Author: Matt Nutter
"And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come." Matthew 24:14
In December I attended a conference called Finishing The Task. The conference attenders believe strongly in the words of Jesus in Matthew 24:14; that the end will come only once all nations have heard the gospel message. The word nation here is translated from the Greek word ethne, which literally means people. So Jesus is talking about all people or people groups hearing the gospel message, not just nations as defined on a map or by political boundaries.
The Joshua Project has identified 17,019 people groups in the world today. Of that total number, 7,066 are considered to be Unreached - that's 41.5% of the world's people groups! "Unreached" means that a gospel presence does not exist indigenously within that people group, although there may be missionaries working with them.
The folks at Finishing The Task have compiled a list of 343 people groups who are considered to be both Unreached and Unengaged. This means that not only do they not have a gospel presence (church, Bible, radio, or other outreach), they also do not have any missionaries currently working with them. People from these groups will be born, will live their lives, and will die into a God-less eternity without ever hearing the name of Jesus or of His love for them. Unless someone goes to these people, this same grave injustice will continue generation after generation. The purpose of the conference was to make plans and commitments to see that all the remaining Unengaged people groups on earth receive a missionary witness in the coming years!
Central's Global Outreach department's mission statement is Raising up thousands of people to the ministry of Reconciling millions from the N.A.M.E. region and Restoring God's perfect shalom. The reason that Central has chosen the N.A.M.E. (North Africa, Middle East) region of the world to focus our resources on is that many of the world's remaining Unreached and Unengaged Muslim people groups live in this region. Read on for a really cool story about a few of these Unreached and Unengaged people groups and the role Central played in bringing Jesus to them.
In 2014, Central's Christmas offering went to start medical, educational, and Bible study programs in a refugee camp in northeast Africa. A civil war had rocked the country, forcing people to flee their mountain communities for refugee camps. While in the refugee camps, many people had a chance to hear about Jesus for the first time and were taught to how to study the Scriptures. However, in late 2015, the refugee camps themselves became targets of bombing runs by the enemy military, forcing the refugees to scatter from the camps. When I spoke with our contact (codename Alan) in 2016, he did not know where many of the refugees had fled to. All he knew was that those who had been in participating in the Bible studies were gone.
In 2017 I met with Alan again. Miraculously, he told me of how the refugees who had fled the camp bombings ended up returning to their mountain communities - taking their newfound faith and their Bible study ability with them! By 2018, Alan was able to identify 353 new groups of mountain peoples who were gathering to study the Scriptures together!! And for two of the tribes, these new Bible study groups marked the first believers, the first church, and the first Bible translations in the history of the tribe!
Alan told me over and again that the groups he is seeing today would not have happened without the generosity of Central Christian Church. I don't share this to brag on Central; rather we give all glory to God and rejoice in the role that we can play from Arizona in bringing the nations to Jesus!
"How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can anyone preach unless they are sent? As it is written: 'How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!'" Romans 10:14-15
Raise. Reconcile. Restore.