UNDERSTANDING THE TIMES
In the 1980s and 1990s , there was a renewed interest in the biblical basis of missions . As leaders , we heeded the example of our YWAM founders who had always modelled and encouraged staff to base all our endeavours on Scripture . We found the Bible full of verses that revealed God as a missionary God , right from the book of Genesis . YWAMers were persuaded that God was the God of all flesh , and hence , all peoples , tongues and tribes would be represented in heaven . This would be a fulfilment of Jehovah ’ s covenant to Abraham . Jesus Himself told His disciples that the end would not come until the Gospel was preached to all ethnic peoples .
It made sense to many that Jesus ’ command to disciple the nations ( ethnic groups , or Gentiles in the original language ) was a command He expected us to complete . In 1987 , YWAMers worldwide signed the Manila Covenant , which declared , “ We affirm that our calling as a missionary fellowship is to help complete the Great Commission .” The Church has never had more self-identifying Christians , financial resources , or evangelistic and discipleship methods as compared to today . The ratio of non-Christians to committed Christians — 7:1 — has never been lower since Jesus ascended into heaven . At a YWAMSG leaders gathering in 1996 , we were compelled to consider how we could do our part to fulfil the Great Commission in our generation .
As leaders , we were also convicted that the Holy Spirit is the Lord of history . The 1974 Lausanne Conference on World Evangelism challenged the worldwide Church to consider the ‘ hidden peoples ’ who had never once heard the Gospel . Kalafi Moala sent out YWAMers from Hawaii to pioneer YWAMSG . The vision was that our base would bring the Gospel to Asia ’ s unreached . In the 1980s , emerging nations in Africa and Asia , particularly , were creating large numbers of new , mission-sending structures and dispatching large numbers of workers . In 1989 , the AD2000 Movement was started in Singapore with the watchword , “ A church for every people and the Gospel for every person ”. In 1995 , the Joshua Project movement heightened the need to start churches among least-reached ethnic peoples everywhere .
As our YWAMSG leadership team under Alan Lim gathered in 1996 , we had the compelling sense that the Holy Spirit wanted local churches and mission agencies to collaborate and prioritise Asia ’ s remaining unreached peoples . With God ’ s favour , could we take them off the unreached peoples list ?
As leaders , we spent time praying over which unreached peoples God wanted us to adopt and engage . But before He answered us , the Holy Spirit impressed on us our own personal accountability to the mission . It was not an organisation that was committing to these unreached peoples , but that we , as individuals on the leadership team , were accepting responsibility to champion the vision .
COLLABORATING WITH LOVESINGAPORE
Immediately after the Joshua Project was launched in 1995 in Korea , the LoveSingapore network was inaugurated . Crosscultural missions was the final step that Singapore ’ s local churches needed to take . Alan Lim discerned that God was directing YWAMSG to connect with , and selflessly serve the local churches ’ missions vision .
Doing this , required us as a base , to empty ourselves of our agenda . Working with LoveSingapore would not work if we wanted to do everything on our terms . Would YWAMSG be willing to yield some of our preferences and policies in order
The Tibetan house with their yaks , Dagong , Sichuan , China .
Photo credit : Joseph Chean
22