E-Connected Archive - Winter 2008
Reflections on 25 Years
2008 has been a special milestone for Frontiers: 25 years of living out Christ’s love amongst Muslims. Speaking at our ‘Connected for a Purpose’ event in September, our founder, Greg Livingstone, reminded us that “It’s too soon to celebrate; it’s too soon to quit.”
In this edition, our past and present International Directors look back on how God has led us on this journey so far and look ahead to the future.
From left to right:
Greg Livingstone
Tim Lewis
Rick Love
Why another agency?
Greg Livingstone (Founder & International Director 1983 – 2000)
Click here to watch a video of Greg talking about how Frontiers started>>
The story starts at an all-night prayer meeting in 1959. Greg admits his motives for attending were mixed; he thought there might be some good looking young ladies there! He was challenged by George Verwer to ‘claim’ a country where there was no witness to the gospel. Greg recalls “My eyes were opened that night to see my ambitions had been too small.”
Greg and his wife Sally spent 13 years with the radicals who were forming Operation Mobilisation (OM). Their time with Muslims grew in countries including Libya and Pakistan. It all confirmed a “default setting” in pioneering.
The birth of Frontiers followed three weeks of walking the beach calling to God. Greg says, “I asked the Lord ‘Why would a new agency be needed when there are many sterling agencies already?’ I finally realised the need to create the first to engage ALL Muslims and ONLY Muslims.”
“We came to the conviction that our distinctive was in sending teams to establish fellowships where others could not or would not go.” Frontiers determined to complement, not compete, by focusing where visas were not readily available. Greg sensed that the Lord of the Harvest wanted to raise up a new wave of ‘unstoppables’ who would, by faith and a theology of suffering, find a way to get in, stay in, and make disciples. Only by seeing caring fellowships of Muslim-background believers established would other Muslims know the difference that ‘Christ in me’ makes.
These ‘unstoppables’ quickly appeared and new fields opened. After 10 years Frontiers had 65 teams in 28 Muslim countries.
Onwards & outwards
Rick Love (International Director 2000 – 2007)
‘Muslims - it’s their turn!’ What many thought was a slogan in 1983 has become a prophetic word. It’s estimated more Muslims have committed to following Jesus in the past 40 years than in all of the preceding centuries. Of course that’s not just about Frontiers, but we have witnessed God’s great favour on this work. Over the past seven years we’ve seen a doubling in the numbers of new teams, sending bases and Muslim background believing fellowships. What began with a handful of North Americans has become an international movement of over 1,000 drawn from more than 50 nations and working in over 70 countries.
With this outwards expansion, there has also been a significant deepening of the work in many spheres:
>> Learning
Where inexperienced pioneers led the way, now workers increasingly benefit from a network of experienced mentors sharing knowledge and bringing training.
>> Persevering
Frequent setbacks pushed us back to reconsider what Scripture teaches about suffering. Suffering was normative for New Testament Christianity, especially for apostolic ministry. This work still has a cost today.
>> Communicating
Our response to 9/11, 7/7 and increasing globalisation led us to the goal of ensuring Muslims feel blessed and loved by God through all we say - causing us to rethink our use of many words.
We have great experience in entering and working in a Muslim community. Many fellowships have been established. The further challenge is how to exit; to leave behind vibrant, reproducing fellowships that lead to movements.
That all may hear
Tim Lewis (International Director 2007 – to date)
When asked about my aspirations for Frontiers, I frequently refer to my vision that we will grow in our emphasis on ‘Apostolic Spiritual Community’. What do I mean by this? Let me briefly explain.
>> Apostolic
God is at work, always pushing the knowledge of His glory forward. Our calling is to join Him! It’s a calling ‘to preach the gospel where Christ is not known’ (Romans 15:20). Apostolic calling is about those who, like Paul, are set apart by God to bring the blessing of God to all the families of the earth that have yet to hear.
So we are constantly looking for more with this calling; the visionary people upon whose hearts God has laid a passion to push out into the Muslim people groups that are still unengaged. This emphasis on breaking new ground includes an embrace of risk, an appreciation of complexity and a capacity for flexibility.
>> Spiritual
Foundational to all we do is that we will increasingly grow in a deep desire to ‘press on to know the Lord’ (Hosea 6:3). While giving ourselves fully to the apostolic task, we want to be characterised as people who know God and who are relying on Him to do the work.
>> Community
Going deeper with God should in turn lead us to go deeper in our relationships with each other - in living out the ‘one anothers’ of Scripture, in speaking the truth in love, and in our eagerness for coaching and accountability. We are committed to seeing this worked out through teams and in partnership with all who share the vision.
My prayer is that our Father would lead us into new discoveries together in Apostolic Spiritual Community.