Some people think that missionary-minded Christians are bigoted, narrow-minded and intolerant when we loudly sing, “Everybody Ought To Know Jesus.” Don’t the Bengali, Fulani and Quechua have their own religions? Why do they need to know Jesus? Yet missionaries have a passion to reach everyone with the wonderful good news about Jesus. If such thinking seems impolite in a “politically correct” environment, why do missionaries have a desire to reach the lost? Why do missionaries and supporting churches sacrifice much to reach out to unreached people groups in distant corners of the world? Here are a few reasons.
1. The God who created every bone and every cell in the Somali of East Africa, the Baluchi of Pakistan and the Guarani of Paraguay loves them, died for them and wants them to know and love Him.
2. The God of all creation commanded people who know and love Him to go and tell this good news with the whole world. Jesus commanded us to share the good news of how human beings can be fully human, how they can know God and get rid of hopeless futility caused by sin.
3. We have wonderful news that God wants to adopt us as His children from every tribe, language and nation The good news of Jesus is like a miracle medicine. He cures all the sadness and sickness of the world. The gospel medicine is free and there are no side-effects. Even if missionaries are misunderstood we must not withhold such wonderful good news.
We must not go with an attitude of superiority attempting to force a Western religion down the throats of unwilling people. We go as a beggar telling another beggar where to find bread. We sadly confess that at times missionaries have gone with an attitude of superiority.
What do we mean by the unreached? A person is unreached when he or she has never had a chance to hear the wonderful good news that Jesus died for our sins. Some people have heard the good news many times, but cultural or communication problems might make it difficult for them to understand and accept such wonderful news. Other people may think they are Christians but they believe in a false unbiblical kind of Christianity. We have a great desire to reach these individuals with the true answer to their deepest needs. The key question is not, “are the people unreached?” but do the people truly know and follow the Jesus of the Bible?
Another popular phrase these days is “unreached people group.” We define an unreached people as an ethno-linguistic or affinity group which does not have a viable, accessible witnessing church among them. We want to reach out to people so that they can come to Jesus and become a part of a community – a local church of their own. In addition, daughter churches are also reaching out to many other groups. Without our witness, some of these people have almost no chance of hearing of a God who loves them, who died for them, and wants them to live with Him forever. Our hearts go out in a special way to those who have never clearly heard.
When people are reached with the good news and they accept Jesus Christ as their personal Savior, they are like babies in their spiritual growth. The Great Commission and the Great Commandment include much more than reaching the unreached. We are commanded to make disciples in all nations, teaching them to obey everything Jesus commanded. Discipleship must take place in a community of believers.
Missionaries have a great desire to reach those who are totally unreached with a message of hope and joy, to plead with those who have heard but have not accepted the message of forgiveness and love, and to nurture healthy churches for those who have accepted the message of abundant life.
Join us as we reach the Yao of Malawi, the Mapuche of Chile and the Hui of China with a new song of joy. Help us reach the world with an exuberant, fulfilling message of hope! Help us teach the world to sing a new song.
