AFM's Heart for Frontier Peoples
In this video, The Reverend Doctor Chris Royer, Executive Director of Anglican Frontier, discusses frontier missions. When most people think about missions, serving in Christ’s name in areas and regions where churches already exist, comes to mind. AFM’s unique in that, through the grace of the Holy Spirit, our missionaries plant churches in areas and regions where the church is not. We call this Frontier Missions.
When Jesus said go and make disciples of all nations, he didn’t mean the 190 nation states that comprise the U.N., but the 17,000 ethnolinguistic nations in the world, of which 5,000 have 0.01% Christians or less.
So in these ethnolinguistic nations, or people groups, there’s no beachhead, no nucleus of Christians, to launch ministry to orphans, or the poor, or marriage ministry to newlyweds, because there are no churches, whatsoever, to launch this ministry from. As Paul said,
How can they call on the One in Whom they’ve not believed; how can they believed in the One they have not heard; how can they hear without someone preaching to them? How can they preach unless they are sent? How lovely are the sandals on the feet of those who bring good news!
AFM’s ministry is to put Christian sandals on the ground where the church is not. And we do missions Anglicanly, meaning we harness the formative power and beauty of the sacraments, liturgy, and the perennial tradition in our discipleship of believers from Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, tribal, and secular backgrounds.
I’m grateful for ya’ll and for the opportunity to partner in this great Gospel endeavor, to do our part in completing the Great Commission.
May God bless you all as you do missions, and frontier missions, Anglicanly.