In A Word What Is Dawn?

-Dr. James Montgomery

The word “DAWN” is an acronym for “Discipling A Whole Nation.”

It is a strategy of ministry developed in terms of our Lord’s command to “make disciples of all nations.” It takes literally the idea that the Lord wants nations to be discipled.

To do this, DAWN seeks to mobilize the whole Body of Christ in a country as an optimum strategy for the discipling of all the “nations” or peoples of those countries in a determined effort to complete the Great Commission by working towards the goal of providing an evangelical congregation for every village, and neighborhoods of every class, kind and condition of man[1] in the whole country.

In the words of Dr. C. Peter Wagner, “It is the best and most effective delivery system for getting church growth principles to the grassroots on an international scale.”

DAWN is concerned that Jesus Christ become incarnate in all His beauty, compassion, power and message in the midst of every small group of people (500-1,000 in number) in a country in a way that endures.

It therefore wants to see every existing church truly incarnate the Lord Jesus Christ and to see such churches multiplied so that no person in a country is out of range either in a practical or cultural sense of the living Christ.

When this is accomplished, it is not assumed that the Great Commission in that country has been completed, but that the last measurable goal has been reached towards the discipling of that country.

With a witnessing congregation in every small community of humanity, it is now possible to communicate the Gospel in the most direct and productive way to every person in that land.

Every person in the country now has the optimum opportunity to see the Gospel lived and preached in a “heart” language and culture.

Everyone now has a reasonable opportunity to make an informed, intelligent decision for or against Jesus Christ.

Every believer now has a church to attend and be further trained in discipleship.

The penultimate step for completing the Great Commission among all the peoples in a country has been reached.

[1] “Every class, kind and condition of man” was the language of Donald A. McGavran, author of the monumental Understanding Church Growth and later founding Dean of Fuller Seminary’s School of World Mission (now School of Intercultural Studies).