Imagine what it is like to be part of an unreached people group.  Few of your people have ever heard the Good News about Jesus, and likely don’t know a Christian who can tell them. Your people group is probably Muslim, Hindu or Buddhist, with religious practices and traditions deeply embedded in your culture and identity.

When you think of Christianity, you picture a western religion and all the negative things you’ve seen in the media from the west: loose morals, alcohol consumption, violence. You shudder at those things and are thankful for your daily prayers and other rituals. Even so, you don’t feel peace from God. Imagine, what barriers or obstacles might you face to becoming a true follower of Jesus?

A couple of years ago, a missionary was visiting some new followers of Jesus, deep inside a Muslim people group.  He was the first Westerner they had met because they had been discipled by another Muslim background believer from their own people group.

As the missionary sat down and visited with these believers, he was intrigued. He asked, what did they call themselves? Did they identify as Christians? Or as something else, such as a Muslim follower of Jesus?

Shocked at the suggestion, one of the new believers exclaimed, “Can a Christian follow Jesus?!” You see, he had learned to love and obey God through studying the Bible. Maintaining his cultural identity, he was a true disciple of Jesus but did not identify his newfound beliefs with Christianity, which was considered by his people group to be the “immoral ‘religion’ of the west.” 

Too often in missions and the church, we expect new believers to take steps beyond what the Bible prescribes for true disciples of Jesus. Sometimes that can feel like they are being asked to become more like us, rather than more like Jesus.

CAN CHRISTIANS MESS UP THE PLAN
Because of this, Bahar feared returning to his old village, and Samir and his team decided to wait and  read more …

Though often overlooked, “all” is a compelling word referring “to the whole quantity or extent.” It is a word Jesus used in commissioning His Bride, the Church: “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations (“ethne”-people groups), baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to obey all that I have commanded you.”

Of course, “all” includes people groups which are difficult to reach. Perhaps you can think of regions around the world which are harder to gain access to for one reason or another.

There is a country in East Asia, which, according to Open Doors, has been the number one most dangerous country in which to be a Christian for 18 years in a row. God, however, is raising up a team that spans many nationalities and agencies to reach these loved people. Together they are creating and implementing plans to reach all people from this nation.

Presently, the team is sharing the gospel with those who were able to escape the regime and live elsewhere. They are teaching them to reach their own people, who have also left, and start their own house churches. By teaching them the skills to reproduce evangelism, reproduce leaders, and reproduce house churches, they can reach everyone like themselves, who have also left this country. When the country begins to open (whether slowly or catastrophically), they will all return to their families and villages, bringing the love and truth of Christ with them. Having been taught simple, reproducible models of house church, they will plant churches, everywhere they go.

The vision isn’t just to reach some of these people, it’s a challenge to reach ‘all’ of them. Some may choose to look at the obstacles and the politics, and say ‘it’s impossible.’ Others, however, will stand as Caleb did, believing they will be saved, simply because God promised that one day, ‘all’ peoples would be standing before his throne. If we believe God’s promise, we are assured God will make a way for them.

HOW YOU CAN PRAY

• Pray with us for these new believers as they process through their experiences and move into wholeness in Christ.
• Pray for more laborers who would join this team.
• Pray as they learn how to evangelize, disciple their peers, and plant churches that plant churches for the glory of God.
• Pray that God would open doors in their country that no man can shut.
• And pray that all living in the dark would soon get to embrace the Light of the World.