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Dreaming With God About Mission Mobilization

At present, for the first time in church and mission history, there are believers and churches in every single nation on earth.[i] This “sign of the times” reveals a significant need for the ministry of mission mobilization. These believers and churches need to be mobilized to partner and cooperate with Jesus in His Great Commission endeavors.

Yet to cooperate with where God is taking His global Church in mission mobilization it is essential to see mobilization in a broader, more comprehensive, holistic capacity. What if mission mobilization referred to calling the whole global Church (every disciple and every local ministry), not just individuals.

What if mission mobilization referred to every local ministry (no matter how big or small) systematically educating, inspiring and activating their members in the Great Commission? What if mission mobilization was viewed at the core of true discipleship, not subsequent, or worse yet peripheral to it, so common now?[ii]

It is this type of mission mobilization that is the overlooked gap of the mission movement today. We have the global Church on one side and the unreached people groups on the other side. But between these is the large gap of how to rightly bridge the church to the unreached.

The gap represents the vital role mission mobilization plays. It is this type of holistic mobilization which is needed to fuel the fire of the mission movement to burn amongst all unreached ethnic peoples. 

In the parable of the Sower (Scatterer) in Matthew 13: 1-9 and 18-23, Jesus provides helpful teaching on the subject of “scattering” disciples among the nations as His Message Bearers. If viewed correctly, this parable has significant missiological and mobilization theology implications.[iii]

The parable describes a man (Jesus) “scattering” seed on ground. Jesus reveals four types of believers (seeds) to clarify different conditions among professing believers. Jesus teaches the “scattering” of seed is the “scattering” of believers (sons and daughters of the Kingdom, Vs. 38) into each generation with the gospel. Jesus is concerned in this parable with the seeds, not the soil.

To the seed (believer) that understands and obeys the Word, aligning their lives with Jesus’ terms of discipleship, the age responds and a fruitful harvest comes forth. According to Jesus, around one-fourth of believers fall into the category of producing fruitfulness (v. 23), or are “good seed.” The distinguishing factor of seed “scattered” on good ground is they are fruitful.

The believer which does not understand the Word finds the well-trodden ground of the age hard (v. 19), unable to produce any harvest. The believer with no root in themselves finds the persecuting age destroying them (v. 21). The believer concerned about the things of the age are themselves absorbed and choked by the age (v. 22). According to Jesus, three-fourths of professing believers do not produce fruit when “scattered” into the world.

To pull this parable out of the abstract and give it some practical feet, consider the following. Current statistics tell us there are just over 2.5 billion Christians on earth.[iv] If we took Jesus’ teaching literally in this parable that three-fourth of Christians “scattered” by Jesus for His glory, produce no fruit, this would total 1.87 billion unfruitful Christians.

This leaves potentially 620 million believers in the category of fruitful believers “scattered” globally, producing fruitfulness through their lives and ministries. Pause for a moment. Let that sink in. Potentially 620 million fruitful believers around the world in local ministries “scattering” outward in Level One, Level Two and Level Three Scattering.[v]

If around 20 percent[vi] of these 620 million fruitful believers globally become activated in Level Two and Level Three Scattering, there could be 124 million fruitful message bearers engaged in ministry among near and distant culture unreached peoples. Just imagine the impact.

While Jesus may not have meant the breakdown of the four seed categories literally, it is evident He did mean it as an illustration of what the Church would look like throughout this age, with a majority of professing believers failing to produce fruit.

I would suggest that 25 percent of the professing body of Christ globally is a conservative (and likely fairly accurate) estimate of fruitful believers in the Kingdom. However, if there are more fruitful believers that only bolsters the point of how many more fruitful believers should be scattered to the nations in response to comprehensive, holistic mobilization.

Compare the potential number of 124 million fruitful message bearers in level one and two scattering with the current number of missionary workers in the world— 430,000.[vii] By faith, this is where the Lord is taking His Church in mobilization.

Yet we know that such a significant number of fruitful believers across the global Church have not yet been activated in their calling as “scattered” message bearers for Jesus’ glory. The vast majority are not aware that Jesus has purposed their lives for great glory among unreached peoples.

This is why the global Church needs to grow in and faithfully implement holistic mission mobilization into their local fellowships and across their denominational structures.[viii]

According to our study, it is Jesus’ foretold purpose that one fourth of believers are fruitful believers “scattered” into the world for His glory. They need to be mobilized through Mission Mobilization Movements being purposefully developed across every denomination and church network.


[i] Todd Johnson and Gina Zurlo, “Status of Global Christianity 2015,” International Bulletin of Missionary Research, https://www.researchgate.net/publication/308361629_Status_of_ Global_Christianity_2015_in_the_Context_of_1900-2050.

[ii] Learn more about this broader understanding of mission mobilization in the article “What We Mean By Mission Mobilization by Ryan Shaw, In Mobilization Matters Bulletin, July, 2021 – https://www.globalmmi.net/what-we-mean-by-mission-mobilization

[iii] Ryan Shaw, Studies in Jesus’ Parables of the Kingdom (USA: IGNITE Media, 2018) p. 19-29, available through IGNITE Media.

[iv] Status of Global Christianity, 2021, In the Context of 1900 – 2050. https://www.gordonconwell. edu/center-for-global-christianity/wp-content/uploads/sites/13/2020/12/Statusof- Global-Christianity-2021.pdf.

[v] The concept of “scattering” message bearers among the unreached in a widespread, using a grid related to three distinct levels, is considered in chapter 16, “Scattering Message Bearer Teams to the Unreached,” in the author’s book, Rethinking Global Mobilization.

[vi]Though in no way an exact number nor reached in a scientific manner, the concept of a local ministry scattering 20 percent or so of its members in Level Two and Level Three Scattering raises the global Church’s sights from what has traditionally been done. It is meant to provoke faith-filled consideration about how much more local ministries can engage in “scattering” and multiplying.

[vii] Missionary Statistics – http://missionaryportal.webflow.io/stats.

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