AN IMPOSSIBLE TASK
A pastor once asked me, “What kind of person should I look for to do the job of pioneer church planting among unreached people groups?”
I hesitated; I knew if I told him the whole truth it was going to sound crazy: “They are going to need to speak the language of an unreached people group if they’re going to do that job.”
“Sure, obviously,” came the response.
“And most unreached people groups are in countries where you can’t get a missionary visa, so they’ll have to operate a business or have a job in the country just to get in.”
“Yeah, I follow,” he replied, looking more skeptical now.
I took a deep breath.
“So, ideally, what you’re looking for are people between the ages of 18 and 40 who are ready to give up at least 15 years of their lives, leave their jobs and families and homes, travel across the world to a country that doesn’t want them there, learn the national language, then move out to where an unreached people group lives. Once they are with the unreached group, they will need to learn a second language, then clearly proclaim the Gospel in a way that is faithful to the Bible and communicates it in a way they can understand. On top of that, there will most likely be resistance to what they share.
“And, while they do all of that, they will need to run a business to maintain their legitimacy in the community. Oh, and they still need to remain faithful in their walks with God under immense pressure while all of that is happening.”
By now, I wondered if I had maybe gone over the top. “We … I’m not sure we have any people like that in our church,” lamented the pastor, a crestfallen look on his face.
I could tell he finally understood what I was trying to say.
You see, the truth is, when we look at the task given to us in the Great Commission, specifically the incredibly challenging task of planting churches among the unreached people groups of this world, no one can accomplish it in human strength. All the easily accessible people groups were reached generations ago. The ones that are left, the languages and peoples still languishing without the Gospel in 2022, are still unreached because they are hard.
From one perspective, I suppose, that can be a discouraging thing to hear. Who wants to hear the task they’ve been assigned to do is practically impossible?
But from a biblical perspective, I think it’s a huge relief. Once you realize, “Oh, I can’t do this – no one can,” we realize God is the only one who can accomplish the task!
The truth is, we are seeing this happen. As you read this, missionaries from GSI and other like-minded agencies are in the field, learning two languages, translating the Bible, and planting churches among unreached people groups. Limited, broken, sinful men and women are being used by God to accomplish His holy and eternal purpose.
How does it happen? The same way we see over and over in Scripture! God used a barren couple named Abraham and Sarah to father a nation. God used an arrogant boy named Joseph to save His people from a famine. God used a stuttering Moses to speak to a king to save His people from slavery. God used a cowardly Gideon to defeat His people’s enemies. God used a Christ-denying Peter to proclaim His name and lead many to faith. God also used a persecutor named Paul to spread the gospel throughout the Roman Empire. The list goes on and on.
And today, God is still using flawed, limited men and women to accomplish impossible tasks so that He might be seen to be great and get all the glory!
To be honest, as a missionary mobilizer, nothing scares me more than a person who thinks they can do this job. So, if you’re reading this and think, “Yeah, there is no way I could ever do what he’s talking about – that sounds way too hard!” Then I’d encourage you to pray and honestly seek the Lord regarding what He might do in and through you rather than what you can do on your own.
If you think that the Christian life is about us doing what we are capable of, then consider the list of biblical heroes who accomplished great things for God not in their own strength, but in their weakness. It is in our weakness that we can say together with the apostle Paul, “He said to me ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore, I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.” (II Cor. 12:9)
Whenever I am blessed to share how God used my family to plant a church among a previously unreached people group in Central Asia, and about the struggles, we went through and how difficult it was, the number one response I get is, “Wow! I could never have done that!”
My response is always the same: “Neither could I; but thankfully, God could!”
By Jay Decker
Jay is the Director of Mobilization for Global Serve International, jayd@globalserveint.org
