This week, we kick off a new series entitled Light of the World. As Christmas approaches, we’re wrapped up in a spirit of giving as we reflect on how much God has given us. We celebrate the amazing reality that God sent His very own Son as a human baby to save and redeem us. As we reflect on this glorious truth, we also acknowledge the harsh reality that thousands of people groups around the world have yet to hear the name of Jesus. What better time than Christmas to spread the gospel?
This week, we focused specifically on unreached people groups in Nepal as a guest speaker shared his work with the Footstool Project. Our speaker shared how he went on a hiking trip through the Himalayas. During the trip, he encountered a group of about 30 malnourished and dirty children aged 5-15 who were being marched away from their villages to be sold into brothels. The speaker’s initial response was to run from what he’d seen, to flee back to America and try to return to his normal routine. But his normal was shaken. He couldn’t forget the children that he’d seen or shake the anger in his heart from this injustice. He resigned from his job and flew back to Nepal, determined to bring God’s love and justice to its people, and has been serving there for the past twenty years.
Question: What experiences has God put in your life to break your heart for what breaks His? What injustices move you to anger so much that you can’t help but do something to change them?
Our speaker took time studying and exploring in order to get to the core of Nepal’s problems. While he saw many physical vulnerabilities—poverty, lack of education, lack of hygiene—he concluded that spiritual poverty was the core of these social issues. God began to open his eyes, and he began to see unreached people groups in a whole new light. God filled his heart with a passion to share the gospel with the unreached.
Question: What do you know about unreached people groups around the world? Take a few minutes to visit peoplegroups.org to learn more. Pick a people group to learn more about; spend some time praying for this group.
The earthquakes that took place in Nepal in April only furthered the physical needs of the country. The quakes created immense, mind blowing destruction. The Footstool project changed their focus to help with the needs of the quake victims. As over 200 organizations, including the United Nations, joined in relief efforts, the Footstool Project helped them reach remote villages throughout Nepal. Because the roads were inaccessible due to rubble and debris, the Footstool Project organized 150 helicopter flights to distribute goods. In doing so, the Footstool Project was able to reach villages that were previously closed off to the gospel with God’s love and truth. The earthquakes opened doors to meet both physical and spiritual needs. God is a pro at making good come out of tragedy (Genesis 50.20).
Question: How has God shaken up your world to bring greater good? How has He used tragedy to further the gospel?
- Read Matthew 9.35–38.
God is working in great ways in our world, and calls us to join in this work. As the above passage states, the opportunity to spread the gospel is great. The Footstool Project is working with 24 Unreached Tibetan people groups in Nepal alone. 42% of the world’s people groups are in contexts where less than 2% of the population knows Christ. 3,000 of the world’s 11,000 people groups are not only unreached, but have no active church planting work among them. The harvest is plentiful, so much so, that it sometimes feels overwhelming. With a problem so large, what can we do?
- Read Judges 6.7–16.
Like Gideon, we often view ourselves as weak or powerless. How can we spread the gospel with so much opposition? How can we share Jesus when so many dangers threaten us? Just as God was with Gideon, so He is with us. He empowers us with the Holy Spirit to reach the unreached. However, Gideon didn’t receive God’s power by hiding in his cave; rather, He obediently engaged in the world despite hostility (see Judges 6.27-35). Power comes from engaging in God’s world. Power doesn’t happen without risk; we must obey Jesus regardless of our comfort zone.
Our speaker experienced this first hand. He spent years praying for the country of Bhutan, a closed Buddhist country near Nepal. This country is so closed that it has armed soldiers guarding its borders to ensure no foreigners enter. As our speaker and one of his friends approached the border of Bhutan to pray, our speaker felt God telling him to go into the country. After some hesitation and arguing with God, he walked through the border. Countless soldiers yelled at him to stop, but he kept walking. Eventually, our speaker realized that he had not only walked through the gate but also into a nearby village. In the village, he heard faint singing, singing that led him to a group of about 25 people who were part of an underground church. When these people saw him, they were overwhelmed as they shared that they’d been waiting for him. Because of his obedience and faith in God, he was able to take these people back to a discipleship school in Nepal where they learned more about Jesus. With this new knowledge, they’ve returned to their country and continue to spread the gospel in a way no foreigner could. Obedience to God creates powerful change.
Question: How is God calling you to move outside of your comfort zone to spread the gospel? How are you responding to His call?
This Christmas season, Engedi is offering practical ways to share Jesus with the unreached through Illuminate. Our goal is to raise $40,000 to support spreading the gospel to unreached people groups. We will do so by sending 4 short-term teams and 5 mid-term workers to Central Asia and Nepal. We will also support a school in Nepal that was severely damaged by the earthquake. Due to lack of education, half of the children in this school’s village will die before their eighth birthday. By educating them, we can increase their basic hygiene skills, safeguard them against human trafficking and child labor, and diminish the cycle of poverty. Further, by meeting their practical needs, we can share the love of Christ.
- Read Revelation 7.9-12.
The ultimate goal of missions to bring God’s glory in its fullest form. Like notes on a keyboard, so is the unique worship of each people group. Right now, 7,000 of those notes are missing from that melody. We can’t fully glorify God when billions of people don’t even know His name. Like the Footstool Project, we can add beauty to the melody of people groups by bravely sharing the gospel to people who have never heard it.
A girl in one of the Footstool Project’s programs has done just that. After receiving nutrition, safe housing, and education, she asked how she could receive Jesus into her life. After reviewing the risks of such a decision, she confidently became a Christ follower, and felt compelled to share her newfound faith with her family. Miraculously, her family also became Christ followers, and in doing so because the first family in their people group to do so (praise God for that!). Tragically, her family was martyred a week later because of this decision. Did the girl respond in bitterness and anger, denouncing God? No. Instead, she went to God with her grief. She wrote a song, and with her housemates, sang it with all her might as they worshipped God. She added a note to the melody of God’s glory. Further, as people come to the Footstool Project longing to put their faith in Christ but afraid of the consequences, the girl eagerly steps up and encourages them to be bold in Christ.
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