5000 Missionaries to Reach the World

Rheenen, Gailyn Van. Missions: Biblical Foundations and Contemporary Strategies. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1996.

A strategy reaction paper on the reading above.

If I were in charge of 5000 missionaries, I would employ both the strategies of Unreached People Groups and Harvest Missions. I believe incorporating both of the strategies would lead to the greatest success and would demonstrate commitment to the Great Commission found in Matthew 28.

Perhaps, I would send half of the missionaries to countries that have already been reached. These countries would mostly be urbanized and the cities in them would act as hubs for the missionaries. Like the Apostle Paul, they would “[stay] in key urban centers and [teach] in places of public discussion” (p. 173). Since these areas already have Christianity established, the missionaries would have teammates to work with and the number of believers will multiply due to discipleship. Perhaps this endeavor would create even more missionaries to carry out the Great Commission. Indeed, that is how the early church grew under the missionary advances of Paul.

The other half of the 5000 missionaries would be sent to countries where Christianity is not established or they would go to unreached people groups within a reached country. This means we would have to look at both the regions of Christianity and regions without Christianity as well as the people who have or have not been reached with it. Our goal would be to establish leadership in these regions so they can function the same way the Harvest Missions functions. It would be these missionaries’ responsibility to equip “[God’s] messengers regardless of gender or ethnicity to proclaim His sovereign power and grace to the nations” (p. 207).