I find the work(research, analysis) of Justin Long, of ‘The Network for Strategic Missions, quite remarkable on this subject. You would think the situation is quite well defined, all the mission agencies should just work on mobilizing more and more people to these un-worked fields. Hmmm? I thought so too.

While looking for material to read on missionary work recently, I came across an old post by David Sherbrooke on The Network for Strategic Missions blog, I think I find in it many key insights to what is happening with regards to our actual progress with taking the Gospel to the remaining Unreached People Groups of the world. The article titled ‘How new missionaries choose their country of service: do we need a change?‘ examines reasons why far less than 10%(actually 2% is quoted) of serving missionaries go to places that are regarded to be unreached, while at least 90% serve and continue to be sent to places where the church is already established.

David Sherbrooke thinks that overt self-consciousness on the part of  prospective missionaries(which he terms “The Zeal for Me”) is a major problem, in his words:

Trying to seek our own self fulfillment, a spin-off of modern psychology, is contrary to the most basic concept Jesus taught His disciples. “He knew that the only path to true fulfillment lay in denying self. The only way to find truly abundant life is to throw your life away for Jesus’ sake.” The vast majority of new missionaries today simply go where they want to serve, and do what they want to do adding to the masses, today still ninety percent, serving in already reached peoples. “The biggest hindrance to the missionary task is self. Self that refuses to die. Self that refuses to sacrifice. Self that refuses to give. Self that refuses to go.” I would add to this: self that refuses to go where few if any missionaries are serving.

Then he went on to give cogent reasons why ‘Most New Missionaries End Up Serving In Well Evangelized Countries Rather than Unreached People Groups?’… And wow that was really enlightening, if I could summarise it here I would have, though it’s a long read but it’s very well worth your time to read the original article.

This beautiful article contains many balanced pointers to positive approaches and the way forward. I also went through the thread of discussion that followed as readers, including serving missionaries and Justin Long himself, shed more light on the existing situation and shared more ideas. One commenter which I find particularly remarkable was Thomas Johnson, a missionary in francophone Africa who brought in another perspective by a related issue to the discussion. I guess another great part of this article, is the wealth of references cited in the endnotes.

Here is the link again. Enjoy! How new missionaries choose their country of service: do we need a change?

The bottom line is that, if the great commission is going to be accomplished, we all need to leave our comfort zones and doing our own thing, and begin to go and cater for those dangerous, indesirable places where the gospel is needed and lacked most. Probably enough analysis to start with has been done, the problem and the solution stare us in the face, but where now are the people who will go!

Justin Long

I found this article by Justin Long, in the June 2006 edition of Lausanne World Pulse, and decided to share an abridged version.

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In the 1980s and 1990s, the AD 2000 & Beyond Movement had this slogan: “A church for every people and the gospel for every person by the year 2000 and beyond.” This was a masterful way of both stating the goal while keeping the rallying point somewhat flexible. The problem was that most workers rarely stopped to think deeply about either the goal or what was required to reach it. Similar to how we give a cursory glance at scripture and think we understand it, many just gave a cursory glance at the goal and thought we understood it by our “first impression.”

If we are going to finish the Great Commission, churches will indeed be a natural part of the process. A congregation in which believers fellowship together is a key part of Christian life. At the same time, we also want to be careful that when we say “church” we do not carry our own baggage with us. It might be better to say “a fellowship for every people” or some other phrase that makes us really think about what we mean. However, we are going to need more than just a church for every people if we are to effectively share the gospel with those around the world. Here are seven additional things that are needed:

1. A prayer for every people. Prayer is the foundation for mission. Yet we lack organized prayer for most of the least reached peoples. We have global prayer strategies such as Operation World, Praying through the Window, Ethne’s Global Prayer campaign and so forth, but each people group needs a small, globalized core of consistent intercessors praying that God would raise up workers and resources. Additionally, those who pray for specific people groups are more likely to become involved in specific ways.
2. A strategy coordinator for every people. The term may be somewhat dated, and the role may today be filled more by a network than a single individual person, yet the fact remains that we need to have at least one point person for each unreached people group. This person would be someone who is passionate about the people group and is actively seeking ways to bring the blessing of the good news to this group.
3. A gateway for every people. There is a “route” to every people group: a path that can be walked. Perhaps it is another people group, a city or an industry. Some good work has already been done in the past (i.e. Praying through the Window II: Gateway Cities), but these initiatives focused on larger urban areas. We need to do more to identify specific gateway peoples and cities for each unreached people group.
4. A preacher for every people. Many groups, even to this day, have little or no gospel proclamation amongst them. In the past three issues of Mission Frontiers, different research teams have printed their list of “priority peoples.” Many of these have no one among them proclaiming the good news. This is substantially different from peoples in, say, Latin America or Europe, who have a significant amount of proclamation effort. One thing we need to remember is that although the preacher has to cross cultural boundaries, he or she does not necessarily need to come from the West. More on this in a moment.
5. A mission for every people. The final goal is for each people group, as it is reached, to join in the task. This will open up new resources and spread the remaining task among more workers. At this stage we see new intercessors, researchers, preachers, church planters, business-savvy individuals and teachers for every people.

It is at this point that a “circle” has been completed and the people group joins the rest of the family of God in bringing the good news to those who have not yet heard it. Through this kind of multiplication it is possible to see the Great Commission completed. We must ask ourselves if it is possible that the Great Commission will be fully obeyed if we do not complete this circle. We cannot simply leave the task of missions to one or two parts of the world; we must become family in this task of missions.

[Please see the full article here.]

Justin Long manages strategicnetwork.org and is senior editor for Momentum, a magazine devoted to unreached peoples.

“Reaching the unreached is a challenging task, but our primary problem is not the cultural, economic, logistical or political barriers we face. It is more simple: we lack sufficient manpower.” – Justin Long, “Where are We Going?” in Momentum Magazine, July/ August, 2006

“The biggest hindrance to the missionary task is self. Self that refuses to die. Self that refuses to sacrifice. Self that refuses to give. Self that refuses to go. I would add to this: self that refuses to go where few if any missionaries are serving.” – David Sherbrooke, in How new missionaries choose their country of service: do we need a change?

“The world will not be reached if no one serves long term… Believers typically undergo a revolution of mission-mindedness on their first mission trip[referring to short-term mission visits]; too often, however, when they want to know how they can further help, we tell them we are praying for funds for a new vehicle or building. Is this the best we can do? Did Jesus say, ‘The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send more checks in the mail?’ Such an approach may actually deter otherwise-willing people from long-term service on the field by convincing them the best thing they can do is go home, take more mission trips and send money. I am not saying buildings, vehicles or giving are wrong. Nor am I criticizing the vital role of the sender or of the other wonderful callings on the home front. Indeed, we need all of these. We just need to make sure we are challenging people to go where the gospel is unavailable. We need to remember that three missionaries for every one million Muslims cannot complete the Great Commission with any amount of money.” – Chris Leake, Global Frontier Missions, Oaxaca, Mexico

“It is our conviction that all theological study and reflection must lead to mission and action, otherwise it is futile abstraction. It is also our conviction that all mission activity must be based on a sound theological foundation, otherwise it is mere pragmatism. It is at the very frontiers of mission that both theological reflection and activity must be forged to create an effective tool for breaking new ground for the kingdom. Thus, Lausanne is committed to bringing together both thinkers and doers.” – Doug Birdsall, Lausanne World Pulse

“A biblically illiterate young generation today is an inevitable forerunner of an increasingly secular society tomorrow.” – Colin Reed, Chief executive of the Bible Society in New Zealand

“There is a small area of the world that extends from ten degrees to forty degrees north of the equator and stretches from North Africa to China, two-thirds of the world’s population (nearly four billion people) live inside this rectangular-shaped band. Here you will find the largest population of non-Christians and ninety percent of the world’s poorest people. This area is known as the 10/40 Window… Unfortunately, many Christians are not eager to go to this part of the world. Only three percent of missionaries are serving among unreached peoples; the other ninety-seven percent remain in areas where the gospel is readily accessible.” – Bethany Newman

“More Christians have been martyred for their faith in this century alone than in the previous nineteen centuries combined.” – Chuck Colson

Along the line, Good books also played a part in my exposure  to a world outside mine, that needed Jesus just as much. I remember my fascination one time, with books about Islam and the religious perspectives of Muslims, mostly written by former Muslims who had received Jesus, in my quest to be able to more effectively witness to my Muslim friends.

I think many Christians and churches assume about and underestimate their lack of adequate knowledge about the world and missions, and invariably of the moves of God in our generation and amongst the nations, including the evil in such lack of awareness.

I came to be of the opinion that making missiological information as accessible as possible (physically and contextually) to local churches and the common Christian may be necessary, if not vital, in committing and involving every church and believer in the commission of taking the gospel to every people of our communities and the World at Large.

Our Mandate; The Mandate of evangelism has always had a world scope

Unfortunately, today it is very common for believers to imagine that missions or global evangelism is another person’s responsibility; or to feel even if they wanted to do something that there was hardly anything tangible they could personally do. Most of our local church boards or leadership are also made up of men who feel the same way, and so we have a chain reaction – or say, chain inaction.

In Acts 1:8, Luke records Jesus’ instruction to his disciples:

But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.

It didn’t seem to matter to Jesus that most of this men he was going to commission as international emissaries, had never traveled; knew no geography; were uneducated, unsophisticated and very poor, all that seemed to matter was that they received The Power first. It’s the baptism of the Holy Spirit that authorizes or authenticates us to be witnesses. And we all had to be baptized in that one spirit, not just the Apostles. Also, the Apostles couldn’t possibly have gone to the uttermost part of the earth, in their life time. It’s hardly 200 years since the gospel got to a major part of Africa. So the point I’m trying to make here should be apparent now: the mandate was giving to the church for all ages, it must remain our priority now, or clearly something is misplaced.

As for Saul, he made havoc of the church, entering into every house, and haling men and women committed them to prison. Therefore they that were scattered abroad went every where preaching the word. Acts 8:3-4

There’s another point here, Most of the spreading of the gospel outside Jerusalem, was not done by the apostles themselves, or by formally ordained ministers, but by believers scattered from Jerusalem, following survival instincts, from the perils of persecution and other necessities. But ordained, institutionalized or not, they were fulfilling the mandate. It makes me wonder where believers and many of our local churches today get the idea that evangelism of a global scope, has to or must be accomplished by or credited only to formally trained or sponsored personnel,  specially appointed, gifted and commissioned to travel, like Paul, Barnabas etc.

The mandate to go into all the world is clearly for every believer to identify with, for most of us it may not be about going out, as already several factors bring the world, even the uttermost part of the earth, closer than ever to us. The problem is usually in our lack of information or orientation about ways in which we can effectively participate. I have already shared links about a wealth of resources available online which helped me in my own exposure, they may be good places for you to start as well. This older article should be of help too: World Evangelism: Expanding opportunities for the everyday Christian to get involved. You never can tell what ideas will occur to you about what you can do.

Intelligent participation

Expanding our scope as Christians or as a local church will let us know the urgency, the great need and the numerous opportunities that we thought were too far away, or we were altogether oblivious to, and how we can make a world of difference and make well informed and intelligent channeling of our prayers, time and resources.

Say not ye, There are yet four months, and then cometh harvest? behold, I say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest. Joh 4:35

Then saith he unto his disciples, The harvest truly is plenteous, but the labourers are few. Mt 9:37

I have compiled some analysis and even more helpful details for my next post make sure you don’t miss it.

The Mission is possible!

This scheme was enacted under the military administration of General Yakubu Gowon in 1973. Just as the federal government had a plan, so God also apparently had his own plan and interest in the scheme. God spoke to Pastor G. Elton (a British missionary who lived in Nigeria for 50 years) that “a time will come when the Nigerian government will pay Nigerian youths to preach the gospel in the nooks and crannies of the country”. No doubt the prophecy referred to the NYSC programme and the mobilisation of Christian Youths to remote rural communities all over the nation.

An open door to priority peoples

About a third of Nigeria’s population remains unreached by the gospel, locked away from reach by barriers of language, remoteness and religious intolerance. Some of the most unreached regions in the country especially in the predominantly Islamic north have no contact at all with Christianity except when they meet with corpers who are usually school teachers or health workers. NYSC continues to post corpers, indiscriminate of their religion, to places where there are no known Christians or churches, only false religion, idolatry and abject poverty. We have to face it, the NYSC scheme is an open door to this priority peoples.

Undeniable fruits of corpers’ fellowships

The Nigeria Christian Corpers’ fellowship(NCCF) officially inaugurated in 1983, keyed into the prophecy of Sir Elton and adopted Rural Rugged Evangelism as the core of their vision. Every year the fellowship visits over 500 towns and villages, hardly touched by any form of development, bearing social relief and welfare materials, including volunteer medical personnel and free drugs, touching over 100,000 lives. Other corper fellowships like RCCF (Redeemed Christian Corpers’ Fellowship) also carry out similar outreaches in some states, including prison outreaches amongst other ministries.

Apart from outreaches to unreached priority groups, Corpers’ Fellowship both during the three weeks orientation camp and after, continue to help many Nigerian youths to meet with Jesus. Suffice it to say that since the inception of NYSC, tens of thousands of graduate Nigerian youths, covering a vast range of different backgrounds have believed on the gospel about Jesus Christ through one corper fellowship or the other under the umbrella of NYSC. I think that is absolutely marvellous.

Missionaries of tomorrow

Serving corpers have helped plant hundreds of churches in difficult terrain around the country. Just like short term missionary programmes in Europe and the Americas is helping many to commit themselves to full term mission work in foreign lands, the NYSC scheme has helped many of today’s full time missionaries, village evangelist and pastors answer the call to ministry and to permanently settle to serve God in the place where they concluded their youth service programme.

NYSC is un-arguably a missionary force in our land that shouldn’t be ignored, but what about Jesus Corpers as agents of development and transformation? At every point in time each year there are over 100,000 serving corpers from different disciplines and vocations all over the country. In some local government areas in the country, the only fully qualified doctors available are serving corpers. In some parts of Northern Nigeria like Sokoto where I served, well over 70% of the strength of Academic staff especially primary and secondary school teachers are corpers. I think this is the more reason why we have to take talk about proper orientation of serving Christian corpers seriously.

Little wonder, that the devil has tried to quell the continuity of NYSC severally. the scheme has major difficulties definitely, but Christians must remember that God has an interest in the programme, He has used it greatly and can continue to use it. Let’s cease praying for NYSC to be scrapped, but rather let’s be part of the solution to the problems faced by our graduate youths and NYSC. NYSC is the gospel’s open door to the unreached of our Nation.