Go Serve Among Unreached People Groups

"How can they call upon the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?" Rom. 10:14 There are still 6700 unreached people groups in the world today and if they are going to follow Jesus, they have got to hear about Jesus which means we need a huge amount of people going to the nations to tell every tribe, tongue, people, and language this good news.

Missiologists say that about 90% of our missionary work force is going to parts of the world that are already considered "reached" with the gospel leaving only 10% to minister among the 1.7 billion people that have never heard the name of Jesus. One of the theories as to why so many people are going long-term to places that already have access to the gospel is because the majority of our short-term mission trips are going to those places. People tend to fall in love with and get passionate about people, places, and things that they have been exposed to first hand. So, if the majority of our short-term mission trips are going to place like Mexico, Guatemala, and Kenya, then we are going to see a lot of our long-term laborers going to those same areas. Maybe we need to look at GOING on short term mission trips to unreached people groups?

It's also interesting that the amount of North American missionaries being sent out overseas long-term has actually decreased in the past three decades. Missionaries are increasingly being sent out from Korea, Brazil, Nigeria, and South Africa, but the U.S. is lagging behind. One possible reason for the number of missionaries decreasing could be due to the incredible increase in people going on short-term mission trips. The short-term missions bubble is booming while long-term engagement in declining. Many people also point to the comfort, safety, security, and debt culture in the United States as being possible explanations as to why fewer Americans are answering the call to "go".

No matter the theories, the truth is that both short and long-term laborers are going to be needed to see the gospel taken to the remaining people groups of the world. "Who will go for us? Who shall we send?" -- God