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Adopt-A-People: How to Implement and Integrate
Implementing the Adopt-A-People emphasis into your church will involve several critical dimensions from selecting a group to sustaining the vision until the group is reached.
I. Defining Goals
The first step in adopting an unreached people is to bring together all those who are interested in working through what the adoption program can do for your church-- how it will be carried out and how it will benefit the unreached. If your church already has such a committee in place such as a church board or a mission committee than this should be sufficient to establish the operating goals necessary for your church to move forward in adopting an unreached people. Goals and issues should be discussed with regard to the commitment your church can make, how to educate the congregation, and how to implement the program.
A. Selecting an Unreached People: Selecting a group that is right for your fellowship is the first step to a successful program. Prayerfully consider what opportunities are presently available and the ability of your church to pursue them. The basic question to be answered is, "How can your church maximize its efforts in helping to fulfill the Great Commission among an unreached people?" It is important to remember that this decision will affect all others in establishing an adoption program. Working through the questions listed below may be helpful in working through these issues.
1. Is your fellowship already supporting a missionary working among an unreached people? This would be a natural way to begin an Adopt-A-People program.
2. If you are part of a denomination, find out what unreached peoples your denomination is working among. Many denominations already have AAP programs in place with unreached people profiles produced and adoption coordinators available to help facilitate the program in your church. See the following list to check.
3. Are there members of an unreached people nearby your fellowship? Usually adoptions such as these produce the greatest amount of involvement within the congregation. There may even be a convert from an unreached people in your own fellowship!
4. Is God calling you to pioneer a work among a group with no ministry yet involved? This takes an incredibly mature congregation as it will be difficult to sustain vision over the long period of time needed before results can be visibly seen. Working closely with your denomination or an agency that specializes in the country or type of group you are considering will greatly maximize your efforts.
5. Is God calling you to partner with the national church to help be a catalyst in reaching a particular group within their country?
6. Other considerations could be the size of the group, religion, current responsiveness of the group, proximity of the group to other believers, rural or urban habitat, etc.
B. Appointing an Adoption Coordinator: Designating a specific person to coordinate efforts in your church's AAP program will be one of the keys to its success. This person will liaison between the field work and the church and help stimulate involvement within the congregation by facilitating projects, coordinating prayer initiatives and organizing other related events. A list of responsibilities should be drawn up by the adoption committee for the appointed Adoption Coordinator.
C. Defining the program: Basic questions should be asked that will define the parameters of your adoption program. Some of these could be as follows:
1. How can we educate and involve the members of our congregation in this project?
2. How much financial commitment can we make? If there isn't any work yet to finance should we set up a special fund to prepare for the day when God will raise up workers for our adopted group?
3. What commitment in prayer are we willing to make?
4. What kind of ministry opportunities would we consider being involved with to further the gospel among our adopted group?
D. Adoption Covenant and Ceremony: After the committee has decided on which group to adopt and has defined a program for your church it is important to present the program to the congregation in an official way. Many churches have drawn up an adoption covenant, listing what their intentions and commitments are, the rationale for their involvement, and then signing it in an official adoption ceremony. You might want to consider asking a missionary who is involved in ministry among this group to come speak at such a ceremony or perhaps the agency adoption coordinator from the mission agency you are working with. (See an example.)
E. Educating the Congregation: There are many ways to inform your church about the AAP emphasis in your church's mission program. You might consider setting up a special bulletin board that will post information and pictures. You could send a team to make a simple video on your adopted group. Placing information regularly in the church bulletin or newsletter could be a primary means of communication. Some churches have even set up a live interview over telephone with their adopted missionary. Sending prayer and ministry teams among the group itself will be a powerful way to sustain vision. If there isn't an Unreached People Profile yet designed for your adopted group you might want to start there. Sending a profile form for your missionaries to fill out will be one way to get this started. You might also want to consider a special prayer form that your missionaries could regularly fill out listing specific items such as financial needs, health concerns, family issues, etc.
F. Establishing Prayer Initiatives: Coordinating regular times of prayer for your adopted group will be one of the most important tasks of the adoption coordinator and the most important dimension of the program. The important thing is to keep up regular communication with your adopted missionaries. This will be your most important link with what is going on among the group and in the missionaries lives personally.
1. Sunday Morning: Establishing a special time each sunday for prayer and updates concerning your adopted group will be an effective way to involve most of the congregation. Perhaps you could make a commitment to praying five minutes each sunday for your adopted groups, maybe in small groups or from the pulpit. A list of 10 or 20 prayer concerns could be drawn up for each sunday prayer time, perhaps in a form that people can take home for personal prayer times.
2. Monthly Mission Meetings: Establishing a special monthly meeting for missions is probably the most effective way to build and sustain vision for missions in your congregation. In this meeting you could have a special time for emphasizing your adopted group and giving more detailed updates.
3. Other initiatives: You might consider having special interest groups in your church take on a particular dimension of the adoption program. Groups such as sunday school groups, youth groups, and families could incorporate an adoption emphasis into their times together. A family might consider adopting a specific family among the adopted group, each member of a youth group could adopt a specific young person, perhaps a sunday school class could adopt a specific village or town among the unreached group. Some Churches also have established a special Adoption Prayer Chain in case emergencies arise.
The bottom line: there are many creative and innovative ways to encourage and facilitate prayer in your church for your adopted group. The important thing is to involve everyone as much as possible.
II. Networking:
Does your church want to help mobilize other fellowships to adopt, perhaps within your own denomination or even in other countries where there are churches that can participate? Taking a pro-active role on behalf of an unreached group is another good way to involve more people in your church and increase their participation.
A. Exploring the Opportunities: What relationships does your fellowship currently have with other fellowships within your denomination or city? Perhaps you have worked with other churches in joint projects before. Most importantly, do members of your congregation, especially the pastoral staff, have good relationships with decision makers in other churches? Consider making use of every door of opportunity God has opened up to expand your adoption network.
B. Presenting the Opportunity: You will need to present very clearly what Adopt-A-People is and how other churches can be involved in helping to reach an unreached group. You will probably want to present some information on your adopted group, such as a profile and/or a simple video.
C. Coordinating the Effort: So that the missionary is not overwhelmed by requests from many different churches it would be best to appoint an adoption coordinator for the adoption network, or an Adoption Network Coordinator. The coordinator will work with adoption committees to help facilitate joint projects and distribute information among them concerning what is presently needed in prayer, finances and ministry involvement.
D. Document Your Efforts: It will be very helpful to those coordinating the Adopt-A-People campaign in your denomination or country to know about your program so others can be encouraged and perhaps gain new insight about what can be done with the Adopt-A-People initiative. If there is a national campaign in your country please let them know which group you've adopted so that unadopted groups can be emphasized. Some questions to answer in documenting your adoption story could be as follows:
How did you hear about the Adopt-A-People program?
How did you get started in implementing the program?
How did you educate the congregation and get them involved?
What happened among the unreached group as a result of your involvement?
Send your adoption stories to info@finishthetask.org
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