Gospel for Asia

Turning on the tap is easy for many who live in the West. We’re thirsty or we need to cook―out comes clean water. And very few of us need to be worried about the quality of what comes out of the faucet. We know it will not make us sick. In Africa, clean water is not a given. This is why it’s incredibly important to provide more clean water solutions, like installing wells in Africa, for the safety and health of everyone. Every hour in Africa, 115 people die from diseases connected with contaminated water. At least 1 in every 3 people in Sub-Saharan Africa live in a water-scarce environment. And a quarter of that population spends 30 minutes or more traveling round trip to get their daily water needs. [1] “Africa is the fastest urbanizing continent on the planet, and the demand for water and sanitation is outstripping supply in cities” says Joan Clos, Executive Director of UN-HABITAT. [2] The lack of water in an arid environment, increased demand for water and limited access are some of...

If people groups are distinct in their language, culture and ethnicity, then what are frontier people groups? Here is how the Joshua Project defines them [1] : an Unengaged People Group (UPG) with virtually no followers of Jesus and no known movements to Jesus still needing pioneer cross-cultural workers Frontier people groups don’t know what prayer to God looks like, they’ve never heard the name of Jesus and they have the most barriers between them and the Good News. Joshua Project estimates that half of these groups (nearly 5,000 of them) are actually concentrated in just 35 groups. [2] Pray 10/40 says this: “Frontier people groups are significant because there is very little church foundation within the people group for outside missionaries to build on, so FPGs still require pioneer cross-cultural missionaries. People groups that are more than 0.1% evangelical Christian have churches that outside workers can work with to help the gospel spread within that people group.” [3] With all...

The world is a big place full of God’s incredible diversity and creative expression. Even within one country there might be hundreds of different groups of people. Christians seeking to fulfill the Great Commission must understand not only that these different groups exist, but also know where and who are the unengaged people groups. For example, the 100 largest, least-reached people groups are spread across the northern continent of Africa, the Middle East and Asia. Just these groups alone have a population of almost 1.864 billion people, making up over 23% of the world’s population. [1] Each of those groups is distinct in its makeup, often with a combination of language, ethnic and cultural identifiers that make them unique. The reasons for never before being reached include physical barriers in the geography of where these people live―it is often physically difficult to get to them. There may be religious reasons, where an ancient tradition or eastern religion is deeply ingrained i...

Jesus asked His followers to go and make disciples all over the world following His ascension into heaven. But with shifting borders and politics, how do we define that today? We must instead define this question: What are people groups? At the 1982 Lausanne Committee Meeting in Chicago, the worldwide evangelical session defined a people group this way: “For evangelization purposes, a people group is the largest group within which the Gospel can spread as a church planting movement without encountering barriers of understanding or acceptance.” [1] Anthropologically, a people group centers around language, ethnicity, culture and other distinct markers that separate them from others in a country. One country often has multiple groups of people within it that see themselves as different than others for one or more of these characteristics. It’s how they identify themselves, not how we identify them. When seeking to serve the non-believers, understanding these different groups of people is...

Making disciples of all nations was the point of Jesus’s last command before He ascended into heaven. Nations look different today than they did when Jesus walked the Earth, but His command remains. In order to reach as many people as possible, Christians now ask the question: Who are the unengaged people groups ? Instead of focusing on a political or geographical nation or state, Christians now recognize that within any given country there many be several people groups. What are people groups ? The evangelical organization People Groups defines them as, “an ethnolinguistic group with a common self-identity that is shared by the various members. There are two parts to that word: ethno and linguistic. Language is a primary and dominant identifying factor of a people group. But there are other factors that determine or are associated with ethnicity.” [1] Likewise, we need to ask, “ What are frontier groups ?” This is even more narrow. The Joshua Project defines a frontier group as “an Un...

International medical missions have existed since at least the 1800s, but the need and those willing to serve increases daily. Whether or not they are effective comes down to several factors. According to an article in Globalization and Health, [1] there are nine best practices for medical missions: Assessment of the area to be served Partnership and Alliance with those already in the area Governance of the trips being sent Code of Conduct set up for all working Preparation for the conditions and culture Implementation of best practices Training and Capacity Building of the missions teams Sustainability of future missions Monitoring and Evaluation of every team sent “It is recommended that managers of STMM teams work in conjunction with managers with the host partners to complete a needs assessment before arriving. This practice, as well as working alongside local healthcare staff, will promote collaboration throughout the entire mission and ensure improved quality of care for patient...

Christian medical missions is probably older than can be documented, but the first that was chronicled was in the 1800s. “It began with Peter Parker, an American physician, in 1834,” MedSend tells us. “Parker was the first modern-day full-time medical missionary to China and was one of the very few foreigners to get invited inland. Foreigners were not allowed to mingle with Chinese people. In 1835 Parker opened a hospital in Canton. More than 2000 Chinese patients were treated in the first year alone. Parker then went to the University of Edinburgh and shared how missionaries could get into China: through healthcare. This started a movement. Edinburgh became a hotbed of modern global healthcare missions. Groups like Sudan Inland Mission (today’s Serving in Mission) sprang up to use healthcare professionals to access previously unreached areas. In 1841, a group of doctors formed the Edinburgh Medical Missionary Society to send medical aid into the world.” [1] So began a long and evolvin...