As early as September of 2000, formal reports reached International Mission Board, SBC leadership from at least three sources affirming that a significant number of Muslims were embracing Christianity in various parts of Jedidistan (pseudonym for a Muslim country in Asia). The reports included news of the movement crossing the border into the countryside of a neighboring country.
At the time of the church planting movement (CPM) assessment, the CPM was occurring in different geographic locations of the people group. The initial and largest segment revolved around Sharif, a local businessman and former Muslim. Another more recent and thus smaller growth segment centered on a career IMB Strategy Coordinator (SC) and his small team. The IMB SC had entered with the knowledge and encouragement of Sharif. By the time of the assessment was conducted, the movements had grown to the point that they were overlapping.
After on-site interviews were conducted by the CPM assessment team in March 2002, a detailed confidential report was written to document the existence of a CPM. It was found that there were 50 district-level evangelists operating in the districts covered by both segments of the work among Muslims. The team also concluded that there were 395 local evangelists, 2,439 pastors, 3,138 churches, and 93,453 members. In 2001, the movement produced 25,274 baptisms.
Read the entire Jedidistan CPM assessment here.
