Taking the Perspectives class some years ago opened my eyes to a huge problem: most missionaries are going to countries where Jesus is already known, while less than one in ten are going to places where He is not known at all. As we have been called to go into the whole world and preach the gospel, that means a lot of people are not hearing the most important message they could ever hear.
According to the Joshua Project (joshuaproject.net):
- Around two-thirds of the world’s population lives in religiously restrictive communities
- 43% of people groups around the world are considered to be unreached (defined by the Joshua Project as “a people group among which there is no indigenous community of believing Christians with adequate numbers and resources to evangelize this people group without outside assistance.”)
- Over 3 billion (!) people live in people groups with very few, if any, believers
- Over 70% of the villages in India have no known Christian presence
- South Asia has five times as many unreached people groups as any other region of the world
The statistics go on and on. Jesus commands us to go out into the world and make disciples of all nations (Matthew 28:19) and says the end will come after the Gospel has been proclaimed throughout the world (Matthew 24:14). How do we as individuals help to achieve this? Here are just a few things you can do:
Pray:
- pray for CCF’s Global Partners, most of which work among unreached peoples. Put your Sunday bulletin on your refrigerator and pray for the Partner throughout the week.
- download the “unreached of the day” app from the Joshua Project and pray for the particular group of the day.
- pray for countries that come up in the news.
- pray about whether you are being called to go to these people.
Support: If you are donating to CCF, you are already donating to our Global Partners as well as other organizations near and far which are spreading the Gospel – thank you! If you would like to do more, many of our Global Partners have additional needs, and there are many worthy organizations doing missions work around the world.
Help: Consider joining the Global Outreach team, or giving your time to a few projects we’d love help with.
Encourage: You can encourage one or more of our Global Partners.
Learn: To learn more about God’s heart for missions and your part in it, take the Perspectives course the next time it is offered, tentatively in the Spring of 2021.
Go: Has God called you to go on a short-term or longer-term assignment? If so, He will make it happen as you trust in Him.
Reach out to the Global Outreach team at [email protected] if you want to explore any of these ideas further.
Revelation 7:9 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.
