Robby & Jackie Butler
Mission Network — 98274, WA, United States
Are YOU called to be about …
Where the church ALREADY IS, and grows primarily through same-culture evangelism, or
Where the church IS NOT YET, and specialized apostolic workers are needed to birth a movement to Jesus?
Whatever your calling …My passion is to serve you in trusting, hearing and following Jesus, in the Holy Spirit's power, (John 15, John 10, Acts 1)so we may walk together in the good works our Father prepared for each of us, (Eph 2)toward fulfilling His promise to bless all of earth's people groups (ethne). (Gen 12, 18, 22, 26, 28, Ps. 67, 72, Jer 4, Acts 3, Gal 3)
Today, in more nearly 2,000 contexts, movements to Jesus are multiplying rapidly. Still:
A third of us (humanity) live in Unreached People Groups (UPGs), with little or no chance to hear about Jesus.
A fourth of us live in Frontier People Groups (FPGs)—with virtually no followers of Jesus, and no movements.
A fifth of us live in about 300 highly influential FPGs over 1 million in population.
Might God involve you in praying for His blessing among some of these groups?
About me: I was a senior at Caltech in 1979—studying Russian to serve God behind the Iron Curtain. Then I learned how God's global purpose has unfolded in recent centuries, and that our generation might finish discipling all nations and welcome Jesus' return. A few months later I began serving at Ralph Winter’s new strategy center. where I worked closely with Dr. Winter for 16 years. Today I continue helping Jesus’ body see with greater clarity what God has done—and what He is waiting on us to do with Him.
A quick overview of what God has done:
In 1727, Moravian refugees began a round the clock prayer meeting that lasted 110 years and sent many to share Jesus in remote lands. This laid the foundation for an outpouring of missionaries around the world:RevivalAndReformation.org/resources/all/the-moravian-100-year-prayer-movement
From 1800 to the mid 1900s, a new breed of missionaries implanted the gospel in a few people groups in nearly every country.MissionFrontiers.org/issue/article/new-insight-from-the-three-eras-of-mission-history
From 1960 to 2000, the gospel spread rapidly within these people groups, and non-Western believers [then called Evangelicals] multiplied six times as fast as Western believers.The Future of the Global Church by Patrick Johnstone, p. 144
From 1980 to 2022 world population nearly doubled, yet believers globally have multiplied four-fold in ethne where the gospel had been implanted.Compare Ralph Winter's 1980 estimate of 0.23 billion "dedicated Christians" with reports from the 24:14 Coalition (115 million disciples) and the Global Center for the Study of Christianity (400M Evangelicals/670M Pentecostals/Charismatics).
Also from 1980–2022 the global population isolated from the gospel dropped 20%—from 2.5 billion to 2 billion.Compare Ralph Winter's 1980 estimate with Joshua Project's estimate for FPGs.
Since 1985, the global count of movements to Jesus has, on average, doubled every few years—to 2,000 full movements today, with thousands more developing. Many of these movements have been doubling in number of disciples every 3-5 years, with a cumulative total of 115 million new disciples in late 2022.24:14 Coalition: 2414Now.net/resources
These movements are increasingly implanting the gospel and starting new movements to Jesus in previously overlooked FPGs.MissionFrontiers.org/issue/article/gods-gift-of-surprising-proximate-strategies1
Movement leaders are increasingly collaborating to identify gaps between their movements, and extend movements into these people groups and places.personal conversation with 24:14 Coalition leaders
Unprecedented global prayer has also developed in recent years around birthing movements to Jesus as a rapid, effective way to disciple all nations:BlessFrontierPeoples.org, OperationWorld.org, GlobalPrayerDigest.org, PrayerStrategists.net, DiscipleKeys.world, Pray4Movement.org, Prayer.global, Pray1040.com, EthnePrayer.org, 10days.net, GoPray.world, ipcPrayer.org, WorldPrayerAssembly.org, GlobalPRN.com, GlobalFamily24-7Prayer.org, 24-7prayer.com, ComeToTheTable.world, TrumpetsToTabernacles.org, etc.
Unprecedented global collaboration is also facilitating movements to Jesus.2414Now.net, NoPlaceLeft.net, AllianceForTheUnreached.org, BillionSoulHarvest.net, FinishingTheTask.com, GoMovement.world, GACX.io, empowered21.com, TransformOurWorld.org, Coalition of the Willing (COTW.global), Bible translation for Every Tribe Every Nation (ETEN.bible), Church-Centric Bible Translation (CCBT.bible), GlobalMediaOutreach.com, MediaToMovements.org, 414movement.com, and many more.