Missio Nexus President Ted Esler says, “When we talk about unreached people groups, we’re talking about entire cultures in which there are few to no Christians.”

Fifty years ago, “Ralph Winter suggested that we prioritize those people as we strategize in global mission,” Esler adds.

Now, it’s time to reflect on that strategy. Missio Nexus has the tools and platform needed for such an analysis.

(Graphic courtesy of Missio Nexus)

At next week’s annual Missio Nexus conference, “We’re doing a review: what’s been good about it, what has not been so good? How can we do better in this area? What’s the current status of reaching unreached people groups?” Esler says.

More about the 2024 Mission Leaders Conference here.

Reaching the unreached may be the event’s overarching theme, but there’s something for every mission and church leader in attendance. “We have one event, but it’s two conferences,” Esler says.

“We have the Mission Leaders Conference, which is focused on mission agency leadership, and then we also have the Church Mission Leaders Conference, which is [focused on] the mission leaders that are out there working in churches.”

In both settings, “we are about getting people in the room to share what they’re learning with other ministry leaders and breaking down organizational silos,” Esler continues.

“We talk about the best way to do missions globally, what people are learning, and what people struggle with. We’ll have about 70 workshops, plenaries, and many networking opportunities.”

The conference starts next Wednesday in Louisville, Kentucky, but there’s still time to join. Connect with the Missio Nexus team here.

“If you sent us an email, we would probably consider having you join us, even up to the event day,” Esler says.

“Our event is focused on leadership. We’ll probably have about 130 to 150 mission agency presidents or CEOs; some of them will be denominational leaders in the missions departments, as well as church mission leaders.”

Header image is a stock photo depicting business people at a conference. (Photo courtesy of HIVAN ARVIZU @soyhivan/Unsplash)

It’s easy to sit back, passively receive the latest news, and form opinions about current events like these. But is that how Jesus wants His people to respond?

“A lot of people have opinions about whether Russia is right, or Ukraine or Hamas or Israel. But as Christians, we cannot sit back without a heart of compassion for those suffering on all sides,” Georges Houssney with Horizons International says.

“Whether it’s Russians who are dying, or Ukrainians, or Sudanese, Muslims, or Hindus, we must have a heart of compassion.”

Christians should be aware of current events and Gospel opportunities so that they can turn compassion into action, he explains.

“Every Christian needs to have a heart of compassion as they watch the news and not take sides from a political perspective,” Houssney says.

“When Jesus looked at the crowds, He had compassion on them. With compassion comes a desire to save people from darkness, sin, violence, [and] hatred.”

Making a difference without “picking sides” and maintaining your Christian identity is possible.

(Photo Courtesy of Global Outreach Day)

“My goal in ministry is not to take sides but to minister to both sides,” Houssney says. “Jews need Jesus, Muslims need Jesus, and even nominal Christians need Jesus. That’s my approach.”

There’s a lot of need in our world today. The Lord will reveal where and how He wants you to serve. He only asks for a willing heart.

“I heard a pastor once say that every soul without Christ is a mission field, and every soul in Christ is a missionary,” Houssney says.

Ask the Lord to help you see the world through His eyes. Then, keep first things first. Instead of commenting on the latest political developments, watch for opportunities to share your faith.

“From a spiritual perspective, all of these things are happening because Satan wants to destroy, kill, and steal, as Jesus told us,” Houssney says.

“We need to go back to the basics of the Christian message, which says God loves you and He will give you eternal life if you accept Jesus, His Son, as an atonement for your sin.”

Header image is a representative stock photo courtesy of Eepeng Cheong/Unsplash.

“We have breakouts, workshops, plenary sessions; there’s a lot of content.”

From September 27 to 29, Christian leaders will discuss rapid social transformations in the U.S. and beyond. More about that here.

“The takeaway with this particular theme is helping leaders understand and ideate what is happening in the culture that impacts what they’re doing in ministry,” Esler says.

“We’re hoping leaders walk away with some ideas that will challenge them to ‘up their game.’”

Learn more and sign up here. Today’s your last day to register for the in-person event.

“The best thing to walk away with is a new relationship with a peer who can assist you in doing your job better,” Esler says.

The upcoming three-day Missio Nexus conference in Orlando, Florida, will draw leaders from two spheres of ministry – the local church and mission agencies.

“We’re about execution on the Great Commission. It is not an academic conference; it is more of a practitioners’ conference,” Esler explains.

You might be familiar with the acronym TEAM – Together Everyone Achieves More. This collaborative concept is part of the Missio Nexus identity.

“Missio Nexus history goes back to 1917, gathering people in the Great Commission community who are trying to solve many of the same problems,” Esler says.

Header image courtesy of Missio Nexus.

However, there are more than 3 billion people around the world who don’t know God. Often, they don’t even know a single Jesus follower who can tell them that God listens to their prayers.

Many of these people are concentrated across five geographic areas: the Sahel (1), the Arabian Peninsula (2), the North Caucasus (3), South Asia (4) and the Mekong (5).

By spending time in prayer for people who do not yet know God’s amazing love, we align our hearts and minds with His, and open ourselves to how He might desire to use us for His work in the world.

Here’s a bit about what OM is doing in each of these regions:

The Sahel

In the eastern region of the Sahel, Christians make up less than 4% of the population, while in the western countries, there are still very few. Like their neighbors, believers face many hardships, including food insecurity and internal displacement. Many Christians also face religious persecution. But through Jesus, the Sahel has hope, and by the power of the Holy Spirit, Jesus followers there are equipping believers to make disciples.

OM comes alongside local Jesus followers who are passionate about sharing the transforming love of Jesus with the people of their country. OM provides training, discipleship tools and, in some cases, small business consulting to help local Jesus followers earn a sustainable living while they share the gospel message throughout the country. OM also supports Jesus followers seeking to be Jesus’ hands and feet by providing physical aid and engaging in relief efforts for those in need.

The Arabian Peninsula

It’s reported than there are fewer than 1,000 Jesus followers among Arabs in the region. Not only do believers suffer government persecution, but they also struggle to find community with other Christians and places to freely worship Jesus. Nevertheless, God is working. Many young people in the country are open to hearing the good news of salvation, and Jesus followers are actively living out the love of Christ to their Muslim neighbors.

OM supports and encourages Jesus followers in the Arabian Peninsula (AP) who seek to authentically live out their faith among those who do not know Jesus. OM comes alongside those who seek to pray for and bless people living in the AP and look for opportunities to answer questions about what Christians really believe. OM fosters a movement of prayer for those who have never experienced God’s love and equips those sharing truth through a variety of social media and online channels.

The North Caucasus

The church is small in the North Caucasus, and it can be difficult for Christians to share the message of Jesus’ love with their neighbors in the face of cultural pressure and persecution. The region is particularly difficult to reach with the gospel message because of political instability, government corruption and ethnic strife. Amid these difficulties, though, believers are living out the love of Jesus that brings peace and unity.

OM comes alongside Jesus followers who move to the North Caucasus to work and share their faith and life with local people. To find more skilled professionals who will go to the region, OM is liaising with churches across Russia to encourage more businessmen and women to investigate how they, too, could serve God through their jobs among a people group who don’t know Him.

South Asia

The nations of India, Pakistan and Bangladesh comprise the region of South Asia and are three of the top five nations with the highest number of people who don’t know the message of Jesus. South Asia is home to more than 1.5 billion people, and the sheer number of those without easy access to the gospel is overwhelming.

Hinduism and Islam are the two most popular religions in South Asia. It’s projected that, by 2030, India will have more Muslims than any other country in the world. Communities of Jesus followers face prejudice and oppression from family and the culture at large, causing many to fear reaching out to their Muslim and Hindu neighbors. There’s also been an increase in terrorist attacks against Christians, as well as anti-blasphemy laws targeting Christ followers.

Still, the people of South Asia are hospitable and friendly, and the local church benefits from deep historical roots. Ministry throughout the region takes a holistic approach, with Christian believers sharing the truth of the Bible alongside practical service assisting refugees, contributing to education and community development, rescuing women and children from trafficking, training local Jesus followers to reach their own communities and more.

The Mekong

The vast majority of people in the Mekong have never heard of Jesus or even met a Jesus follower. Historically, the presentation of the gospel was coupled with the message of abandoning one’s culture, which caused many to view the message of Christ as a form of colonialism. For this reason, growth of Jesus followers often occurs through the work of same- and near-culture believers who can contextualize the gospel message.

OM in the Mekong is partnering with church leaders to equip committed Jesus followers to engage in meaningful social work and live out God’s love in places that lack access to the gospel. From distributing food to people who are homeless to visiting children with special needs to organizing and sponsoring educational programs for children affected by poverty, OM team members and partners seek to show God’s love in action and develop relationships with people in need.

Through these bridges, those who are interested can learn about the gospel and receive further discipleship.

Jesus followers are also using their God-given talents to establish themselves in credible positions throughout society. By living out God’s love in their workplaces, operating with integrity and acting out biblical values through business decisions, they have opportunity to shine for Jesus in a place where He is not widely known. In partnership with other organizations, OM is mobilizing more believers in Christ to pursue Kingdom-driven, sustainable business in the region’s secular environment and providing ongoing coaching to those already following God’s call to this part of the Mekong region.

Header image courtesy of Operation Mobilization. 

“This is an era of mass flux and change. Whether it’s the topic of sexuality, sexual identity, or immigration – all sorts of things are changing and shifting right now,” Ted Esler of Missio Nexus says.

“As mission agencies and globally-focused churches, we need to understand those changes and do our best to get ahead of the change curve.”

Missio Nexus holds a forum to discuss topics like these at its annual leadership conference. This year, the ministry will host “SHIFT: Rapid Social Transformation and the Gospel” from September 27 – 29 at Caribe Royal in Orlando, Florida.

“We’re asking questions and asking people to think about [these issues],” Esler says.

“If you come to our conference, you’ll hear diverse perspectives. But they’re all aimed at thinking about redemptive history and how God is working through the Great Commission.”

At the “Shift” conference, author Ed Stetzer will present on the Church in the midst of rapid social change.
(Graphic courtesy of Missio Nexus)

Missio Nexus is similar to a trade association. “Most trade associations promote the industry. Well, our industry happens to be the Great Commission,” Esler says.

“The mission of Missio Nexus is to catalyze relationships, ideas, and collaboration within the Great Commission community.”

The three-day “SHIFT” conference will feature keynote addresses, panel discussions, and over 70 breakout sessions on race, immigration, artificial intelligence, human identity, and more.

Speakers include Ed Stetzer, Sam George, Michele Okimura, Glenn Stanton, James McGee III, Wayde Goodall, Todd Ahrend, Yvonne Carlson, and many others.

Wondering if you should go? Get tickets and more information here. Even if you don’t go, pray for those who do.

“We would love to have people put this on their calendar and pray for leaders seeking to fulfill the Great Commission,” Esler says.

Header and story images courtesy of Missio Nexus.

He says evangelism has been at the heart of Christianity since Jesus gave the Great Commission and ascended. “But it can be abused when the neediness of people is being used to manipulate them. When having resources to give to people in need is abused in evangelism. These are important issues because they go to the heart of social service and evangelism, both of which we’re called to do in the Gospels.”

Bush writes about these issues in a new collaborative book called No Longer Strangers. He says we don’t have a formula to prevent abuse in evangelism. But we do have a call. “The Christian call to the world, Christian missions, is the call to love. And if it’s not the call to love, what is it? And if it is the call to love, how do we love our Muslim neighbors? How do we love our Hindu neighbors, etc. [We love] as Christ loved. He washed his disciples’ feet, He washes our feet.”

Ask God to supply His global Church with this love.

The header photo shows the traditional site of Jesus’ resurrection in Jerusalem. (Photo courtesy of Bethlehem Bible College)

Which one are you?

“People who love Jesus and understand the price of their salvation, we don’t want them to be in the ‘disobedient’ category. We want them to be part of the process of taking the Gospel to these people (the unreached),” missiologist Marv Newell says.

(Graphic courtesy of A Third of Us)

Newell heads up the Alliance for the Unreached. It’s a coalition raising awareness of unreached people groups and calling Christians to action under the “A Third of Us” banner. A third of the world is denied access to the Gospel.

“When we say that a third of humanity is unreached, we’re talking about people who have no access to the Gospel whatsoever,” Newell says.

“There are no churches nearby, no believers. There’s no Bible in their language.”

Unreached vs. unsaved

The Alliance helps believers throughout North America understand key differences between Christian terms like “unreached,” “unsaved,” “unengaged,” and more. For example, “just because people are unsaved doesn’t mean that they’re unreached,” Newell says.

He says your neighbor down the street who doesn’t believe in Jesus, for example, is not unreached. Your presence means that neighbor has at least one access point to the Gospel. Unreached communities have no Christian witness whatsoever.

“They’re unsaved,” Newell says, referring to the theoretical neighbor. “But they are reached with the Gospel because the Gospel permeates the environment in which they live. They might be ignoring it or denying it, but that doesn’t mean they’re unreached,” he continues.

“It would be very difficult to say people in America are unreached; we have the Gospel available in so many different ways and avenues.”

You can help a third of humanity know Jesus by drawing three lines on your hand. Learn more here.

“Many parts of the world are living in Gospel poverty. They simply don’t have it,” Newell says.

“Not giving a person the opportunity to understand salvation through Jesus Christ is one of the greatest injustices in the world.”

A third of the world is still denied access to the Gospel. Do you want to help give everyone a chance to know Jesus? Take step one today. Draw the symbol somewhere visible and then talk about it! (Photo, caption courtesy of A Third of Us)

(Photo courtesy of unfoldingWord)

“[Many] people think ‘church’ means ‘my church.’ First Baptist, First Presbyterian, or my little church that meets in the movie theater, or something like that. And that’s not what we’re talking about at all,” David Reeves of unfoldingWord says.

“We’re talking about a global network of churches that look like the first-century context.”

Instead of picturing their church or denomination and its traditions, Western believers must understand how God is moving in the world today.

“I come from the Deep South [in the United States], and the church flavors down there are [distinctive]. I don’t have any way to explain this, except there’s something unique happening,” Reeves says.

“It doesn’t matter where we go, whether it’s Southeast Asia or the Middle East, [we encounter] dreams, visions, signs, and wonders; this is the book of Acts all over again.”

The end goal of church-centric Bible translation is not a Bible in a minority language alone but a thriving, reproducing church. Believers eagerly partner with each other and unfoldingWord to achieve this objective.

“These are strong, healthy churches with a powerful unity movement and Paul-type leaders. It’s not [divided by] ‘I’m this denomination or that denomination’ statements,” Reeves says.

“In our Western contexts, we’re not in a very healthy place; COVID kind of messed up our models. If we used to go up to our mega-church and enjoy our multisite services and all the other stuff, that’s not quite working. And that’s not what it looks like in parts of Asia or the Middle East at all.”

unfoldingWord partners with large-scale church networks around the world. In places like the Middle East or North Africa, these church networks are often underground.

(Photo courtesy of unfoldingWord)

“Behind the scenes, out of view, there’s a lot of stuff happening in terms of church planting among Hindus, Buddhists, and Muslims,” Reeves says.

“We’re talking about hundreds of thousands of churches throughout these networks with leaders who look a lot like the apostle Paul.”

The Body of Christ is growing quickly, and new believers in these church networks need God’s Word in their heart language. As explained here, unfoldingWord gives church networks the tools and training they need to do Bible translation.

Join us tomorrow for Part Two of this story.

Header image depicts the worship service at a United States church. (Photo courtesy of Matt Botsford/Unsplash)

Wycliffe USA’s Associate Director of Education Programs, Melissa Paredes, says Kate and Mack can help. “Kate is a Wycliffe missionary kid who travels around the world with her best friend Mack, who is her pet Macaw,” Paredes explains.

“It’s never too early to teach kids about God’s heart for the world.”

Learn more about Kate and Mack here.

“This past month, we’ve released two new Bible adventure books: Kate and Mack and the Tower of Babel and Kate and Mack and the Great Commission,” Paredes says. Around the World with Kate and Mack, the first book in the series, introduces kids to different languages and people groups.

(Graphic courtesy of Wycliffe USA)

Click on the book titles above to order these resources. You may be able to cross a few more items off your Christmas shopping list. “I keep a store of kids’ books on hand to give out as gifts and for last-minute party invites,” Paredes says.

“[They make] a great gift to help share God’s heart for the world and tie it in with a biblical perspective.”

There are plenty of “extras” to go with the latest releases. See a complete list here.

“We have a lot of digital resources; everything from devotionals to seasonal activities, monthly activities ranging from crafts to recipes to Bible-based activities,” Paredes says.

“Our hope is through these resources, kids can see kids like them around the world and that God loves all people, no matter where they live or what language they speak.”

These tools and resources can help parents introduce their children to global missions.

“Scripture says, ‘Raise up a child in the way they should go. When they’re old, they will not turn from it,’ and I think it requires intentionality to begin that journey now,” Paredes says.

You never know how God will use a life that’s fully surrendered to Him.

“I am a Wycliffe missionary kid. I moved overseas when I was 12 years old, so kind of at that point where you’re becoming your own person and starting to question, ‘Who do I want to be? What do I want to grow up to do?’” Paredes says.

“It was really pivotal for me to have this cross-cultural experience where I got to see firsthand lives transformed by God’s Word in their language, and not just expecting [people] to learn English.”

Header and story images courtesy of Wycliffe USA.