{"id":2530,"date":"2019-03-13T09:35:53","date_gmt":"2019-03-13T14:35:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/missions\/?p=2530"},"modified":"2019-05-01T12:18:00","modified_gmt":"2019-05-01T17:18:00","slug":"unreached-people-groups-sermon-by-ben-west","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/missions\/unreached-people-groups-sermon-by-ben-west\/","title":{"rendered":"Unreached People Groups (Sermon by Ben West)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Edited from my original presentation on “Unreached People Groups” given on Feb 21, 2019, in Santiago, Chile:<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n

When I first moved to China in early 2003, at the age of 19, I knew nothing about the diverse kinds of people that I was going to find there. I thought that China would be full of people speaking the same language (Mandarin), eating the same foods (rice), and believing the same things (communism).<\/p>\n

However, I remember seeing men with white caps and women with black veils serving noodles in restaurants in every large Chinese city I visited. I learned that these Muslims, who are called “Hui” (WHO-EH) in Chinese, came from northwest China, a dry mountainous region near the Tibetan Plateau. My heart was broken for them, as an unreached people group, with a special need for the gospel.<\/p>\n

I spent many of my first days in China wandering from noodle shop to noodle shop, making friends, sharing the gospel, and eating lots of noodles! Now, 16 years later, our teams in China are still primarily focused on these unreached Muslim people groups, along with the unreached Tibetan Buddhists who live nearby. The work has never been easy, but now hundreds of thousands of the Hui, Dongxiang, Salar, and Bao’an Muslim people groups, along with the Tuzu and the Amdo and Khampa Tibetan Buddhist peoples, have heard the gospel or received a copy of God’s Word for the first time!<\/p>\n

Historically, most missionary success and advance has been measured in relation to the recognized countries of the world. There are around 200 countries in the world today, and all of them have some form of church or Christian presence. The IPHC has a presence in almost 100 countries, with the goal to plant churches in at least 50 more. This is an amazing accomplishment and a worthy goal: something that we should give glory to God for! Christians from centuries ago would be amazed to see the extent that the gospel has spread around the world.<\/p>\n

However, God has not called us to merely “make a mark” on the 200 countries of the world, but rather to reach every “ethne,” every unreached people group. There are an estimated 17,000 “people groups” scattered throughout every country on earth. 7,000 of these are still considered \u201cunreached!\u201d<\/p>\n

    \n
  • India alone has more than 2,000 unreached people groups.<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/li>\n
  • China has over 400 (although the government only officially recognizes 56 people groups).<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/li>\n
  • Even Latin America is home to 1,437 distinct people groups, more than 70 also remain unreached!<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    When I went to live and minister overseas, I did not know this. We must realize that merely continuing to focus our efforts on the 200 or so political countries in the world is not enough. It is a good thing, but not enough! For instance, if the goal is to simply begin ministry in a new country, someone might pick a friendly neighborhood in a nice city, in an area where there are already some Christians. And then when a church is planted, they can truly say they now have a ministry presence in that country!<\/p>\n

    However, what have they done for the dozens or hundreds of unreached people groups living within that country who speak a different language, live in a distant region, and maintain a distinct cultural identity? Focusing on a country can be relatively easy, but the hard task of taking the gospel to the unreached people groups within those countries is not easy at all.<\/p>\n

    There is a reason that 7,000 people groups in the world remain unreached. It is because it is so difficult! The easy ones have already been taken! The unreached are in places like Afghanistan, Somalia, Oman, India, and China, where ministry carries the risk of death, imprisonment, or deportation. It is not going to be easy, but we have no other option. The gospel is not only for the “nice” places!<\/p>\n

    We should celebrate when we establish a presence in 100 or even 200 countries of the world, but God still sees the thousands of unreached people groups with no known church, and the thousands of languages with no Bible translation, and the hundreds of millions of people with zero access to the gospel of Jesus Christ in their communities!<\/p>\n

    I do not think it is a coincidence that the most troubled and dangerous places on earth, like northern Africa, parts of the Middle East, Laos, Pakistan, and China, are also the places with the most unreached peoples. Satan is fighting to keep unreached people in ignorance, but that is one thing we cannot allow. It is one thing that God will not allow!<\/p>\n

    Revelation 7 verses 9-10 say:<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

    “After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, ‘Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!'”\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

    We have not fulfilled the Great Commission until we have reached every last tribe, language, people, and nation. As you minister in your own church and country, do not be content with what you have. Seek out the forgotten unreached peoples in the neglected corners of your territory, even the most dangerous places, and purposefully reach out to them with the gospel! What a privilege we have to be Christ’s ambassadors, sent to these unreached peoples around the world! May God use us to reach all peoples with the gospel of Jesus Christ, to the glory of God the Father!<\/p>\n

    By Ben West<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Edited from my original presentation on “Unreached People Groups” given on Feb 21, 2019, in Santiago, Chile: When I first moved to China in early 2003, at the age of…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":21,"featured_media":2531,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[327,1,4],"tags":[336,349,47,289,350,351,121],"class_list":{"0":"post-2530","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-global-outreach","8":"category-uncategorized","9":"category-world-missions","10":"tag-336","11":"tag-ben-west","12":"tag-global-assembly","13":"tag-march","14":"tag-unreached","15":"tag-unreached-people-groups","16":"tag-west","17":"entry"},"title_es":"Grupos de personas no alcanzadas","content_es":"Editado de mi presentaci\u00f3n original sobre \"Grupos de personas no alcanzadas\" el 21 de febrero de 2019 en Santiago de Chile:<\/strong> cuando me mud\u00e9 a China a principios de 2003, a la edad de 19 a\u00f1os, no sab\u00eda nada sobre los diversos tipos de personas que era. Voy a encontrar all\u00ed. Pens\u00e9 que China estar\u00eda llena de personas que hablaban el mismo idioma (mandar\u00edn), com\u00edan los mismos alimentos (arroz) y cre\u00edan lo mismo (comunismo). Sin embargo, recuerdo haber visto hombres con gorras blancas y mujeres con velos negros sirviendo fideos en los restaurantes de todas las grandes ciudades chinas que visit\u00e9. Aprend\u00ed que estos musulmanes, que se llaman \"Hui\" (OMS-EH) en chino, proven\u00edan del noroeste de China, una regi\u00f3n monta\u00f1osa seca cerca de la meseta tibetana. Mi coraz\u00f3n se rompi\u00f3 por ellos, como un grupo de personas no alcanzadas, con una necesidad especial por el evangelio. Pas\u00e9 muchos de mis primeros d\u00edas en China, paseando de la tienda de fideos a la tienda de fideos, haciendo amigos, compartiendo el Evangelio y comiendo muchos fideos. Ahora, 16 a\u00f1os despu\u00e9s, nuestros equipos en China a\u00fan se centran principalmente en estos grupos de musulmanes no alcanzados, junto con los budistas tibetanos no alcanzados que viven cerca. El trabajo nunca ha sido f\u00e1cil, pero ahora cientos de miles de grupos musulmanes Hui, Dongxiang, Salar y Bao'an, junto con los pueblos budistas tibetanos Tuzu y Amdo y Khampa, han escuchado el Evangelio o han recibido una copia de La Palabra de Dios por primera vez! Hist\u00f3ricamente, la mayor\u00eda de los \u00e9xitos y avances misioneros se han medido en relaci\u00f3n con los pa\u00edses reconocidos del mundo. Hay alrededor de 200 pa\u00edses en el mundo hoy en d\u00eda, y todos ellos tienen alguna forma de iglesia o presencia cristiana. La IPHC tiene presencia en casi 100 pa\u00edses, con el objetivo de plantar iglesias en al menos 50 m\u00e1s. Este es un logro asombroso y una meta digna: \u00a1algo por lo que debemos dar gloria a Dios! Los cristianos de hace siglos se sorprender\u00edan al ver la extensi\u00f3n del evangelio en todo el mundo. Sin embargo, Dios no nos ha llamado a simplemente \"dejar una marca\" en los 200 pa\u00edses del mundo, sino a llegar a cada \"etnia\", a cada grupo de personas no alcanzadas. Se estima que hay 17,000 \"grupos de personas\" dispersos en todos los pa\u00edses de la tierra. \u00a17,000 de estos a\u00fan se consideran \"no alcanzados!\" India solo tiene m\u00e1s de 2,000 grupos de personas no alcanzadas. China tiene m\u00e1s de 400 (aunque el gobierno solo reconoce oficialmente a 56 grupos de personas). \u00a1Incluso en Am\u00e9rica Latina hay 1.437 grupos de personas distintas, m\u00e1s de 70 tampoco se han alcanzado! Cuando fui a vivir y ministrar en el extranjero, no sab\u00eda esto. Debemos darnos cuenta de que simplemente continuar centrando nuestros esfuerzos en los 200 o m\u00e1s pa\u00edses pol\u00edticos del mundo no es suficiente. Es una buena cosa, pero no es suficiente! Por ejemplo, si el objetivo es simplemente comenzar el ministerio en un nuevo pa\u00eds, alguien podr\u00eda elegir un vecindario amigable en una ciudad agradable, en un \u00e1rea donde ya haya algunos cristianos. Y luego, cuando se establece una iglesia, \u00a1realmente pueden decir que ahora tienen una presencia ministerial en ese pa\u00eds! Sin embargo, \u00bfqu\u00e9 han hecho por las docenas o cientos de grupos de personas no alcanzadas que viven en ese pa\u00eds y que hablan un idioma diferente, viven en una regi\u00f3n lejana y mantienen una identidad cultural distinta? Centrarse en un pa\u00eds puede ser relativamente f\u00e1cil, pero la tarea dif\u00edcil de llevar el evangelio a los grupos de personas no alcanzadas dentro de esos pa\u00edses no es nada f\u00e1cil. Existe una raz\u00f3n por la cual 7,000 grupos de personas en el mundo permanecen sin ser alcanzados. \u00a1Es porque es tan dif\u00edcil! \u00a1Los f\u00e1ciles ya han sido tomados! Los no alcanzados se encuentran en lugares como Afganist\u00e1n, Somalia, Om\u00e1n, India y China, donde el ministerio conlleva el riesgo de muerte, encarcelamiento o deportaci\u00f3n. No va a ser f\u00e1cil, pero no tenemos otra opci\u00f3n. \u00a1El evangelio no es solo para los \"buenos\" lugares! Debemos celebrar cuando establecemos una presencia en 100 o incluso en 200 pa\u00edses del mundo, pero Dios todav\u00eda ve a los miles de grupos no alcanzados sin iglesia, y los miles de idiomas sin traducci\u00f3n de la Biblia, y los cientos de millones de personas. \u00a1Con cero acceso al evangelio de Jesucristo en sus comunidades! No creo que sea una coincidencia que los lugares m\u00e1s problem\u00e1ticos y peligrosos de la tierra, como el norte de \u00c1frica, partes de Medio Oriente, Laos, Pakist\u00e1n y China, tambi\u00e9n sean los lugares con los pueblos m\u00e1s no alcanzados. Satan\u00e1s est\u00e1 luchando para mantener a las personas no alcanzadas en la ignorancia, pero eso es algo que no podemos permitir. \u00a1Es una cosa que Dios no permitir\u00e1! Apocalipsis 7 vers\u00edculos 9-10 dicen: \"Despu\u00e9s de esto mir\u00e9, y he aqu\u00ed, una gran multitud que nadie pod\u00eda contar, de todas las naciones, de todas las tribus y pueblos e idiomas, de pie ante el trono y ante el Cordero, vestido de blanco. t\u00fanicas, con ramas de palmeras en sus manos, y gritando en voz alta: \"La salvaci\u00f3n pertenece a nuestro Dios que est\u00e1 sentado en el trono, y al Cordero\".<\/em> No hemos cumplido con la Gran Comisi\u00f3n hasta que hayamos llegado a todas las tribus. , idioma, pueblo, y naci\u00f3n. Al ministrar en su propia iglesia y pa\u00eds, no se contente con lo que tiene. Busca a los pueblos olvidados que no se alcanzan en los rincones abandonados de tu territorio, incluso los lugares m\u00e1s peligrosos, \u00a1y cons\u00edguelos a todos con el Evangelio! \u00a1Qu\u00e9 privilegio tenemos de ser los embajadores de Cristo, enviados a estos pueblos no alcanzados en todo el mundo! \u00a1Que Dios nos use para alcanzar a todos los pueblos con el evangelio de Jesucristo, para la gloria de Dios Padre!","author_name":"Ben West","jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/missions\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2019\/03\/The-Unreached.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pb62Ar-EO","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/missions\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2530","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/missions\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/missions\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/missions\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/21"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/missions\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2530"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/missions\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2530\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/missions\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2531"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/missions\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2530"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/missions\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2530"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/missions\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2530"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}