Thoughts on the unreached
The call to the unreached
echoes the urgency of the apostle Paul, who
plaintively wrote, “How then shall they call
upon Him in whom they have not believed? And how
shall they believe in Him whom they have not
heard?” (Romans 10:14, NASB).
Paul wrestled with the plight of the unreached —
those who have not yet heard about Christ. The
heart of the missionary beats to see them
reached.
The fact is, there are still
lost billions whom we are called to reach with
the message of our Lord. Regardless of the
reason, those who are lost without Christ face
eternal destruction. Our Lord came to this earth
to seek and save the lost.
When John the Baptist saw
Jesus coming, he said, “Behold, the Lamb of God
who takes away the sin of the world!”
(John 1:29). Inspired
by the Holy Spirit, John saw Jesus as more than
the Jewish Messiah — he saw the One who would
accomplish redemption and offer everlasting life
to every person on the planet. While the Jews,
for the most part, didn’t comprehend it, the
Samaritans in their first encounter with Jesus
surprisingly grasped it. They said, “We have
heard for ourselves and know that this One is
indeed the Savior of the world” (John 4:42).
Later in the New Testament,
this theme is emphasized again. The apostle
Peter, who was personally taught by the Lord
himself, wrote that God is “not willing that any
should perish, but that all should come to
repentance” (2 Peter 3:9, KJV). God wants to
reach everyone with His love, mercy and grace.
As a body of believers, we
have been commanded to carry on His work. Mark
16:15 says, “Go into all the world and preach
the gospel to all creation” (NASB). This process
involves seeking out those who are in unknown
territory — both spiritually and geographically.
In today’s world, we are
confronted by many hard-to-reach places. Yet
we need not be daunted by
restricted-access countries or people groups
living in rugged, remote areas. The
Church should have no borders in reaching the
lost. Our mandate is to go to every
person with an adequate witness of Jesus Christ
as Savior and Redeemer.
From the beginning,
Assemblies of God pioneers gave us guidelines in
developing a world missions
strategy. Their primary emphasis was that the
Fellowship would be Spirit-driven. The Holy
Spirit prepares the way and opens hearts to
receive His message. We do not recruit
missionaries; rather we depend on the Holy
Spirit to call whomever He wills. Our
responsibility is to pray that the Lord of the
harvest will send forth workers and call people
to areas where the need is greatest. Over the
years God has repeatedly answered our cries by
burdening people for a particular area or group
at just the time when doors for outreach opened.
We continue to rely in faith that He who gave
the command will equip those He needs to
accomplish the work.
Sometimes we may be tempted
to deliberately place missionaries in certain
areas or ministries. We are on risky ground,
however, if we take on the
respon-sibility of trying to call
specific people to specific places. That is the
work of the Holy Spirit. Of course, we provide
guidance and prayerful input, and we inform
people of areas where great needs exist. But
ultimately, as a Fellowship, we depend on the
Holy Spirit to call and direct missionaries
regarding where they should go.
While we rejoice over the
growing number of people coming to Christ in
these last days, missionaries continue to search
for the “lost sheep” who
remain outside the fold. Finding them may not
lead us down smooth and easy paths. But the joy
of bringing them to the Good Shepherd outweighs
any inconvenience or sacrifice that may come
their way. And as long as there are lost sheep,
God will be faithful to call His children to
seek them with the good news of His love.
L. JOHN BUENO
E-mail your comments to
tpe@ag.org.
