“Jesus saith unto them His disciples: my meat is to do the will of him that sent me and to finish his work.” (John 4:34, KJV)
Every February, we observe the Month of Missions. It’s a special month where we celebrate the doings of the Lord among the nations through the obedience of the Church and Mission agencies. This year, our theme is “Heart for the Harvest” (John 4:34).
As always, NEMA has produced a special edition of Devotions and Prayer Bulletin. We encourage your church and or congregation to use this to reflect and pray at individual, family altars, week-day congregational prayers and most especially, at Sunday services. We also request your congregation to set aside a Sunday in the month of February, 2024, most preferably, the last Sunday, 25th, to pray for and support with finances, the task of reaching the unreached.
An astounding 41.9%, which is about 3.3 billion of the more than 8.0 billion people on Earth, are considered unreached or least reached (Joshua Project, 2023). That means that about 2 out of 5 people in our world have never heard of the gospel of Jesus Christ. More than 7,000 people groups are unreached and mostly live in the 10/40 Window. This explains our focus of Vision 5015 Plus!
Jesus’ work included preaching the good news of the kingdom of God, healing the sick, casting out demons, and ultimately dying on the cross for the sins of humanity. By saying that his food was to do the will of God and finish his work, Jesus was emphasizing the importance of fulfilling his divine mission and completing the task that God had given him.
The good news of the Kingdom of God is a central theme of Jesus’ teachings. The kingdom of God refers to the rule of God in the hearts of people and the world. Jesus came to proclaim the good news of the Kingdom of God, which meant that God’s reign was breaking into the world in a new way. The good news of the Kingdom of God is that through faith in Jesus Christ, we can enter a new relationship with God and experience forgiveness of sins, eternal life, and the power of the Holy Spirit.
God’s heart for the nations is clear throughout the Bible. When God promises to bless all the nations of the earth through Abraham’s family, this promise is fulfilled in the person and work of Jesus. From long ago, God was working to provide salvation for the nations. The work of Christ on the cross is effective for Jew and Gentile, male and female, slave and free. Christ died for the unreached. We have a heart for the unreached because Christ died for people of every nation.
Increasingly, we now have people from unreached people groups who go to the city for various reasons. Instead of going to them in the rural villages, they have come to us. They have come to our cities, and we can now reach them in these cities. In doing that we can impact multiple unreached people groups in the urban contexts.
Science, technology, time and population growth have sped up the emergence of this new urbanised era that we are experiencing today. More than half the world live in cities, and the percentage is growing rapidly. But just 100 cities today account for over 30% of the world’s economy, and almost all of its innovation. As great commissioners we must take this urban growth seriously.
We must understand that the population in rural areas is dwindling as many now move to expanding cities in search of a better livelihood among other reasons. And so, we must change our thinking and approach as we intentionally focus on reaching unreached people groups in the cities. The goal is to see whole people groups reached with the gospel everywhere, ensuring no place or person is left.
As we focus on reaching unreached people groups, I pray that God will cause our heart to be increasingly burdened and willing to do the needful until the task is completed.
Download the Month of Missions Devotional and Prayer Alert, February – May 2024 here