Then he said to them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.” Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, and said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. And behold, I am sending the promise of my Father upon you. But stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.” Luke 24:44-49
The Ripple Effect
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Jesus’ resurrection unleashed the unstoppable advance of His Kingdom: Luke 24:44-49; Matthew 28:18-20; Revelation 7:9.
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Scripture is clear that the End (really…the Beginning) will not come until God’s sheep from among every people group on earth have been gathered: Revelation 5:9, Mark 13:10, Matthew 24:14.
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For 2,000 years, we have been in the “last days” where God has been pouring out His Spirit upon all nations, building His Church, gathering His scattered sheep purchased by the blood of Jesus from every tribe and tongue: Matthew 16:18, Acts 2:17, Acts 12:24.
The Remaining Task
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In 2008, our breath should be taken away! Evangelical Christianity has more followers than any other religion or society in the history of the world! Since the Resurrection, over 10,000 people groups have been reached with the Gospel! (www.joshuaproject.net) That is, they have Scripture translated into their languages, they have the Gospel preached clearly among them, and they have their own native churches. What started as a small mustard seed has now grown & flourished into the largest tree: Matthew 13:31-32. Wow!
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However, there still remain approximately 6,000 “unreached people groups” in the world: ethno-linguistic groups of people (“nation” in the NT is from the Greek word “ethnos,” lit. “ethnicity”) who do not have Bibles or believers or churches, and in some cases (approx. 1,500 of them) not even any outreaches of any kind.
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Most of these unreached peoples live in what has been termed the “10/40 Window.” North Africa, the Middle East, South Asia, and especially Central Asia make up the Final Frontier of world history!
The Role of the Local Church
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Pioneer missions is not our only task, but it certainly is a primary and fundamental reason for our existence! Do we burn for this?!
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God will not call every one to actually, physically go overseas; but He does call each of us to actively pursue the finishing of His task!
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Educate & Incubate a pioneer mission heartbeat among the flock: teaching, regular & strategic mission trips, worship atmosphere).
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Send & Support those God has told to go (Acts 13:1-4, Titus 3:14).
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Pray & Ponder with zeal and creativity. E.g., consider the huge, eternal impact one little church could wield by “adopting” one particular unreached people group for long-term focus & outreach!
~~posted by Jack
Faithfulness in mission can sometimes be threatened by our pragmatic views of success. Mission agencies, local churches — even missionaries themselves — get overly focused on success.
How many converts? How many church plants? How can I go on if I’m not seeing fruit from my work?
This problem only intensifies when one speaks of missions in the hardest corners of the world. Whereas many of the works being started among unreached people groups today, especially in remote regions like Central Asia, or Amazonian type jungles, are pioneering ventures, still these criticisms hound missionaries and mission organizations alike. It’s not worth it to spend time on such unprosperous ventures!
Let me challenge us to think of this difficulty in terms of “the seven year itch”. Here’s what I mean: in the pioneering mission ventures of the early 1800s, it often took 7 years before the first converts were seen.
William Carey, one of the first missionaries to India, often heralded as “the Father of Modern Missions”, arrived in Calcutta in November of 1793. By the end of 1800 (7 years later), he had his first convert.
Robert Morrison, the first protestant missionary to China, arrived in Macau, China in September 1807. He baptized his first convert nearly 7 years later on May 14, 1814.
Adoniram Judson, the first Baptist missionary from America, and one of the pioneer missionaries in Burma, arrived in India in June of 1812, and finally reached Burma in July of 1813. His first convert wasn’t baptized until 1819 (seven years after arriving in Asia, six years after beginning work in Burma).
I would hope we would all clamor for faithfulness before success. In the eyes of many in their day, the efforts of Carey, Morrison and Judson were futile. Converts were slow to come and much money was “wasted” in a vain effort to convert the savages. Today we would laugh at that assessment, yet we turn around and frown on the pioneering efforts of our own day. Let’s remember the “seven year itch”, and purpose to wholeheartedly support, and even to jump out in faith and attempt, bold pioneering ventures marked by faithfulness to Christ and his commission!
~~posted by Bob
- Twice the population of Australia; more people than Argentina, or Canada, or Spain
- With population estimate of 40-45 million, the patriarchal Pashtun people of Afghanistan and Pakistan constitute the largest segmentary tribal society in the world
- Almost evenly distributed between southeast Afghanistan and northwest Pakistan, the Pashtun are largest people group in Afghanistan (‘Afghan’ being a Persian term for ‘Pashtun’), and the second largest among the 386 people groups of Pakistan
- Main ethnicity of which the Taliban is comprised; Taliban ‘fiqh’ (jurisprudence) deriving from ‘Pashtunwali’ (pre-Islamic Pashtun tribal code of ethics) as much as from medieval applications of ‘sharia’ (Islamic law). [The Taliban came into existence in the mid-90’s as a reformist reaction to the immoral and corrupt post-Soviet warlords; they enjoyed initial popularity with the majority of the Afghan population as well as surprising military success; the Taliban national stronghold was toppled in 2001 by Coalition forces following 9/11, yet they remain a strident and noteworthy revolutionary force in present-day Afghanistan and Pakistan]
- Sunni Muslims, adamantly and violently opposed to any other religious expression
- July 2007 est. of 100-200 mostly ‘secret’ believers among all 40-45 million Pashtun
- No known indigenous fellowship (church) of Pashtun believers exists in all the world
- Only a handful of church planting efforts exist among the Pashtun; more churches and ministers and Gospel resources exist in northeast Ohio (where I live) than in all of Afghanistan and Pakistan combined (200 million people/400+ distinct people groups)
- Despite intense political and geographical isolation, there remain ample opportunities and platforms for outreach among the Pashtun: both in Afghanistan and in Pakistan (various kinds of relief work and infrastructure development: well digging, water management, solar energy, computer training, road construction, English education, agricultural and livestock development, medical, dental, physical therapy, etc.; business enterprises: micro-loan management, economics training, transportation, mountain climbing, photography/journalism, tourism; etc., etc.)
- Like usual, the problem isn’t any lack of opportunity or ‘open door’; the problem is our tunnel vision, our ignorance, our apathy, and our enslavement to comfort
- May God help us and move us and cause us to love the Pashtun! And He will…
(Resources: Wikipedia, Joshua Project, and the Pashtun Advocacy Network. Photo borrowed from this article.)
~~posted by Jack
I want to introduce you to a helpful little resource for keeping the nations on your mind and in your prayers every day. It is the Global Prayer Digest, available through the U.S. Center for World Mission (www.global-prayer-digest.org). It is a monthly periodical which focuses on a new unreached people group every day of the month. Each day’s entry includes a memorable anecdote or statistic about the people group, a prayer focus and a devotional word. My family has been using this resource for a couple of years now, and find it to be a great way of breaking out of our little spheres of familiarity and being prompted to pray big prayers for things only the Lord of the Harvest can do. In the pages of this digest, you’ll be introduced to people groups you didn’t learn about in your freshman World History class, such as the Buriats of Mongolia, today’s people focus.
The Buriats are a traditionally nomadic subgroup, related to the larger Khalka Mongols, supposed descendants of Ghangis Khan. Economic troubles have forced many to move to the capital city of Mongolia, Ulaan Baatar. They speak an unwritten language and practice Shamanism and Tibetan Buddhism.
Lord, may many Buriat people worship at your feet! Send gospel messengers to live and work among them. Let the transitions they face drive them not deeper into idolatry, but toward the cross! May the few believers among them not rest until the gospel roars like a wildfire throughout this people group, consuming unbelief, fear and hopelessness. You have purchased Buriats from out of the nations… realize your reward!
I encourage you to consider this affordable resource ($12/year) which can be easily incorporated into personal or family devotions, small groups, dinner time prayers or whatever. Let’s not presume that God will accomplish the great ingathering apart from the means of blood-earnest, daily prayer!
~~posted by Ambassador
Twenty-five for 25 million! Among the 25 million Kurds in Central Asia, there are only 25 known mission workers of any evangelical denomination or nationality. (If you think I’m exaggerating, then read it for yourself on IMB’s stellar website.)
How many individuals are on staff at your church? How many Gospel-preaching pastors and laypersons are there in your particular community? Surely, the ratio is better than 1:1,000,000!
Now the stinging question: Why? After nearly two millennia of Gospel expansion and Church growth, why is there so little being done to reach the Kurds? Is it just me, or does there seem to be an ocean of saints around the rest of world sleeping in happy oblivion?
No, I’m not naive about the difficulties involved in reaching the Kurds. They are an Islamic people marked by intense political and geographical isolation. Their homeland encompasses more than one war-zone. And for the most part they don’t want you to come! Loving Kurds is no cake-walk.
Thankfully, no one is more serious about reaching the Kurds than God Himself! He has already purchased Kurdish worshipers at Calvary (see Revelation 5:9), and in His time He will send forth more laborers into “Kurdistan” (eastern Turkey, northern Iraq & Syria, northwest Iran, and western Armenia) and flood the people’s hearts with the knowledge of the glory of Christ (Mark 13:10, Romans 10:14-15, Habakkuk 2:14). The Kurdish Harvest will happen! The question is not “if,” but “when”.
Therefore, I wonder…are you number 26?
~~posted by Jack
For from the rising of the sun to its setting my name will be great among the nations, and in every place incense will be offered to my name, and a pure offering. For my name will be great among the nations, says the LORD of hosts.
(Malachi 1:11)
