FAQs

Live Dead is simply a name that reflects the reality of Scripture. In John 12:24, Jesus says, “Unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much grain.” Paul in Galatians 2:20 writes, “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.” It is this life we strive to live. To live dead is to lay our whole life down, no matter the cost, for the sake of the gospel and its witness among the unreached.

There is a good chance you have a Live Dead worker in your area who would be honored to connect with you. Email us at [email protected] and we will do our best to connect you with someone nearby. If you have a request to include a specific Live Dead worker, it may be hard to accommodate as we are almost all entirely based overseas.

Live Dead is comprised of workers who have raised funds to carry the gospel to the unreached. We most often encourage people to send their gifts directly to the workers on the ground. But that being said, if you desire to contribute generally to Live Dead, that is also possible, and the funds you give go directly to church planting efforts. You can partner with Live Dead on a monthly basis or via one-time donations. Those funds support things like the printing of vision materials, costs associated with launching new church planting teams, and funds that help train and develop local leaders. Visit our Get Involved page for more information.

A church planting movement (CPM) is a rapid and multiplicative increase of indigenous churches planting churches within a given people group or population segment. To be classified as a CPM, a movement must produce a fourth-generation church, meaning that the first group plants another, which plants another, which plants another.

In our definition, which comes from JoshuaProject.net, unreached means more than simply lost: “An unreached or least-reached people is a people group among which there is no indigenous community of believing Christians with adequate numbers and resources to evangelize this people group.” Joshua Project’s criteria for a UPG is less than two percent evangelical Christian and less than five percent Christian adherent.

A team is a small group of individuals with complementary skills committed to a common purpose and a specific set of performance goals.

We fast and pray for many. In addition to daily personal abiding, we commit to extra seasons of prayer and fasting for mass movements of the unreached world to come to Jesus. We equip and encourage. We place a high priority on language learning, cultural acquisition, and missiological training. We sow broadly. We commit to share the good news of Jesus as broadly as possible—with neighbors, friends, shopkeepers, strangers—with everyone. And we sow Intentionally. We will endeavor to learn where people go when they are spiritually hungry and go there. We invite a response to the gospel. Rather than relegating conversations about the Jesus to an interesting exchange of religious ideas, we commit to gently but boldly encourage the hearers of gospel to respond. We commit to follow-up immediately with those who have responded positively to the gospel. We cultivate active participation in the faith. We commit to teach those on the journey of faith to not just be hearers, but to put His words into practice. We model church well. We commit to model what it means to be a Christian community of faith in a way that is simple, natural, and culturally relevant so that believers can “be church” even if we are forced to leave or led to go to another pioneering context. We commit to being persistent in patience and generous in grace with believers and the newly forming church. We commit to continually assessing our role in the process of church planting and adapt appropriately.

Regardless of where you go, we have seven primary goals for those who join a Launch Team: (1) Learn to abide in Jesus while living among the unreached; (2) work towards linguistic and cultural fluency; (3) study missiology and have the opportunity to study towards Assemblies of God credentialing, if needed; (4) learn to live together and work in a team from many backgrounds; (5) create a rhythm of life with the desire and ability to balance a lifelong commitment to live and work among the unreached; (6) establish identity in country; and (7) plant the church.

Yes! Anyone from any country or background can join Live Dead. If you love Jesus and strive to see His gospel reach the unreached, we would love to partner with you. Live Dead is a strategy, not a sending organization, so we ask that you find a local agency that can provide oversight, support, and development. There are any number of sending organizations with whom you can partner; we simply ask that you come to the field with strong and qualified backing.

Partnering with a sending organization, while not necessary for a bi-vocational worker, can be beneficial, and for some workers has proven both necessary and wise. A covering of protection and sense of belonging come with a sending organization, and you can find greater effectiveness and accountability within an intentional community that is made available through a sending organization. A sending organization attracts a certain type of person who has agreed to certain standards and vision, which in turn provides legitimacy to the worker. When you meet other missionaries in your location, those missionaries have an idea of who and what you are about. Veteran missionaries’ lives may be very full at present and adding a solo worker who is not in the flow of an organization may require more effort than they have capacity for, leaving you, the new solo worker, alone. Bi-vocational workers currently on the field with sending organizations believed it was important to be sent. The idea of “being on their own” without the support and training that a sending organization provides was not how they wanted to “go.” They have found that the fast-paced working environment of their locations leaves little room for spare time and hobbies, and they have benefited greatly by being on a team that is intentional with its time (training, prayer, and fellowship).

You are not required to partner with any one specific agency. Live Dead has many partners from different nations and denominations. As long as there is alignment with Live Dead’s core values, we are excited to partner together.

This depends on your sending organization. There are several locations where taking a job makes sense and becomes a means for access into a country. Other locations have their own business which provide access and legitimacy in a community. Whether you take a job or create a job depends on the guidelines and expectations of your sending organization.

As languages have many dialects and nuances, we focus on learning language on the field in context. When you first arrive on the field, you will invest significant time in learning the local language. We believe it is important to be able to share the gospel message in the heart language of the hearer. The language that people think and feel in is the language they should hear the gospel in. Language learning opportunities are available from language institutes, private tutors, and language nurturers.

Live Dead holds to a value based philosophy. God can use whatever skills a person has for His glory if his or her heart is firmly rooted in Christ. The priority is placed on developing intimacy with God, sensitivity to the Holy Spirit, and Christ-like attitudes and traits. All that is needed to begin is a humble and teachable spirit and a desire to see unreached people know Christ. Opportunities are available through our teams to continue ministerial education, learn new skills, and glean wisdom from godly mentors.

In part the inverted A is stylistic. It also represents the reality that we must all die to self so that the life of Jesus is manifest in us.