People Vision

"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 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 catchthe vision presented in it.-Edwin Caruana, Vision 5:9 Operations Team, Facilitator for North Africa and Middle East Partnerships, Malta 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 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 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 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 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 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 theLamb. 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 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 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"