To know that there are people today, in 2014, that have never heard of the gospel of Christ blows my mind and hurts my heart. With all the technology and transportation development one would think that we would be able to reach the whole world by now. But it takes more than technology and transportation to see souls come from out of darkness into light. It takes people. There needs to be people who say “send me, I’ll go!” People who will stand up and are willing to forsake the temporary comforts of life in order to save souls that last for ever. The problem is not a shortage of methods but a shortage of people who are willing to go. Jesus said that the harvest is great but the laborers are few. There are 6,574 unreached people groups in the world and 3,025 unengaged people groups in the world. Unengaged means there are no Christians and no Bibles available. There are estimated to be around 221 million people who live among unengaged people groups. In north America, most of us have several Bibles in a household and have access to Christian resources through online and at church, so it is very hard for us to imagine living in a place where no one even knows what the Bible is. But it is the reality of millions around the world. What are we going to do, we who have abundantly?
What if you or I were born in the jungles or in a distant tribe, we would want someone to come and share the good news with us as well! But would they come? Would there be someone willing to die to themselves and follow God to your village? Would there be someone who would have their eyes focused on eternity and see the desperate need to share this good news with you? “This good news, the greatest news of all time, someone’s got to come share it with me? How long until someone will? They will come won’t they? I know at least one will say yes. There’s got to be someone out of the 7 billion people on the earth that will care that we haven’t heard this good news!’’
“How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed?
And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard?
And how are they to hear without someone preaching?
And how are they to preach unless they are sent?
As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!”
Romans 10:13-15
When we think about it, it is scandalous that we have experienced the greatest change ever and are not sharing it with those who not only haven’t experienced this change but haven’t even heard of it.
God loves the people that live in the most remote places of the earth just as much as He loves we who have experienced this love.
The reason a lot of us don’t go is because it is far, dangerous and unfamiliar. You could get sick, attacked and killed. But I’m sure glad that Christ didn’t let those things stop Him from bringing this hope to us. That’s exactly what Christ did for us; He was rejected, tortured and killed so that we could have life. What a privilege it would be to be able to display this love by giving our life up for the eternal life of a person. I would gladly lose my physical life if it meant that others could know Christ.
For a long time I didn’t really think too much about the unengaged people groups. But a few years ago, God gave me a burden for those that haven’t heard yet. And He has been fanning that fire ever since.
Jesus final words on earth were to make disciples of all nations. Not some, not most, but all nations. And so with this command and this burden I pray to go to the unengaged people groups of the world and be a light where there is no light. I hope you will pray about going and if not going then supporting those that do. Not all of us need to go to these people, but some do. Will you go? Will you take what was given to you and bring it to those who have not? Ask God to confirm if you should go or stay. They are some who have already gone and God has done extraordinary things through them. Will you surrender your life in the hands of God and allow Him to do a work in and around you in a way that will display His love and glory?
I pray that our generation will step up and be instruments through which God brings revival around the world.
May we say the words of Isaiah: “Send me, I’ll go!’’
Watch how God calls and uses the availability of this couple to accomplish great things in the YembiYembi tribe in Papua New Guinea:
