DMI at a Glance
The mission, the field, and how we engage
Where We Are
DMI is uniquely located on the front lines of the House of Islam (Dar al Islam), where we are engaging with the Gospel to liberate the unreached people from bondage under the false teachings of Islam.
We are building a whole of church, cross-cultural Church Planting eco-system. We do this by recruiting, training, and equipping the Givers, Senders, and Goers… including Bible translators, Evangelists, Apologists, Polemicists, mercy ministry leaders and Church Planters to engage the darkness at the gates of Islam’s farthest western expanse… the unreached Muslim people groups of the southern Philippines.
We do this in an environment where the Christianized people and the Muslim people have been generally at war for the last 400 years.
How We Do It
We do this through recruiting, training, equipping, and providing logistical and technical support to primarily Filipino, but also Westerners who are called to this hard task. Our programs are some of the most in depth training programs anywhere, done in the region where the need is greatest.
By engaging Islam here where it is hardest, and not just at home, we increase the Global Church's experience and capacity to engage Islam, we push back on the encroachment of Islam (and they are spending millions of USD out here for that purpose), and most importantly we seek to liberate whole people groups from one of the strongest deceptions put onto men by the Devil.
Why Here, on the Edge of Civilization?
Think of the world divided into three zones, the Engaged Zone, the Contact Zone, and the Unreached Zone. Most Christians live in a Engaged Zone. Here the church is generally well resourced and easily accessible. If a person wants to learn about Christ, there are many places and people that will show them. By the way, there are often many Muslims that need the Gospel in the Engaged Zone. Especially in cities, your church could reach out to them right now! It's almost certainly totally legal and safe.
On the other side of things is the Unengaged Zone. Here there are few or often no churches. Usually, evangelism here is dangerous and often illegal or legally limited. Here if a person wants to learn about Christ, there is likely no one who can show them.
DMI is in the Contact Zone. This zone is the area where the Engaged Zone meets the Unengaged Zone. Usually the church here is under-resourced and under-pressure. However, unlike the Unengaged Zone, the church here can operate in contact with the unreached people with less restrictions and risks than in the Unengaged Zone. Furthermore, logistically it is much easier to engage with the Unengaged Zone from here.
In the Contact Zone, the future Church Planters (the ones who Go) can train and develop in contact with the people groups they will be reaching. And here the future Senders (Pastors and Elders) and future Givers (Christian Business Leaders and Professionals) are built up with a full understanding of missions, a heart for the specific unreached people group, and a close relationship with those who will Go, ensuring an effective Whole of Church Effort. This is where the engagement is... This is where the training and equipping should be...
What We Do
Missions requires a "Whole of Church" effort. There are three groups that are part of missions; those who Go, those who Send, and those who Give. There are few who are called to Go... there are some who are called to Send... and there are many who are called to Give...
Our programs include 3-5 year residential, in the field, undergraduate programs in Cross-cultural missions and graduate programs in Bible Translation, EAP (Evangelism, Apologetics, and Polemics) integrated with in the field church planting. Furthermore, thru our Bob and Mariel Ward School of Filipino Languages we train missionaries in the languages of the people groups they will reach. Alongside this we are developing the future of Bible translation and the translation and development of Christian training materials for the Filipino and Muslim people groups.
The team of Goers, Senders, and Givers should together be trained in missions so that they can together enable effective ministry.
- They must be called by their church to this work. DMI works with local churches to call their people and evaluate their calling. No one who is not called by their church is ever accepted to DMI.
- They must deeply understand the Bible, for this is what is to be proclaimed. DMI's training program includes hundreds of hours of intensive Bible Narrative, Exegesis, Theology, and Application using in house curriculum and curriculum translated and adapted from ThirdMil Institute.
- They must learn a vocation that will enable the Givers to give, and the Senders and Goers to have standing in their communities (very important in Asian contexts) and have alternative means of support for themselves and their family.
- They must learn the languages of the people group, for how else will they proclaim the Gospel clearly. DMI, through its Bob and Mariel Ward School of Filipino Languages trains students in both how to learn a language, and in learning the languages of Muslim people groups.
- They must learn missions so that they can understand effective, Bible centered, church planting strategies. This way the Goer can effectively plant churches, the Senders can effectively oversee and partner with them, and the Givers can fully understand how to partner with the Goers and Senders.