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The Fourth Wave Taking
Your Place in the New Era of Missions Ron Boehme YWAM
Publishing, 2011, 224 pp. ISBN 978-1-57658-555-9 |
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The first half of the book
gives a concise, historical overview of missions. The last half describes his vision for the
fourth wave, "that will involve people of all ages and
nationalities, reaching everyone in the world, using innovative technologies
and relational approaches, in all spheres of life, with every believer being missional." Boehme is the director of US Renewal for
Youth With A Mission. Introduction "It's all about
salvation--on a global scale." (15)
The focus of history is missions.
The first wave of Christian advance was launched on the Day of
Pentecost. But the modern era was
marked when William Carey, the first Protestant missionary, sailed for India
in 1792. The second wave into the
interior of continents began with David Livingstone's exploration of
Africa. And the third wave is
distinguished by outreach among unreached people groups. A fourth wave will involve people of all
ages and nationalities reaching everyone in the world. Part
I - History Is "His Story" "Christian missionary work is the most difficult thing in the world. It is surprising that it should ever have been attempted." Stephen Neill (19) 1. Sea Change "When I joined YWAM in
the early 1970s, we were a primarily white, middle-class missionary society
made up of three hundred full-time workers.
Today YWAM has over sixteen thousand full-time staff from over 150 countries
working in nearly every nation on earth--whose members are 60 percent people
of color." (22) 2. Ancient Waves "The Bible presents a
linear view of history. … Believers have a task to do in this march of
history -- to 'go into all the world and preach the
Good News to everyone' (Mark 16:15)." (31) The history of the ancient world in the Old
Testament is the story of salvation revealed in many waves, including the
salvation of Noah and his family, Abraham and the nation, Moses and the
Exodus, decline and renewal of Israel, and similar stories under the kings. 3. The Early
Church Wave "Jesus himself had set
the missional direction for his followers by
leaving the comforts of heaven, coming to earth, laying down his life for the
sins of all people, and commissioning his disciple to go and do likewise
(John 20:21)." (43) Four commands of world
evangelization, the missionary enterprise:
"From first to last
the Christian mission is God's mission, not man's. It originated in the heart of God. It is based on the love of God. It is determined by the will of God. Its mandate was enunciated by the Son of
God. Its rationale is explained in the
Word of God. For its ultimate success,
it is dependent on the power of God.
Nowhere is the sovereignty of God more clearly seen than in the
Christian mission." (45, quoting J. Herbert Kane) 4. What Causes Rising Tides? Five factors that influence
the rising tide of missions in world history are revival, prayer, unity,
providence, and technology. (53) Part
2 - The Modern Era of Missions "To know the will of God, we need an open Bible and an open map." - William Carey "If a commission by an earthly king is considered a honor, how can a commission by a Heavenly King be considered a sacrifice?" - David Livingstone 5. The First Wave of Modern Missions: To the
Coastlands (1730s to 1850s) Count Zinzendorf launched a
world-wide missionary movement that set the stage for William Carey. Carey thought in terms of evangelization of
whole countries. But the first Baptist
missionary to set sail was liberated slave George Lisle, who landed in
Kingston, Jamaica in 1782. 6. The Second
Wave of Modern Missions: To the Interiors (1850s to 1930s) By the 1930s the China
Inland Mission had grown to 1285 missionaries. The Second Great Awakening paved the way
for the second wave. A major driver
was the Industrial Revolution which created stronger and more affluent middle
classes in Europe and North America. 7. The Third
Wave of Modern Missions: To Unreached Peoples (1930s to Present) The focus is the nations or ethnic groups (ethnos in the New Testament),
those who have been overlooked.
Outreach increasingly utilized specialized methods in addition to
preaching. Pioneers included Donald McGavran (contextualization), Cameron Townsend (gospel in
the heart language), and Ralph Winter (hidden people groups). Unless a people movement to Christ is set
in motion, the missionary task is not finished. "A people group can be reached only if
somehow there is achieved 'a viable, indigenous,
evangelizing church movement that is a people movement." (101, quoting
Ralph Winter) The second half of the 20th
century saw the former missionary-receiving churches of the Global South take
a major place in world evangelization and an amazing tidal wave of global missions expansion throughout the world. "Yet, the greatest building wave is
the hundreds of primarily Pentecostal Latin American, Asian, and African
church planters that are starting churches and focusing their prayers and
efforts on unreached people. The mission
field is becoming the missions force." (108) 8. Going Global (Key Factors) 1.
Revival! The 20th century saw greater revivals than
any other era. It was revival on a
global scale. 2.
Prayer. There has been an exponential increase in
prayer and prayer movements. 3.
Unity. The Lausanne Movement, AD2000, Call2All,
and global missions conferences represent the
growing unity of those involved in global evangelism. 4.
God's
Providence. Huge people migrations,
the involvement of youth and even children in missions, and the majority
world missions movement are indicators of God's
providence. 5.
Technology. We have seen the advent of radio, air
travel, vaccines, television, urbanization, globalization, and the digital
age. 9. Amazing Change Part
3. The Fourth Wave "The fourth wave of
modern missions will involve people of all ages and nationalities, reaching
everyone in the world, using creative technologies and relational approaches,
in all spheres of life, with every believer being missional." (131) 10. All Ages People of all ages,
including children, families, and youth, will share a role. In 1976 Dale Kauffman started King's Kids
International to enable families to get involved. It now includes thousand of parents, teens,
and children going on summer mission teams and serving long term all over the
world. Here's an example: "Hillary was seven years old when she
heard that Chinese children needed blankets.
She decided to send her treasured baby lambskin to meet the need, and
motivated her friends to give financially and collect supplies for an
unreached Chinese minority group.
Though Hillary was just in elementary school, God used her to motivate
her church to send short-term teams to China, where people were saved and
many families were blessed with clothing, supplies, and playground swing
sets." (135) 11. All Nationalities The baton is being passed
to the Majority World nations. At the
Tokyo 2010 Conference, delegates were surprised to discover how many African
missionaries are serving in Japan.
Boehme believes the greatest additions to the mission force will come
from China and India. 12. Reaching
Everyone Will you personally adopt a
small geographic area where Christ is not known? 13. Using
Innovative Technologies Radio, still critical,
dominates the media of missions.
Television stations and ministries are being born and spreading around
the world. Film, orality,
and the arts are being increasingly employed.
And the digital age provides phenomenal opportunities for reaching
out. "I believe billions of
people will hear about Jesus through digital technology in the coming
years. It will be the greatest
evangelism explosion in the history of the world." (155) 14. Relational Approaches Women and children are
especially relational in their approach.
And Majority World people are especially
hospitality and relationship oriented.
In many places the church is being de-institutionalized to be
effective in our highly social world.
Friendships are where it's at.
So the combination of high tech, high touch will be highly effective. 15. In All Spheres of Life The implications of the
Gospel, the comprehensive scope of Christ's lordship, will be applied to all
spheres of life. This is a
tremendously expanded view of the role of the church on earth, the practical
effects of which would bring whole nations under his influence and liberating
power, the discipling of whole nations.
Christ came to redeem all aspects of the fall, including the elements
of human society and culture. The fourth wave will view
all vocations as mission conduits and see no division between the sacred and
secular as all are viewed as under God's authority and in need of his
transformation. Their motive will be
to serve as he did and in so doing, whole nations can be changed by the power
of the Holy Spirit. 16. With
Every Believer Being Missional "I believe that the
call of God in the fourth wave of modern missions is for every believer on earth to be missional in
the twenty-first century." (177)
"We are the first generations in history to have the knowledge
and tools to reach every person in every nation of the world."
(178) Part
4 - Spiritual Tsunami 17. How Can I
Catch the Wave? The Missional
Church. "Local churches in every
nation must imbibe this missional attitude in every
small group, Sunday school, corporate service, and training opportunity. Local churches must see themselves as
living 'cells' that must multiply their life both locally and globally."
(186) Refocus Education. "Today's Christian students should
learn to think as Christian missionary photographers, teachers,
scientists…." (186) Where do I begin? Get informed. Take Perspectives. Personally adopt an unreached people. Encourage your small group or church to adopt and engage an unreached group. Pray for China and India to partner in global missions. Use your talent or vocation I missions. Support local and international missions. "I believe every Christian on earth should adopt at least one people group or nation as an object of their love and attention." (190) |
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