Discipleship Through the Eyes of Youth: Day 29

Eyes to see where the kingdom isn’t. I first learned about unreached people groups a few years ago when I took the Kairos Course through my church. Before then I had no idea that there were so many people groups out there with no chance, no way for them to hear the gospel. It breaks my heart to know everyday people die without ever hearing the name of Jesus. I think it’s important for all believers to learn about the UPG’s and just gain a picture of what the world looks like in terms of lost vs. reached. The good news is we don’t have to sit here helpless. We can help the expansion of the gospel and take part in the Great Commission no matter where we live. We can Pray for unreached people groups. My favorite resources to pray for the unreached are www.joshuaproject.net and the book Operation World. You can also pray for the missionaries you know or that your church supports, for the work they are doing, and for the people groups they will be reaching out to. You can also pray for your friends and family and that they will catch a vision of the world and gain hearts for the unreached as well. We can help educate others about the unreached and ask them to join us in prayer.

We can also support the missionaries that are going to the unreached. We can support them through giving but we can also support them emotionally by doing things like sending them cards or Christmas packages. One of my favorite things to do is make art so I like to paint little pieces of art to send to the missionaries my church supports whenever they are putting together packages. Ask your church about the missionaries you support and how you can encourage them and pray for them specifically.

We can also share the Good News with those around us. Something I’m guilty of is assuming that people already know about Christ but instead we should assume that people don’t. If you share the gospel and they’ve already heard then either A. They are open to the gospel and you can open up spiritual conversations or B. They tell you they’ve already heard and don’t want to hear again and you respectfully know that you tried. But if just assume they know and don’t share then either A. you were right or B. you were wrong and they could die without ever having encountered the gospel. The stakes are too high for us to just assume that people already know.

Also, we can be welcomers wherever we are at. With travel being so easily accessed people are moving and dispersing like crazy. Sometimes the UPG’s come to us. Look for international students to invite into your home for dinner, refugees, new immigrants, or foreign exchange students to connect with. The world becomes so much bigger than our small circles whenever we open up our eyes and doors to those around us.
Today I spent my prayer time praying for some missionaries that my church supports and the people groups that they are working with. These missionaries have an e-mail list that gives me daily prayer requests for them so I went through some of them from the past week and just spent time praying over that community.