Who Are the Unreached? Part 2

At the end of 'Who are the Unreached' Part 1, we said:

Maybe a better definition of an 'unreached' heart is one that has yet to hear the gospel in such a way, that it resonates, connects and is understood with the clarity needed so the person truly hears the Creator's intended meaning of that truth in such a way as to correctly accept the truth and understand what it means to forsake all and follow Christ, or else to knowingly understand but reject the truth. 

We said how that the definition that many give to 'the unreached' and the noble sounding idea that we should only seek to 'reach' the people within that given definition, would exclude the bulk of Sub-Saharan Africa.

It would also mean that we should cease all evangelism, missions and discipleship efforts in places like my home country of Australia.  Australia is a place with many strong self-sufficient reproducing churches. However, it is also a place of vast numbers of the unreached. 

The Great Commission is to make disciples

Jesus didn't tell us in his 'great commission' to go and reach the unreached, but to go and make disciples of all the nations.  It wasn't a joblist of ticking off whether each ethnic group of the world has at least one self-sufficient reproducing church and at some time in its history had the gospel presented to it, but rather its an ongoing 'commission' to continue to reach everyone, in every generation, in every corner of the world. 

Any person who has not clearly heard the gospel enough to understand its true meaning in order to respond, is unreached according to our current definitions of 'unreached'.  In fact more biblical language would be to say they are unsaved or lost. The great commission is not just about reaching the unreached, but about bringing the means of rescue to the unsaved. It's about finding the lost, helping those who are blind to the truth to see, enabling those who haven't yet heard the truth to hear it.

Aussie evangelist Sam Chan calls Australia a 'post-Christian, post-church, post-reached' world. There was a generation past that may have had a strong gospel witness, but we are not responsible for past generations, nor does what happened in past generations with gospel witness give us a reason to cease gospel witness in this generation.  This generation, even in Australia is largely 'unreached'.  There are thousands of people in the streets, homes and offices of Australia who have never heard God's name except as a swear word and who have never owned or opened a bible and who have never even entered the doors of a church or heard a sermon or explanation of the gospel.

These are the unreached.

Inclusion or Exclusion?

Sadly there are even some missionaries and mission organisations who are focused only on their idea of including or 'reaching the unreached', (or some say the 'least reached' groups), but it ends up being exclusion of so many others who are 'unreached'. 

('Unreached' is also sometimes said to refer to those places where less than 2% of the population would be evangelical Christians, and 'least-reached' are places where less than 4% - that would mean there are 12 people groups in Botswana in the 'least reached' category and 4 people groups in the 'unreached' category, but the 'Joshua Project' says there are no unreached people in Botswana!)

Jesus' great commission I don't believe is given so that we only focus on those who fit into the category of designated ethnic groups who have not yet heard the gospel, to the exclusion of every other unreached person around the world. Rather it is a reminder that we are not to exclude or neglect anybody…. even those in hard to reach places in our world and those who's language group is small and unattractive in terms of potential 'numbers of conversions' to put on a newsletter, or those based on financial viability and cost of making gospel access possible.

Whether its to your Jerusalem, your Judea, your Samaria or the ends of the earth, there are unreached hearts who need to realise and understand their condemned state and hear and comprehend the message of good news in Jesus Christ.

It might take just as much (or more) effort, expense, danger and culture learning to reach the drug addicts in your city, as to get on a plane and fly to a remote desert or jungle village. 

We need to encourage all Christians wherever they are to be part of Jesus' great commission of sharing the good news of salvation with others, in whatever context God places us or calls us to.  Every lost soul that is found is precious, no matter where on the earth they lay their head at night.

And yes, that does still include those people groups around the world who haven't yet heard the name of Christ, and those who don't have the bible in their own language, but also those who know the name of Jesus Christ and have access to a bible, but don't understand the eternal life-confronting and life-change truth that comes through the living WORD in the written WORD!

Who and Where are the unreached - the lost - God has around you?  Where has God placed you?  Who might God be calling you to reach out to with the good news of salvation from sin, in Jesus Christ?

Whether its baking cookies to give to a sick neighbour who doesn't now Christ so as to grow a friendship in order to share the gospel, or having to get passports and buy plane tickets to travel overseas to some place God has called you to, just be who God wants you to be, doing what God wants you to do and going where God wants you to go….remembering His promise that in being, doing and going, He will be with you always even to the very end!

Whether its across the street or around the world, lets have a heart to reach every person with the eternity-changing and life-transforming good news of Jesus Christ.