Do you remember the first time you heard the good news about Jesus? Whether it was through a family member or church service, or even a radio program– do you remember how the Gospel changed your life?

Now, just imagine you had never heard that Jesus loves you.

That’s the reality for over two billion people alive today. An estimated 28% of the world’s population has never heard the name of Jesus, or the hope they can have in Him.

As the Bible puts it,

“Everyone who calls on the name of the LORD will be saved. But how can they call on Him to save them unless they believe in Him? And how can they believe in Him if they have never heard about Him? And how can they hear about Him unless someone tells them?Romans 10:13-14

Steve Johnson of Reach Beyond ministries says, in this information age, it’s time to get creative about reaching lost people with the Good News:

“It’s amazing that in today’s world of mass communication and rapid transit, instant everything, that they’re still two and a half billion people who have yet to hear the Gospel. The face of missions has really changed over the last 100 years. The great missions movement (1800-early 1900s) was about trying to get to places where the Gospel hadn’t yet penetrated.”

“In today’s world, we really have a very different challenge: it’s really about going to places that, in many cases, are resistant to the Gospel, or the Gospel hasn’t penetrated because of social and religious issues far more than the challenges of getting to them. So today, we have to think much more creatively.”

Jesus last conversations on earth, as told in Matthew 28 and Acts 1, were all about reaching those who had never heard about Him. Clearly, sharing the Gospel is central to the mission of Jesus, and therefore, is a big part of our part as believers. How can we be reaching out to the unreached?

Johnson says it’s time to “quit doing missions by memory and start doing missions by imagination.” 

“About 90% of the unreached people groups in the world live in the 10/40 window — that is the geographic area that comprises North Africa, the Middle East, and Southeast Asia That’s the bulk of the unreached people in the world today, and it presents very unique challenges where traditional ministry doesn’t work. So we’re doing things like broadcasting into those areas. There are other ministries that are working heavily through the Internet, and those doing Bible translation.”

“Traditional ministry is very challenging in these areas because of the resistance that’s often faced, and yet we know that the hand of God is moving in those areas in ways that are absolutely stunning.”

The International Day for the Unreached on June 4th renews the call for every Christian to take part in spreading the life-giving message of Jesus, to those who haven’t heard.


Download your free Great Commission Action Guide and take the next step for the Great Commission. Visit International Day of the Unreached’s website or follow them on Facebook.

Day for the Unreached