Reaching the Unreached

Global Mission goes to the frontline of mission to reach the unreached with hope.

On a dirty bridge spanning Bangkok’s smog-drenched Sukhumvit Road a mother sits cradling a rag-clad infant in her tired arms. Her empty begging cup mirrors my spirits as I look into the woman’s eyes, from which all hope seems crushed. Beside her a beautiful toddler with the face of an angel pats the ears of a homeless puppy. Commuters rush past.

I drop some Thai baht into the cup, enough perhaps to scrape some food together, but a mere token, a temporary Band-Aid. If I were Jesus, perhaps I would stay and cradle the family in my arms, but I just walk on, not knowing what else to do.

Snapshots such as these play again and again in various ways all over God’s earth, where sometimes His presence seems to have disappeared. Many wake each morning in fear of the spirit world, trudging their way through days and nights that measure out hope in unsatisfying drips. Others navigate their lives with no reference to God. Megacities grow exponentially every year. Millions have never even heard the name of Jesus.

We praise God for the thousands of new groups of believers planted in the past five years. We praise God that more than 1 million people joined the Seventh-day Adventist Church each year during that time.

But we’re still here. The mission challenge remains. How will we respond?