As Christians, we have received the most incredible gift of salvation from God. And in turn, we are to share this amazing gift with others. This needs to be our focus now as we are living in the end times. And in particular, we need to pray for and reach unreached people groups. This may feel daunting and overwhelming. However, there is a wonderful resource called The Joshua Project which is very helpful in this regard. But what is the Joshua project?
The Joshua Project is a Christian organisation that aims to help the Church complete the Great Commission “by highlighting peoples and places with the least access or response to the gospel, so the Body of Christ can prioritise its prayer and mission efforts”. They provide data that shows how many unreached people groups there are and where they are located. In addition to this, there are also plenty of resources on their website to help the Church pray effectively and mobilise to reach the unreached people groups.
WHAT IS AN UNREACHED PEOPLE GROUP
You may not have come across the term “unreached people group” before so let’s look at what it means. The Joshua Project defines an unreached people group as “a people group that has limited, if any, access to the gospel”.
WHY SHOULD I BE CONCERNED ABOUT UNREACHED PEOPLE GROUPS?
We need to be concerned about reaching unreached people groups because Jesus has commissioned us to take the gospel to the lost. We see this clearly in Matthew 28: 19-20 which says,
“19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
We often think that only some people are called to reach the lost. We have the mistaken idea that only some of us are missionaries. But did you know that when you become a Christian you also become a missionary? We carry the Spirit of God within us; therefore, everywhere we go is our mission field. We need to take this very seriously because there are certain people that only we can reach. Most people who aren’t Christians will not go into a Church, therefore we need to be salt and light to them and bring them the gospel.
I CAN’T GO TO UNREACHED PEOPLE GROUPS SO HOW CAN I HELP?
You may really feel a pull for the unreached people groups but not be in a position to physically go to them as a missionary. The good news is that you can still very much be part of reaching the unreached people groups by praying for them! Never forget that one of the most powerful weapons we have as Christians is prayer. We have a 24/7 lifeline to God through prayer and this is incredible because we can bring our requests before God who has all the power and can move in ways we cannot even imagine.
So today I urge you to use the Joshua Project to see how you can reach the unreached people groups either in person or by prayer. Whichever way let’s never lose sight of God’s incredible love and heart for the lost and let’s partner with Him in reaching them!
You can find the link for the Joshua Project here.