Closure: defining, measuring
The difficulties of defining “closure” – means different things to different people
Closure is not a biblical term
When is the task finished? – The idea of sustainable closure, making progress over time
No one has the right to hear twice?
We can’t ‘force’ Jesus back by finishing the task
But after we’re finished, Jesus will return
Stuffing vs Starving: is the Gospel available to all?
Measuring reachedness as different situations of need
Measuring Reachedness by who is reaching out
Measuring reachedness as thresholds
Unreached: digging into the nuances of the definition
Unevangelized is not Unreached is not Unengaged: nuances of different terms
Accuracy: what is it, and just how accurate are the numbers?
Why there are different numbers for unreached and unevangelized
Challenges to accurate counts of missionaries
We don’t need better people group lists: we need better obedience
The Fine Print about Pew Research numbers on Christians
Jesus wants the whole pie: when people group thinking can fail
Don’t rush closure: go slow to go fast (exponential scale)
Mobilization and more workers
Can we find the workers in the harvest?
Frequency of finding missionary candidates in a population
Do we have enough workers?
Dunbar’s Number & Mobilization
Without mobilization, we fail
Money and People are Needed
Stop trying to persuade everyone to be a missionary
Calling & deciding the “where” question
Calling & the “where” question: The One-Armed Bandit
Calling vs Surrender: “just send me anywhere”?
Marks of a good candidate
What we look for in missionaries
Can I be a missionary?
Go to Italy: callings trump statistics
How do I know I am called?
Good, Bad, Non, Anti-Christians: who needs missionaries
Why send workers to Europe?
Don’t judge callings
The Long Scale of Involvement: how missionary am I?
Reduce Requirements
Broad global trends that impact closure
The future of urbanization.
Urbanization: provinces ranked by population density
In an aging world, the old need the Gospel too.
Falling Birth Rates: is Islam being hollowed out?
Islam vs Christianity: which is growing faster?
Don’t buy the bad hype: Christianity is not declining
Trends in the Task: speed, growth rates, more
Why the unreached are unreached: not just because people don’t care.
Nations aren’t usually changed in a day. Or a year. Or 10.
Evangelicals v Muslims: who’s growing faster?
When will the world be over half evangelical?
The numbers of Muslims coming to Christ are too small.
Why do you say we aren’t finishing, when I heard…
Learning to see exponential growth early
The Rule of 72
Strategies: how to finish the task
We don’t need a global plan, but do need global collaboration
Choose place based on ethnic group, but reach all in place.
If they are coming here why bother going there?
Discipling households vs individuals: the math of movements
Movements: the power to seep is important to long term sustainability
The First Four Years: if they haven’t doubled by the end of them, they probably won’t.
Flinging Seed without a thought for harvesting
Risk is Bad: long term work must be sustained
Coffins vs Exit Strategies: spending ourselves strategically
3 Keys for Churches to Reach Closure
Team of 1: building local teams
Not all will make disciples
80/20: What a few can do: not everyone has to make disciples for a movement to grow
Doubling: what each “double” looks like practically
Degrading Time to Double: as movements get bigger their speed slows
How many doubles to saturate a place or people
Startups and Equal Growth
Three ways to change the world
4 Movement Critical People
Matchmakers and Church Growth
Missiological Issues
Dog Food: do we really spend more on it than missions?
Sola Scripture: is the Bible alone enough?
Are the swelling ranks of short-termers a bad thing?
The democratization and amateurization of missions
Dependency, defined
Disengagement
Movements, defined
Person of Peace, defined
Tenth Column: why 10% of a group can change it
Obstacles & Threats
The role of persecution in movements
Measuring where persecution is worst
18 Pioneer Mission Killers
Monitoring & research
Connectedness: measured by province
Festivals
Church, defined
Globally Mapping Churches: a better, more secure way
How to estimate movement size
Clusters vs. Peoples
Clumping at the Crossroads: missionary distribution
Lifehacks, disciplines, effectiveness
Learning from failure requires controlled experimentation
Stopping: 1 thing missionaries have to be able to do to succeed
More essays
Mapping People to Places: the strategic value
Missional Labor Clouds: foreigners & locals work together
Don’t put missionaries on pedestals
Prayer for a refugee: pray this over refugees you hear about
Interpreting Ethnos: some of each, or all
Twin Idols: long-term and short-term
Evangelist terminology in Business settings: what we can learn
Emergent Systems and Transformation
The church is not a representative sample of the neighborhood
We need to prepare for religions more than atheism
Effect of Life Seasons on Missionary Attrition
When annual events can be bad for total success
How to get current information on UPGs
Short Term from USA: how many are sent?
How many Americans abroad are Christians?
Is the USA in a better position to finance missionaries?
Philippians 4:13 doesn’t mean I can do anything I want
4 Death Stories, one hellish truth
Should we block Muslims from entering the USA
That will never happen
Predicting religious futures
Highlight the important, ignore the wrong
7 Questions for Businesses and Startups
Questions to ask about your city
Marriage, Relationship essays
On Cohabitation
Marriage and Divorce in the USA, over 144 years, graphed
Why were we surprised by Ashley Madison?
Single males, females vs. couples in mission