Discerning the will of Christ for world evangelization (1)

Today’s reading is Part II, D. 1-2.

Read here.

Unreached and unengaged peoples

The heart of God longs that all people should have access to the knowledge of God’s love and of his saving work through Jesus Christ. We recognize with grief and shame that there are thousands of people groups around the world for whom such access has not yet been made available through Christian witness. These are peoples who are unreached, in the sense that there are no known believers and no churches among them. Many of these peoples are also unengaged, in the sense that we currently know of no churches or agencies that are even trying to share the gospel with them. Indeed, only a tiny percentage of the Church’s resources (human and material) is being directed to the least-reached peoples. By definition these are peoples who will not invite us to come with the good news, since they know nothing about it. Yet their presence among us in our world 2,000 years after Jesus commanded us to make disciples of all nations, constitutes not only a rebuke to our disobedience, not only a form of spiritual injustice, but also a silent ‘Macedonian Call’.

Oral cultures

The majority of the world’s population are oral communicators, who cannot or do not learn through literate means, and more than half of them are among the unreached as defined above. Among these, there are an estimated 350 million people without a single verse of Scripture in their language. In addition to the ‘primary oral learners’ there are many ‘secondary oral learners’, that is those who are technically literate but prefer now to communicate in an oral manner, with the rise of visual learning and the dominance of images in communication.

As we recognize and take action on issues of orality, let us:

Make greater use of oral methodologies in discipling programmes, even among literate believers.

Make available an oral format Story Bible in the heart languages of unreached and unengaged people groups as a matter of priority.

Encourage mission agencies to develop oral strategies, including: the recording and distribution of oral Bible stories for evangelism, discipling and leadership training, along with appropriate orality training for pioneer evangelists and church-planters; these could use fruitful oral and visual communication methods for communicating the whole biblical story of salvation, including storytelling, dances, arts, poetry, chants and dramas.

Encourage local churches in the Global South to engage with unreached people groups in their area through oral methods that are specific to their worldview.

Encourage seminaries to provide curricula that will train pastors and missionaries in oral methodologies.

Closing Prayer:

Lord Jesus Christ, helps us to encourage believers across the world to engage with unreached people groups in their area through oral methods that are specific to their worldview. Help us to also encourage seminaries to provide curricula that will train pastors and missionaries in oral methodologies. Amen.