I took the Perspectives on the World Christian Movement course in 1993, and by 1997 we were on our way to the edges, literally. We landed on the shores of the Caspian Sea, seemingly on the edge of the world, with big dreams of planting Kazakh-led churches.
I am a senior of Armenian descent...As I read about MKs in your May/June issue,...
"The Law and the Prophets were proclaimed until John. Since that time, the good news of the kingdom of God is being preached…” (Luke 16:16).
It was springtime in India, and the local Saraswati festival was quickly approaching. A new Hindu friend, Saikat (pseudonym), had invited me to join his family’s celebration at their home for this religious holiday.1 Saikat had quickly become something of a local host for me, and I was grateful to be invited to his extended family’s gathering.
Hakeem and I were well into our second cups of chai—and our second hour of conversation—when he suddenly grew quiet. I could tell he was processing something important. Finally, my curiosity got the best of me, and I broke our shared silence. “What’s going on? What are you thinking about?” His response still echoes in my mind: “Why has no one ever told me this before? Why has no one ever taught me how to listen to God and let him speak to me personally?”1
In today’s Buddhist-majority societies, particularly in Thailand, the missional challenge is not singular but twofold, presenting unique challenges. The first edge lies within Thai society itself, especially among the younger generation. It is marked by a deep and growing disengagement from Buddhism. We’ll refer to this as post-Buddhist disaffiliation.
Christian mission originates in the nature of the Trinitarian God, whose essence is love, and whose desire is to draw all people into a relationship of worship and communion with him. The Church, as a missional community, is not only the recipient of salvation but also a participant in bearing witness to God’s redemptive love in Christ to the world. This calling entails engaging the frontiers of globalization, poverty, and religion— domains that are deeply interrelated and require thoughtful, strategic approaches to mission.
When we look at Scripture through a nomadic lens, we see that God has been fulfilling his purposes through nomadic culture since the first chapters of the Bible. Almost all the positive role models in the Old Testament were nomads. God has always blessed and used nomadic ethos to build his kingdom. And we see that commands for believers today are in line with standard nomadic practice. Let’s look at what God is doing with and through nomads and join him!
In 1555, Gaspar da Cruz, a Portuguese Dominican, was the first-known missionary to have arrived in Lovek (Cambodia). However, after one year, he abandoned his mission, concluding that the Khmers were impenetrable to the gospel because of their loyalty to the king and their religious way of life.1 In 2025, the echoes of this reason still ring true; it is not uncommon to hear Cambodians say, “Your Jesus is good, but you have your religion, and I have mine.”
At 2 a.m., a Roblox clan leader named Aria poured out her nihilism on Discord. Fifty teammates listened. No Christian spoke.
The final words of Jesus on earth still echo as the Church’s unfinished assignment: “Go make disciples of all nations...” Yet as global missions have expanded in reach, many remain cut off not only by language and religion, but by economic systems, political barriers, and failing infrastructure. As traditional methods strain under new global realities, a surprising ally has emerged from the world of decentralized digital technology. Could bitcoin offer strategic advantages for engaging the hardest-to-reach peoples on earth?
Forty years ago, the “edges” of mission were relatively clear. Unreached people groups were primarily mapped geographically, pioneering missions meant long journeys to faraway lands, and “access” was defined by political and physical barriers. But in today’s hyper-connected, globalized, and mobile world, the edges are not just geographical or based on ethnicity—they can be everywhere. That said, despite major progress, the frontier task remains. There are still more than 2 billion people with no known access to a viable, contextual gospel witness.1
In thinking about the edges, we must consider how those being reached can join the work of seeing the gospel go to all the earth. This article considers how the Azeris, an unreached people group with a growing church, are on that journey.
How do movements start? The best way to start a disciple making movement is to already have one. Research shows that 80-90% of movements have been started by other movements.1
Since the founding of Frontier Ventures in 1976, we have been about what is “not yet.”1 Meaning that we want to see God’s kingdom come to all peoples, especially those in which that hasn’t happened yet.
Growing up with an iPhone, I’d never encountered a language barrier before. The advantage of traveling in a digital world was that if all else failed, either Google Translate or ChatGPT could always find me a bathroom, directions, or a meal. But here I was in the middle of rural Romania, without food, money, a phone, or a Romanian interpreter, and my mission team hadn’t eaten in almost a day.
