing before the throne of the
Lamb. Read and be ready for your heart to be stirred, your faith to grow, and your hope to increase.
-T. Woo Dong, International Directors Team, Frontiers
- Title: People Vision: Reimagining Mission to Least Reached Peoples
- Author: Leonard N. Bartlotti
- Publisher: William Carey Publishing
- Print Publication Date: 2024
- Logos Release Date: 2024
- Language: English
- Resources: 1
- Format: Digital › Ebook
- ISBNs: 9781645086024, 164508602X
- Resource ID: LLS:9781645086024
- Resource Type: Monograph
- Metadata Last Updated: 2024-09-24T07:38:22Z
Leonard N. (Len) Bartlotti (PhD, Oxford Centre for Mission Studies) is a mission strategist and educator with forty years’ experience in cross-cultural ministry. He and his wife, Debi, served fourteen years in Central Asia. Dr. Len served on faculties at OCMS, Biola, and other universities, and as founding Catalyst for the Lausanne Least Reached Peoples Network. He currently serves as strategy consultant to workers in Islamic contexts. The Bartlotti’s have three adult children and seven grandsons.