By Kurt Nelson, President & CEO of East-West
It’s true. The lost are not exclusively located on the other side of the planet. The United States is still a mission field to be reached. But a practical reality exists that a great number of people in the world remain with no access to the gospel.
According to the Joshua Project, 77.5% of the population of the U.S. would consider themselves Christians, and 90% of the population has a significant church presence in their area. There are certainly unchurched and unbelieving people in our nation, but very few can truly be considered without access to the gospel … without Bibles, without churches nearby, or without neighbors who believe.
But for one-third of the world’s population—2.3 billion people—the name of Jesus has never been heard. This is a reality that all believers must wrestle with and come to terms with.
Jesus said in Acts 1:8, “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
Yes, there is an obligation for believers to minister in our own “Jerusalem,” our own cities and our own nation. Wherever we are, the Church should be meeting the needs of the people and making disciples. But along with this mandate to our cities is the mandate to go to the “ends of the earth.”
Jesus doesn’t leave us a choice between Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria, and the ends of the earth. He gives us a concurrent responsibility to be His witnesses in all of them. If we believe that Christ is our authority, we have to begin to look at this verse not as a list of options but as a comprehensive mandate.
My personal calling, and the calling of East-West, is to go to ends of the earth … to the places where Christian activity is restricted by government or society or where believers are nonexistent. But it is also important to me to not neglect making disciples in my own community.
Each of these tasks alone is a large undertaking. Most would say that they’re almost impossible. How can one person or even a handful of people like the disciples—to whom the original command was given—ever hope to complete them easily?
But I don’t think Jesus meant for it to be easy or for us to fulfill His commission on our own. It’s meant to take place under the guidance and power of the Holy Spirit.
Each act of obedience on the field or in our own hometown requires faith. In fact, sometimes making disciples where we live is more difficult and requires more trust in God than traveling to another part of the world to do it. But taking those leaps of faith not only benefits those around us but also our own relationship with Christ.
I want to challenge you today to take the words of Jesus Christ in Acts 1:8 seriously.
What can you do to reach your Jerusalem? What can you do to share the gospel among the unreached who reside at the ends of the earth? Are you willing to take a risk by praying and seeking God’s plan to use you to bring the name of Christ where it’s never been before?
We risk much when we magnify the Name of Christ both at home and overseas … but I’m convinced that when you look back from the other side of eternity the risk will seem like no risk at all.
