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You're
a Missions Mobilizer...Now What?
by
Francie Maxwell
The
Goal
To
answer this question, let’s consider the desired result of mobilization. The
ultimate goal is God’s goal—to see “…a great multitude, which no one
could count, from every nation and all tribes and tongues, standing before
the throne and before the Lamb…” (Revelations 7:9). God wants mobilizers to
excite and equip the Body of Christ to provide the resources for reaching
the world.
According
to Ralph Winter of the World Center for World Mission, “Mobilizers are those
who channel key resources, training and vision for world evangelization to
the Body of Christ. The primary resources needed to see the church established
in every people group are:
- prayer
for God’s power and blessing;
-
workers for the harvest;
- financial/material
resources necessary to carry on the ministry.”
Stages
of Missions
To
reach the goal of providing resources for world evangelization, the Mobilizer
should understand the stages of missions awareness and involvement: going,
sending, giving and mobilizing. With this understanding, the Mobilizer can
identify the stage their audience is in, and more specifically, plan the methods,
mediums and resources to enable them to move to the next step.
David
Daugherty, an OMF Mobilizer, developed a “Five-Stage model” showing
the stages a person goes through to become actively involved in missions:
- unaware
- aware
- interested
- concerned
- involved
As
the stages progress, the pool of people in each becomes smaller, illustrating
that many fail to move on to the next stage. Reasons for withdrawing may include
ignorance, apathy, distraction or frustration.
Moving
through the Continuum
The skilled Mobilizer will others move toward greater involvement.
- Moving
from “unaware to aware” requires capturing their attention through
personal contact or visual tools, such as videos, brochures or books.
- Moving
from “aware to interested” requires identifying with a felt need
or appealing to a personal value, such as with Bible teachings and applications
featuring God’s heart for all people.
- Moving
from “interested to concerned” requires introducing a personal
dimension to increase desire for involvement, or getting people involved
emotionally.
- Moving
from “concerned to Involved” requires a specific opportunity to
act. It’s not enough to urge people to pray, give or go, we must provide
the means to do these things. Many people become frustrated because they
want to be involved, but don’t know how at the time they are motivated to
act.
Keep
Two things in mind as you work with people in various stages of mission involvement:
- A
person can only cross a limited number of steps during a particular interaction.
Two or three is usually the maximum to cross at one time.
- This
is God’s work. The Mobilizer’s role is to "mobilize" the resources. God
through the Holy Spirit calls, motivates and equips His people for involvement
in His work.
The
final element of the model concerns “mobilizing.” Get excited! Get
others excited! Go mobilize!
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