How many Singapore churches and missionaries are engaged in reaching Unreached People Groups (UPGs)?

What is the estimated size of our collective mission force?

Where are they mostly serving in?

Are fewer young people becoming missionaries?

These are some things the Singapore Centre for Global Missions (SCGM) wants to find out.

This week, SCGM is launching its latest iteration of the National Missions Study (NMS). The study, which aims to put a finger on the pulse of Singapore’s missions landscape, started in 1988. In 2009, it became a five-yearly survey.

To get a holistic and accurate picture, SCGM has invited 250 churches to share their missions practices via an online survey. They have from May to June to complete it.

(Churches can look out for the invitation to be part of the survey in their emails, or email [email protected] for the survey link if they are interested to participate.)

“It is an important longitudinal study on the health of mission engagement and participation by Singapore churches,” explained Rev Manik Corea, National Director of SCGM.

“It helps us to map where we are and where we should be going in terms of the national mission movement.”

This is part of SCGM’s goal of serving the Singapore Church by shaping missions thinking and facilitating partnerships for missions.

Limited take up of missions to UPGs

One major trend uncovered in NMS 2019 which SCGM hopes to track this year is the missions work with UPGs.

The limited take-up of missions to UPGs revealed in the last study was something SCGM found troubling. The findings in this round of survey will shed light as to whether the missions work to UPGs has changed over the past five years.

Churches in Singapore may have to explore if believers have lost the theology of suffering in the comfort and security of home. Another area for reflection is how the younger generation can be helped to understand that suffering and persecution are part of missions.

Drawing out best practices

Besides the survey, SCGM will also be conducting in-depth interviews with up to 10 churches. These churches will be selected for their holistic and contextualised missions practices.

Their hope is to draw out best practices and learning points into which all churches can look.

Rev Corea, National Director of SCGM, said: “We seek to gauge the length (time-sequenced), breadth (scale and diversity) and depth (health) of our missionary efforts.

“This will provide both quantitative and qualitative information that we hope will identify bright spots and blind spots, trends, threats and gaps which will shape and inform missions thinking and practice.”

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