The
Great Village
Campaign
By Jim Hogrefe,
Director of Church Multiplication,
Every Community for Christ
Dean looked at the large map of the world on
his wall. It was clear that Every Community
for Christ (ECC), the progeny of the Great
Village Campaign, was not going to reach
the world for Christ. There was growth, perhaps 200 new churches per year, but that
was not enough to keep up with population
growth in the countries where ECC served,
let alone reach the rest of the world. That
would take millions of new churches. How
could ECC apply the principles of church
planting movements to saturate countries
and regions with the Gospel so that every
man, woman, boy, and girl could hear and
respond to the Gospel through the witness
of a local church?
Dean prayed for answers.
Charles looked at the large map of Japan spread out before him.
Did he understand? Had he heard the call to reach every home in
every village in Japan correctly? He had gone to Tokyo in 1901, and
over the next 10 years, he had witnessed 15,000 people confess
their faith in Jesus. But how was it possible to reach 60 million
Japanese in more than 10 million homes with the Gospel?
Charles prayed for answers.
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With God’s help, in 1912, Charles formed
evangelism teams and sent them out district
by district until, at the end of five years, the
Gospel had been preached to all those living
in the 10.3 million homes in Japan. What
seemed impossible to man was possible
with God.
Inspired by Charles Cowman’s example,
Dean Davis, ECC’s international director,
began recruiting others to help fulfill the
saturation vision. In 2004, workers started
1,757 new worshiping groups, compared to
the approximately 17,000 new worshiping
groups that were started in 2013. God has
blessed ECC with exponential growth (see
chart). Following the model set by Cowman,
teams today consist of local Christians who
know the local languages and customs.
ECC provides the vision, training, and support for local leaders coordinating training
events in each country. We also provide
additional support for bicycles, Bibles, and
training centers.
As other mission groups, denominations,
and church networks observe the success
of the ECC multiplication strategy, we are
able to partner with them, training them to
be more effective in planting churches that
will multiply. Through these networks of
partners, God is saturating countries and
regions with the Gospel so that the Great
Commission will be fulfilled. Hallelujah!
photos page 8: The Great Village Campaign, 1912-1917
photos page 9: The work of evangelism, church planting,
and training continues today, saturating entire communities
with the Gospel, using church multiplication strategies.
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