24:14 - A Testimony to All Peoples

Prologue

This gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a witness to all peoples, and then the end will come. (Matthew 24:14, Editor’s Translation)

1. The 24:14 Vision

By Stan Parks[1]

In Matthew 24:14, Jesus promised: "This gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed in the whole world as a testimony to all ethnē (people groups), and then the end will come."

The 24:14 Vision is to see the gospel shared with every people group on earth in our generation. We long to be in the generation that finishes what Jesus began and other faithful workers before us have given their lives to. We know that Jesus waits to return until every people group has an opportunity to respond to the gospel and become part of His Bride.

We recognize the best way to give every people group this opportunity is to see the church started and multiplying in their group. This becomes the best hope for everyone to hear the Good News, as disciples in these multiplying churches are motivated to share the gospel with everyone possible.

These multiplying churches can become what we call a Church Planting Movement (CPM). A CPM is defined as the multiplication of disciples making disciples and leaders developing leaders, resulting in indigenous churches planting churches which begin to spread rapidly through a people group or population segment.

The 24:14 coalition is not an organization. We are a community of individuals, teams, churches, organizations, networks, and movements who have made a commitment to seeing Church Planting Movements in every unreached people and place. Our initial goal is see effective CPM engagement in every unreached people and place by December 31, 2025.

This means having a team (local, expat or combination) equipped in movement strategy on location in every unreached people and place by that date. We make no claims about when the Great Commission task will be finished. That is God's responsibility. He determines the fruitfulness of movements.

We pursue the 24:14 Vision based on four values:

Reaching the unreached, in line with Matthew 24:14: bringing the gospel of the Kingdom to every unreached people and place.

Accomplishing this through Church Planting Movements, involving multiplying disciples, churches, leaders and movements.

Acting with a wartime sense of urgency to engage every unreached people and place with a movement strategy by the end of 2025.

Doing these things in collaboration with others.

Our vision is to see the gospel of the Kingdom proclaimed throughout the world as a testimony to all people groups in our lifetime. We invite you to join us in praying and serving to start kingdom movements in every unreached people and place.

2. Are You In?

By Rick Wood[2],[3]

In 1974 at the Lausanne Congress on World Evangelization, Dr. Ralph Winter pointed out the uncomfortable reality that we would never complete world evangelization at the rate the global church was going because the Church was sending the vast majority of its mission resources to the areas and peoples of the world where there was already an existing church, i.e. they were reached. Thanks to the efforts of Ralph Winter and many others, the missions picture today is more hopeful than it was 44 years ago. Thousands of unreached peoples have been engaged with new mission efforts for the very first time. There is much to be thankful for. But as Justin Long points out in his chapter, The Brutal Facts, we are facing a similarly uncomfortable reality in our day as we did in 1974—missions and church planting as usual will not get us to the goal of reaching all peoples and providing access to every person.

First, like 44 years ago, the vast majority of our mission efforts are still focused on the reached areas of the world. Certainly, we have made progress, but still only 3 percent of cross-cultural missionaries serve among the unreached. Remarkably, one of the top receiving countries for mission outreach is the United States. The sad reality is that the vast majority of funds collected by the Church stays within the Church to bless the people of the church. Only a tiny fraction of Church funds and personnel go to those peoples with the least access to the gospel.

Secondly, according to Steve Smith and Stan Parks, in most cases where we have sent out missionaries to engage unreached peoples, our efforts have not kept up with population growth. In order to provide access to the gospel to every person within each people, we need to make disciples and plant churches that multiply faster than the overall growth in population. Unfortunately, the most commonly used methods of church planting are not able to keep up with the growing population within unreached peoples.

We Need A New Paradigm— Multiplying Movements

If our current efforts are not adequate to reach all peoples in our lifetimes, then what can we do to turn things around? God has not left us without recourse and that is what this book is all about. It is all about HOPE. The hope that we can make great progress in bringing the gospel to every person, tribe and tongue because God is already doing so in hundreds of places around the world. In over 600 areas and peoples, disciples are making disciples and churches are planting churches faster than the growth in population. In chapters 14-19 you can read story after story of Disciple-Making and Church-Planting Movements that are transforming whole peoples and regions. It is a return to the simple, biblical and reproducible methods of ministry modeled by the early apostles in the book of Acts as they made disciples and planted churches throughout the Roman Empire.

Yes, it is possible to grow God’s kingdom faster than the growth in population and to expand God’s kingdom to every people group on earth. The news gets even better. Not only can disciples and churches multiply rapidly, so also can movements. The stories in chapters 25-27 demonstrate the power of these movements to spawn new movements in a viral expansion of the gospel. The leaders raised up in one movement can train leaders to start movements in peoples both near and far.

We have re-discovered the powerful, book of Acts like methods of discipleship and church planting that have proven effective in fostering movements in unreached peoples all over the world. Now it’s time to take this understanding of how to grow God’s kingdom to all peoples.

24:14, Taking Movements to Every People by 2025

This new coalition does not replace what each group is already doing. It simply adds the strengths of each organization to every other one who shares the common commitments and goals of the 24:14 coalition.

The goal of 24:14 is to foster movements of discipleship and church planting in every unreached people group by 2025. If successful, 24:14 could be the fulfillment of Ralph Winter’s vision expressed almost 44 years ago—to see every people experience a movement of discipleship and church planting where no people group is forgotten or hidden from the good news of the gospel.

Are You In?

This is the key question each of us must answer for ourselves. Are the goals of the 24:14 coalition worth sacrificing our time, energy, money, even our health and safety in order to see them accomplished by 2025? Each of us is given a limited amount of time here on earth to do God’s will and fulfill His purposes. 24:14 may be the last best hope any of us will have to fulfill God’s plan for all of history, that Jesus would be worshipped and given the glory He deserves from all peoples.

The goals of 24:14 are the same goals that the frontier mission movement were founded upon—reaching all peoples and doing so through movements. We finally have an effective vehicle to help carry us forward toward these goals. If these goals are yours, then I ask you, Are you in?

Part 1:  Jesus’ Promise

This gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a witness to all peoples, and then the end will come. (Matthew 24:14, Editor’s Translation)

This Gospel of the Kingdom

This gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a witness to all peoples, and then the end will come. (Matthew 24:14, Editor’s Translation)

3. The Gospel of the Kingdom

by Jerry Trousdale and Glenn Sunshine[4],[5]

Jesus’ promise in Matthew 24:14 serves as the outline for the first section of this book: This gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a witness to all peoples, and then the end will come (editors’ translation). In their book, The Kingdom Unleashed: How Jesus' 1st-Century Kingdom Values Are Transforming Thousands of Cultures and Awakening His Church, Jerry Trousdale and Glenn Sunshine explore dynamics of Kingdom Movements in the world today. Early in their book, they lay a biblical foundation concerning the Kingdom of God, whose core values undergird these movements. We have included this excerpt as a foundation for our perspective on the Kingdom gospel message being proclaimed through Church Planting Movements in the 24:14 coalition. – Editors

The coming of the Kingdom of God was at the heart of Jesus’ message, and that kingdom theme has been at the root of the Gospel throughout most of church history. Yet the idea of the Kingdom is strangely absent from much of evangelical thinking today.

Let’s start with a definition of the word kingdom. In Greek, the word is basileia, and it does not refer to a king’s geographical territory but to the recognition of his royal authority. In other words, you have a kingdom any place where the king’s authority is recognized and obeyed. So a Roman legionary who left Roman territory on imperial business carried the kingdom with him, since he acknowledged Caesar’s authority over him and was obeying him. When we talk about the Kingdom of God, then, we are referring to people who acknowledge the Lordship of Christ and who are striving to obey Him at all times in all places. Jesus came to proclaim that, in Himself, the rule of God was breaking into the world that is in rebellion against Him.

The Kingdom of God in the Old Testament

The Kingdom concept is implicit throughout the Scriptures and is central to what it means to be human. In Genesis 1:26–27, we are told that human beings were created in the image of God. In the ancient near east, a person who was called the image of a god was believed to be the official representative and regent of that god, and thus to have the right to rule under that god’s authority. So when God makes man in His image, He immediately gives him dominion over the earth. We are to rule here, but we are to do so as God’s stewards, under His authority.

In Genesis 3, Adam chooses to misuse his authority in this world by acting out of his own interests rather than God’s. The effect of this is that all humanity became subject to sin and death, and human cultures fell under the influence of Satan.

When Satan tempted Jesus, he "showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time, and said to him, ‘To you I will give all this authority and their glory, for it has been delivered to me, and I give it to whom I will. If you, then, will worship me, it will all be yours’" (Luke 4:5–7, emphasis added). Jesus did not dispute Satan’s authority over the kingdoms of the world, at least in this age. We know from Scripture that the earth is the Lord’s, but this passage suggests that human kingdoms have been delivered to Satan.

Despite this, however, human beings retain the image of God and, by God’s grace, even the most depraved cultures retain some knowledge of God and His ways (Acts 14:17; Rom. 1:18–2:16). God promised that redemption from sin and death would come through the seed of the woman, who would crush the serpent’s head and be wounded in the process (Gen. 3:15).

God’s call to Abram established his descendants as a holy nation through whom the whole world would be blessed, and the seed of the woman became more clearly identified as the seed of Abraham. From there, it was narrowed further to the seed of Isaac, Jacob, and Judah.

The Messianic line was narrowed further with the coming of David. David was far from perfect, but he was a man after God’s own heart, humble and with a tender conscience. God promised that his line would rule Israel forever, and more, that the Messiah would sit on David’s throne and would rule over all earthly kingdoms, bringing blessings to those who submit to Him and judgment on those who persist in rebellion against Him. His kingdom would extend over the whole world and bring righteousness and peace in its wake.

The Kingdom of God in the New Testament

The core message of John the Baptist was, "Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven[6] is at hand, which was the very same message that Jesus preached when John was put into prison. John described what repentance and Kingdom living looked like: Whoever has two tunics is to share with him who has none, and whoever has food is to do likewise" (Luke 3:11). In other words, repentance and living in light of the Kingdom means identifying the needs of those around us and doing what we can to meet those needs, rather than insisting on our own rights, privileges, and possessions.

Jesus’ teaching centered on the Kingdom. The Sermon on the Mount is a description of life in the Kingdom, and a significant percentage of His parables teach about the Kingdom. He explained that His Kingdom is not of this world; in other words, it is not like earthly kingdoms that are under the dominion of Satan. Rather, the Kingdom is built on repenting of our sin and rebellion against God and restoring our relationships with God and with our neighbor, resuming our role as regents acting under God, with authority to establish and advance God’s reign on earth as it is in heaven.

When the Kingdom (basileia) is properly understood as acknowledging and obeying the authority of God, it is also revealed to be the center of the Great Commission: "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore, go[7] and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all I have commanded you (Matt. 28:18–20). The Greek word for disciple," mathetes, refers to a student or an apprentice learning something under the direction of a master. In this case, we are told what disciples are to be learning: we are to teach them to observe everything that Jesus commanded—in other words, to acknowledge and obey Jesus, to whom all authority has been given.

We should note that there is a difference between the Kingdom and the church. God’s purpose is to build His Kingdom; the church exists to promote and advance the Kingdom. The church is to prepare and equip Christians to bring Christ’s authority (i.e. the Kingdom) to bear in all areas of life. Like a Roman soldier outside of the Empire, Christians bring the Kingdom with them wherever they go as long as they acknowledge Jesus as Lord and act in obedience to Him. The Kingdom is thus much broader than the church. To put it differently, the church is not an end in itself, but the means to build the Kingdom.

The Lordship of Christ

The Kingdom is another way of talking about the Lordship of Christ. The most ancient confession of the Christian faith is Jesus is Lord, meaning that He is Lord of all. And all means all, not just personal salvation or personal morality, but our families, our work, our recreation, our relationships, our health, our resources, our politics, our communities, our neighbors—all. And that means that we are to obey Him in all areas of life.

The Lordship of Christ is the central reality in all of creation, and it is the central fact of the Christian life. It should shape how we see ourselves and how we understand the world and our place in it—in other words, it is to be the center of our worldview. At its core, having a biblical worldview means understanding what the Lordship of Christ means in every area of life. Growing as a Christian means progressively living out the Lordship of Christ more and more faithfully in more and more areas of life.

This means that Christians are not to be concerned only with people’s souls; they are also to been concerned with their wellbeing in this world. Christians have always tended to the sick and built hospitals; they have always fed the hungry; they began the first charitable institutions in human history. Why? Because Christians have always believed that the body is important. Christians have always opened schools; in fact, most of the major universities in the world, historically were founded by Christians. Why? Because Christianity is concerned with the mind.

Christians were the first to develop technologies that make the laborer’s work better, easier, and more productive. Why? Because work is a positive good, given to us before the Fall. The Fall brought with it drudgery and painful toil, but Christ came to redeem us from the effects of the Fall, and so we are to restore dignity to work. As Christians, we are to bring joy back to the work we do. Christians invented the idea of universal human rights. Why? Because the Bible tells us about human dignity founded on the image of God and on the Incarnation of Christ. All of these are examples of living out the Lordship of Christ as citizens of the Kingdom of God.

4. The Storyline of History – Finishing the Last Lap

By Steve Smith[8],[9]

Too often we start with the wrong question: What is God’s will for my life? That question can be very self-centered. It’s about you and your life.

The right question is What is God’s will? Period. Then we ask, How can my life best serve that?

To glorify God’s name, you need to understand what God is doing in our generation—His purpose. To figure that out you need to know what God is doing in history: the storyline that began in Genesis 1 and will finish in Revelation 22.

Then you can find your place in the historical plot. For example, King David uniquely served God’s purpose in His own generation (Acts 13:36) precisely because he was a man after God’s own heart (Acts 13:22). He sought to contribute his efforts toward the Father’s storyline. The Abrahamic promise (inherit land and become a blessing to the nations) took a huge leap forward when God found a man who would have his heart and serve his purposes. According to 2 Samuel 7:1, his promise of inheriting the land was fulfilled as there was no place left for the Israelites to conquer.

Our Father’s heart is the storyline of history. He speeds up the plot when He finds protagonists who have his heart. God is calling up a new generation that will not just be in the plot but will finish the plot, hastening the story to its climax. He is calling out a generation that will one day say, There is no place left for the Kingdom of God to expand (as Paul wrote of one large region in Romans 15:23).

Knowing the storyline is knowing God’s will.

Once you know the storyline, you can take up your place in it, not as a side character but as a protagonist driven forward by the power of the Author.

The grand storyline began in Creation (Genesis 1) and will end at the Consummation (the return of Jesus — Revelation 22). It is the story of a great race. Each generation runs a lap in this relay race. There will be a final generation that runs the last lap—a generation that sees the King receive His reward for His history-long efforts. There will be a last-lap generation. Why not us?

The Purpose of History

This central storyline runs throughout the Bible, weaving its way through each of the 66 books. Yet it is easy to forget or ignore the storyline, and many people scoff at such a thought.

Scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing, following their own sinful desires. They will say, Where is the promise of his coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation. (2 Peter 3:3-4)

This reality describes our generation as well as Peter’s.

What is the storyline of history?

CREATION: In Genesis 1-2, God created humanity for one purpose: to become a Bride (companion) for His Son, to dwell with Him forever in loving adoration.

FALL: In Genesis 3, through sin, humans fell away from God’s design—no longer in relationship with the Creator.

SCATTERING: In Genesis 11, languages were confused and humanity was dispersed to the ends of the earth—out of touch with the redemption of God.

PROMISE: Starting in Genesis 12, God promised to call the peoples of the earth back to Himself through the blood-price of a Redeemer proclaimed by the good-news-sharing efforts of the God’s people (the descendants of Abraham).

REDEMPTION: In the Gospels, Jesus provided the price to pay the debt of sin, to buy back the people of God—people from every ethnos (people group).

COMMISSION: At the end of His life, Jesus launched God’s people to finish God’s mission: the great storyline. And he promised his power to do so.

DISCIPLE-MAKING: From the Book of Acts until today, God’s people have been blessed in order to accomplish one great mandate. Go into all the world and fulfill this redemption: making disciples of all ethnē, to be the complete Bride of Christ.

CONSUMMATION: At the Consummation, Jesus will return to take up His Bride— when she is complete and ready. Everything from Genesis 3 to Revelation 22 is about calling back Jesus’ Bride from among the nations. Until the Bride is complete, the mission of the church is not finished.

Peter refers to this storyline in the last chapter of his second epistle.

But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slow to fulfil his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed. (2 Peter 3:8-10, emphasis added)

God is patient. He will not send His Son back until the story is finished. God is not slow; he does not wish any people group (ethnos) to perish. He wants all the scattered nations of Genesis 11 to be a part of the Bride of Christ in great number. These are the ethnē Jesus referred to in Matthew 24:14. These are the ethnē he spoke of in the Great Commission (Matthew 28:18-20 "make disciples of all ethnē"). These are the ethnē pictured in Revelation 7:9.

The climax of history’s storyline is