Vision for 2023
Dear Friends,
Did you know that the Church that Jesus started is coming up on it’s 2,000th Birthday?
While scholars disagree on the exact year, many consider A.D. 33 as the most likely year for the crucifixion and resurrection, the giving of the great commission, Jesus’ Ascension into heaven, and outpouring of the Holy Spirit, the birth of the church as described in the four Gospels and Acts.
As we approach 2033 and the 2,000th anniversary of these events, a growing chorus of ministries around the world are asking an amazing question: “Could we complete the Great Commission (Matthew 28:18-20) on the 2000th anniversary of Jesus giving the Great Commission?” Jesus’ final words to us in Matthew’s gospel stipulated that the gospel be preached to every ethnic group in the world. Heavenly worship in the book of Revelation is portrayed as having believers from “every tribe, language, people, and nation.” Researchers and Missiologists estimate that over 2 billion people from hundreds of people groups have still not heard the good news about Jesus Christ.
We know this is on the Father’s heart—could we be part of seeing it happen in our lifetimes, or even in the next 10 Years?
10 Days 2023 (Sept 15-25): 110 Cities Focus
Several years ago, a number of underground church and missions leaders representing large networks developed a list of “110 Cities”. Because of the global concentration of people in cities, these 110 Cities contain 90% of the remaining unreached people groups. In other words, if we could reach these cities with the gospel, we could consider the Great Commission complete in our generation.
In 2023, 10 Days (Sept 15-25) will have a special emphasis on these 110 Cities. We want to cry out to God for the gospel to be declared and for church planting movements to spring up and grow in these cities.
We will be inviting 10 Days cities to adopt one of the 110 Cities for prayer this year. We hope that partnership will extend beyond prayer into ongoing relationships, mission sending, and support for existing ministries.
We are also believing God to see a 10 Days event in each of these 110 Cities.
Because of the difficulty of access in some of these places, that would be a miracle. We’d encourage you to check out the list and begin praying at 110cities.com.
Disciple-Making/Church Planting Off-Ramp
10 Days is a catalytic event, and we often see lives changed and people awakened to who Jesus is and to new callings and assignments in God. Because we believe prayer and missions go hand-in-hand, we will be creating an “off-ramp” from 10 Days this year for those interested in training on how to make disciples and start simple communities of believers in their regions.
We’ll be sharing more about some exciting partnerships for disciple-making in the upcoming months.
10 Days Pentecost (May 18-28)
We will be hosting an online, 24/7 gathering for the globe to unite in prayer leading up to Pentecost Sunday (May 28).
This year, this partnership will be part of Four global days of prayer that organizers project will involve over 110 Million people in prayer. There will be a special emphasis this Pentecost on praying for unbelieving Jewish people to come to know their Messiah.
In addition, a number of networks have made it known that they’ll be hosting “in person” 10 Days Pentecost events as well. While we want to keep the focus on 10 Days in September, we encourage everyone to go for it as the Lord leads them!
Dubai Summit: March 13-17th
Finally, we are hosting a global Summit for 10 Days Coordinators in Dubai this March 13-17th.
It’s amazing how God has used technology to knit us together from around the globe, but nothing can ever replace being together face-to-face. We’re excited to join together as a global family in Dubai, which was chosen because of ease of access for folks from Africa, India, and the Middle East.
If you’re a 10 Days Coordinator and interested in joining, we still have a few spots open—let us know!
Every Blessing, and looking forward to more gospel Progress in 2023!
Jonathan Friz