After a week in two Middle Eastern countries, it hit me. It’s likely the only Christians I passed on the crowded streets were the ones in my travel party.
The combined unreached population in these nations surpasses 88 million. That means 88 million living, breathing people don’t have access to a Bible, church, or local believer. These men and women will hit similar life milestones as you and me—building friendships, getting married, and having children. But they will most likely never have an opportunity to respond in faith to the gospel.
The spiritual reality of this should break our hearts.
But if I’m honest, I settle back into the comforts of my life at home a little quicker than I’d like to admit and forget about a world that’s eternally dying. Far removed from these spiritually dark streets, I take on an “out of sight, out of mind” mentality, ultimately forgetting that God saved me to send me into a world desperate for Jesus.
This pinch point spurs me to answer this question: How do I live in the tension between two polar opposite worlds?
In one, churches line corners. In the other, there are no church buildings in sight. In one, Sundays involve music, a sermon, and community. In the other, song-like sirens ring through cities calling Muslims to their knees five times a day in prayer to Allah. In one, there’s freedom to express faith. In the other, following Jesus can result in unemployment, disownment, imprisonment, or worse.
These places couldn’t be more different, but they share a similar need—Jesus.
And while my home is the United States, my heart feels strung across oceans as I wrestle with how to be faithful here while maintaining a mindfulness and zeal for the unreached there.
In this wrestling, this is the balance I hope to—albeit imperfectly—strike: getting involved with local gospel opportunities while praying, giving, going, and advocating as much as I can for the unreached overseas.
Today here are five ways you can join me in striking the balance through East-West: