The thrust of missions sometimes sounds irrational in some senses. It involves taking the gospel to the dark places of the earth at all cost. Jesus laid the example by leaving heaven to earth. He was born by Mary in a manger and raised by a carpenter. He paid dearly with His life as He conveys God's love for the unlovable.
Again, while on earth, He left His comfort zone in Nazareth and moved to Capernaum, a dark and dangerous place. From Matthew citation of Isaiah's prophecy, we had no doubt that Jesus mission field was not just a place where the people were sitting in darkness but a region of death. (Matthew 4:13-16) He did all these so as to leave a pattern for us to follow as we pursue the great commission. In His words: “Then said Jesus to them again, Peace be unto you: as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you.''(John 20:21) and in Luke 14:27, He said: ''And anyone who does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple''.
His words: If we must follow Christ command, our focus must be on those who have not heard the gospel. Like Apostle Paul, we must seek to make Him known in many dark nations of the world where they have not heard the name or know someone once died for the yet. His words: 'and so I have made it my aim to preach the gospel, not where Christ was named, lest I should build on another man's foundation, 21 but as it is written: "To whom He was not announced, they shall see; And those who have not heard shall understand" (Rom 15:20-21).
In the time of William Carey, he was considered irrational for contemplating to go to the heathen nations. His Church could not understand why a cobbler could be so ambitious. His wife and parents felt Carey needed psychiatric attention. His response was conveyed in a book where he stressed that if you want great thing from God, you must attempt great things for God.
Today's unreached nations of the world are so complex. The prince of darkness also known as territorial powers are fighting hard to keep the unreached nations fortified against the gospel. The level of resistance in some places has greatly increased. There are war situations in others. Many of these places are in rural areas that are geographically inaccessible in the context of modern day comfort we enjoy in the city.
More than ever, it sounds crazier to leave all and follow the Master's command. It seems very odd to suffer to enthrone Jesus as Lord over the nations. In some cases, we considered those who choose to obey the great commission as cursed. They are seen as failure. They are seen as irrational. They are seen as drop out.
Yet, if we must complete the great commission, we need more of such “crazy folks”. There are more nations to conquer. They are situated in difficult territories. They must be reached. The church in our generation has the responsibility of reaching the unreached people in our generation.
Like Joshua generation, we have the responsibility of finishing the task and ushering in the King of kings. We have a hefty task ahead of us to reach the remaining over 40% of the earth that are still unreached.
It is in this light that mission leaders from across the continent gathered at Abuja, Nigeria recently to spell out the remaining task. An edited list of the remaining mega unreached peoples was submitted. The work is a lot easier now that we know who they are. We also know where they are. The list is documented here with a passionate appeal to the church to consider them as priority focus areas, adopt them and let us get the job done.
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