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Jesus commanded us to make disciples—loyal followers of His who would boldly risk everything to trust and obey Him in company with others who catch the vision of His will being done here on earth as it is in heaven. Not isolated believers here and there, but rather clusters of like-minded brothers and sisters who gather together regularly just as did the first believers in the book of Acts.
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Church planting is not the only thing we do, but it is our overarching goal toward which every other activity must contribute in some way. Why? Because we believe that in this way we participate in the vision Christ expressed when He promised: “I will build my church…” Furthermore, it is through the church that God will demonstrate His wisdom to the universe (Eph. 3:10).
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By this we mean men and women who recognize that they are sinners, that Jesus is the only Way to the Father and that baptism demonstrates their commitment to follow Christ in daily life according to the Bible at whatever cost.
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We aim not merely to win scattered individuals here and there to Christ, but to plant churches with a vision to evangelize their neighbors, to win some to Christ and to train them also to be His true followers.
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Our goal is for newly established churches to catch the vision of world-wide disciple-making among unreached people groups. We envision the new congregations themselves will participate in selecting such groups and in sending workers to establish new churches among them. All churches everywhere sharing all the Gospel till all the people groups have faithful disciples within them! North American Anabaptist churches have no monopoly on missions! All of us have the privilege and responsibility to participate.
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"unreached peoples (those less than 5% Christian), particularly those who are in or from countries found in the ‘10/40 Window’.”
We prioritize persons from unreached people groups in their countries, as well as those who have chosen to reside in ours (the US and Canada). The latter, living right among us and next door, have great potential for reaching back into their homelands and therefore should not be overlooked. |
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“…Under-evangelized peoples will also be given appropriate consideration.”
By “under-evangelized” we refer to peoples such as the Quebecker in Canada who were “evangelized” by Catholics in years gone by. Now, for all practical purposes, they have very little concept of the true Gospel. For peoples such as they, work needs to begin all over again. DNI considers such peoples to be within our responsibility as well. Relegating them to a second tier of priority does not mean they are of lesser importance, but is a recognition that they do have some degree of access to the Gospel, if desired, whereas unreached peoples have none. |
