Engaging Church
Hundreds of West Africa's smaller unreached people groups will never have full-time missionaries working among them. Churches in the USA and around the world are accepting the challenge of taking the Gospel to these people groups that may otherwise never hear. Such missionary-minded churches are called "Engaging Churches."
Churches are enlisted to engage a people group when:
- No International Mission Board missionaries are assigned to the people group.
- There is no significant church planting activity among the people group.
The Engaging Church commits to create an environment for evangelism, discipleship and leadership training that will ignite a movement of churches planting churches among a West African people group. The Engaging Church employs strategies consistent with sound missiological principles to ensure that churches are reproducing in the African context without dependency upon outside resources.
In essence, the Engaging Church is the “missionary” who takes on the responsibility to do whatever it takes to ensure that the Gospel message is made available to every person among their focus people group.
An Engaging Church can be…
- large or small – a passion for reaching the lost is all that matters!
- a single church or a group of churches working together.
- a state convention or association.
Initially, Engaging Churches will receive some training and logistical assistance from an Engagement Team member. The Engagement Team is made up of IMB missionaries who conduct field research on the unreached people groups of West Africa and suggest strategies for reaching these people. Engagement Team members will assist Engaging Churches, but the church is ultimately responsible for developing and implementing a plan to fulfill the Great Commission among an unengaged people group.