عنوان

Church Birthing:

Number

TLpq2407360548

.Language of Text, Soundtrack etc

انگلیسی

Title Proper

Church Birthing:

General Material Designation

[Thesis]

First Statement of Responsibility

Pitcher, Zachary

Title Proper by Another Author

An Investigation of Mission Strategies Among Nomadic Peoples

Subsequent Statement of Responsibility

Ott, Craig

Name of Publisher, Distributor, etc.

Trinity International University

Date of Publication, Distribution, etc.

2019

Specific Material Designation and Extent of Item

160

Dissertation or thesis details and type of degree

M.A.

Body granting the degree

Trinity International University

Text preceding or following the note

2019

Text of Note

Research indicates that there are over 7,000 Unreached People Groups that represent nearly four and a half billion people ("Global Status of Evangelical Christianity" 2019). Due to this, much of the evangelical mission effort has been focused on those peoples who are currently classified as "unreached." Of those unreached peoples, as many as 296, 772, 000 people live a nomadic or semi-nomadic lifestyle ("2019-01 GSEC Listing of People Groups" 2019). Statistics vary on the global population of nomads, ranging from 30-40 million ("Nomad" 2018) to 100-200 million (Hunter 1997; Rome 2016), to nearly 300 million ("2019-01 GSEC Listing of People Groups" 2019). Exact estimates are difficult to attain given the dispersed nature of most nomadic populations and varying definitions of nomadism. Regardless of definition, the global population of nomadic peoples is substantial and will require unique missiological effort. The nomads of the world view themselves as being a part of a "global fraternity" (Rome, 2016). The unique lifestyle of nomads differentiates them from settled people to the point that an Arabian sheep herder will have more in common with a Mongolian nomad than with the settled Arabs in the cities just a few miles from the Bedouin camp (Morris 2018). This drastic difference in mentality and identity between settled and nomadic populations requires a unique missiological approach that can contextualize the Gospel to nomads. Traditional methods of evangelism and church planting will need to be adapted to accommodate the unique position of nomads. This will require adaptations of existing missionary methodology to adjust to the new context since very few resources have been created with nomads in mind (Rome 2018). The settled-mindset of current missionary outreach is evidenced by the agricultural vocabulary used to describe establishing new churches as "church planting." To reach the nomads of the world, the church will have to move beyond settled categories of "planting" static churches that are tied to a building and take on the more difficult task of "birthing" mobile churches. This change in language will be a necessary step in moving from a settled idea of church to a nomadic one that draws on the imagery of animals instead of plans and harvests. If the church is to engage all peoples, then missionaries must learn to put the church on the back of camels.

Religion

Ott, Craig

Pitcher, Zachary

Electronic name

p

[Thesis]

276903

a

Y