Sarah and I have been thinking/stirred by the thought that there are still so many unreached peoples in the world. The Joshua project estimates that 41.3% of the world's population is "unreached." What do you think about that? Until recenlty I was unconcerned with unreached peoples because this is the first time I heard or even took note that there are that many people who have not heard about Jesus.
A missionary by the name of Hudson Taylor was a missionary to China. Upon talking to a new believer in China the believer talked about his father's search for truth. He said that his father searched all his life for the truth but died restless, not finding it. Then he turned to Taylor and asked, "how long have your people known about Jesus?"
Coming from a Christian college I heard the question somewhat often, "what about those people who have never heard about Jesus? Does God send them to hell even if they have never had a chance to hear about Jesus?"
One thing to be sure of, God did not appoint us as heaven's gate-keepers. He has that job. But if I were to take a humble guess I would wonder if Jesus, on that day, when asked that question, would look us in the eyes and respond, "And why is it that those people never were told about me?"
In the western church alone we have all the man-power, resources, training, etc… to evangelize the world. Aside from our outright refusal to give Jesus the worth He is due, one of the biggest injustices of our day is that we have more means and ability to tell that 41.3% about Jesus, and yet it doesn't happen.
My hunch is that we are not convinced that Jesus is worth telling people about, especially if PSY can get 1.5 billion views on Youtube in nine months.
I want to ask you to join us in asking God, "Convict us, speak to us, we need your mercy and grace, how can we be a part of telling the world about the most precious, liberating person, Your Son, Jesus Christ? We need you God. Show us your un-ending worth, liberate us to the point where following You and telling the world about You is no sacrifice."
