International (MNN) — If you ask Google, “What is a Christian?”, the search engine will tell you that a Christian is “a person who has received Christian baptism or is a believer in Jesus Christ and his teachings.”
If you ask a Christian, “Who are the unreached?”, they may or may not know. But the truth is, the unreached are everything to God. In fact, some of Christ’s final instructions centered on the unreached: “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.”
These instructions are known as the Great Commission. They’re also the pulse of the Alliance for the Unreached, says chairman Jon Fugler.
“There’s 2.5 billion people who haven’t heard the name of Jesus. What are we going to do about it?”
That question is not directed at the Alliance. It’s directed at you and I: those who claim to believe in Christ and His teachings.
What can I do about the unreached?
Over two billion people have never encountered the hope of Jesus. Many of them have no way to access the Good News. As people who claim to follow Jesus, these realities should stir a reaction within us.
Reaching those 2.5 billion people is an overwhelming challenge. But, the task is not impossible.
“There’s 70,000 people a day dying without Christ. This is a huge, huge problem…We can’t take care of it all, but we can do our small part, whatever that might be.”
For some believers, that “small part” involved a trip to Bangladesh with Reach Beyond. They delivered about 10,000 blankets to Rohingya refugees. The Rohingya are mostly Muslim, and few have ever heard the Gospel.
Rohingya suffer as no country truly accepts them.
“Demonstrating love is important, and it opened up doors,” says Fugler. “It looks like we’ll be able to set up a medical outpost in one of refugee camps. That’s a long-term opportunity.”
Pray that Rohingya hearts will soften as they encounter the truth of Scripture. And, ask God what He wants YOU to do about the unreached. You might find your answer on May 20th, the International Day for the Unreached (IDU).
“We want the unreached to become a major issue in the Church and in the lives of believers,” Fugler explains. “Will our hearts burn to introduce them to Jesus? We hope that the International Day for the Unreached will raise awareness and raise up believers of prayer and action.”
Learn more about IDU 2018 here.
“This isn’t just an intellectual, volitional experience; this is a heart experience. Hearts need to be broken to say, ‘Lord, use me’ and be open to what God wants to do.”
(Header photo courtesy of Alliance for the Unreached via Facebook)
