1. Measuring Progress in the Mission of God29
Measuring Progress in the Mission of God

2. Introduction
How do you measure progress in fulfilling our part in God’s missions?
This chapter samples the different approaches

3. Global Macro Picture

4. People Group Thinking McGavran was a pioneer in this approach
Based on mission work in India
Insisted people be allowed to come to Christ without crossing cultural barriers (homogeneous unit principle)
Ralph Winter also a pioneer
Greatest impact from address at 1974 Lausanne conference titled, “The Highest Priority: Cross-Cultural Evangelism”

5. The Evangelism Scale The E-Scale E1 – evangelizing your own people
E2 – crossing barriers into a near but not identical language; cultural differences are significant, but not overwhelming.
E3 – Evangelizing among people utterly different from the evangelist. Radically different language and life-ways

6. The People Group Scale
Flip-side to E-Scale. Measures cultural distance of people from the nearest culturally relevant, gospel-witnessing church
P1 – Such a church exists within the people group
P2 – Such a church is culturally and linguistically near, but not identical.
P3 – no such church among them, nor nearby

7. Unreached People Groups
People group is significant in size and have a common affinity for one another due to language, religion, and life-ways.
1982 – UPGs defined. “a people group within which there is no indigenous community of believing Christians able to evangelize them”
These definitions are the foundation of most strategic mission planning for the next quarter century.

8. UPG Research and Advocacy
David Barrett, et al – research published in IBMR
Operation World
Joshua Project

9. Agency and the Church Micro Picture

10. Transitional Influencers
Wycliffe Bible Translators
Publish the Ethnologue – an encyclopedia of 6,900 living languages.
The book covers: language maps, language names, and the language code by which it is referenced
IMB of the SBC –
Maintain the Global Research Department
All kinds of research and tool development

11. Progress Assessment Measurement
Eight phases of pioneer church planting
See Dick Scoggins and look at the link for the Church Planting Manual
Visioning, Landing, Evangelizing, Gathering, Covenanting, Leadership Development, Reproducing, Exiting.
Combine two tools: A measure of where you are at and where you are going, and a guidebook of activities to perform under each phase

12. Progress Assessment Measurement
Mission Agency Metrics
Many mission agencies use internal measures
Strategic planning and review
Personnel review and in-service training

13. Conclusion
In our quest to be good stewards and effective missionaries we don’t want to lose sight of the relational aspects of what we do, in all their glorious inefficiencies.