Chapter 28: 24:14 – The War That Finally Ends

By Stan Parks and Steve Smit_h_

A renewed war has been quietly waged for the last 30+ years. At first, it began as a quiet insurgence by a few “freedom fighters” unwilling to see billions of people live and die with no access to the gospel. Radicals, not accepting that so many lived in bondage to the “ruler of this world,” laid down their lives to see Jesus set the prisoners free.

This insurgence has spread more rapidly and more broadly than Arab Spring. It has enacted more lasting change than the fall of the Iron Curtain. Initial sparks have grown into a global firestorm. Millions of spiritual troops have arisen in this battle: to date, 64 million new disciples from within the harvest. Prisoners of the devil in the past, steadfast proclaimers of Jesus today.

They advance the banner of Christ against demonic strongholds and despite human opposition.  Their chief “weapons” are the love of God and the gospel of Jesus. Their struggle is not against humans but against the spiritual forces of evil (Ephesians 6:12). They lay down their lives for Jesus, while forgiving and blessing their persecutors. They thrill at the salvation of multitudes in unreached areas, yet during dry spells and frequent suffering, they rejoice that their own names are written in heaven (Luke 10:20).

Most are not “professional” fighters; they work regular jobs but wage spiritual war day and night. Some take jobs that pay less to have more time to serve their King. Some volunteer for dangerous missions to rescue the lost. All have a heart to share freely with those who enter their kingdom communities. This groundswell overwhelms every major obstacle to the King of Kings, by the power of the cross. Laying down all to follow the call to finish what Jesus began spreads fuels the mission (Revelation 12:11).

This is no return to the horrific Crusades of earthly battles waged falsely in the name of Jesus. This kingdom is invisible, as Jesus declared:

“My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting, that I might not be delivered over to the Jews. But my kingdom is not from the world.” (John 18:36).

This is a battle for the souls of people. These soldiers have fought the restraints of institutional religion to obey the commands of Scripture. They have endured not only attacks by demonic powers, but also friendly fire from church leaders who have misunderstood their desire to live as authentic disciples of the King.

These soldiers have chosen to believe that disciples, churches, leaders and movements can multiply as movements of the Spirit, just as they did in the early church. They have chosen to believe that the commands of Christ still carry the same authority and Spirit-empowerment as 2000 years ago.

Church planting movements (CPMs) are spreading again today just as they did in the book of Acts and at various times in history. (See Chapter 23: “The Story of Movements and the Spread of the Gospel.”) They are not a new phenomenon but an old one.

They are a return to basic biblical discipleship that all disciples of Jesus can emulate as

followers of Jesus and

fishers for people (Mark 1:17). (See Chapter 22: “Movements in the Bible.”)

On every continent, where it was once said, “A CPM can’t happen here,” movements are spreading. (See Chapters 14-19, describing movements in very diverse parts of the world.)

Biblical principles are being applied in practical, reproducible models in a variety of cultural conbodys. God’s servants are winning the lost, making disciples, forming healthy churches and developing godly leaders, in ways that can multiply generation after generation and begin to radically transform their communities.

These movements are the only way we have found historically for the kingdom of God to grow faster than the population. (See Chapter 21: “Brutal Facts.”) Without movements, even good ministry efforts result in losing ground.

The tide of this renewed effort is surging forward with unstoppable force. This insurgence is no passing fad. With 20+ years of reproducing churches, the number of CPMs has multiplied from a mere handful in the 1990s to 707 as of January 2019, with more being reported each month. Each movement’s advance has been won with great endurance and sacrifice.

This mission—to take the gospel of the kingdom to every unreached and under-reached people and place—comes with real casualties of persecution. This is a struggle to the end to see the name of Jesus prevail in every place, so He is worshipped by all peoples. This mission costs everything, and it is worth it! He is worth it.

After almost three decades of resurgence of movements in modern times, a global coalition has arisen, not by boardroom brainstorming, but by leaders within and alongside movements banding together to fulfill one overarching objective:

And this good news of the King’s reign will be heralded throughout the whole world as a testimony to all peoples, and then the end will come. (Mathew 24:14, author’s translation)

As God draws multitudes of new believers from every tongue, tribe, people and nation into His kingdom, we yearn: “Come, Lord Jesus!” (Revelation 22:20). We cry out:

Your Kingdom come! (movements)

No place left! (fully reaching all)

Finishing what others have started! (honoring those before us)

Our vision is to see the Great Commission fulfilled in our lifetime. (See Chapter 1: “The 24:14 Vision.”) We desire kingdom movements in every people and place.

Through prayer, we as a coalition felt God gave us a deadline to increase urgency: We aim to engage every unreached people and place with an effective kingdom movement (CPM) strategy by December 31, 2025.

We have subordinated organizational and denominational brands to greater kingdom collaboration to accomplish this mission. We call our open-membership, volunteer army by the verse that inspires us: 24:14.

We are not a Western-centric initiative. We are composed of house church movements from South Asia, Muslim-background movements from the 10/40 window, mission sending agencies, church planting networks in post-modern regions, established churches and many more (see diverse testimonies in this edition). We are a coalition of CPM practitioners not waiting for a plan from executive leadership (though many executives are on board). We are inspired by a call for a wartime mentality to sacrifice alongside brothers and sisters, to see the gospel proclaimed throughout the world as a witness to all peoples.

Is this revolution any different than hundreds of other plans that have arisen over the centuries? Is this plan really able to finish the Great Commission? Dr. Keith Parks has spent a lifetime in cross-cultural mission service starting in 1948. He was a presenter at Lausanne 1974 and as IMB President initiated their engagement of UPGs in the early 1980’s. Dr. Bill O’Brien was co-chair of Singapore 1989 which birthed the AD2000 network. You can see in Chapter 29, “Why is 24:14 Different than Previous Efforts?” that they feel this 24:14 coalition is fundamentally different. It builds on previous faithful efforts, including AD2000, Finishing the Task, and others. This 24:14 vision could well be the culmination of these historical and current efforts by helping engagements fully reach their targets.

According to Dr. Parks, the biggest difference is that 24:14 came not at the impetus of mission executives but came from the grassroots of the movements themselves. 24:14 is a network of the world’s CPMs and CPM organizations collaborating with urgency, and calling the global church to join in similar efforts. That’s why it feels the end may be in sight.

There will be a final generation. It will be characterized by global spread of the kingdom, and advance in the face of global opposition. (See Chapter 43: “What Does It Cost to Behold the Beauty of the King?”) Our generation feels strangely like the one Jesus described in Matthew 24.

This book is a call to arms.

24:14 consists of movement leaders and people/organizations/churches across the world committed to four things:

REACH the UNREACHED: In line with Matthew 24:14, bringing the gospel of the kingdom to every unreached people and place.

THROUGH CPMs: Fully reaching them through Biblical kingdom movements of multiplying disciples, churches, leaders and movements.

WITH URGENCY BY 2025: Doing so with a wartime urgency by the end of 2025 in the power of the Spirit, no matter what it costs us.

COLLABORATION: Collaborate with others in the 24:14 movement so we can make progress together

We are in a war, though most believers seem to live as if in peace. As long as God’s people slumber, the enemy wreaks havoc in communities, churches, relationships and personal discipleship. Priorities, time and focus remain dissipated. No D-Day objective looms. No great mission prevails, so sacrifice remains minimal or non-existent. Yet were the whole church to wake up to a wartime mindset, the gates of hell would quake (Matthew 16:18)!

The 64 million (and growing) grassroots troops who have come to faith in these CPMs are spreading the good news globally. As stories of God’s breakthroughs trickle in to churches around the world, reinforcements arise to go out into the battlefields. The slumbering giant of the global church needs to wake up (see Chapter 35: “A Race You Won’t Want to Miss.”). But this giant must not awaken with a peacetime mindset. This is no business model for comfortable church growth; this is war.

The most effective troops to start new movements are leaders from existing movements. As a global church we need to prioritize prayer, personnel and funds to support existing CPMs in sending out messengers to unengaged areas to start new CPMs. (See Chapters 25-27.)

Of the 8,800+ unreached people groups and places, we estimate that fewer than 1,000 of them are effectively engaged with CPM strategies. That leaves well over 7,000 still needing purposeful CPM initiatives. But we need to look more closely than the macro-level of a major people group or city. A people group of one million must be subdivided into smaller districts in which movements must emerge. Globally, that may be as many as 100,000 geographical and ethnolinguistic segments of the world needing movements. As you read this, global researchers are compiling sensitive data from CPM practitioners to identify which population segments have movements and which still need them.

Which brings us to you. God is calling you to join this volunteer army. What could happen if the global church arose with a sacrificial eight-year push to engage every unreached place with a movement of God?

We invite you to be a part of the revolution. See www.2414now.net to learn more, watch inspiring videos and find on-ramps to join this wartime effort. See also Chapter 32: “How to Get Involved.”

Are you unsure how to start multiplying disciples at home and abroad? If you are willing to pay the price in preparation and service, we can put you in contact with a CPM team near you. They can coach you to spread the kingdom in your locale or in a distant location.

The 24:14 army is lean and focused. Our organizing team is a skeleton crew that can use volunteers. The budget needs for 24:14 global initiatives and coordinating efforts is minimal compared with the immense task. Our prayer coordination is emerging but needs a fervent global prayer push. Country, zone and district 24:14 volunteer stewards are needed to help coordinate CPM efforts; vacancies abound.

2025 is not the end. It is just the beginning of the end. We need CPM teams in every one of these 40,000+ segments sacrificially committed to the war effort of spreading God’s kingdom through movements. Once a team is in place (between now and 2025) the fight has just begun to evangelize the lost and multiply disciples and churches to see a kingdom transformation of those communities.

We can see an end to a two-thousand year spiritual war. The enemy’s defeat is in sight. “No place left for Jesus to be named” is on the horizon (Romans 15:23).  God is asking us to pay the price and deeply sacrifice to be the generation that fulfills Matthew 24:14. Are you in?

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