3 Billion People Haven’t Heard the Name of Jesus. What Can You Do Today?
There are billions of people around the world that don’t know a Christian, don’t live within reach of a church, and haven’t even heard the name of Jesus. These men, women, and children are facing their own sinfulness, brokenness, and depravity with no real hope in view. They are still unreached by the Gospel and not engaged with significant missionary efforts.
Does this burden overwhelm you? Does it seem like too large of a burden to worry about today? When the rubber meets the road, what can you and I do about people on the other side of the globe? Two major truths must guide our mind and heart as we consider and pursue unreached people groups.
Two things to remember.
First, remember that the Great Commission is first God’s mission. He is the message, orchestrator, equipper, and empowering force behind all biblical missions. We are joining the Missio Dei (mission of God) by His invitation and command (Matthew 28:18-20). This is His mission, and He will never leave us to fend for ourselves. We can never love the unreached more than our Creator. He is the missionary God who came Himself as the Messiah, and He has created the local church as the vehicle by which the Holy Spirit spreads the message of the Gospel to all nations. One day, people from every tribe and tongue will worship Christ in eternity, and He will receive all glory and honor for it (Revelation 7:9-11).
Second, remember that what we do today matters for eternity. Our faithfulness in our jobs, education, friendships, and family life has an impact on unreached people groups. We are always either fighting for or fighting against the spread of the Gospel message, even in the mundane things of life. Are your steps, real and figurative, walking the Gospel into the hearts of others around you? Or, are your words and actions teach others to look for hope and joy somewhere other than Christ? May the message of the Gospel always be on our lips, and may our feet carry that message to those who haven’t yet placed their faith in Christ (Romans 10:5-17).
Here are five things Brody Holloway challenged college students to consider when leaving our 2019 SWO College Retreat. You can also listen to the audio recording of the session in our Resources area.
1. Make the worship of God by all peoples a priority in your life.
- Study the people groups of the world. Study their history and their religion. Joshuaproject.net and Peoplegroups.org are two great resources for learning about people groups and what drives their culture, language, religion, and language.
- There are around 16,000 people groups among over 200 countries in the world. About half of them are unreached with the gospel.
- Nearly 3 billion people in the world have never even heard the name of Jesus and don’t have the opportunity to.
2. Pray for the world.
- Pray for individual people groups by name.
- Pray for specific missionaries and their families and the work they are doing.
- Know who your church supports. If there is no real active supporting work, then work to get it started.
- Write letters to encourage and support these missionaries.
3. Multiply.
- You can reach your part of the world with the Gospel right now. Only you can win your friends and family by the way you live and the Gospel you share.
- Understand the Gospel. Study it often. Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth will speak.
- See your friends first and foremost as people who are broken and in need of the Savior.
- Share Christ with others whenever you can.
- Sit with those who are less fortunate, less popular, or just different from you.
- Invite them into your home.
- Invite them to come with you to your youth group or church on Sunday.
- Use the gifts and opportunities that God has given you (ie: band, sports, interests, family, life experiences).
4. Go.
- Pray about doing a short-term trip as soon as you can gain the opportunity.
- Pray about giving your life to answer the call.
- Use your career path to reach people and engage the lost.
5. Care.
- Just care about people. We are often only about ourselves. But, Jesus taught us to love one another because this is how the outside world will recognize we belong to Him (John 13:34-35).
- Choose to care! Let’s re-orient our lives to be about Jesus and about others.
Remember, it’s all about Jesus! It’s not about you and it’s not about me. Live your life daily consumed with a passion for the glory of Jesus Christ among all peoples. Christ is the Righteous One. He came to seek and save the lost, and we have been given the privilege of spreading this glorious news to the ends of the earth (Luke 19:10).