It’s been two weeks today since I left my squad on the final day of training camp. For two weeks I’ve been reflecting on those eleven days in the woods and everyday I’m still so overwhelmed with love. Love for the Father, love for my squad, love for our teachers, and love for the people that I haven’t met yet, but will be put in my path next year.
One thing that’s been pressing on my heart since camp has been expressing to all you wonderful people out there reading this, why global missions?
A phrased question that I hear around me is, “Why go across the world when there’s people here that need help?” There is validity to that statement and I want those of you asking that question to know that I understand. But I want to talk with you today about the task remaining. We received an excellent teaching while at camp and it struck such a chord with me that I believe it will allow me to explain why I feel called to the 10/40 window. My hope is that it will strike a chord with you as well and global missions will hit just as close to home in your heart as your own community.
Universal Reconciliation for Universal Worship
The Great Commission – Matthew 28:18-20 “Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
Matthew 24:14 reads, “and this gospel for the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come”.
Ephesians 1:9-10, “He made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, to be put into effect when times reach their fulfillment – to bring unity to all things in heaven and on earth under Christ.”
Key phrases that are emphasized throughout those passages are “all nations” and “unity”. From the old covenant to the new covenant God’s purpose remained the same; unite all things in Him; universal reconciliation for universal worship.
This leaves us, Christians, with the task remaining – closure. The real reason why “missions“ exist today is because universal worship doesn’t. The focal point of my mission is to join God in the work that He’s already doing, by bringing about a Gospel movement in worship through knowledge of Jesus among people from every people group. This begins with planting Gospel seeds around the world. There is a statistic that says the average person will need to hear the Gospel seven times before they decide to commit their lives to Jesus. As someone who’s sole purpose is to spread the Word, you never know if you’re the first or the seventh person to come along and change someone’s life.
My journey with the expedition squad focuses on the 10/40 window (referring to 10° N & 40° N latitude lines). The astonishing thing about the 10/40 window is that I will very likely be the first person to share the Gospel more so than the seventh. Out of every people group on earth, 40% of people groups are unreached by the Gospel.“Unreachedness” refers to a people group’s access to the Gospel more than it’s adherence to it. The terms “reached” and “unreached” only refer to people groups. The terms “lost”, “unevangelized”, and “non-Christian” refers to individuals. Out of the 40%, 97% of all unreached people groups reside in the 10/40 window.
*Red Dots = Unreached – Can’t know, won’t know
*Yellow Dots = Min Reached – Don’t know, could know
*Green Dots = Reached – Might know, can know
There is an extreme imbalance happening right now between the population of the 10/40 window and the missionary force. Out of the ~3 billion people that make up the unreached people groups there’s only about ~10,000 evangelical missionaries. This leaves these areas considerably unreached because there simply aren’t enough evangelical believers to adequately spread the Gospel throughout the rest of the people group. This gap is growing larger every day because the populations of these nations are multiplying exponentially faster than the rest of the world.
I desire nothing more than to join the force that is helping to close the gap. The reality is that the number of Christians, number of Churches, or money within the Church isn’t preventing the covenant from being fulfilled. In fact randomized missionary placements would be doing a better job than our current strategy as Christians. The prevention of closure is simply lack of allocation, collaboration, understanding, and interest. When I say that I’ve been called to international missions it’s because God has placed on my heart that I’m in a position to go. I hear this news and my heart cries out in response. My Purpose is to help fulfill God’s Purpose through His Plan.
But that’s not to say that our local church doesn’t have it’s own mission or purpose, because it does. The purpose of the local church is to provide Gospel saturation. They pour into their local communities and help foster deep and lasting relationships with the Lord.
So all that to say, yes there are needs at home. In your daily life it’s important to be mindful of loving people well. Be a good neighbor, coworker, friend, and stranger. Share the Gospel and the love of Jesus with everyone that you encounter in your day-to-day life. Support your local church. But, I also hope this gave you a clearer depiction of the need for Global missions as well. Visualize the red dots and pray for the 40%. Pray for your brothers and sisters who have yet to even hear the name Jesus. Lastly, pray for the people who have settled their “yes” and made it a priority to join the crowd of ~10,000 in delivering the message of the Good News in person.
