The Kunming Circle represents the area within 2,400 miles (3,750 km) of the city of Kunming, China. Although this area covers less than a tenth of the surface of the globe, it is home to more than half of the people on earth, but only about one eighth of the Christians.

A member of the Global Research Team first identified the Kunming Circle in 2004 and recently developed these infographics. He believes that the Kunming Circle “will help people to gain a right perspective on the world in general” and “challenge unhelpful misconceptions about the world.” Likewise, this perspective can guide our engagement in Great Commission Work.

The Global Research Team is passionate to help Christians around the world grapple with the mobilization of Great Commission workers based on potential and need. As we consider the distribution of Christians around the globe, the Kunming Circle provides a suitable focus for Christians and Christian organizations within the Circle, as well as those in the Americas and Pacific region, or those that have or aspire to a truly global ministry.

The following infographic highlights how few Christians there are in this part of the world compared to other regions.

Have you used Google or another internet search engine in the last week?

What were you looking for? Breaking news? The weather forecast? Shopping? Entertainment? Information to make decisions? It seems more and more that we are all becoming information junkies.

But what needs to happen in the background for Google to work?

For you to find the information you want on the internet, someone first had to anticipate your question, gather data, organize it into a useful format, and publish it on the World Wide Web. (We will not go into the technological advances of the last 25 years that enable us to access all the information on the World Wide Web with a smart phone that you can hold in your hand.) If someone has not taken these steps, your search would not turn up anything relevant.

The Global Research Team of One Challenge specializes in finding out information about world mission that you can’t find with Google.

For an example, let’s consider the topic “God at work...”

OC's strategy can be summed up as Research, Motivate, Train, Mobilize or RMTM for short. Research is foundational to all our ministries. We find that research focuses intercession, motivates the church, shapes fruitful ministry strategies, and results in greater ministry effectiveness. Research enables us to be good stewards of all the resources the Lord has given us. Consider: What research should you do to be a better steward of what the Lord has entrusted to you? The Global Research Team can help you answer the mission research questions you may have. We look forward to hearing from you.

What does a mission information worker look like?

On the outside, there could appear great diversity. A mission information worker could be a man or woman, from any generation, from any nationality. So a mission information worker could be, well, just about anyone from anywhere.

Key qualities include a Great Commission Vision and biblical understanding. These generate motivation and passion.

Mission Information Workers also show common traits such as curiosity, creativity, servanthood, perseverance, organization, relational and team player.

Skill levels among Mission Information Workers can very greatly. On one end of the continuum, there may be students and church members, who have a vision for using mission information, but perhaps lack practical skills. On the other end of the continuum are mission specialists, with many years of practical experience, some of whom have earned advanced academic degrees.

So, do you see yourself in this "mirror"?

Presently our research team is reading the book Factfulness by Hans Rosling. Rosling's life work focused on using data to understand our ever changing world. Check out his TED talks on YouTube to catch his creative use of numbers to help audiences grasp how the world is changing for the better. Likewise in mission work, we need good numbers to guide and evaluate our efforts. But we also need to talk to people to gain a deeper understanding of all the factors impacting mission work.

This quote by Donald McGavran highlights the relationship between effective mission strategy and quality mission research. It also calls attention to the investment required to produce good research that guides Kingdom impact. What valuation do you place on mission strategy and research?

The idea of Saturation Church Planting/DAWN-type ministry was birthed by Donald McGavran, the father of the Church Growth Movement. Here is a brief excerpt from his landmark Understanding Church Growth (page 7):

"The multiplication of churches nourished on the Bible and full of the Holy Spirit is a sine qua non in carrying out the purposes of God. . . Though God's triumphant reign will not come in its fullness until Christ returns in power, it is clear that in this era the more who love Christ and live “in him” as part of his body, the more goodness and truth will prevail in their communities. Righteousness and peace will surely spread as sound churches multiply throughout the more than three billion persons who feel no allegiance to Jesus Christ".

The Example of Brazil

How was this manifest in Brazil? The Protestant church began to grow vigorously in the early 1980's, averaging 2-3 times the population growth. At the Global Congress on World Evangelization (the AD2000 Movement in 1995 in Seoul), the Brasil 2010 Project, later renamed Brasil 21, officially set the goal to see an evangelical church within easy access of every Brazilian. Brazil is immense and its regions very diverse-- with small river villages in the Amazon basin to mega-cities in the Southeast. It would be hard to set goals and carry out processes in all parts of the country simultaneously.

What is the remaining mission task? Rebecca Lewis, daughter of Ralph Winter, released a video that describes the remaining mission task in just six minutes. Click here to see this amazing video.
A member of the Global Research Team worked for nearly a year to compile the data supporting the graphs in this video. An article in the International Journal of Foreign Mission, "Clarifying the Remaining Task," explains the new pie chart in detail and provides all the data. Click here to read the IJFM article.
Lewis' statement, "Out of 30 missionaries sent, roughly ONE goes to the unreached and frontier people groups," challenges us to consider our deployment of mission workers and to pray fervently that "the Lord of the Harvest to send out laborers into His harvest field" (Luke 10:2).

“In times of change, learners inherit the earth, while the others find themselves equipped to deal with a world that no longer exists.” -- Eric Hoffer

We live in a rapidly changing world where North American mission organizations, like One Challenge, face significant issues as we look to the future. Realizing that change impacts the effectiveness of mission work as we know it, OC leadership invited the Global Research Team to facilitate a two-day Futures Think Tank. Here are several significant highlights from the Futures Think Tank and some of the tools you can use to understand our changing world.

Understanding the Times and Trends

How exactly can a mission organization prepare for the future? A key biblical passage that provided a blueprint for the Futures Think Tank is 1 Chronicles 12:23-40, which describes how all the tribes of Israel came together with a “whole heart” and “single mind to make David King” (v. 38 ESV) “according to the word of the Lord” (v. 23 ESV). In the middle of a list describing each tribe, a significant comment is made about the leaders of the tribe of Issachar who, “understood the times and knew what Israel should do” (v. 32). These two characteristics set them apart from the others. Following their example, we must strive to understand the times and know what to do. Read on to learn how this is done.

While producing a short instructional video for workers in Asia, it seemed that it would be useful to provide links to resources that have been proven most helpful in developing a “prophetic message” from research information. A “prophetic message” is also known as the national challenge or call to action. Click here to view the video.

These resources are at the top of the list:

1. DAWN 2000, by Jim Montgomery
2. The DAWN Research Handbook by Roy Wingerd
3. The Church Growth Survey Handbook by Bob Waymire and C. Peter Wagner.
4. The Omega Course by the Alliance for Saturation Church Planting