So why care about the unreached?

 Why should we invest our giving, our hard earned money into people groups that seemingly don’t care about Jesus?  Why care when there are so many pressing needs that seem to trump the hard work of taking the gospel to people groups who are unreached, unengaged, untouched by the gospel?  There are starving children, young girls being sexually trafficked, drug addiction, and orphans all over the world… shouldn’t we focus our generosity on them?  The answer is yes.  But we should be focusing on unreached people groups even more so.

He Told You So –

Why?  I guess it wouldn’t hurt to mention that Jesus himself said that we are to reach the unreached.  He told it to his disciples in his last great commandment to them.  It’s known as the Great Commission.  Check out Matthew 28:18-20 and Acts 1:8.  But I don’t want to just leave it at “Jesus told us to do it so we must do it.”   If he told us to do it there must be a reason and a good one at that!

I believe one of the reasons Jesus told us to preach the Gospel and make disciples of all nations is because the gospel brings change.  The kind of change that affects all of those causes that we care so deeply about.  Reaching the unreached brings light to the oppressed.  80% of the world’s poor live in unreached areas.  It is the poor who are most vulnerable to horrible suffering associated with hunger, human trafficking , drug addiction, and high orphan rates… and the list of horrible sufferings goes on and on.

Reaching the Unreached Paves the Road for Social Justice –

The gospel changes that for many.  In fact there are many cities that have undergone massive transformations due to people turning to Jesus in mass.  In our experience when God calls people to reach the unreached its not long before he is calling people to minister to the trafficked, the orphaned, the poor, and the handicapped… and many other specialty ministries.  We have witnessed  this firsthand.  

So in your personal missiology please realize reaching the unreached is just as much about social justice and reaching the poor as any other ministry.

Todd Matthews