My Burden (for the Truly Unreached)
Not much has changed since I originally wrote and posted this short article almost 9 years ago…
After spending my first 3 years as a Christian in the States involved in tons of personal evangelism and now after having spent more than 7 years living in some of the most Gospel-deprived regions in the world, I am very frustrated by the amount of Gospel preaching that takes place in the West compared to the complete ignorance of the Gospel that exists all around me over here.
Let me explain myself a little better. Although it seems that the laborers are so very few even in America, it is impossible to even compare the amount of Gospel-knowledge available to the average American with the utter lack of the Gospel found in certain areas around the world.
I happen to live in one of those places. In brief, within a few hundred miles of where I am sitting right now, there are millions of Tibetan Buddhists and Chinese Muslims scattered throughout tens of thousands of towns and villages. The vast majority of these people have never heard anything true about Christianity, and (with the exception of just a handful) the villages have never, in the history of mankind, been graced by the presence of a minister of the Gospel.
The lack of the Gospel in this place is overwhelming and I truly believe that God will call more people out into these far flung corners of the world if only they have the chance to hear about the need and are shown how they can do something about it.
I simply want to encourage the Western Church to wake up and realize that dozens of regions around the world are still completely devoid of the Gospel AND most of these places are difficult places for even ‘native missionaries’ to work. It is going to take people like you and me (ie, Western, cross-cultural missionaries) to be sent to go and learn these languages and share the Gospel with these people.
For instance, the large number of Christians in China are primarily located in the eastern half of the country and their culture is radically different from that of the Tibetans and Chinese Muslims. Much of the time, Western missionaries do a better job of reaching out to these minorities than do the Chinese, especially with the raciscm that exists in China and the recent wars that the minorities have often fought against the ruling Chinese.
I hope I have explained my burden clearly enough. Please let me know if anybody has any thoughts, comments, or questions. For God’s glory, we want to see more laborers raised up to reach these millions with the Gospel!
