Mission, Vision & Values

I.) The 25 largest Least Evangelized Peoples
II.) The Strategy Coordinator Approach

These two focal points are the defining principles of AFM. They describe the outline of the day-to-day activities of the agency as well as the determining goals of our long-term vision.

I.) The 25 largest and Least Evangelized

In 1998 the Board decided to concentrate our efforts on the 25 largest and least evangelized people groups in the world. The criteria for the 25 were two – that they be over 1 million people and have fewer than five agencies working with them. Since then we have found that certain common characteristics turn up in each of these 25.
1) They are usually remote, some taking three days of travel from the US.
2) They are often under a government that is hostile to Christianity.
3) Mission efforts among them have been scarce for centuries.
4) They suffer under severe conditions of spiritual oppression.

II.) Strategy Coordinator

The most common modes of missions outreach do not fit these cases. The unreached live in tough and rocky soil that needs time to break up and prepare their soil for planting. The planting and nurturing cannot occur effectively until this stage has been adequately done. Furthermore, with so little known of Christianity, it is extremely important that multiple and varied forms of the Christian faith and resources for evangelism need to be concentrated on the people group.

In these circumstances what can one missionary from the West accomplish? Plenty, under the model of the Strategy Coordinator. We have found that this model allows for flexibility by location and by personality. The model also lends itself to addressing the varied tasks of the stages of work.

There are common roles for an SC. For illustration of these, we will draw from the experience of a couple who are SCs to the Miao of China.

Research – Usually this is better than any one else’s - more comprehensive in
resources and scope, grasping the deeper revelations of legend, poetry, family structure,
and social order, knowing the belief systems of religion, watching for ways to and not to
introduce Christ.

The Miao research has concentrated on their worldview. Their religion is vastly comprehensive, ancient, and complex. The SCs are looking deep into this to see the spiritual history, the areas where the Miao are open or closed to new ideas, which ideas to lead with, which to avoid. This research project is on-going and far more revealing than the usual statistics of Christian data.

Advocacy – This runs the full gamut from brochures for promotion to prayer chains to published articles. Basically it means whatever it takes to draw the attention of the church to them, going to the wider church seeking personnel and expertise for ministry

The Miao SCs did a project on this that began like a research project, but it had a clear audience that made it distinct from their research. This took the form of a brochure and a plan for distribution. The purpose of this was advocacy for the Miao for prayer and for church response.

Many ministries – Like Paul’s image of the many parts of the Body of Christ, so the ministries envisioned make up an open-ended list. In true headhunter role, the options arise from research looking to personnel from other lands and denominations, with skills that will lift the people from their oppression, stretching the horizons of those usually sought for mission. The SC arranges for placement of the workers.

These SCs have brought in workers from Singapore and the US. Some are translators who will be in training for two years before returning under Wycliffe. They also have developed a platform of ethnic crafts. For this they have US workers for distribution and sales here, as well as a team of Miao workers there. This platform gives support for Chinese national workers as well as income for the Miao craft people.

Building unity – With the diversity comes the need of breaking down lone ranger ego trips and demonstrating the connections missionaries have one to one another in dependence and to the whole in completion.

This is a responsibility that goes with their leadership. The team is not an AFM team but one made up of several workers whom they have brought in as well as some who were already on the ground. The unity of the team has been a challenge for the SCs. Differing expectations, ethnic background, and roles have made unity elusive and relationships messy. But they know the value of unity for power of witness, so they work at it.

Strategic Leadership - This means always looking for new ways of working, new ideas, ways to incorporate other programs, efforts that may or may not lead to breakthroughs.

For the Miao SCs, they realize the need for discipling the new Christians and church planting. They are studying chronological Bible stories taking courses in church planting strategies. They know this will take years and efforts beyond their capacities. They are praying people, full of hope, and willing to make great sacrifices.

These are the most essential characteristics of the Strategy Coordinator, the model for missionaries used by AFM among the 25 largest and least evangelized peoples. These are the defining principles of AFM.