Go Into All The World

This weekend, our team participated in the NVISION conference at Southeast Christian Church in Louisville, which was a missions mobilizing conference. There were four session focusing on the Biblical, historical, cultural, and strategic bases for missions. It was a long day, but that night during team time, we could not stop talking about all that we had learned.  We were fired up and ready to take the Gospel to the nations.

All of this passion is welling up inside of me.  I serve such a holy, loving, awesome God who desires--and planned--to draw every nation and tribe to Himself.  He chose to use his disciples (all believers) to take the Gospel across the street and to the ends of the earth.  We literally have the secret of life in us, but it is not a secret.  It is for everyone, all the nations, all of creation.  From the Old Testament to the New, we see a meta-narrative of how God is redeeming his creation to restore it to himself.  He chose us, as unqualified as we think we are, to carry out his plan.

But we are falling incredibly short.  Before I say anything more, "There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus." Romans 8:1 (Read all of Romans 8).  I am not writing to condemn anyone, but rather to encourage each of us to take a serious look at our commitment to Christ, which "bears fruit" and is evidenced in the way we live, the things we say, and how we use our time and resources.  I was confronted with some very hard facts and numbers this weekend, facts and numbers that cannot be ignored.

• There are 16,465 people groups in the world; 6.7 billion people.  A people group is the largest group within which the gospel can spread without encountering barriers of culture, language, or religion.
• There are 6,759 people groups that are unreached; 2.7 billion people.  Unreached means that there is no indigenous community of believers with sufficient numbers/resources to evangelize the people group.
• There are 639 people groups that have no access to the gospel; 540 million.  540,000,000 people.  Have never had the opportunity to hear the good news of Jesus Christ or have not had the opportunity to go to church.  
• 2/3 of Jesus' miracles were towards Internationals.
• BUT 98% of our funding and manpower goes to take Christians to send them to Christians to make them better Christians.

I have heard some of these facts before, but not all of them.  Why are these things not talked about in our churches?  Why are these things not spurring us onward?  Why are we not mobilizing ourselves and our congregations?  Please do not misunderstand, the United States is also in desperate need of the love and light of Jesus Christ.  We are called to take the Gospel across the street.  But we don't stop there.  We are also called to take the Gospel to the ends of the earth.  I am so thankful that God has revealed himself to us and chose to use us in his plan to redeem humanity back to himself.  This mission is the life of all who follow Christ.

"And Jesus came and said to them, 'all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.  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.'" Matthew 28:19-20.

"And he said to them, 'Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation.'" Mark 16:15.

"But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth." Acts 1:8.

I love you all, and pray that you understand my heart.  Sharing the gospel is pure love, joy, and liberation, to bring freedom, not oppression. This is a desperate mission, but we don't go it alone.

All in love,
Sara

To learn more about this, I encourage you to visit

http://www.operationworld.org/

http://www.peoplegroups.org/

http://www.joshuaproject.net/

http://www.thetravelingteam.org/

The Perspectives Course