The Holy Spirit is cultivating a profound thrust toward the global harvest around the world. The opposition is stronger and the population greater than ever; yet, the resources to finish the job are more abundant than at any time in history.
The most important resource is committed followers of Jesus Christ who are obedient and surrendered to the will of God. The Holy Spirit is seeking those whose hearts are abandoned in their devotion to Christ. He desires to use us, his Church, to accomplish his purpose of bringing in the global harvest (2 Timothy 2:21). From where will these new message-bearers come? Although God is intently searching his entire Church, the Holy Spirit is focusing particular attention on the emerging generation of believers.
According to statistics, most people who become message-bearers make such a decision during their college or university years. Scripture and history prove the desire of God to partner with each successive generation, motivating them to develop a fervent love relationship with him and align themselves fully with his purposes on earth (Daniel 1:8-17).
We know there are still vast populations globally where a powerful, culturally relevant witness of the gospel is still non-existent. These are clearly identified by research:
- There are over two billion people in nearly six thousand unreached people groups (for near-exhaustive lists, see www.joshuaproject.net). These groups may have churches and some Christians, yet the indigenous local church is not large enough to reach the current generation and future generations on their own.
- There are over one billion people in unevangelized people groups (for near-exhaustive lists, see the World Christian Encyclopedia, 2nd ed.). In many of these groups there is some cross-cultural mission work going on, yet most of the people in the group are unlikely to hear the gospel in their lifetime.
- There are over 231 million people in 632 unengaged people groups (www.finishingthetask.com/). These groups have no workers and no churches—and no one targeting them with focused prayer and plans to send workers.
Student Volunteer Movements
Student Volunteer Movement 2 (SVM2) is an informal, international network made up of unifying National Student Mission Movements (NSMMs). It is a grassroots, cross-cultural, mission mobilization initiative among today’s emerging generation of believers toward the fulfillment of the Great Commission in our lifetime.
Over the last several years of listening, learning, and studying historical and contemporary networking models, it has been found that one of the best vehicles to accomplish a widespread, saturation-style, cross-cultural, mission mobilization effort is through the means of catalyzing and unifying NSMMs.
These are national networks made up of partner ministries representing four categories: Bible schools/Christian colleges, campus ministry organizations, denominations/church networks, and mission-sending agencies. NSMMs are indigenous, authentic, and culturally relevant. 
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Partner ministries integrate the use of the Four Core Components into their local student ministry. These four mobilization tools have historically been the primary tools God has used to align his people with his own heart for the unreached. They are simple and basic, yet if implemented with intentionality, reap tremendous fruit. Resources are available to enable student leaders and staff to integrate these mobilization tools within their ministry structure. These resources include:
- Group Bible studies on the biblical basis of missions. As young people in small groups open scripture and are led to see God’s purpose of reaching the nations, their hearts are enflamed to commit to this purpose as well.
- Global prayer teams. Small groups of students committed to praying for revival on their campus and for the unreached have often been the incubator for developing a heart for cross-cultural mission.
- Student mission fellowships. Sub-groups of a student fellowship entirely devoted to cultivating mission vision within the fellowship at large are critical to teach, educate, and inspire an understanding of the calling as Christ’s message-bearers to the unreached.
- Go Declaration commitment card. Spirit-led, faith-filled decisions (based on counting the cost, not on simply emotion) to serve Christ cannot be underestimated in the process of calling a generation.
As ministries focusing on the student generation begin to integrate these tools, it becomes easy to imagine the saturating effect taking place in particular national situations. Now multiply this across a large number of national contexts and we can see the potential for God raising up 100,000 new message-bearers across the emerging generation of believers among the 632 unengaged, unreached peoples of the world.
Find out more about the vision of Student Volunteer Movement 2 (SVM2) at www.SVM2.net and join your local ministry to the network. Begin integrating the Four Core Components equipping materials to mobilize your ministry toward a biblical heart for the Great Commission. Don’t miss the video at www.SVM2.net/About.
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Additional Equipping Resources Waking the Giant: The Resurging Student Mission Movement. This book lays the foundations for why we need a renewed emphasis on mobilizing our college student ministries with God’s heart for the world and what this movement might look like. www.svm2.net/resources/253-2 “Abandoned Devotion Gathering” Facilitation Pack. This pack provides you with the materials and instructions to plan and host an elongated (usually three to five hours) worship and prayer event in your campus fellowship or local church with the purpose of seeking God through extended worship, uncompromising challenges, and radical prayer to see the message of Jesus spread globally in our lifetime. www.svm2.net/events/abandoned-devotion-gatherings “Where’s Your Haystack?” DVD. From the intercession and actions of five college students, a mighty wave of mission fervor sprang forth in America in 1806. This DVD includes a dramatic 13-minute docu-reenactment of the haystack story that can be used in a large group format. It also includes five short video clip “Lessons from a Haystack” for use in a four-week small group Bible study. www.svm2.net/resources/wheres-your-haystack-dvd “Abandoned Times” Blog. This weekly blog provides equipping articles focused on a wide range of issues pertaining to today’s student mission movement. Biblically-based and challenging articles seek to impart deeper understanding surrounding the call to cross-cultural mission. http://svm2.net/abandonedtimes Student Mission Movement Internships. Located in Chiang Mai, these 12-week internships exist to deepen one’s spiritual life and empower partnering with God in the burgeoning student mission movement within the context of an unreached people group. www.svm2.net/events/student-mission-movement-internships |
