Lausanne World Pulse – Themed Articles – Philip 8.4.8 and Short-term Missions
By Carolyn Bennett
March 2006
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Philip 8.4.8 group member prays with |
Nearly one million people immigrate to the United States every year. Many of these immigrants come from countries where evangelism is illegal and Christians are openly persecuted. Settling in immigrant communities within large metropolitan regions, they often form isolated subcultures and can live in the US for years without ever hearing the gospel of Jesus Christ.
One Virginia-based ministry sees the incredible potential within these communities. Since 2004, Philip 8.4.8, a division of Accelerating International Mission Strategies (AIMS), has sponsored short-term outreaches to regions where immigrant populations have settled. Philip 8.4.8 is designed to serve as a mobilization strategy and equip believers to reach the nations through connecting them with ethnic communities in the US that have the least opportunity to hear the gospel. Philip 8.4.8 seeks to model national outreaches after the story of Philip the evangelist, found in Acts 8:4-8.
“Once churches have the opportunity to minister to unreached people groups in our backyard, we hope that they will develop a passion to reach unreached people groups in other countries around the world,” said Philip,* coordinator of Philip 8.4.8.
According to Philip, partnership is the key. Before initiating any new outreach trip, he meets with existing ministries in the metropolitan region who are actively reaching the community with the gospel. He then connects them with other ministries in the area that have the same goal and brings in teams from other regions to help them accomplish those goals.
Philip 8.4.8 outreaches generally last one week and attract youth and young adult groups. However, interested laypeople of all ages are welcome to join each outreach. Each team is trained in evangelism techniques for the cultural group with whom they intend to interact. Once there, they have the opportunity to become involved in a variety of outreach techniques including street evangelism, park outreaches, tract distribution, worship concerts, drama ministry and intercession.
“We have to think about training, discipling and mobilizing each generation in different ways,” Philip said. “Generations X and Y are hands-on. They have to get out there and experience it themselves.”
The World at Our Doorstep
The high level of immigration to the United States offers a great potential to reach the nations with the gospel. The 33.1 million foreign-born people (eleven percent of the population) who currently live in America1 often settle in gateway cities—key metropolitan areas that serve as an entry point to the country for many immigrants. Major entry points such as New York City; Los Angeles, California; Houston, Texas; Miami, Florida; and Washington DC have become the new homes for more than half of the total immigrant population in the US.
As America’s primary gateway city, New York City has welcomed immigrants from almost every nation. The first wave of Arab immigrants settled in the metropolitan region in the late nineteenth century; however, when Ford Motor Company began hiring Arabs in the 1930s, many Arabs relocated to Dearborn, Michigan. Today, New York City has the third largest Arabic population in the US, behind Detroit and Los Angeles.2
Since 1990, the Hindu population in the United States has grown from 227,000 to more than 760,000, an increase of more than 274%.3 Like immigrants from Arabic countries, immigrants from South Asia, particularly India, have settled in large metropolitan regions like Orlando, Florida, and formed cultural communities.