Unreached Peoples

Once From Prison, Once from Hunger, Once From Sin

Nov 9, 2022 | Stories

Part Two:
Not long after his miraculous escape from slavery, Bahar moved his family to a new town. But catastrophic flooding across the country soon placed Bahar and his family in a new life-threatening challenge: they had no way to get food.

Bahar’s new town is one in which Samir and Nuh have been sharing the Good News and making disciples. Samir and Nuh, you may remember*, are disciple-makers who were befriended and trained by Frank and Helen.

When Bahar heard that Samir and Nuh’s church was helping the flood victims by providing food, his family visited the church, hoping to receive help. They joyfully received one month’s food supply on the day of distribution. Jesus, through his disciples, had rescued Bahar’s family again.

While at the church, Bahar, his wife, and their 12-year-old son heard more about this Jesus who had released Bahar and his uncle from prison and of His Good News of salvation. Together, the family decided to follow Jesus.

Bahar and his family are telling their family, friends, and neighbors about how Jesus rescued them three times: once from prison, once from hunger, and once from their sin. Bahar’s friends are now asking him, Samir, and Nuh to come share the Good News of Jesus.

Queens, Killer Bees and Multiplication

Oct 19, 2022 | Stories

Charlie and Sarah have been stretched a lot lately, and at times they have felt quite discouraged. They continue to find people who seem interested in following Jesus, only for them to lose interest or push away for various reasons. Language is a constant challenge. And recently, three disciple-makers they have invested in for 18 months decided to head in a different direction.

“As we took our discouragement to the Father,” Sarah shared, “God reminded us of a seemingly unrelated experience a few
years ago …. with bees.

“Several years ago, while stateside, we discovered a colony of bees living inside a wall in our house. After relocating the hive to our backyard in a newly purchased beehive box, Charlie began learning the art of beekeeping while watching the bees grow in numbers. Unfortunately, the colony was lost when the queen bee mated with an Africanized drone, a “killer bee.” The resulting colony was extremely violent; it even tried to kill Charlie when he accidentally bumped the hive while mowing. We thought of buying a new queen and some worker bees to restart a colony, but we sensed God saying to just put the now-empty beehive box into the garage and wait. Maybe our beekeeping days were over.

“Then, lo and behold, a neighbor found a large clump of bees in a tree and called us. Charlie immediately knew this was a swarm protecting a queen looking for a new home. So, we relocated the swarm to our beehive box, and the colony started growing and multiplying. It is still going strong to this day, making honey that, God willing, will be enjoyed for years to come.

“You see, God provided the first bees. He took them away. And, then he provided us with the second set of bees which continues to multiply to this day. All Charlie did was scoop them off the tree branch while giving them a healthy environment in which to live!

“Job 1:21 says: The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised. God has reminded us that any fruit in ministry is His fruit. We are only called to be obedient disciples. The fruit is not a burden we are asked to bear.

“Jesus told his disciples: Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light. (Mat 11:28-30)”

When we face discouragement, let’s go to our knees to ask how God wants to mold us to be better servants and witnesses for Him.
Related Reads:
We Walked As He Parted the Waters
Getting to the Harvest is Doable
I Told Him I was Quitting
Trading Tradition for Multiplication

What Kind of Dirt Are You?

Oct 5, 2022 | Stories

Matt lives and works as a movement catalyst in a remote region. He wanted some of his local Christian friends from traditional churches to think about discipleship as Jesus does. So he asked if they wanted to look over the parable of the sower with him.

After reading through the passage together, Matt asked which kind of soil their respective churches represented. They both felt their church was the third kind of soil – where thorns choke out any fruitfulness or maturity.

They read Jesus’ last command to his followers: “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.” They agreed that if Christians are in the third kind of soil, they are likely not keeping Jesus’ final command, and probably also not keeping many others.

Finally, Matt asked, “In which of the four soils does Jesus want his word to be planted?”

“All of them!” they replied. But they added that Jesus wants his followers to grow and reproduce like seeds in the fourth soil, producing crops of one hundred, sixty, or thirty times what was sown.

Matt’s friends decided to invite others to join them in studying some Bible stories about Jesus. Please pray that they persevere in their seed sowing, and pray for a 100-fold harvest.

“I’d Hit Them Back!”

Jun 22, 2022 | Stories

As Job* sipped hot tea and puffed on his cigarette, he asked, “Did Jesus really say, ‘Turn the other cheek’?”

“Yes, he did,” Frank* replied. “He also said if anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, hand over your coat as well. And if anyone makes you carry their stuff for one mile, carry it for two miles.” (Matthew 5:38-41)

“Do you think he was being literal?!” questioned Job.

“That’s a great question. What do you think?”

“I’m not sure it’s possible to ‘turn the other cheek.’” Job responded. “Why would someone do that? If someone hit me, I’d hit them back.”

Job peppered Frank with honest questions about Jesus and Christianity for several hours. Job is from a minority Muslim people group that has experienced a great deal of repression and persecution.

Job teared up as he said his goodbyes. “I just can’t believe the statement about ‘turning the other cheek.’ If [my people] turned the other cheek … we wouldn’t be around anymore. These ancient churches are empty because Christians turned their cheeks. Look at the [other people groups who used to live here]. Where are they now? They turned the other cheek, and they are no more. I can never turn my cheek.”

Frank sensed that Job wasn’t seeking answers but only wanted to express his pain. So Frank simply said, “I understand your feelings. Let’s talk more about this next time.”

Since then, Job and Frank have begun reading the Bible together. Pray that the Father would continue to draw Job to Himself and that Job would become an obedient disciple of Jesus. Ask God to bless Frank with spiritual wisdom and to use him to start a disciple-making movement among this Unreached group.

*pseudonym

Obedience Even When It’s Dark

Jun 17, 2022 | Stories

A couple of years ago, a young college graduate in Indonesia got connected with *Wes and *Angie’s local team. *Yurba had learned about the unreached people groups in her country and God’s vision to see them all respond to Jesus. She responded in obedience by learning how to make disciples and spending time looking for people God was preparing.

One night at a prayer event on campus, she heard about the C people. She heard God speak to her very clearly, “This is the group to whom I am calling you. Bring My light to them.”

Yurba jumped in. She started a year-long preparation class where she was taught about cross-cultural living, Jesus’s strategy for reaching the lost, and how to cast His vision to others. Her heart grew in its love and burden for these people who have never known who Jesus is.

Then COVID caused lockdowns and mobility issues, so she was not able to launch in her expected timeframe. In that difficult time, she asked, “Lord, what does obedience look like in this season?” She pursued lost people around her and began studying the Bible with a spiritually open family. But God had a surprise in store for her. During this season she met another young woman with a heart for the unreached. *Tashi decided to join Yurba in reaching the C people; they want a disciple-making movement to break out among them.

Please pray for lasting fruit as they serve and obey the Lord among the unreached C people.

*pseudonym