The Changing Face of Missions

In Tanzania, we find American missionaries with Ethnos360, Canadian missionaries from Ethnos Canada and Mexican missionaries from Misión Pro Indígena coming together under Integral Vision. Together they are moving the church planting effort forward. We also find Tanzanian believers working alongside expat missionaries. This coming together to fulfill the Great Commission is an awesome thing to see.

Diversity in Ministry

There is a diversity of unreached peoples within the borders of Tanzania itself which reflects the diversity of ministry in missions.  

Ethnos missionaries continue to go to hard places, to remote places, to places where others have not yet gone in order to see a thriving church for every people. And that won’t change. 

But more and more, we see unreached people groups with distinct cultures and languages living on the fringes of civilization while others are found even within the confines of large cities. As we watch the changing face of where unreached peoples are located, we see the increasing need to connect more intentionally with local churches, to engage on the edge of the church and to work together with local churches to see a thriving church for every people.

At times this manifests itself by expat missionaries working alongside local believers reaching the unreached; at other times it manifests itself by equipping local believers to do it alone. Either way gives the same desired result: more people are brought into the family of God, establishing thriving churches in the process.

A Path Forward

Larry Brown, CEO of Ethnos360, put it this way. When talking about how we do ministry — whether flying into remote mountain villages or reaching unreached peoples in a bustling urban environment — Larry said it’s not or, but and. It’s not a this or that approach. It’s an and approach.

That’s what is happening in Tanzania: the and. Missionaries serving together under Integral Vision in Tanzania want to engage with the unreached people groups of Tanzania, and they want to engage with the already existing church in Tanzania. Pray for missionaries who are opening new venues of ministry within Tanzania, for wisdom in the varied approaches, for sensitivity to the needs at hand, and for a heart for the people.