A PLEA FOR ACTION 

After six months on the mission field we are overwhelmed with the great need we are seeing all around us. In this post we earnestly appeal to you, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, for the sending of more mission workers to the most unreached region of the world – South Asia. 

Our appeal to you is on behalf of the lost and unreached people of this region with a solemn and urgent request directed to the Global body of Christ for the sending or preparation to send more missionaries for the “Glory of God among the nations” of South Asia, which include the nations of: India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bhutan and the Maldives. Our appeal to you is a plea for you to not close up your hearts to their dire situation.

Once you hear their desperate need and reckon with the biblical call and responsibility given to the Church by Christ to make “disciples of all the nations (Matt 28:18-20)” unto his glory, there is simply no alternative, in view of his great mercy and sacrifice for our many sins, but to offer our lives as living sacrifices in whatever form that takes for the completion of his mission to the nations (Rom 12:1-3), so that the Lamb who was slain might receive the reward of his sufferings. We are clearly warned in 1 John 3:

“Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth. By this we shall know that we are of the truth and reassure our heart before him (1 john 3:18-19)”

Let’s face the reality! It is not those who merely talk about serving the Lord or loving Christ and seeking his glory among the nations but only those who put love into action in “deed and in truth” that separate the true disciples of Christ from the vain talkers (Matt 15:8). It is not enough to have a theological conviction about the demonstration of the Glory of God, among the unreached without acting upon it.

That kind of love is only a mere pretence and not authentic faith that works through love at all (Gal 5:6). One must actually do something for love to be confirmed. Paul said that the “love of Christ” and “the Terror of the Lord” constrained him to action (2 Cor 5: 11-14), and so our plea is for action. If you have a burden for the nations, and believe that God is calling you to go, then you are either going/preparing yourself to go in the future or you are being disobedient to the call, this is a dangerous thing for any of us to do.

In what follows, I will lay out the great need of South Asia and then what actions I believe must be taken by the global church to faithfully engage with God’s global mission for long-term fruitfulness here.   

DEFINING THE TASK 

The primary need here in South Asia is for Biblically qualified minsters to be sent with the Gospel message. Servants of Christ who are willing to put their hand to the plow, and not look back (Luke 9:62). Those who will boldly proclaim of the Gospel to the unreached, those who are willing to faithfully labour, even at the risk of death among those same people in the daily task of discipleship, unto their conformity to Christ resulting in their maturity; and for those who have the burden to plant biblically patterned, maturing and reproducing indigenous local congregations in each unreached community that facilitate that aim. Why such a specific description? Because of the enormity of the task that remains.

SOME STATISTICS AND DEFINITIONS 

Consider that there are currently 1,809,312.000, people who live in South Asia and 95.3% of them are still unreached. Missiologists define the unreached not by referring to people who are just unsaved but to those who don’t even have access to the Gospel. For the most part people in the Western world have access to the Gospel through a nearby Church, bookstore (that sells Bibles), Christian friend or associate (we must continue to spread the Gospel to those unsaved people) but these people are not unreached. Let’s be clear:

The unreached are those who do not have access to the Gospel because there is no church, no Bible in their language and no real Christian presence in their community to tell them.

Globally there are approximately 3,226,638,000 people whom are unreached – 53.4% of those unreached people live in South Asia. In a comparison to the second most unreached region by population – South East Asia, which has 330,894,000 unreached people, South Asia has a far greater need than anywhere else with 1,724,807.000 unreached people –  Five times the amount 

In terms of unreached people groups South Asia has 3,677 distinct unreached peoples, in comparison to the next closest region South East Asia again, which has 710. Moreover, of all the regions of the world South Asia has the lowest percentage of Chrisitan adherents with only 1.8%.

What does this look like in terms of labourers? Joshua Project estimates that there are approximately 36,372 frontline workers needed in South Asia, in comparison to South East Asia that needs an estimated 6,998 workers, that is almost 6 times the amount.  So what does this mean ? It means that statistically South Asia is the region of the world that needs missionaries more than any other region.

Moreover, this region is the birthplace of both Buddhism and Hinduism and has significant Muslim populations. This makes South Asia, the region of the world that has not only the greatest need for missionaries, but also is one of the most  religiously diverse.

What does all this mean it terms of salvation ?  It means as we will see that without a “personal Gospel witness” these millions upon millions of people will perish and die in their sins (John 8:24). I say “personal gospel witness” because while it is possible in the age of the Internet for these unreached people to access the Gospel through online content, it is unlikely that they will. Low internet availability in many of these places, family pressure to retain their traditional beliefs, religious hegemony in the society and the universal scriptural indictment concerning the absence of the true God seeker (Rom 310-12) all create insurmountable barriers against such a proposition. But more importantly and more pertinent for what follows is that the means of accessing the Gospel through the internet is not a sufficient medium for the completion of the Great Commission. To this we now turn.  

GOD’S METHOD IS HUMAN MESSENGERS   

We contend and will show why a personal Gospel witness is needed, firstly God’s medium has always been human messengers. It is through fallible men and women who boldly and faithfully proclaim the Gospel, who by the means of his Spirit, are willing to take up their crosses, to die to themselves,  to fill up what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ (Col 1:24) in order to make him known in the unreached and dangerous places of the world that he uses for his own glorification. God uses people because it is through people that he has invested the treasure of the Gospel, and it is only people who can personally witness to the risen Christ. As E. M Bounds has said:

The Holy Ghost does not flow through methods, but through men. He does not come on machinery, but on men. He does not anoint plans, but men — men of prayer.”

In scripture God has consistently demonstrated the truth that it is through weak human vessels, who trust in him, who are strengthened in faith to do things far beyond their capacity that the treasure of Christ is revealed (Heb 12). God’s method is weak men and women, who trust him and share his message of salvation to the lost. This highlights the good news that we need not look to our own ability to qualify for the mission field but to his sufficiency to transform us and make us useful. God is not seeking to use the wise, the noble or the strong, but the humble and the weak those who in the world’s estimation are of no reputation to send into his harvest field (1 Cor 1:27-28). 

Also, God saves by not via the message of salvation alone but he uses the lives of these same fallible messengers who have been sent. As these messengers live among the people they share not just the message, but they also share their lives (1 Thess 2:7-8). This is the challenge because their lives are to be the fragrance of Christ to God among those who are perishing and among those who are being saved, to those who are being saved they are to be the fragrance of life and to those who are perishing the fragrance of death (2 Cor 2:14-16). God uses the transformed lives of his messengers to demonstrate the reality of Christ’s transformative work to his yet unsaved elect. The lives of his followers prove that Jesus was sent by the Father (John 17:21-23). This means that although we need not look to ourselves those who are sent to mission field must be mature and biblically qualified men and women, both their character and in their doctrine. They are to adorn the doctrine of Christ on a daily basis leading by example.    

Lastly, to this end it must be highlighted that the Great Commission entails far more than just getting people to profess faith in Jesus, but involves the laborious work of “making disciples” among all nations. The task includes Baptising them into the church and “teaching them to obey,” all that Jesus commanded. This means that even if someone were to hear the message and believe in the Gospel via the internet they would still need to be baptised into a local church and discipled. Let’s be realistic, biblical discipleship, the work of “teaching them to obey” primarily happens in the context of the local church, when biblically qualified leaders intentionally labour day by day to present everyone mature in Christ through both their example – observed by the flock, and sound teaching of the whole counsel of God faithfully and systematically preached; and secondly when these same believers are refined through the rub of their regular interactions with each other. One cannot be perfected in love without learning how to forgive and bear with others as Christ did with us (1 Cor 13).

Biblically speaking the goal of the Gospel is not conversion but the transformation of lives that are conformed to image of Christ (Rom 8:9). The purpose of the Gospel, and the explicit task for which Paul laboured was to bring about the “obedience of faith” among all nations (Rom 1:5, 16 :26). The term “obedience of faith” is used to highlight the result of the Gospel in a person’s life, this result is a life of obedience and conformity to the ways to Christ. We are told that the grace of God appeared, in Christ, and that it works in men and women to train them to be godly. God’s purpose in Christ was to create a people for his own possession, whom are zealous for good works (Titus 2:11-14). Without leading men and women through the justifying (Rom 3:21-26) and then transforming power of the Gospel towards the goal of conformity to Christ, obedience of faith and the formation of a people for God – zealous for good works, we have not fulfilled the command of Christ to teach the nations to obey everything we ourselves have heard.     

THE NEED FOR THE UNREACHED TO HEAR AND RESPOND    

Our time in South Asia so far has confronted us with this huge task ahead of us. This task has implication for labour both inside and outside of the established church? Firstly, the task among the unreached: How are the millions of unreached people located in South Asia, whom do not have access to the Gospel, able to be saved without hearing the message from those sent with the Gospel? as Paul succinctly puts it: 

“How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how are they to believe in him of whom they have not heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching ? And how are they to preach unless sent?” (Rom 10:14-15)

The logic of Paul’s argument is unavoidable. We are told in Romans 10:13 that “everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved,” but how can they call upon him without hearing of him? This indicates the necessity of both hearing and calling upon the name of Christ for salvation, because it is through believing in the heart (about Christ’s death and resurrection) and the confession of faith in his name that justification “of life” happens. Paul’s explicit call then is for people to be sent. Not one person who does not hear of Christ and call on his name will be saved, therefore there is a desperate need for people to be sent to the billions who have not yet heard. 

LABOURING FOR THEIR MATURITY

Next how are those who have heard of his name and believed in him to become mature in Christ, without those willing to labour among them day by day, offering them their lives as examples as well as teaching them sound doctrine towards their conformity to Christ? Paul spoke of his ministry as one of proclamation and warning in order to present everyone mature in Christ, he explained his ministry saying:

“Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ (Col 1:28).”

The goal of his ministry was maturity. He instructed his spiritual son in the faith Timothy to:   

“Keep a close watch on yourself and on the teaching. Persist in this, for by so doing you will save both yourself and your hearers.” (1 Tim 4:16)

It is faithful ministers and missionaries like Timothy (Timothy was a missionary to Ephesus) who both demonstrate how to practically follow Christ and teach sound doctrine that are the means of grace God uses to bring to completion his transformative work unto salvation in those they lead. It is only those minister’s who equip the saints for works of service, so they can be built up unto “the unity of the faith and of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ” (Eph 4:14) that are the fully obeying in the great commission.   

Practically speaking for a people to mature they need both practical examples and sound doctrine. If we have sound doctrine without practical examples, then people will not know how to practically apply scripture to their lives because people learn not by just hearing what to do but being shown what to do. Just as a parent teaches a child by both word and deed so discipleship happens by both word and practical examples in life on life relationships. On the other hand If we just demonstrate without teaching people may follow without understanding what they do and why – leading to vain practices void of faith, to do anything without faith is dead and sin (Rom 14:23). So not only do people need to be taught the truth but they need people to live among them and demonstrate what it looks like to follow Christ.

THE LOSTNESS OF SOUTH-ASIA

As I look out at the people of South Asia, I observe on a daily basis their utter lostness and darkness – steeped in idolatry, vain religious traditions and superstitions – practices that have their origin in the deceptions of Satan, who leads them not to God but further away to false and useless worship. The local unbelievers in South Asia are ignorant of the true God and his Gospel. What the majority worship are images that are the inventions and vain imaginations of men who have exchanged the image of the immortal God for images that resemble created things (Rom 11:22-25). Vain images that can’t talk, or hear prayer, or smell and eat the offerings they daily offer.

The sin of bringing God down to the level of created things is at the heart of man’s rebellion against God and his word. But the true God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ in his unconditional mercy has provided through his Son a propitiation for sins (Rom 3:25), he has made a way in which he is able to remain just and justify (declare righteous) the ungodliness and unrighteousness of men. Moreover he has charged his messengers with the great task of announcing this salvation to every, people, tribe, language and nation.

It is this Gospel alone and the reception of it by faith that is the means to delivering them from his judgement rightly due to them because of their sin. This ignorance in which they walk is a wilful blindness to the glory of God revealed in creation, it is only the grace of God that can remove their blindness and enable them to come into the light. As Paul says, they are without “hope and without God in the world” (Eph 2:12). This is why we need people to be sent.  

THE NEED FOR DISCIPLESHIP AND CHURCH PLANTING 

But conversion alone as we have seen is not the goal of the Gospel, but conformity to the image of Christ and the obedience of faith are. We are saved by grace through faith and it is the gift of God so that no one can boast, but we are saved for good works (Eph 2:10), and the grace of God has come so that God might create a people for himself zealous for good works.

It is encouraging to see God adding people to the church here, but when I enter the Churches and talk to the people about the Gospel, I see a great ignorance, for many the Gospel is more about healing, and deliverance from evil spirits. For many they don’t understand “what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, (Eph 1:9), they don’t understand nor experience the power and intention of God to transform their lives to become more like Christ.

This means there is a huge need for sound biblical teaching in the churches and the theological education of its ministers. The majority of Christian leaders here have little to no theological training, they are unable to teach the people basic sound doctrine. Ungodliness among church leaders is a real problem, there is corruption at the highest levels. One person after another has spoken to me about this problem among leaders, whom use the flock for their own financial gain, while not teaching them the things they need to faithfully follow Christ.

What this means is that there is a great need for discipleship and the planting of  healthy biblically based churches. This need is found both in the building up of the national churches and in the planting of new ones. No church will rise above the level of those who lead them both in understanding and in practice. We need to lift the standard in the pulpit and the standard in the pew (or rather in life) will lift.

The work of evangelising the unreached and the work of discipleship and church planting are connected, because it is the local church that is called to plant churches, but those churches will only be planted if the church is willing to send out ministers to do it, but the quality of minsters sent out will create a benchmark for the churches they plant. It is quality of the churches among the communities of the unreached that will lead to the evangelisation of the rest of South Asia. If the churches lack a sound witness they will not only fail to demonstrate the reality of how Christ can change a life, but hinder the cause of Christ by causing his name to be blasphemed among the nations (which is already happening). 

The Gospel need in South Asia is statistically the greatest of all other regions of the world, this need means that more ministers of the Gospel must be sent here than anywhere else. The urgent task of proclamation, faithful discipleship and the planting of churches will not be done without human messengers being sent.

Are you willing to come and lead and be the fragrance of Christ among the people ? Are you willing to take up your cross for the salvation of others ? Are you hearing the call of Christ to this labour ? Don’t ignore the call, it is an invitation to the narrow path, but that same narrow path leads to life and joy and eternal glory through Christ Jesus our Lord.