SIX WAYS TO REACH GOD’s WORLD
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Six Ways To Reach God's World: Go, Send, Mobilize, Learn, Pray, and Welcome
Everyone can participate in the Great Commission Matthew 28:18-20 through the “Six Ways to Reach God's World”, which is a framework created by OMF International (Overseas Missionary Fellowship) to guide and encourage believers in their participation in global missions. This model highlights six interconnected, practical approaches that people can take to engage with God's mission and contribute to reaching the world with the gospel. These six areas are: Go, Send, Mobilize, Learn, Pray, and Welcome.
Whether you are called to go, send, mobilize, learn, pray, or welcome, each aspect is vital for fulfilling the Great Commission. Through these approaches, the church can participate in God’s redemptive mission on a global scale, bringing the gospel to the nations and making disciples of all peoples.
Check out the 263 Ways PDF below and select one or two items that you and your family can actively participate in the Great Commission and the “Six Ways To Reach God’s World”!
Go
The first call in the Six Ways to Reach God's World is to go - to actively engage in global missions, whether it be by directly serving in a cross-cultural setting or by going to places where the gospel is less known. This can involve long-term missions, short-term trips, or serving in countries with significant unreached people groups. The focus is on spreading the gospel where it has not yet taken root or where there is a need for discipleship and church planting.
Key Aspects:
- Evangelism and Church Planting: Go to areas where there is little to no access to the gospel.
- Cultural Immersion: Engage with new cultures and communities to build relationships and share the gospel effectively.
- Long-Term Commitment: The focus is not just on a one-time visit, but on establishing long-term relationships, teaching, and discipling.
Send
While some are called to go, others are called to send. Sending is just as important as going. This refers to providing the financial, emotional, prayer, and logistical support needed for those who are called to go. Churches, individuals, and organizations are encouraged to invest in missionary work by sending people out into the world. Sending includes raising awareness, fundraising, and fostering a supportive environment for missionaries.
Key Aspects:
- Financial Support: Churches and individuals provide the financial resources necessary for missionaries to serve in the field.
- Prayer and Encouragement: Sending involves regular prayer and ongoing support to help sustain missionaries in their work.
- Missionary Care: Sending involves ensuring the well-being of missionaries, including emotional, spiritual, and practical care during their time in the field.
Mobilize
Mobilization is about inspiring, encouraging, and preparing others to participate in God's global mission. Mobilizing people includes raising awareness of the need for cross-cultural workers, educating people about God's mission, and encouraging them to use their gifts and resources for the advancement of the gospel. It involves equipping others with the knowledge, passion, and skills they need to be involved, whether by going, sending, or supporting in other ways.
Key Aspects:
- Awareness Campaigns: Mobilizing involves educating congregations or communities about global mission needs, especially among unreached people groups.
- Discipleship and Training: Equip people with the tools they need to understand and engage in global missions.
- Fostering a Missional Lifestyle: Encourage believers to view their everyday lives as an opportunity to participate in God’s mission, whether locally or globally.
Learn
The Learn aspect encourages Christians to learn about other cultures, people groups, and the global mission context. Cross-cultural understanding is essential for effective communication and ministry. This involves deepening one's knowledge of God’s mission in the world, as well as learning the language, history, and customs of the people one seeks to serve.
Key Aspects:
- Cultural Sensitivity: Learning about other cultures and worldviews is crucial for building trust and communicating the gospel in an effective and respectful manner.
- Theological Education: Learn more about God’s heart for the nations through Bible study, missiological training, and exposure to stories from the field.
- Language Acquisition: In order to effectively share the gospel and build relationships, it is essential to learn the language of the people being served.
Pray
Prayer is foundational to all the other aspects of missions. The work of God’s kingdom is not accomplished by human effort alone; it is the work of the Holy Spirit. Prayer empowers missions by interceding for the needs of missionaries, unreached people groups, and the world at large. Prayer also aligns believers’ hearts with God's desires for the nations, helping them to understand His purposes and to trust in His provision and guidance.
Key Aspects:
- Intercessory Prayer: Regularly pray for missionaries, the nations, and the unreached people groups. Prayer is seen as the engine that drives the mission.
- Praying for Open Doors: Ask God to open hearts and provide opportunities for sharing the gospel, especially in hard-to-reach or hostile environments.
- Spiritual Warfare: Recognize the spiritual battle at play in mission work and pray for protection, wisdom, and discernment for those involved.
Welcome
The final aspect of the Six Ways is the call to welcome. This refers to welcoming and embracing immigrants, refugees, and foreigners, especially those from unreached people groups, into our homes, churches, and communities. God has brought people from all over the world to our doorstep, and this provides a unique opportunity to share the love of Christ and engage in global missions without leaving home. It also includes showing hospitality, building relationships, and sharing the gospel in tangible ways.
Key Aspects:
- Hospitality: Welcoming strangers into our lives, offering love and practical help to immigrants and refugees.
- Cultural Exchange: Build relationships with people from different backgrounds, allowing for mutual understanding and gospel sharing.
- Reaching the Diaspora: Many unreached people groups are now found in urban centers worldwide, and Christians are encouraged to reach out to them in their own communities.
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PRAY: www.omf.org/us/getinvolved
1. Go on a short‐term “prayer journey”
trip to another country.
2. Pray through Operation World, a
book which highlights a different
country every day.
3. Pray for one missionary: his family,
ministry, Christian walk, etc. Sign up
to receive their monthly prayer letter
and request a copy of 7 Ways to Pray
for a Missionary from
4. Pray for a team of missionaries on a
specific ministry project.
5. Pray through the international
section of your local newspaper or
set the homepage of your web
browser to world news.
6. Pray for a mission agency or a
particular type of ministry.
7. Adopt and pray for an unreached
people group. Order a 30‐day prayer
guide focused on that area or group.
8. During the month of Ramadan, pray
daily for an unreached Muslim
people group every day. Find
information at www.30‐days.net or
9. Pray daily through the “Global
Chinese Ministries Newsletter”⎯a
free monthly prayer guide for the
Chinese world.
10. Join an international group of people
who pray for over one billion people
under the influence of Buddhism
11. Sign up to join an international prayer team
focused on people groups who have no
Bible and no church in the countries of
Laos, Vietnam, Myanmar and Southern
China (www.infomekong.com).
12. Pray for people you know who are not
yet involved in one of the six ways and
those who are thinking about where
God wants them to serve in the Great
Commission.
13. Spend one day a month fasting for the
unreached, a country, or a missionary.
14. Pray through specific scripture, or
incorporate worship songs as you
intercede for the nations. Use maps
and pictures, too!
15. Pray using a world map.
With your church:
16. Pray for your local church to be
strategically involved in God’s work in
the world.
17. Get your church’s prayer group
together with other churches to pray.
18. Teach people in your fellowship or
church why and how to pray for
missions.
19. Attend your local church prayer group
and ask if you can lead a missions‐
focused time once a month.
20. Get creative and set up a “virtual
prayer journey” in a room at your
church (including photos, maps,
decorations, food, stories of specific
places).
21. Pray for church unity and humility.
22. Set up a prayer chain for specific needs
from a people or country or missionary.
23. Create prayer reminders to hand out:
bracelets, post its, magnets, postcards,
bookmarks.
24. Organize a day of fasting.
25. Divide specific prayer requests up to
distribute them to different prayer
teams (one for kids, etc.).
26. Develop and maintain a prayer chain
for the needs of the missionary and the
people with whom they work.
27. Create a prayer quilt.
With your friends:
28. Find a prayer partner and pray together
for missions once a week.
29. Invite a coworker/friend to join you
once a week to pray (20 minutes) on
your lunch hour for missions.
30. Pray with/for a friend overseas using an
instant messaging service.
31. Become a prayer group leader; gather a
group of friends to pray with you.
32. Encourage/educate other ministries to
be globally minded and pray for
missions.
33. Gather some friends and go prayer
walking in your city (temples, low‐
income areas, international segments,
your neighborhood, etc.).
34. Host the World Day of Prayer.
35. Share prayer request over e‐mail with
an accountability partner.
36. Host an internet prayer meeting.
37. Use You Tube® or Vimeo® videos on
unfamiliar regions to pray for that
area/unreached people group.
38. Gather stories of youth in other
countries and gather youth to pray (this
could work with children, too!).
(To sign up or get more information on any of
the items above, contact OMF International’s
prayer mobilizer at prayerinfo@omf.org.)
SEND
39. Write a letter of encouragement to a
missionary you know.
40. Connect with your missionary using
Skype.
41. Organize a commissioning service or
party for missionaries when they leave.
42. Give $50 to someone you know going
on a short‐term mission trip.
43. Adopt a missionary and/or missionary
family—remember them on holidays,
birthdays and other special occasions
with at least a card. Be sure to
remember the kids’ birthdays, too.
44. Send encouragement to a missionary
supported by your church: host a
“Christmas in August” party to send
books, music, taco seasoning or
chocolate etc.
45. Host a garage sale and give the
proceeds to the International Bible
Society or a missionary Bible translator
you know.
46. What can you give up for Lent?
movies? lattes? hamburgers? new CDs?
Try it for 40 days and give the money
saved to World Vision, Compassion, or
an orphanage supported by OMF
International.
47. Go to the airport with missionaries
when they leave or return.
48. Help workers with personal logistics
(i.e. finances, prayer letters, etc.).
49. Communicate with the sending
organization on behalf of missionaries.
50. Commit to give monthly financial
support.
51. Send short‐term teams to those you
support.
52. Send surprise care packages at random
times of the year.
53. Create an e‐mail prayer chain on behalf
of a missionary.
54. Be a missionary’s point person (liaison)
here in the U.S.
55. Offer to take care of children, pets,
homes, plants, etc. while missionaries
are away.
56. Let missionaries store their stuff at
your house.
57. Supply needed materials.
58. Help missionaries deal with medical
issues or insurance.
59. Help missionaries learn a language or
culture with which you are familiar.
60. Edit missionary’s e‐mails before
sending them out.
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61. Provide needed equipment (musical
instruments, computers, etc.).
62. Help missionaries debrief by listening
to their stories and reconnecting them
with their home culture when they
return.
63. Welcome missionaries home by hosting
a party.
64. Set up a send‐off party.
65. Be a host family when missionaries
come back.
66. Offer assistance in communicating with
missionaries’ parents (if unbelievers or
unsupportive).
67. Host parties to give their supporters a
feel for the culture to which the
missionary is going.
68. Talk to missionaries regularly on Skype,
AIM or ICQ.
69. Update missionaries on local news
from their home country.
70. Offer to manage the missionary’s
home‐side bills.
71. Help design a website, set up a blog or
connect them to Facebook to share the
missionary’s ministry.
72. Check missionary’s mail for important
and urgent items. For example, you
could return jury duty summons should
that come.
73. Baby‐sit.
74. Care for the missionary’s stateside
family.
75. Set‐up or be pen pals with missionary
kids.
76. Record favorite TV shows or sporting
events and send them.
77. Send favorite books or magazines.
78. Send them a book that the missionary’s
former Bible study group is going
through.
79. Send sermon tapes.
80. Lend missionaries your car when they
come back.
81. Purchase a car, house or bike for use
when the missionary is on home
assignment.
82. Furnish an apartment for missionaries
to use while they are on home
assignment.
83. Donate your vacation home or
timeshare for the missionary’s use.
84. Donate airline miles for flights.
85. Set‐up education fund(s) for children.
86. Create a scrapbook for the missionary.
87. Supply groceries for the missionary
family while they are on home
assignment.
88. Purchase new clothes for third‐culture
kids (TCKs), children of missionaries.
89. Supply phone or gas cards for the
missionary on home assignment.
90. Treat missionaries to meals and or
coffee.
91. Treat missionaries on home assignment
to something special: pedicure,
manicure, massage, etc.
92. Coach the church congregation about
how to welcome missionaries home.
93. Become dorm parents at boarding
schools for children of missionaries.
94. Take missionaries out for coffee when
they are in the area.
95. Arrange medical appointments for
those on home assignment.
96. Translate prayer letters for greater
distribution.
97. Create tentmaker jobs for missionaries
via your connections or company.
98. Give a commissioning service for those
going.
99. Donate materials for missionary kids’
ministry overseas.
100. Serve retired missionaries in as many
ways as you can think of.
101. Financially support seminary students
who want to be missionaries.
102. Buy an International cell phone for
missionaries going to the field.
WELCOME
103. Volunteer to speak English every week
with a student from Asia who is
learning.
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104. Attend an International Students’ event
at a local university (ISI Incorporated,
105. Help in an English as a Second
Language (ESL) class in your local
church or a nearby by church.
106. Join an international ministries
program in your church or another.
107. Help in a program that offers help to
international students with their
schoolwork—grade school, middle
school or high school.
108. Offer to help internationals with
banking, health care or shopping.
109. Offer an exercise class in the language
of local internationals.
110. Go often to a Chinese, Thai or Indian
restaurant and befriend the newcomer
waiters.
111. Visit the international district in your
city.
112. Give international students a city tour.
113. Go on an international student retreat.
114. Host an exchange student or assist
them with moves.
115. Become a translator.
116. Open your home to international
students during the holidays.
117. Offer loans to refugees.
118. Research areas of immigrant
communities in your area and services
provided to them where you can
volunteer
119. Research agencies that help in placing
refugees in your city. There are large
groups of these in the U.S., and they
are here because they no longer have a
home. Volunteer with one of these
agencies to house refugees, help them
get settled, etc.
120. Host a “newcomer” party (for
internationals who are new to your
town)
121. Help internationals find work.
122. Collect resources/essentials for
refugees in your city.
123. Reach out in areas where foreigners
congregate in the United States i.e. ski
towns, tourist places.
124. Provide internships at your business for
internationals.
125. Welcome migrant workers and their
families in your area.
126. Host a “Garage Giveaway” for
missionaries coming back from the field
who may have nothing with which to
furnish their home.
127. Host a law education class.
128. Host a citizenship class.
129. Help Internationals obtain a drivers
license.
130. Host parenting education classes for
Internationals.
GO
131. Study language for a year in an Asian
country as an OMF International
Associate.
132. Go on a short‐term mission trip with
your church and/or OMF International!
Offer your skills or abilities in one of the
following areas:
133. Start a business overseas.
134. Vocational training (for local people).
135. Teach English overseas.
136. Teach third‐culture kids (TCKs).
137. Community development
138. Environmental research
139. Ethnographic research
140. Sports ministry
141. Agricultural development
142. Exchange student
143. Prayer journey
144. Music ministry
145. Help an ethnic church
146. Medical missionary
147. Vacation Bible School
148. Bible Translation
149. Aviation
150. Computer Programming
151. Teaching English
152. Missionary support (visiting them)
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153. Counseling overseas
154. Public health (health education)
155. Administrative tasks
156. Reporter
157. International justice
158. Professors at a university
159. Camp (summer ministry)
160. Orphanages
161. Relief work
162. Construction/design
163. Linguistics/literacy programs
164. Church planting
165. Internet Cafes, restaurant
166. Homeschool third‐culture kids (TCKs)
for missionaries
167. Get your pastor to go!
MOBILIZE
168. Welcome a missionary on home
assignment to share with your small
group.
169. Take a friend to a mission conference
you enjoy.
170. Start a prayer group focused on
missions at your church.
171. Check Caleb Resources
(www.takeitglobal.org) web store for
videos and mission activities for
children.
172. Volunteer to teach a culture or
missions session at Vacation Bible
School (VBS), Sunday school or
children’s church.
173. Find praise songs that speak of God’s
love for “the nations” and ask your
church praise team to add these to
their repertoire.
174. You certainly have a story to tell, and
experience to share, do so! Don’t be
pushy but don’t be shy about letting
others know the need you have seen
and the possibilities to serve.
175. Write a book, prayer guide or articles
about your experiences.
176. Start or host a prayer group with
missions focus.
177. Talk to people and invite them to
mission events.
178. Show missions movies.
179. Facilitate trips to local areas where
internationals live and work.
180. Let others know about available
resources (i.e. books, prayer guides)—
or give them to them.
181. Advertise Perspectives on the World
Christian Movement courses.
182. Host an international dinner.
183. Become an OMF International
Mobilization Intern.
184. Match people you know with a mission
organization that complements their
work skills.
185. Invite others to go on a short‐term
mission trip with you.
186. Share your Asia pictures with others.
187. Host a food and prayer night for a
specific people group or country.
188. Become and advocate for a missions
agency, people group or country.
189. Host internationals and stay in contact
when they leave.
190. Join The Traveling Team
191. Memorize key verses on mobilization.
192. Pray at 10:02 AM every day because of
Luke 10:2.
193. Place inserts in church bulletins about
missions.
194. Suggest that your book club read and
discuss missionary biographies.
195. Host short‐term alumni meetings to
encourage people’s further
involvement
196. Be active and ask people about their
missionary work.
197. Host a missionary with friends.
198. Arrange speaking engagements for
missionaries on home assignment.
199. Set up a booth about missions at local
concerts or college campuses.
200. Be on your church’s missions
committee.
201. Put together a bulletin board to
highlight your church’s missionaries
and their work.
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202. Locate third‐culture kids (TCKs) in your
area and encourage them on their
journey.
203. Host a Missions Night at a café.
204. Hold a potluck for internationals or
with international foods.
205. Visit a foreign‐culture church with a
group.
206. Take a group to a local temple or
mosque.
207. Take people on a prayer walk in your
city.
208. Volunteer with a mission agency.
Consider OMF International’s
BridgeAsia program.
209. Send pictures and videos from the field.
210. Create a missions video.
211. Teach your kids about missions.
212. Host a missions camp for adults.
213. Bless children to be missionaries.
LEARN
214. Study an unreached people group on
Joshua Project’s
(www.joshuaproject.net) strategic list.
215. Read Live Life on Purpose by Claude
Hickman.
216. Sign up for a Perspectives on the World
Christian Movement course or order a
five‐week Vision for the Nations course
on DVD for your small group from
217. Study a foreign language.
218. Get additional Bible training by signing
up for an online course.
219. Read a new missionary biography
220. Buy the One Year Book of Christian
History (by Rusten. Tyndale: 2003) and
read two pages per day to enlarge your
understanding.
221. Visit the Urbana web page
222. Visit a local Buddhist temple or a
Muslim mosque.
223. Read about missionaries, teach Sunday
school classes about missionary heroes
of the faith or encourage Christian
bookstores to stock autobiographies
and biographies of missionaries.
224. Go on a short‐term vision trip to learn
about the needs in another country
and how you can be involved.
225. Read the research papers and field
reports that mission agencies publish.
226. Take seminary courses about missions.
227. Go to mission conference.
228. Watch foreign movies.
229. Read books about an area, people or
culture.
230. Read international news.
231. Watch documentaries.
232. Go to culture museums.
233. Host a cultural night at church.
234. Go to an ethnic restaurant.
235. Have “mission minute” at church.
236. Have people share personal missions
experiences at church.
237. Share photos, picture books or
slideshows of area or people.
238. Take classes about an area, people or
culture.
239. Learn the history of an area, people or
culture.
240. Read and pray through Operation World
(www.gmi.org/ow) by Patrick Johnstone.
241. Read and pray through Global Prayer Digest
(www.global‐prayer‐digest.org).
242. Invite long‐ and short‐term workers to
church to share.
243. Send out prayer updates from workers
and pray for them as a group at church.
244. Hold a missions‐focused vacation Bible school
(VBS).
245. Listen to and learn to play ethnic music.
246. Read books about other cultures,
ethnicities and worldviews.
247. Complete Bible studies about missions.
248. Learn to cook foods from other
cultures.
249. Talk to missionaries.
250. Go to these areas in your city: Thai‐
town, Korea‐town, Little Tokyo, China‐
town.
251. Learn a sport that is a favorite in
another country.
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252. Join your church’s missions committee.
253. Read missions magazines like Mission
Frontiers (www.missionfrontiers.org).
254. Do an internship at a missions agency
or in the missions department of your
church.
255. Go hear missionaries speak about their
ministries.
256. Seminary
257. Go to local cultural day celebrations.
258. Research needs in different people
groups.
259. Get involved with university cultural
groups.
260. Get involved with sister city
relationships.
261. Visit other‐culture churches in your
home country.
262. Subscribe to online English newspapers
from other countries.
263. Study a new culture and country at