Reaching The Unreached

Have you ever imagined a trip back in time? Have you ever dreamed of exploring a native village that hasn’t changed from its primitive past? Have you ever thought what it might be like to take the Gospel to an unreached people group? Since 1972 Barry Blackstone, a pastor from Maine, has imagined, dreamed, and thought of doing just that again. Those imaginations began with a trip to the deserts of Western Australia (recorded in his published book The Region Beyond) to minister to an Aboriginal tribe that had just been reached, but it wasn’t until 2022 that this dream was fulfilled once more. Travel again with Pastor Blackstone to the remote tribal villages in Chhattisgarh and Kerala, India. Experience again the thrill of proclaiming God’s word to villagers so removed from the modern world that the only way to reach them is by foot. It was on this trip that this pastor of fifty years learned why the apostle Paul said, “How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things” (Rom 10:15). Share in a baptism in a concrete water storage tank for goats; witness the first graduation of an institute educating natives to reach their own tribes with the good news of Jesus Christ; experience the thrill of preaching to four native churches on one’s seventy-first birthday; walk over a forest trail, up a steep incline, through virgin trees for nearly a mile before coming to a hidden hamlet were many of the people live in trees; then return to the modern world to be the graduation speaker for the fourth time at Kerala Baptist Bible College. The contrasts will be epic, the connections will be eternal, and the cultures will be eye-opening. This was Pastor Blackstone’s sixth journey into the unknowns of India, and perhaps his most dramatic!

For too long church leaders have focused on increasing the size of their church rather than increasing their reach outside of the four walls of the church building. The result? Church life becomes a predictable set of routines with predictable results. Church members struggle to reach the neighborhoods they drive through on their way to church programs, unable to penetrate their surrounding communities in a meaningful way. Reaching the Unreached recounts the stories, struggles, and triumphs of individuals and churches that have reinvented themselves to meet the world where it is, working to reach the ones that no one else is reaching. The search for the “silver bullet” of success has diverted us from tapping into the timeless principles found in the book of Acts, says author, pastor, and front-line church planter Peyton Jones. Yet the spiritual climate that Paul and the Apostles stepped into is not all that different from the brave new world the church faces today. From accidentally planting a church in a Starbucks in Europe, to baptizing members of the Mexican mafia in Long Beach Harbor, Jones has been on the frontlines of today’s missional movement and has lived to tell the tale. In Reaching the Unreached, he teaches church planters, pastors, and church leaders how to convert pew jockeys into missionaries and awake the sleeping giant of Christ’s church, one person at a time. Today there are two types of churches: those who put their proverbial heads in the sand, and those who champion 1st century principles, meet the challenges head on, and embrace the adventure of mission in community. Tomorrow, only one type of church will survive—those that accept the challenge to reach the unreached.

A Great Need Requires a Great Response Today, over three billion people, a third of humanity, have yet to hear the good news of Jesus. They have no opportunity to believe in him as their Savior and find peace with God through him. Of all the injustices in the world—and there are many that are quite distressing—this is the worst, because of the eternal consequences. A third of anything is significant—especially this third. In light of this staggering need, Marv Newell explores the five Great Commission passages, where Jesus methodically unfolds the essence of the disciples’ task. A Third of Us is not just an invitation to be aware of the need, but a rally cry for today’s disciples to respond. Writing to the whole body of Christ, Newell casts a vision for multiple ways to get involved in reaching the unreached. When finishing the task set by our Savior feels overwhelming, this practical and inspiring book points us back to Jesus’ words with hope. So. . . are you ready to reach A Third of Us?

Most Christians know and understand that we are to seek to reach the lost around the world. Yet, Christ's command to us is more specific and calls us to a higher standard of involvement with the peoples of the world. He has called the church to make disciples of all people groups and to teach them to observe all He commanded us (Matthew 28:18-20). In recent years mission agencies and missionaries have increasingly shifted away from discipleship and teaching toward an emphasis upon evangelism and church planting—many to the exclusion of any other field activity. While evangelism and church planting are essential components of a biblical missions program, they are not sufficient for the complete task to which we have been called. Reaching and Teaching examines the task Christ gave in the Great Commission and redefines the task of missions from that which is currently prevalent. It surveys missions strategies and methodologies that have increasingly replaced Christ’s Great Commission instructions even as they have sought to fulfill it. It is a clarion call to return to the biblical task of reaching and teaching the nations for Christ’s sake.

This book explores questions related to the recent establishment in Africa of community schools similar to those supported by Save the Children. The book addresses the serious doubts about realizing the Education for All and Millennium Development Goals. It draws on Save the Children’s experience with community-based schooling in four countries: Ethiopia, Malawi, Mali, and Uganda.

So often in the Christian community we hear the question, What do we need to do to reach the unreached? While this appears to be a good question, perhaps its the wrong question. Instead of focusing on what might be best practices, our answers tend to revolve around what are best practices for us. The better question is, How can the unreached be reached? This takes us out of the center of the story and seeks to find the best methods and means to reach those who need to clearly hear the good news of Gods grace.

New York Times bestseller What is Jesus worth to you? It's easy for American Christians to forget how Jesus said his followers would actually live, what their new lifestyle would actually look like. They would, he said, leave behind security, money, convenience, even family for him. They would abandon everything for the gospel. They would take up their crosses daily... But who do you know who lives like that? Do you? In Radical, David Platt challenges you to consider with an open heart how we have manipulated the gospel to fit our cultural preferences. He shows what Jesus actually said about being his disciple--then invites you to believe and obey what you have heard. And he tells the dramatic story of what is happening as a "successful" suburban church decides to get serious about the gospel according to Jesus. Finally, he urges you to join in The Radical Experiment -- a one-year journey in authentic discipleship that will transform how you live in a world that desperately needs the Good News Jesus came to bring.