by Jon Konnerup
As I think of all the gifts that will be given this Christmas, my mind turns to the masses of people in the world who do not know about the wonderful gift of Jesus Christ spoken of in Romans 3:23. In fact, there are still many who have never even heard His name.
Jesus gave us the task of making disciples of all nations. The Bible tells us that there will be people from every tribe, language, people, and nation around His throne. Yet, at this very moment there are still over 6,750 unreached people groups in the world.
Even more surprising is that there are 1,015 people groups who are not only unreached, but few are even trying to reach them. Missions strategists refer to them as “unengaged.” After 2,000 years, it should be inconceivable to us that there would be any unengaged people groups left in the world.
We need to finish the task given so long ago. It will be accomplished through local congregations around the world planting indigenous churches among these people groups.
It is believed these 1,015 unengaged people groups have populations of more than 50,000 each who are still beyond the reach of the gospel of Jesus Christ. These are groups where, as far as researchers know, there are no full-time Christian workers evangelizing and church planting. These people are spiritually lost and helpless.
Of these 1,015 unengaged peoples, a few hundred have a church or missionary organization that has assumed responsibility of telling them about Jesus Christ. They are at the very heart of the unfinished Great Commission. Can one church make a difference among the other 636 unengaged, unreached peoples of the world? It would be difficult. That is why churches must work together as a Fellowship (Baptist Bible Fellowship International) to do all they can to answer the Great Commission of God to preach the gospel to every person.
Jesus told us to pray for more workers. It is said that if we had a minimum of one full-time worker for every 50,000 people, a group like the Lunia in India, with a population of 5.3 million, would need 106 workers to effectively engage them. By this measure, many unreached people groups are currently “under-engaged” in terms of the number of missionaries needed to reach them.
Some might say we are trying to “engage them all so Jesus comes back,” thinking of only His return. However, the concern here is that yet another generation will live and die while these groups of men, women, and children will still be unengaged. We must embrace the heart of God who cares about one lost sheep, one lost coin, and one lost son.
There is only one reason to go to every people group and that is because Jesus commanded us to go and make disciples of all nations. Why did He command this? Because He loves the world and is not willing that any should perish!