Marilyn Laszlo was a missionary in Papua New Guinea. She put the language of her village in written form and was teaching 200 people to read and write. One day, people from another village visited and saw the people from the first village going to church, singing, and being taught the Bible in their language by one of their own villagers. The leader from the second village asked Marilyn to come to his people and put their language into writing “so that we might know about God too.”
Marilyn told him that she had “several more years of work in this place,” and the leader went away very disappointed.
Weeks later, Marilyn organized a search party to find that village. After an all-day search, they found it and the village leader “was thrilled” to see them. Marilyn says, “We were the first white people to come into that village, so we were quite a sight. As we were walking through the village I noticed in the center a new building, very different from their regular houses. I asked, What is that new building in the center of the village?”
The leader said, “Oh, that is God’s house - that’s our church.”
“Your church?” Marilyn asked. “Do you have a mission here?”
“Oh no, we have never had a mission here.”
“Well, do you have a pastor here - you know, someone that comes to preach God’s Word?”
“Oh no, we’ve never had a pastor here.”
Well, is there someone here in the village that can read and write Pidgin English who holds services in your church?”
“Oh no. There is no one here that can read or write. And we have no books.”
Marilyn looked at him and said, “Then what is that building for?”
He said, “Well, we saw the little church in your village and our people decided to build a church too. Now we’re waiting. We’re waiting for someone to come and tell us about God in our talk, in our language.”
[Confessing Christ as Lord, Urbana 1981, p. 213ff]
Can you believe that? That’s a true story.
Today, there are over 6,000 people groups in the world who have not yet heard the gospel. To His first followers, Jesus the Good Shepherd said, “I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also.” How will Jesus bring them?
Please open your Bible or a Pew Bible to John chapter 10. We’ll begin with verse 11.
Jesus said, “ I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.”
On the night before His crucixion, Jesus said to His closest followers, “Greater love has no one than this, that someone lays down his life for his friends.” (John 15:13). As you know, Jesus did that. He showed the greatest love that anyone can show. He died on the cross because He is the divine Good Shepherd and He loves those who are His own.
v.12 He who is a hired hand and not a shepherd, who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them.
A hired hand flees at the first sign of danger. A hired hand is not going to endanger himself for others. As a result of this, a wolf comes in and grabs some sheep while the rest of the sheep scatter. The unity of the flock is destroyed by the wolf, but the hired hand doesn’t care.
v. 13 He flees because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep.
The hired hand is after selfish gain; he doesn’t care at all about the safety of the sheep entrusted to him. Have you ever worked with someone like that. They clock in, do their work,and clock out. Maybe they constantly watch the clock while they’re working,and they can’t wait to be done. They don’t love their work; they don’t even like it. They work for the paycheck and nothing else. The couldn’t care less about the quality of their work. All they want is that paycheck at the end of the work week.
v. 14 Jesus said, “I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me,”
Jesus knows those who belong to Him and they know Him. Think about that second village that Marilyn Laszlo visited. They had the barest of exposure to the gospel, yet they wanted it in their village. They were hungry to know God. They were passionate about learning about Jesus. They prepared for the gospel to come to them.
v. 15 Jesus completes His thought, “just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep.”
Jesus compares His relationship with God His Father with the relationship that He has with His followers. Jesus knows His followers intimately, as well as He knows His divine Father. Jesus, the Good Shepherd, is also Jesus, the Divine Son of God. In His infinite knowledge He knows all. Because Jesus loves His followers, He willingly dies for them.
v. 16 And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd.
Jesus dies not only for His first followers, but also for others whom He will bring into His flock. Note the priority that Jesus attaches to this. Jesus says, “I must bring them also…”
In 1993, the Rev. Tad de Bordenave founded Anglican Frontier Missions. He had taken a 15-week course called “Perspectives on the World Christian Movement” and that course changed his life. After 17 years as Rector of St. Matthew’s Church in Richmond, Virginia, he resigned his position to start AFM. To date, Anglican Frontier Missions has sent out hundreds of missionaries. Their mission is “to plant biblically-based, indigenous churches where the church is not, among the 2 billion people and 6,000 plus unreached people groups still waiting to hear the gospel for the very first time.” [https://anglicanfrontiers.com/who-we-are/]
More recent research says that there are over 2.8 billion unreached people in the world, which is over 41% of all humanity. Most of them are in isolated areas in the Arab world, East and South Asia, and Africa.
In His High Priestly Prayer in John 17 that Jesus utters before His betrayal and arrest, Jesus prays not only for His first followers. He prays, “I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word…”
With those words, Jesus points us to the ministry of the church that began after His ascension. Immediately before His ascension, Jesus casts His vision for His Church:
“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” [Acts 1:8}
In the 1980s, mission directors and researchers believed that the church could reach all people by the year 2000. In 1980, the vision was “ a church for every people by the year 2000.” A new organization was formed: AD 2000. It’s vision was “A church for every people and the Gospel for every person.”
They report that at the end of 2000, 4.1 billion people had viewed The Jesus Film and it was available in the languages of 99% of the world’s population. AD 2000 projected that by the end of 2000, “nearly 99% of the world’s population will live in a people group that has an actual or planned on-site or planned church planting team.”
Patrick Johnstone of WEC International (Worldwide Evangelization for Christ), says that “15-25% of the world’s population have not sufficient exposure to make a decision for or against Christ.”
Marilyn Laszlo’s story about two villages in Papua New Guinea is from over 35 years ago. Lest you think it’s dated, listen to this letter written more recently to New Tribes Mission. The letter is from Aiben Awanhi of Isahu village in Papua New Guinea. He writes,
“Yes, I am writing because I have some thing with you ones. (sic) I have a big worry that I am not sure what will happen when death comes. I have heard from the other tribe that has the mission that they know now, I am sorry for myself that I do not know. I worry for my life, so I am asking that you will send the mission to my village.”
“The men and women of Isahu we are very hungry for this talk that it will be in our bellies. Please have pity on us. In all other places of the ground we have heard that they have the talk of God but us ones of Isahu are still standing without, we have nothing. I have heard of others hearing of this talk in other villages but this talk is not in Isahu yet.”
“So please send some to learn our language and teach us this talk so we can know it too.”
[blog.godreports.com “When tribes beg for missionaries to come”]
New Tribes Mission reports that they get many letters from indigenous people groups in Papua New Guinea. Mason Hare of NTM says, “There are many tribes who need missionaries and we don’t have the people to send them.”
That’s today. Not 35 years ago. Right now.
According to Joshua Project, 6,900 of the 16,800 unique people groups in our world are considered unreached. , [GlobalFrontierMissions.org] According to Finishing the Task, “41 million people live with no church, no missionary, no mission agency, no contact whatsoever with the Gospel.” [FinishingTheTask.com]
What can you do?
First, pray. I use Operation World and I commend it to you. In the pages of Operation World you’ll find prayer points for every country on earth. Another option is to use the materials from Barnabus Aid. Their materials give you prayer points for the many countries in the world were Christians are persecuted and where governments attempt to restrict the work of the gospel in their countries. A third option is going online and signing up to receive Global Prayer Digest.
Second, support a missionary, a missionary family, or a mission organization. As a congregation, we support the work of Jim Mangold and his mission organization, Life Savers of Zambia. You can support a missionary, missionary family, or mission organization financially and through prayer.
When I lived in Augusta, Georgia, I was a member of First Presbyterian Church there. Every Sunday, the front of the church bulletin was filled with the names of missionaries, missionary families, and mission organizations that our church supported. That church has been an inspiration for me.
Third, is go. Go on a short-term or long-term mission trip. In the summer of 1985, Mary and I went on a short-term mission trip to Honduras with SAMS - South American Missionary Society. Today, SAMS means Society of Anglican Missionaries and Senders. SAMS missionaries are in Central and South America, North America, Europe, Asia, and Africa. Their quarterly newsletter includes prayer points for their missionaries and I use that prayer list in my daily prayers.
This world needs Jesus the Good Shepherd. There are still hundreds of millions of people worldwide, as Patrick Johnstone says, who “have not sufficient exposure to make a decision for or against Christ.”
How will we reach them? How will you reach them?
Pray.
Give.
Go.
Let us pray.
