Pull up a chair, grab a cup of coffee, and step into the heart of To Every Tribe.
Whether he is mentoring future missionaries, speaking at local church mobilization weekends, or guiding our global leadership team, Dr. Tim Boal’s vision remains steady: extending the worship of Jesus to every tribe by equipping and sending gospel-driven disciple-makers to serve on cross-cultural church planting teams.
We sat down with Tim to ask five pressing questions about global pioneer missions, the state of the unreached world, and what it takes to persevere on the frontlines.
1. When you look at the unreached world today, what weighs most heavily on your heart?
Tim Boal: There are an incredible number of yet unreached groups and almost as many underserved and unestablished groups. Yes, they have a gospel witness, but it is weak and the faith of the saints in the tribe is weak and undeveloped. We need missionaries to not only make new disciples and start churches, but missionaries to establish and strengthen already existent churches with immature disciples. I’m really concerned that we might think the job is complete. It is nowhere near completed.
2. What is the single biggest myth Christians believe about pioneer missionary work?
Tim Boal: That only a certain kind of pioneer spirit is called to do this kind of ministry work. At TET our Regional Approach requires that we have missionaries of all types. Those who can stay and work with our platform partner church (normally in a city with believers) – spending time maturing disciples so that, in cooperation with our pioneer missionaries, the platform partner can also send workers to the unreached. It means that we need teachers, pastors, and pioneer missionaries. Together they strengthen platform churches and reach unreached peoples from the platform community.
3. How do you encourage a prospective missionary who feels overwhelming fear about stepping out?
Tim Boal: First, get training, so that you know what the parameters and boundaries of missionary work look like. Second, do a short term internship or apprenticeship that will help you build confidence and discern your missionary placement. If the first internship does not satisfy your desire to be a pioneer in that geographical area or specific people group, try a second or third internship until you find the right fit for your gifting and the right teammates for your particular ministry calling.
4. What makes To Every Tribe’s training model distinct when preparing workers for hard soil?
Tim Boal: Our training is led by experienced missionaries who can guide your process. It is also not simply a textbook approach, but rather a cohort approach where, along with others, you not only study the best missiological ideas, but together as a cohort discuss and sharpen each other’s skills. All of this as you are deployed in your local community to discover what crossing cultures looks like. Together, this strategic learning, in local community service, and cohort conversations can provide everything you need to be prepared to arrive at an internship or field placement with the confidence to know you are prepared to begin the missionary journey.
5. How can local churches move from passive financial givers to active sending partners?
Tim Boal: Our biggest needs are for local churches to adequately train their people in the areas of prayer, evangelism, and discipleship. A local church actively strategic in equipping believers in these areas will by the very nature of these processes send missionaries to both their local neighborhoods, their geographic regions, and across the seas, just as Acts 1:8 states, and in obedience to the Great Commission of Matthew 28:19, 20.
