Reaching the Unreached

I’ve been at school for well over a month now, and I have learned a lot. I’ve faced some late nights doing homework due to some poor planning, and I’ve also experienced some laid-back weekends because I worked ahead on school. Through it all, I am trying to apply my time here at school into my daily life. not just taking notes and reading my Bible for school but so I can be transformed both in my actions and in my mind. I have learned some things I already knew and plenty of new ideas as well.

One aspect of school that has affected me is the need for missions and what that looks like. You would assume that since I’ve been on mission trips and started going to a missions-focused Bible school that it was already confirmed in my mind that I was going to be a missionary, but that is not so. I’ve been struggling with fear and doubt about pursuing that goal. I was frightened to say I wanted to be a missionary. I thought to myself, “What if I don’t end up being a missionary? Would I have been lying to all these people and myself? Am I not a good Christian if I can’t successfully leave the country to serve God?” I’ve heard a couple of things from school that have directly spoken out against this mindset of mine.

You don’t need to have some special missionary calling.

God isn’t going to speak to every single person in a dream for them to know that they’re supposed to be a missionary. In our class “Bible Basis of Missions,” we learn about how the whole Bible points to the calling of people to bring the nations to God. God’s heart is for all the nations, that they would know who he is and have fellowship with him. We’ve talked about many things that are needed to be “called” into missions, and the biggest one is this: To be a successful missionary, you have to have a radical commitment to Jesus. It’s not about being the holiest person in your church, the one who prays the most, or the one who sins the least when it comes to answering the call of the Great Commission. Missionaries are normal people with a radical commitment to Jesus who decided to bring God to all the nations. The bottom line is that they are being obedient. Missionaries, of course, can have other reasons and passions for serving overseas, but the main purpose should be because they are obedient to the call from the King.

I’ve learned just how in need we are for missionaries to reach the unreached.

For a long time, I had the view that being a missionary was just your mindset, and you could serve anywhere. You can absolutely serve and obey God in any part of the nation, whether it is your hometown or not. But whether we recognize it or not, there is a distinction in the word “missionary.” If someone is a missionary, they are crossing a cultural barrier and a language barrier, and their focus and job are in ministry. You can reach the lost in America; but it is a different setting and mission when you are serving cross-culturally. The focus of Ethnos360 is on groups of people who are unreached. Before attending school here, I knew that there were people who didn’t know the Gospel, but I didn’t understand to this degree.

Here’s the Facts:

If you were to split the world into three categories, this is how they would be broken up. Section C represents 33% of the world that would identify as Christians. They have access to the Bible, churches, and discipleship. Section B represents 38% of the world. They have the Bible in their language and Christians around them, but they have chosen to reject Jesus. Section A concludes with 29% of the world having never heard of Jesus and having no opportunity to do so. There are no Bibles in their languages, let alone Christians who could disciple them. Obviously, that’s a problem! Even if you know you will never leave your hometown, a part of you as a Christian must be feeling the hurt and longing for restoration in Section A of the world.

We have missionaries for a reason, right?

Missionaries are there to go and preach the good news and make disciples of every nation. Well, only 1 out of 1,800 Christians choose to be overseas missionaries, and out of that limited number of missionaries, 72% are going to Section C, where there is readily available access to the Gospel, the Bible, and local Christians. 25% are going to Section B, where there is access to the Bible, and only 3% are going to Section A, where no one has ever heard about God. It should not be like that! With this knowledge, I believe we can all understand what Jesus said in Luke 10:2. “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few.” Not only do we not have enough people committed to overseas missions, but those that are serving are ministering to people who already have access to the gospel. Everyone should have the opportunity to be poured into and discipled, but what about the 29% of the world who have never heard the good news? That’s 2 billion people who have no hope of salvation. This is a very real problem that we as Christians have the authority and resources to fix! Revelations 7:9-10 says, “After this, I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” We know that at the end of the days, we will all be gathered around the throne of God with every nation, tribe, and tongue. It’s our job to bring them before the Throne of God, and there we can each cry out in our own heart language, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the lamb!”

Will you join me in reaching the unreached?

Please be praying for more missionaries to be raised up and minister to those who have not yet heard. Reaching an unreached people group presents numerous challenges and difficulties. Could you also pray for me personally? These two years will be a time for God to build me up and lead me where he wants me to go. Will you also consider helping financially? There are opportunities to visit missionary training fields and go on overseas mission trips throughout my next two years, but I am unable to go without help. If you would like to support me through my schooling and trips, you can go to the Give section of my page.

If you would like to watch a video with more information about the sections A, B, and C in this world and speaking about the need for missionary’s, Global Frontier Missions puts out a short YouTube video where I got most of my facts from! Check it out!

Thank you for taking time to listen to what God has placed on my heart! We should desire what he desires. Psalms 96:3 says, “declare His glory among the nations, His marvelous works among all peoples!”