by Tom Adleta

Rev. Tom Adleta, BBA MA, is the  founder and executive director of Global Christian Network, Inc., also now Minister-at-Large with Mission to Unreached Peoples, and recently has joined the staff of SVM2. From a diverse foundation of military experience and entrepreneurial business enterprises, Tom and his wife ministered in their local churches and eventually 30 years in missions from Central America, across Asia, now through Africa, Europe and Latin America, as he and his wife homeschooled their 8 children. 

Jesus is our example. God sent Jesus as our example to complete God’s vision to demonstrate the kingdom of heaven in his teaching and by his lifestyle. Jesus reproduced disciples that reproduced disciple-makers, who would continue His ministry on earth. “……As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.”  (John 20:21). God can only accomplish His plan if we followed and obey God and Jesus’ commands, His Word, and His example and knowing Him intimately, not doing things our way. God has a plan that you can be part of…… if you will run the race God’s way He will reveal His Plan step by step through the Holy Spirit.

Jesus said that he would build His church within our hearts. We are His church. Based on the revelation that Peter had from the Father in heaven, His plan will be accomplished through His Church. “…….and on this rock (spiritual revelation) I will build My church and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.”

We want to see what Jesus has commanded us to do in His Word and how to do it successfully through the power of the Holy Spirit. In Matthew 3:11, John the Baptist said, “As for me, I baptize you with water for repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, and I am not fit to remove His sandals; He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.” Acts 1:8 continues, “…but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.”

He will start a fire in each of our hearts like the disciples at Pentecost with the filling of the Holy Spirit. That fire will burn with revival to be bold witnesses all over the world sharing the truth of the Word of God with power. “How to Run the Race God’s Way” is God’s plan for us to be successful in completing the race that God has set before us. His Way is for everyone to hear the gospel and have a chance to accept Jesus as their Savior and to experience life now in knowing and walking with Him.

There are still 6,000 unreached people groups, one fourth of the world’s population that has little access to the good news. These groups are dying apart from Jesus Christ; it is our destiny to join God in bringing the good news of the gospel to their hearts and lives. We will be successful in being watchmen and raising up a new generation of student mobilizers, but only if we walk by faith and follow His way–He never fails. God clearly gives us the examples in the scriptures of how we are to follow and execute all of His commandments. We can join hands with Him and one another accomplishing His plan and purpose for the world.

Do you want your eyes to open and experience the resurrection power of Jesus? The feeling that will burn in your heart as the scriptures opened to God’s Plan and the Kingdom of Heaven invade your whole being, putting this burning fire within your heart to serve Him who has called you for this very purpose? The challenge is for you, and is available now. Don’t miss God’s calling and anointing. He is giving you the opportunity to grow in maturity, knowing God and accomplishing all of what God has planned for you. Catch the power and fire and ignite the world with love for Jesus Christ. “For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.” (Rom 11:29)

by Tom Adleta

Rev. Tom Adleta, BBA MA, is the  founder and executive director of Global Christian Network, Inc., also now Minister-at-Large with Mission to Unreached Peoples, and recently has joined the staff of SVM2. From a diverse foundation of military experience and entrepreneurial business enterprises, Tom and his wife ministered in their local churches and eventually 30 years in missions from Central America, across Asia, now through Africa, Europe and Latin America, as he and his wife homeschooled their 8 children. 

God’s eternal plan is for all peoples to be around His Throne worshiping. From the beginning of eternity, God had the end in mind that every tongue, tribe and language on earth will be represented around his throne at the end of the age as we read in Revelation 7: 9, “After this I looked up and there were before me great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe people and language, standing before the throne in the Lamb.” God said, “He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.”  (2 Peter 3:9)

Each generation must be reached by his own generation. The Student Volunteer Movement 2 must reach their own generation by being radical, Holy Spirit filled disciples. They must go to all the nations and mobilize students and young people from every country to gather those who respond and disciple them in small fellowships at every university, college, or wherever students gather, teaching them how to multiply themselves to the end of the earth.

In order for this to happen, there must be a fellowship (small group) within reach of every person geographically, in their heart language, and incarnate in their culture and society. Message bearers must be mobilized to go to the students and universities to raise up volunteers.  Jesus will not return until everyone hears the gospel.  “And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world for a witness to all nations, and then the end will come.”  (Matthew 24:14)

The generation is reached as Message Bearers are sent out. In Romans 10:14-15, 17, we read that they can only believe through faith in hearing the word from someone who is sent. “How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written, ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news.’”  v17 “…..so faith comes from hearing and heard through hearing the word of God.”

The generation is reached as Message Bearers obey His commands. Jesus sent his disciples to be his witnesses (Acts 1:8), to follow and to obey his commands to make disciples. “…and teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you…” (Matthew 28:20)

You have to be a disciple to make a disciple. His desire is for you to become disciple-makers that would be fruitful and multiply, gathering those who respond, and discipling them in small groups. “For when two or three are gathered together in My name, there I am in their midst” (Matt 18: 20) In This is “His church,” small fellowships–not buildings.

The result of working God’s way is evident fruit. The results of everyone going and making disciples were evident in Acts 19:10: “This went on for two years, so that all the Jews and Greeks who lived in the province of Asia heard the word of the Lord.” The reason was that every believer was going and sharing the gospel daily. “And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.”  (Acts 2:47)

Trying to do God’s Plan our own way, always fails. The Task for all disciples is still there today because we, His Church, have not been doing what Jesus commanded us to do. (Matthew 28:18–20) The earthly church has been trying to do it their own way for over 2000 years and have failed. Each believer has not been going and sharing the good news daily or even at all like the New Testament Church did. However, you can see in Acts 19:10 “And this took place for two years, so that all who lived in Asia heard the word of the Lord, both Jews and Greeks.”

Why were the disciples so successful? Because each of the disciples was going daily and making disciple-makers. God has chosen to accomplish His Plan through us as we follow and obey His Word, His commands, knowing Him, His examples, which were not man’s ideas or plans, but God’s Plans.  “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways, declares the Lord.” (Isaiah 55:8) “And they went out and preached everywhere, while the Lord worked with them, and confirmed the word by the signs that followed.” (Mark 16:20)

By Dr.  David Bjork

After thirty years of missionary service in France, Dr Bjork and his wife are now ministering in Cameroon, Africa. Dr Bjork who holds Masters degrees in Missiology, Pastoral Theology, and History of religions, and Doctorate degrees in Religious Science and Theology, is professor of Religious Science at the state university of Yaoundé. 

Mark’s gospel informs us that Jesus appointed the twelve – “that they might be with Him and that he might send them out …” (Mark 3:14, emphasis mine). Disciple-making does not happen in a classroom or in a conference. It does not take place without lots of time spent person-to-person, life-to-life. Where are the committed followers of Christ to find the time and energy to do the demanding and exacting work of learning with and from each other at the deepest level?

My hunch is that we are, in reality, more committed to recruiting lay men and women as members who support our church structures, programs and activities, than we are to discipling, empowering, and releasing them as ambassadors of Christ outside the confines of the church (kingdom work).

Several decades ago the veteran missionary to Europe, Bob Evans, had this to say about the importance of making disciples:

Discipleship both inside and especially outside the institution should be taking place on all levels. The question to be asked of the missionary is, “Where are your disciples?” (emphasis mine)[i].

I have been a missionary for 32 years. But I must admit that I have a hard time promoting missions as we have been doing it for so long. Do we really think that people will be motivated to pray for, support financially, and give their lives for missions that have been emptied of their essence?

Who wants to spend the rest of their lives planting churches and promoting programs that do not result in the deep transformation of lives that is Christian discipleship? Frankly, I am amazed that we are so committed to our endeavors that we won’t ask the question : “Where are your disciples?”

One year ago, in the December issue of Missions Frontiers[ii] the editor, Rick Wood, stated:

The dirty little secret of missions is that we are sending missionaries all over the world who have not demonstrated the ability to make disciples who can make disciples. Most have not seen or participated in effective models of church-planting or discipleship at home, but we send them out in the hope that going cross-culturally will turn them into effective church planters and disciplers. This is wishful thinking at best, and it has to change.

If I didn’t believe that we can reach our world for Christ I would have abandoned long ago! I fully believe that if we are willing to change our focus, so that we concentrate our energies on intentionally making disciples of Christ who will make disciples who will make disciples … etc., then, we can reverse the tide.

I am equally convinced that if we continue to do what we have always done, we will continue to get the same results we have always gotten. It is not in doing the same thing better, or with more intensity, or by employing greater means, that the results will change. It is time that we quit talking about disciple-making and begin focusing all our energies and ministries on doing it. We need to put disciple-making back into missions! It is the essence of the Great Commission.

By Dr.  David Bjork

After thirty years of missionary service in France, Dr Bjork and his wife are now ministering in Cameroon, Africa. Dr Bjork who holds Masters degrees in Missiology, Pastoral Theology, and History of religions, and Doctorate degrees in Religious Science and Theology, is professor of Religious Science at the state university of Yaoundé. 

It is widely held that the most definitive statement of the mission of the Church is found in the risen Christ’s commissioning of the disciples:

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 28:18-20, NIV)

Unfortunately, for historical reasons we have interpreted this mandate to mean that we are to go into all the world to plant the church,[i] and the church will make the disciples. But that is not what Jesus said! He specifically gave us the job of making disciples, and He explicitly promised that He would build His church (Mt 16:18). Our task is to make disciples, His responsibility is to build His church.

This reversal of roles is the primary reason we are failing to win our world for Christ. Associated with it are many understandings of our mission that hinder us from actually doing what Christ sends us into the world to do.

Nearly forty years ago I read an exposition of Ephesians 4:11-13 that greatly impacted me. That study demonstrated that this scriptural text teaches that God has given Spirit-gifted leaders to the church with the sole purpose of discipling (mentoring, training, equipping, coaching, and releasing) God’s people (i.e. lay men and women) so that they can do His work in the world.

If it is true that the communication of the Christian faith is primarily the work of Spirit-filled laity and that God ordained leadership serves fundamentally to facilitate, strengthen and empower lay men and women in that task, then we must reconsider much of our current practice. I am convinced, for instance, that the professionalization of the witness of God’s people has silenced much of their communication.[ii]  So too has church programming that dominates the schedules of members to the point that there is just no time nor energy left for them to do the very thing they were created for – to really share the same environment as their neighbors in a manner that allows the recognition, familiarity, and “relational endurance”[iii] necessary for authentic and challenging life-transforming encounter.

By Dr.  David Bjork

After thirty years of missionary service in France, Dr Bjork and his wife are now ministering in Cameroon, Africa. Dr Bjork who holds Masters degrees in Missiology, Pastoral Theology, and History of religions, and Doctorate degrees in Religious Science and Theology, is professor of Religious Science at the state university of Yaoundé. 

Discipleship and disciple-making are buzzwords today in all kinds of Christian circles.[i] Unfortunately, on its journey to fame, someone forgot to ask if we are in fact making disciples. There are good reasons to doubt that we are! If truth be told, a quick glance at the state of the Church around the world leads me to think that we have somehow emptied the Great Commission of its essence. Three places where I have lived and ministered: the United States, France, and Cameroon illustrate what I mean.

According to a study done in 2009 by the Barna Group, although most Americans consider themselves to be Christian and say they know the content of the Bible, less than one out of ten Americans demonstrate such knowledge through their actions.[ii] Given this fact, it is not surprising that the Evangelicals of the United States – in spite of their mega-churches, material resources, and church growth strategies – are among the slowest growing in the world.[iii]

In reality American Christians are silently slipping out of church to the extent that the unchurched are becoming the common religious component of American society.[iv] Even the many student ministries have been unable to stop the hemorrhage of Christians who “fall away” during their college years.

In France, where I ministered for thirty years, the religious scene illustrates the evolution that has taken place all over Western Europe in recent years. In 1986 eighty one percent of the French who were 15 years of age or older considered themselves to be “Catholic”. That number had dropped to 69 percent in 2001.[v] In 2002 only seven percent of French adults (18 yrs of age and older) regularly practiced their faith and 44 percent of French adults who identified themselves as Catholics stated that they never attend church services.

In a study done in 2003 which asked the same questions of the French that had been asked ten years earlier, all of the indicators of Christian belief had dropped[vi]. That survey revealed that fewer of the French believe in the existence of God and in the primary Christian beliefs than was formerly the case. They attend church services less, pray less, and fewer of them claim that Christian faith plays an important role in their lives than was true ten years earlier.

Today, I find myself in the African country of Cameroon where, although recent decades have witnessed rapid growth of the churches, observers say that nominal Christianity is a bigger problem than in most of Africa. Much of the Church leadership in this country has been described as proud, domineering, often immoral and greedy. The lay believers are often shallow, biblically ignorant, syncretistic, tribally biased and missionally insensitive.

In short, they reflect the same kinds of imperfections that we find in the churches of the West that mothered them.

These rapid portraits of the church in the USA, in France and in Cameroon reveal symptoms of an illness that has reached pandemic proportions. We have obeyed Christ’s commission to go into all the world, but we have been ineffective in making disciples.

We have evangelized and made converts. We have baptized and made church members. We have established schools and seminaries and produced pastors. We have founded hospitals and orphanages and cared for the needy. We have trained missionaries and fashioned church planters. But when all is said and done, the bottom line is: Where are the disciples? If we were effectively making disciples would the Church look like it does in the USA, in France, and in Cameroon?

By Stanley Ow Chong Kheng
Stanley is the SVM2 National Lead Facilitator in Singapore.

Who are the unreached?

John the Apostle unfolded this awesome and exciting gathering of countless saints in Revelation 7:9, ‘After this I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb’.

This is the last-day vision that John was allowed to perceive and for our anticipation of what’s going to come in the near future. Countless individuals from all nations, languages, peoples, tribes with various cultural ethnic backgrounds including the indigenous groups gather before the King of all Kings and Lord of Lords through the shed blood of the sacrificial Lamb of God.

In the Western world, including Singapore upbringing through British’s education and Christian influence, many have experience the grace and mercy of God. We are blessed with various translation of the Bible tucked into our bookcases. We can also have free access from the internet including Bible reading with readers of our choice. Yet, there are still many nations which have no access to the internet or modern day facilities such as drinking water and electricity. How about the countless tribes, ‘stateless’ and gypsies who have no access even to a written translation or section of the Bible? These people have not heard or know about “JESUS”. ‘Who is Jesus’ is their question. Can you tell me about Jesus? Can you send someone to my tribe or peoples group? ‘What took you so long to bring us the gospel?’

According to the organization, ‘Finishing the Task’ (www.finishingthetask.com) , ‘today there are 418 Unengaged, Unreached People Groups with populations more than 40,000 who are still beyond the reach of the gospel of Jesus Christ. These nearly 130,401,741 people are spiritually lost and helpless. They remain unknown, unacknowledged and unadorned about Christ.’

Joel 3:14 reminds us that there are “Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision! For the day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision.’

Romans 10:13-15 is the declaration for the call of message bearers, ‘Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved,’ How then can they call on the one (Jesus) they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone (message bearer) preaching to them? And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written, ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news?’

Go to another culture to serve and learn. At the right time and moment, share with them another culture- Kingdom culture or God’s culture. Let Him use you as an effective message bearer.

By Stanley Ow Chong Kheng
Stanley is the SVM2 National Lead Facilitator in Singapore.

What is Cross-Cultural mission? My wife and I became missionaries or message-bearers at a later stage of our lives. We were exposed to the secular working lives and the ministry of the local church. I was one of the Assistant Pastors of a medium size church that grew from about 250 to 1000 members over a decade. My wife continued to be a supportive pastor’s wife. Years later, God planted in our hearts for the Land of the Rising Sun. Together with 2 very young children (ages 18 months and 4 months) we crossed into another culture in order to love and serve the Japanese. Japan has 1.5% Christians according to one of the latest reports.

Crossing into another culture

I remembered the words of my late Missions Professor, Dr Morris Williams from Assemblies of God Theological Seminary, USA. He served in the continent of Africa with his family for many decades. He said, “when you serve in another culture, go with an attitude to learn and that we are different, our ‘home’ culture- be it America or Singapore is NOT better or worse, or superior or inferior. There is always something we can learn from the host country.” It is crucial for us as cross-cultural message bearers to have an attitude of a servant to learn and serve the people that God has called us. Do not go about with a ‘big brother’ attitude of “Let me come and teach you the ways we do things – the correct, superior, better and the only way.” Be patient, observe and learn from one another. At the right moment in time and after you have earned the respect and genuineness from the people, perhaps you may suggest other ways of doing it. Over our years in Japan we have learned many valuable customs, values and practices from the Japanese. With God’s help, the Japanese can also learned about some good Singapore cultures or customs. Let me share few Japanese customs and cultures that brought about greater understanding of the Japanese.

Knowing brings understanding and appreciation

Thousands of lives perished with tens of thousands lives permanently altered through the tsunami and nuclear plant disaster about a year ago at Fukushima. As in 9/11, the world was in a state of shock when they viewed the unfolding of this disaster before their very eyes through the news. However, the common remark is, “Look at the stoical Japanese in the midst of a national crisis!!”  Why? There are some important factors.

The Japanese are drilled for emergencies especially earthquakes when they are young. My 2 boys often had the exercises while they were in the Japanese kindergartens. Though shocked in terms of its extent, they can expect earthquakes to happen even in their life times. They appeared to be ‘fated’ passively as an allowing of their gods, perhaps due to some offences made known or unknown to them. Some religions accept natural disasters as the will of their god or gods. They reluctantly accept the outcome and move on in life.

Community living is another area to consider. Though individualistic in their thinking, they act and behave as a unique cohesive community. Voluntarism comes easy for the Japanese, especially if it is good for everyone in the community. It differs from our Western mindset of protecting our human rights or individual space or privacy. This mindset causes a challenge to an individual’s decision in accepting Christ as his or her personal Savior. The Japanese build on consensus and group decision by the most senior in age within the group. A Japanese man in his 60s can be offended when you consider him old because many live till 90s or even 100s especially, in the rural areas.

It is always our goal to share with the Japanese about Kingdom culture, values, and principles. With the right attitude and respect, we can learn more cultures of peoples and God’s culture.

By Stanley Ow Chong Kheng
Stanley is the SVM2 National Lead Facilitator in Singapore.

What is culture? A sum total of whose we are today from the moment of our birth- ‘settled’ beliefs and practices. As a babe, we learnt through the 5 senses of hearing, seeing, smelling, tasting and touching from our moms (normally). We observe from our immediate environment how things are carried out, how to act and behave in an acceptable manner. Approval is a key element in our young minds. As we grow in age our mental capacity continues to expand. We now learn from our parents, siblings, and loved ones around us such as grandparents. Habits are formed- the do’s and don’ts. Our parents enroll us into kindergartens, primary and secondary schools. Our scope of influence and learning continue to grow and expand from the people around us- families, friends, church, neighbors, community etc. Learned patterns, habits, values, convictions, sense of purpose and missions are formed consciously and unconsciously. We become the sum total of what we have learned and observed through these influences. Through the years, we have grown and practiced what we are doing as a norm. This is my ‘culture’.

A quotation from Sir Edward Tylor may help us to understand culture better. This pioneer British anthropologist has combined these elements of beliefs and practices into a classical definition. It is ‘that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, morals, law, custom and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society.’ (1871:1)

We now realize that cultures (accepted norms of behavior) are everywhere in that it has become a mindset and its own comfortable ways of doing things that need the least changes on our part. We heard of school culture, community culture, political culture and even church culture. It may be considered as sub-culture.

Let take a step further about cross-cultural mission. Mission is the task. Consider Abram before his name was changed to Abraham. From him a Jewish nation, Israel was born. Who was Abram and where did he come from? Did he cross into another culture?  What does it take for a message bearer to cross into another culture in the mission of sharing his or her faith in Christ, especially to the unengaged and unreached? What task is before us?

Abram came from one of the three sons of Noah, namely Shem (Genesis 10:1,21-22; 11:10-32). In Genesis 11:27, 31,32, we read, ‘This is the account of Terah. Terah became the father of Abram, Nahor and Haran. Terah took his son Abram his grandson Lot, son of Haran and his daughter-in-law Sarai, the wife of his son Abram and together they set out from Ur of the Chaldeans to go to Canaan. But when they came to Haran, they settled there. Terah lived 205 years and he died in Haran.’

Ur of the Chaldeans is an ancient city located about 100 miles southeast of Babylon near the Euphrates River in what is now known as Iraq. The moon god “Sin” was the patron god of this city. It is also to note that Abram stayed in Ur till he was married (v31). He stayed until adulthood, exposed to the culture of its day. He adapted from the culture of Ur to Haran and later another adopted new culture of God’s people- God taught Abraham the culture of heaven through faith and obedience. Eventually, Abraham became the spiritual father of all the Jews and Christian believers. Later, through Moses, God laid down the 10 commandments as principles for His people so as to continue and protect as ‘a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His wonderful light.’ I Peter 2:9.

How about Jesus Christ, our Savior and Master? He moved cross-culturally from a heavenly culture and stepped into human culture in order to live among us (John 1:14). In Philippians 2:6-8 we read, ‘(Christ Jesus)…Who being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped but made himself as nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to death- even death on a cross!’

I believe that Jesus Christ crossed into the culture of man in order for us to experience God’s culture. We are to share His culture with the world. In John 4:4 we read that Jesus had intentionally gone through Samaria. ‘Now Jesus had to go through Samaria.’ Saul of Tarsus later known as Paul the greatest apostle was called not only to the Jews but to cross into another culture to the Gentiles.

Acts 26:17-18 ‘I will rescue you from your own people and from the Gentiles. I am sending you to them to open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light, and turn them from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.’ 

by Justin Long

Justin is the Information & Team Mobilization Strategist for Mission to Unreached Peoples.

Since you are reading this, you are probably—at least in some small degree—interested in missions. You want to know a little more about missions, and most likely your place in it. You are probably like many of us who feel prompted and maybe even challenged by the Holy Spirit to be involved in missions in some way.

Still, you are also probably like many of us who are grappling with what our specific role is. What, precisely, are we supposed to do? Where? For how long? And how do we get started in it?

Simply finding a need and working on it is a challenge, because no matter where you go in the world, whether close by or far away, you’ll find plenty of good things to do and plenty of people in need. With so many different causes clamoring for our attention, how do we choose?

Admittedly the easiest option is to stay where you are and work on the people closest to you. Perhaps the most tempting option is to go where it’s easiest and the harvest is “most ripe,” and work there! Instead, let me point out the examples of Jesus and Paul.

Examples from the Bible

In Luke 10, Jesus chose 72 disciples and sent them out in pairs “to all the towns and places he planned to visit.” (Luke 10:1) He didn’t put them to work in the town where he was presently ministering—he sent them to places that he (probably) hadn’t visited before.

In Luke 10:11 he warned them that some of the towns they would enter would not welcome them. This was potentially dangerous business: “I am sending you out as lambs among wolves.” (Luke 10:3)

Paul, similarly, went to “other places far beyond you, where no one else is working.” (2 Corinthians 10:16) In such places it was impossible to know whether the harvest was “ripe” or not–because no one was there to examine the fields!

Unreached Places Today

Today there are many such places, clearly identified by research:

• There are over 2 billion people in unreached people groups (for exhaustive lists, see the Joshua Project website at http://www.joshuaproject.net). Many of these groups have churches and some Christians, but the local church is not large enough to reach everyone in the group on an ongoing basis (that is, foreign missionaries): they can’t reach the current generation and future generations on their own.
• There are over 1 billion people in unevangelized people groups (for exhaustive lists, see the World Christian Encyclopedia, 2nd edition). In many of these groups there is some missionary work going on, but it’s not nearly enough to reach the entire group even once: most of the people in the group are not likely to hear the Gospel in their lifetime.
• Finally, there are over 231 million people in unengaged people groups (see the Finishing the Task List at http://www.finishingthetask.com). These groups have no workers and no churches at all. Most of the people in these groups will slip into a Christless eternity because no one in the church undertook the difficulties to go to them.

By Paul Borthwick
Paul is a leading mission speaker and senior consultant for Development Associates International. He is also a leader in the SVM2 network.

#3: THE SCRIPTURES REVEAL God’s Sending Heart:

“Whom Shall I Send and Who Will Go for Us?” (Isaiah 6:7)

These words, spoken to Isaiah before his famous response – “Here I am; send me” (Isaiah 6:8) – reflect God’s method of getting the message of his love to the world. He sends us.

Jesus commissioned his disciples to make more disciples (Matthew 28:18-20), preach the Good News everywhere (Mark 16:15; Luke 24:45-49), and be his witnesses to the ends of the earth (Acts 1:8).

All these commands launch us out because Jesus says, “As the Father has sent me, so I am sending you” (John 20:21).

We are God’s method. He fully intends to involve us as his local and worldwide “ambassadors” because God makes his appeal of love and reconciliation to the world through us (II Corinthians 5:20).

For some miraculous and mysterious reason, God limits himself to do his work in the world through us.

Chuck, a recent graduate school graduate working behind the counter at a fast-food chain, understands God’s sending heart when he said,

“This is not where I’d choose to be right now, but God has me here – to touch people who might otherwise never know about the love of Jesus. I work with people from eleven nationalities, and he’s send me into international missions from behind this counter.”

Katie and Jack, Bible translators pioneering in Central Africa, understand God’s sending heart when they state,

“God could reach these people in any way he wants, but for some wonderful reason, he’s chosen to reach them through us.”

When we understand God’s sending heart, we start accepting our God-given privilege of partnering with him in the work of local and global evangelism, mercy ministries, and cross-cultural outreach.

We are the primary expressions of the love of God that people will see.

GOD’S WORD & GOD’S HEART TO THE NATIONS

Deep Bible study reveals that God seeks the lost – and so do his people who comprehend his heart.

Deep Bible study reveals that God sacrifices to get the message of his love out – and so do his people who comprehend his heart.

Deep Bible study reveals that God sends us to be his ambassadors – an awesome truth for those who comprehend his heart.

Our dedication to local outreach and our motivation for global ministry flow out of the heart of God, and we know His heart by understanding His word.

John Stott reminds us that the Bible is the foundation for pursuing our commitment to the global cause of Christ:

Without the Bible, world evangelization is impossible. For without the Bible, we have no Gospel to take to the nations, no warrant to take it to them, no idea of how to set about the task, and no hope of any success.

It is the Bible that gives us the mandate, the message, the model, and the power we need for world evangelization.

So let us seek to repossess it by diligent study and meditation. Let’s heed its summons, grasp its message, follow its directions, and trust its power. Let’s lift up our voices and make it known.