GREENVILLE, SC – Silk Road Catalyst is a Multi-National family of Disciple-Makers engaging the Gospel-Deprived in and from the Silk Road Region through a Presence of Legitimacy.

The original Silk Road was a network of trade routes connecting China and the Far East with the Middle East and Europe during the Han Dynasty in 130 B.C. The term “Silk Road” is a bit misleading because it is not just one road. It was a strategically planned network of roads, trading posts, and markets that comprised an economic belt across the far reaches of the European and Asian continents.

China launched the New Silk Road Initiative in 2013. China hopes that its $900 billion infrastructure investment scheme will “rekindle a new era of globalization.”

The Silk Road and the Gospel-Deprived

The Silk Road has almost always advanced economics and trade. The network, however, runs through the area of the world that has “the highest concentration of orphans, people in poverty, human trafficking, slavery, and persecution.”

It is estimated that more than 90% of all the people in the world who have limited or no access to the Good News of Jesus live in the regions along the Silk Road. They are the people Silk Road Catalyst is dedicated to reaching and teaching.

The Silk Road Catalyst: Multi-National Disciple Makers

Steve Schirmer, President of Silk Road Catalyst, has a vision of missionary outreach that exceeds the Western ideas of cross-cultural, indigenous, long-term, and short-term.

“The Great Commission will not be fulfilled from the WEST to the REST but from the REACHED to the UNREACHED.”

The Lord has not called North Americans, either primarily or exclusively, to share the Good News with other nations. He has commissioned His Church to reach the world for Christ. His command for us to “go into all the world” is a call to ensure that everyone has access to the Gospel.

The Silk Road Catalyst and the Presence of Legitimacy

Schirmer wrote Legitimacy in Missions Matters in 2019. In the book, he decries the development of schemes that send missionaries into restricted countries under false pretenses. Those pretenses include using a student visa or claiming to open a business in order to gain access to the country.

When those tactics “bring no value to the local community” except to establish a fictitious platform for missionary work, they also eventually undermine the ministry and bring dishonor to the name of Jesus. Schirmer derides deceitful tactics developed by looking for loopholes as “illegal, irresponsible, … unethical, and a false witness.”

For that reason, Silk Road Catalyst is committed to the highest standards and practices of honesty and integrity, leaving no room for false accusations to be brought against them.

“We either need to find a legitimate option to enter legally and to stay long-term or not go, [for] which I do not believe the latter is an option … We must follow and trust the Lord at all times, asking for His wisdom and Spirit to lead us as we discover how our skills fit into the environment God has led us to live within.”

To learn more about Silk Road Catalyst or to obtain a free copy of Legitimacy in Missions Matters, click on this link.

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