Network for our cousins

The Labour

As a student of the parables of Jesus, I have become very inspired by the parables of the Kingdom. One in particular is Matthew 13:33, “He told them another parable: "The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed into 50 pounds of flour until it spread through all of it." I picture the women’s hands mixing in this small, yet powerful change-agent into a large amount of flour. It causes me to consider the unstoppable force of the Kingdom into every part of God’s creation. Though we might not see its presence in some places and among some people groups now, our hope is assured that the Kingdom will come. I also consider our role in this as co-labourers with God - we can be this woman’s hands - moving, mixing and moulding until the Kingdom permeates. As each hand has fingers, so does the church - we must work together as co-labourers in real partnership.

The Vision

One of the best examples of Kingdom partnership I have had the privilege of being a part of is the V 5.9 Network. V 5.9 exists to see effective church-planting efforts among all Muslim peoples. By the grace of God we aspire to see this accomplished by 2025. V 5.9 is inspired by the powerful picture of the consummation of God’s Kingdom in Revelation 5:9:

“...Worthy are You to take the book and to break its seals; for You were slain, and purchased for God with Your blood men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation.” Here is our Lord and the fulfilment of his Great Commission to us.

The Distance

We as a network live by the principle found in the well known African proverb - “If you want to go fast, go alone, if you want to go far, go with other!” We have far to go! The Great Commission among our Muslim neighbours must involve the Global church. There still exists 2,227 Muslim Unreached People Groups. 703 are still unengaged - meaning there is currently no church planting effort among them - of which 214 have populations greater than 100,000.

The Strategy

Currently the V5.9 Network includes 75 organizations originating from 20 nations representing a total of 9600 workers in the Muslim world. Together we are working towards our shared vision through Five Primary Strategies:

1.Frutiful Practices - Facilitating effective church planting among all Muslim peoples through inter-agency and international sharing of resources and cross-pollination (write info@fruitfulpractice.org for more info and to get access to materials).

2.Mobilization and training - Helping to catalyze the global church to disciple all Muslim peoples in our generation, with a strong emphasis on churches and emerging mission structures from the Majority World.

3. Global Trends - Researching the state of the gospel in the Muslim world, verifying what actually is happening or not happening.

4. Mutual accountability - Monitoring and evaluating our progress toward our objectives.

5. Grace and Truth - encouraging the church to embrace Muslims with the love of Christ as we share the Gospel with grace and truth (see Grace and Truth or visit www.peace-catalyst.net/ )

The invitation

Would you like to add your hands to the mixing bowl? We are looking to partner with any organization that shares this great vision for the Muslim World. Would your organization benefit from being in a partnership like this? What might you be able to contribute to one of our strategic task forces? To get involved or to ask questions please write to the editor for contact information