He who spoke creation into being by the Word of His power said these authoritative words to His disciples before ascending into heaven:
“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. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age’” [Matthew 28:18-20 ESV].
All Nations
The word “nations” does not refer to geopolitical entities as we think of them today. The Greek term for nations (ethnos) refers to all ethnic or people groups. There are nearly 12,000 distinct people groups in the world today, and Jesus commissions His Church to go and make disciples of every single one of them. Yet out of the nearly 12,000 people groups in the world, thousands are still in darkness. More than 7,000 of these people groups are unreached, meaning no indigenous communities of Christians can effectively engage their people with the gospel. Of the 7,000 unreached, more than 3,000 are unengaged people groups with no church or church planting strategy that is consistent with the evangelical faith. These are the least-reached peoples in the world. These are hard to get to places. These are dangerous places. These are the lands filled with darkness, where Christ has not yet been named (Rom. 15:20).
“How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent?” [Romans 10:14-15 ESV].
The unreached and unengaged peoples of the world have no hope of salvation unless someone preaches the good news. We need people willing to go to the darkest and hardest, unreached places of the world for the sake of the gospel and the glory of God among the nations. Are you willing to go? Accomplishing this mission to reach the least-reached peoples of the world will only happen through prayer. Without prayer, there is no power behind the mission and no progress for God’s Kingdom. Will you commit to pray for laborers and unreached and unengaged people groups?