I thought we would be the heroes. 

In January, a group of five Providence members took a trip to West Asia. My expectation going into the trip was one of making an impact and setting up the church there for success. However, the Lord quickly humbled me and revealed that I will labor in vain unless the Lord builds the house (Psalm 127:1). 

This region of the world contains many unreached people groups. An unreached people group is defined as a group of people among which there is no indigenous community of believing Christians with adequate numbers and resources to evangelize this people group without outside assistance. The specific country we visited has a population of about 85 million people, but there are an estimated 6,000 Christians in the entire country. To put that into perspective, imagine that out of Texas’s population of 30 million people, you were one of only 2,000 Christians in the entire state. 

Our trip was the first step in Providence’s goal to send a long-term team to work in West Asia. 

We had three objectives:

• Exposure – We wanted to get to know the people and their culture. This stirred in our hearts a love for the people. 
• Encouragement – We wanted to encourage the church that is already present and faithfully ministering there. 
• Engagement – We sought to engage by praying over the land and the people. For some team members this opened up the opportunity to share the Gospel. 

“In a sea of millions of people who have never heard the Gospel, God reminded us that prayer is the work of missions.”

As we met local Christians we were in awe of their excitement to spend time with fellow brothers and sisters in Christ. They don’t get much time with other Christians, so they are eager for any chance they get to fellowship with another believer. We were invited into homes to break bread together and enjoy the deep fellowship that comes from being united together in Christ. We were reminded that community is a beautiful gift from the Lord that is to be cherished. 

By far, our most impactful interaction was with a pastor who is ministering in a small town on the outskirts of the country’s largest city. This pastor felt called by the Holy Spirit to go into this town and begin evangelizing and discipling people he met. Imagine with me for a moment: you move to a place where there are no other known believers. There are no churches for you to attend. What would you do? 

After a year of sharing the Gospel and discipling, this brother saw twelve people come to Christ. Shortly after his one-year mark they had their first church service together in his apartment. Today this pastor has a list of one hundred people who have contacted him. Each of these people are waiting to meet with him so they can hear the Gospel. 

That is how unreached this place is. These people have zero access to the greatest story ever told. They are hungry for the truth and waiting for someone to serve it to them. There is an urgent need for the Gospel, and unless someone brings it to them many will die without hearing and believing in Jesus Christ.

My experience in West Asia stirred a passion inside of me to see the Gospel spread to the unreached people groups of the world. As a church, we all play a part in God’s mission. We all get to be a part of praying, giving, sending, and going in both local and global missions. Jesus told His disciples, “You will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth” (Acts 1:8). Jesus wasn’t making a suggestion. He was giving a charge to every Christian.. 

There is an urgent need in front of us, but it’s always been urgent. There’s a great God that goes before us to make this mission possible. Jesus will build his church and the gates of hell will not prevail. How will you take part in this eternal building project? 

Here are three immediate ways you can get involved in the global mission. 

• Invite a friend or your community group and participate in the Day of Prayer for the global church, which starts tomorrow.
• Join the Providence Missional Prayer Call, a Zoom meeting held every Tuesday morning to pray for the harvest.
• Join a Gospel Outreach team to pray and share the gospel in our community.

Visit providencefrisco.com/missions to learn more about these and other upcoming opportunities.