# Avant Ministries

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{{Short description|Christian Missionaries}}
'''Avant Ministries''' (formerly known as Gospel Missionary Union) is a non-profit, [Christian](/source/Christianity) mission agency focused on planting and developing churches worldwide.  Headquartered in [Kansas City, Missouri](/source/Kansas_City%2C_Missouri), and [Winnipeg, Manitoba](/source/Winnipeg%2C_Manitoba), Avant missionaries serve in church planting and church support ministries in Africa, Asia, Europe and North and South America.<ref>Nyquist, J. P. (2007). There is no time, a missionary fable. Avant.</ref>

==History==

Founded in 1892 out of the [YMCA](/source/YMCA) movement as World's Gospel Union, Avant Ministries is one of the oldest missionary sending agencies in the United States. Avant was the first evangelical Christian mission to enter [Ecuador](/source/Ecuador) in South America and the [Republic of Mali](/source/Republic_of_Mali) in West Africa.<ref>The Gospel Message, Vol. 110 No. 1, pg. 4, 7, 12, 16 .</ref>

Many of its first [missionaries](/source/missionaries) worked to translate the [Bible](/source/Bible) into  [Quichua](/source/Quichua), [Shuar](/source/Shuar_language), [Berber](/source/Berber_languages), [Bambara](/source/Bambara_language) and [Arabic](/source/Arabic) in order to bring the Bible to those people groups in isolated areas.

In 2003, under the leadership of [Dr. J. Paul Nyquist](/source/Paul_Nyquist), Gospel Missionary Union changed its name to Avant Ministries.<ref>Christian Management Report, vol. 28, no. 6, pg. 5-8</ref> In 2004, Avant began a new philosophy of ministry called Short-Cycle Church Planting in order to have a more focused approach to church planting.

==Ecuador, 1956==

GMU missionary [Roger Youderian](/source/Roger_Youderian) was one of the five missionaries killed in Ecuador in 1956.<ref>Drown, F., Marie, D. F. A., & Drown, M. (2002). Mission to the headhunters, how god's forgiveness transformed tribal enemies. Christian Focus.</ref> He was working with four other missionaries to make initial contact with the [Waodani (Auca)](/source/Waodani) tribe, including [Nate Saint](/source/Nate_Saint) of [Missionary Aviation Fellowship](/source/Missionary_Aviation_Fellowship), and [Ed McCully](/source/Ed_McCully), [Pete Fleming](/source/Pete_Fleming) and [Jim Elliot](/source/Jim_Elliot) of Christian Mission in Many Lands. All five men were killed January 8, 1956, by Waodani (Auca) Indians on the beach of the [Curaray River](/source/Curaray_River) in the Ecuadorian jungle.<ref>"Go ye and preach the Gospel.", Life, vol. 40, no. 5, January 30, 1956, pages 10-19.</ref> GMU missionary [Frank Drown](/source/Frank_Drown) led a rescue party through the jungle, locating the bodies of four of the men.<ref>Drown, F., & Drown, M. (2010). Unmarked Memories: Five friends buried in the jungle of Ecuador. Avant Ministries.</ref>  Their story was reported widely in the American press and recounted by widow [Elisabeth Elliot](/source/Elisabeth_Elliot) in her book, ''[Through Gates of Splendor](/source/Through_Gates_of_Splendor)''.<ref>Elliot, E. (1987). Through gates of splendor. Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.</ref>

==Avant Today==
Today, Avant missionaries partner with those indigenous churches to start church planting efforts of their own. Avant also continues to send missionaries to areas where the Gospel has never been heard before.

Avant currently has about 500 missionaries serving in over 50 countries around the world.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.avantministries.org/history.html |title=Avant Ministries - History |accessdate=2011-12-03 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20111206182502/http://www.avantministries.org/history.html |archivedate=2011-12-06 }}</ref>

==Short-Cycle Church Planting==

Avant pioneered the Short-Cycle Church Planting<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.avantministries.org/short-cycle|title=Church Partnerships - Avant Ministries|website=www.avantministries.org}}</ref> (SCCP) philosophy of ministry which, according to the ministry, "recognizes the power of God and utilizes teams in order to plant a biblically mature, reproducing church in as short a time as possible" 6 and uses a three-pronged approach including: Evangelism, Discipleship, and National Leadership Training.

==References==
{{Reflist}}

Category:Christian missionary societies
Category:Organizations based in Kansas City, Missouri
Category:Organizations based in Winnipeg

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Avant Ministries](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avant_Ministries) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avant_Ministries?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.