This is a welcomed development as this new but centuries-old method of sharing Christ’s message is gaining recognition by the Global Church. On the North American front, ION has taken a huge step forward in its development as more task forces have been formed to take on critical projects.

The research task force will be looking at the impact of Orality on Church Growth. A new task force, Music and Arts, will explore the impact of all culturally-appropriate arts in Oral-based cultures.

Initially, very little collaboration among these ministries was taking place until an enterprising group of internet evangelism ministries formed an alliance to bring together in a neutral atmosphere many of these practitioners.

This Muslim Internet Evangelism Alliance (which goes by a different name we won’t list here for security reasons), now in its fifth year with continuous visionSynergy counsel, is a glowing success. It has practical work groups moving forward strategic but commonly-shared concerns, such as media-to-ground follow-up and security.

Many partnerships have flowed out of the alliance-advancing the gospel in powerful ways.

Sports is music’s twin universal language. In 1996 the International Sports Coalition was coordinating key outreach at Olympics, World Cup Soccer, and other high profile international events. After a commitment to and intensive international training in partnership, the ISC now has work in over 100 countries, through more than ten youth and family strategies, has seen over 300,000 decisions for Christ, engages more than 20,000 volunteers annually, and relates Jesus every day of the year to otherwise inaccessible professionals in baseball, soccer, basketball, tennis, formula one, and football.

A Missionary & The Fundamentalists

1990—2000 saw over 100,000 Algerians die as the Islamic Fundamentalists waged war against the central government. Nearly fifty years before a British missionary had, with his family, given his life to share Christ with the Kabyle Berbers of Western Algeria. When he died there were possibly 100 believers. The second year of the Islamic war, 1992, a partnership of eight ministries was born to reach the Kablyles – building on the 50 years of missionary witness. Today there are well over 100,000 believers, all churches led by nationals, radio, TV, internet evangelism – all carried out by the growing national Kabyle leadership and all in one generation! A recent national Islamic Algerian daily warned, “We Muslims must be careful. It’s said that to be Muslim is death. To be a Christian is life.”

Hope Turns Bad Then Turns Really Good

A major language group in West Africa had no church – and no Scripture. In the early stages of partnership development for the group, three widely separated groups we found to be working on New Testament translation – completely unaware of each other. Despite great odds, as part of the partnership, the three were brought together and a coordinated strategy was developed. Result: the NT five years sooner – available for evangelism, literature, radio, and all other forms of witness. Plus, over $1.8 million dollar saved for other Kingdom work!

Genghis Khan’s Dream Finally Realized

Having seen Christianity when his hoards invaded the Middle East in the 12^th Century, Genghis Khan asked the pope to send missionaries to Mongolia. The pope didn’t respond. For another 800 years Mongolia languished in darkness. In 1991 when the Mongolia partnership was born there were four known believers in the country. Today? Nearly 100,000 believers in a church led completely by nationals, a national Bible Society, Christian broadcasting, and growing influence in this formally dark world. Genghis Khan’s dream (and that of prayer warriors worldwide) come true – in one generation!

Eight Become One Become Thousands

There were eight different radio broadcasters trying to reach the 60 million Muslims of North Africa. Their programs were on different stations at different times making it virtually impossible for ‘seekers’ to listen to the Good News with any continuity. Partnership brought the broadcasters together with on-the-ground nationals leaders and missionaries for a coordinated effort. An integrated on-air schedule & coordinated personal follow-up revolutionized outcomes. Today, thousands of believers and a growing church.

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