World Mission Leaders to Gather for Landmark Study

By Michelle Vu

World international missions organizations will gather to discuss strategies based on a recent landmark study that some say will shape international missions for the next 20 years.

Key mission leaders will convene in Idaho at Mission Aviation Fellowship’s new headquarters Oct. 18-19 to confer about the results of MAF’s recent study, "Operation ACCESS!" and approaches on how to work together effectively.

"The ‘Operation ACESS!’ conference will be a ‘working meeting’ of key decision makers from missions organizations, denominations and Christian non-governmental organizations from around the world," said Dave Bochman, MAF’s chief operating officer and conference organizer, in a statement released Tuesday.

"MAF’s aim is to partner with other organizations to use the study data to overcome barriers and reach the lost," he said. "But we also want to facilitate other organizations working together and the development of collaborative strategies."

The five-year global research project released on June 6 focuses on forgotten or unreachable people groups. It identifies areas where transportation, communications and technology hinder access to the Gospel or prevent resources needed to enable community development, healthcare and education services. The study also evaluates the type and significance of the barriers, the activity of any ministry there, and provides suggestions on how to overcome the barriers.

"Operation ACCESS’s" potential impact on international evangelism has been compared to the "10/40 Window" strategy popularized by missions strategist Luis Bush.

"The issues facing us are on such a scale that they cannot be tackled by any individual or organization alone," said Phil Butler, the conference’s facilitator and president of visionSynergy, an organization that develops strategic international Christian networks focusing on high impact opportunities for world evangelism.

Mission Aviation Fellowship (MAF) was founded in 1945 and currently stations some 200 missionary families in the remotest regions in 23 countries on five continents. MAF pilots fly about 40,000 flights a year, transporting missionaries, medical personnel, medicines and relief supplies as well as conducting thousands of emergency medical evacuations. MAF also provides telecommunications services, such as satellite Internet access, high-frequency radios, electronic mail and other wireless systems, in isolated area.

To read the report visit: operationacessmaf.org

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