Why the Unreached?

As long as churches have been sending out members to reach those who have been previously unreached with the gospel, there have been questions about why we should do so. At times, there have even been objections to doing so. 

Entire books could be and have been written on this subject so it is not my intention to address every aspect of this issue. I do, however, want to speak about four things when it comes to our responsibility to go to unreached peoples in order to share the gospel and plant churches. Let’s take a look at Jesus, Paul, John, and ourselves. 

First, Jesus made clear statements regarding the ends of the earth and the people who live there. In Matthew 24, when speaking to his disciples about the end of the age, he stated, “And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come” (Matthew 24:14). And in the very famous words known as the Great Commission, Jesus says, 

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 

The nations Jesus speaks about are not geopolitical descriptions we know as nations today, but ethnicities that are spoken of as people groups in modern terms. 

In addition, Paul also spoke about going beyond the boundaries of known gospel work to take God’s word to places yet to be reached.

I make it my ambition to preach the gospel, not where Christ has already been named, lest I build on someone else’s foundation, but as it is written, Those who have never been told of him will see, and those who have never heard will understand. – Romans 15:20-21

It is hard to read these words of Paul’s and not think of those that precede them earlier in his letter to the Romans: 

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? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!”  – Romans 10:14–15

John also speaks about the nations based upon his vision of the multitude around the throne at the end of time.

After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!”  – Revelation 7:9-10

But what does all of this mean for us? 

We (all Christians) have a responsibility to support the gospel going to the unreached and I would go beyond this statement to say that we (members at CFC) have an opportunity to pursue reaching the least reached, most difficult places that remain. I think we can and should take the gospel to the hard places.

Yes, we have many lost people in our neighborhoods and all across our city. But this reality does not negate pursuing the least reached people in the world. In terms of access to the gospel, there are comparatively few people in Birmingham who have no access to the church and the gospel. When we consider the least reached communities around the globe, there are vast numbers of people who have no opportunity to access the gospel through a local church. There are people groups and communities who have no gospel workers among them. This warrants the need for God’s people to go to them. 

CFC does not need to go to all unreached peoples but we do need to take this mission seriously and go to some. We have the opportunity to take the gospel to some of the least reached people in the world and we should do so!