UPGs: Knowing The Real Deal

Do we really know the real deal of what's going on in the world of the unreached today?

“How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? 

And how can anyone preach unless they are sent?
As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!”
Romans 10: 14-15

The verse is probably a clanging cymbal to some of us but like a cymbal,unless someone stops it (in our case, someone goes to the field for harvest) will remain a sound we will hear from time to time until something happens.

Again, unless something happens, this remains to be a "stirring" voice within us until the day the Lord Jesus Christ comes.

"Raising generations of Filipino Youth for cross-cultural missions"

Do You Really Need to GO?

Why do we go on summer missions trip? How does it differ from any other activity we do during summer time? Does it make us more "holier","mature" and a "believer"?

I know that the cultural context of the video below might not probably be true to some of us, but let's face it, we must ask these same questions and have the spiritual wisdom to know the perfect will of God when it comes on doing things, and that doesn't just include missions, it includes our entire perception in life as a believer.

May the Lord stir your heart and check your purposes as you listen to this witty video about missions and your perspective of it.

"Raising generations of Filipino Youth for cross-cultural missions"

Missions And YOU!

“How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? ¹⁵ And how can anyone preach unless they are sent?

As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!”

–        Romans 10: 14-15

Background of the Book of Romans

•  Biblical scholars agree that it was composed by the Apostle Paul to explain that salvation is offered through the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
• It is by far the longest of the Pauline epistles, and is considered his "most important theological legacy".^[1][2]
•  Apostle Paul, wrote the letter before even traveling to Rome, this, is an advance letter announcing his visit and the purpose of his travel before going to Spain
• In context, the verses were part of Paul’s argument on the current situation of Jews and Gentile believers of his time
•  It was also a reminder for believers in Rome to the hope that they have, which should be shared to everyone who has an ear

So, in context, the epistles to the Romans was written by Paul for believers, encouraging and instructing them on what they can do with the very message they have received from the Lord through Paul’s ministry.

Paul strengthened their faith by challenging them to hold on to the very teachings God has given them. In these particular two verses, Paul openly shared his thoughts about his ministry and God’s call for his life. 

If you notice, in the early verses, He made it clear that he was called to the gentiles with the very message from Christ:

“Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle and set apart for the gospel of God— ² the gospel he promised beforehand through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures ³ regarding his Son, who as to his earthly life^[a] was a descendant of David, ⁴ and who through the Spirit of holiness was appointed the Son of God in power^[b] by his resurrection from the dead: Jesus Christ our Lord. ⁵ Through him we received grace and apostleship to call all the Gentiles to the obedience that comes from^[c] faith for his name’s sake. ⁶ And you also are among those Gentiles who are called to belong to Jesus Christ.”

Matthew 28:16-20 gives a clear command to “go and make disciples to all nations…” This command was not given to a few but to everyone who believes and is a disciple of Jesus Christ. 

“Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. ¹⁷ When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. ¹⁸ Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. ¹⁹ Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰ and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

-          Matthew 28:16-18

Are you a disciple of Jesus Christ?

According to The Joshua Project, the great commission is at 60% completion stage with more than 4.43B people hearing the gospel of Jesus Christ. This is an achievement after 2,000 years!

In God’s goodness and timing, many have come to know Jesus Christ including us. We are part of that almost 5 billion people who have heard of the gospel message.

Although we have completed 60% of the task, the fact remains that it’s still incomplete with nearly 2.84 billion people in darkness. Kindly see global statistics below:

Global Statistics
Peoples-by-Country		Individuals
All People Groups	16,829	6.83 billion
Unreached People Groups	6,997	2.84 billion
% Unreached Peoples	41.6 %	41.6 %
10/40 Window Total	8,758	4.49 billion
10/40 Window Unreached	5,913	2.76 billion
10/40 Window % Unreached	67.5 %	61.3 %

It’s a sad fact that many doesn’t know the Lord or have heard of his message.

Why am I sharing these things to you?

Because you and I need to be involved in fulfilling the task. We all play an important role. Like in a puzzle, you have something that can complete such a task.

Isn’t it amazing when God uses, young people to rise into the occasion and bring glory to God’s awesome name?

Just take for example, Abraham, who was called out of Ur, Chaldea to fulfill promise he, received from the Lord. And the Lord blessed him with everything he has.

Joseph, his great-great-great grandson, was beaten by his brothers, beaten and sold out to slavery. He was imprisoned and became the savior of the ancient times when he became governor of Egypt, the second highest authority in the land. Even Pharaoh declared that there was no God like whom Joseph served.

Daniel, who likes all the princes, was exiled to Babylon to serve the King. He served three big empires of his time and recognized as the leader among all the wise men in the court of the Kings. God used him in such a difficult time to read the times, gave wise counsel to the King. Later on, his faith was challenged and was fed to the lions to become an example.  But God spared his life, giving the opportunity of God’s glory to be known throughout all the land.

How about Esther, who became the queen of Persia to save her people for such a time when everyone wanted her people killed.

I need not mention David, Solomon, Joshua, Jehu, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Timothy, Stephen and Paul?

God has been using young individuals to expand his kingdom territory and eradicate the works of the enemy bringing hope to those who are in darkness.

Abram was a business man, Joseph was a manager after 40 years of being imprisoned and slaved, Daniel was the leader of all the wise men in Babylon. Paul, was a teacher of the Law, Esther was the queen of Persia.

In missions, God has been using younger generations for the past 40 years to bring the message of hope to the 10/40 windows.

Is it really possible to reach the 2.84B people before Christ’s second coming?

Yes, it’s possible. He cannot deny his word and his word clearly says that unless all the people of the earth will hear the good news, the end will not come. The bible clearly says that this gospel will be preached and then the end will come.

But what does it have to do with me?

God’s commission is for his people, set apart for such a task.  Our race is unique, we can learn languages easily, we can settle anywhere, and we have a skin that can blend in with other Asians.

As a believer, God’s command is for everyone who has received the same gospel as the Romans. Like Paul, we have been given a task to help fulfill the great commission. Regardless of educational attainment, status in life or working background, He has called us for such a time as this.

“When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. ³⁷ Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. ³⁸ Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.” – Matthew 9:36-38

God is looking for co-laborers in the field. Real believers are co-laborers; they don’t sit in pews and just listen to the pastors. They do a lot of things out of love for their master. We labor out of love and not of selfish ambitions.

We become doers of the word!

If our desire is to serve and please the Lord, we must learn to march with his drumbeat and listen to his heartbeat, which is for the nations.

How can we help?

Start by praying to God and let him show you how you can help.

When I first heard that my auntie was going to Indonesia for a mission’s trip, I started praying how I can help. I was a high school student at that time and I didn’t have enough money to spare. So, I started praying for her and her endeavors. I remember getting excited every time she sends her prayer letter.

In 2003, when I became the missions’ coordinator for our school chapter, I started including the missions support of aiding the missions department of the organization. We gave, as a chapter, a monthly support to a specific missionary who is from the Visayas.

Learn more about missions and people groups

My interest in missions started when I first joined our leadership camp in InterVarsity. It was a video presentation in China. During the missions night, I was challenged by one of our staffworker’s short message of becoming “a light to the nations” which at that time, was focused in the campuses.

Later on, I started reading books about missions, autobiographies of great and small veterans of the Lord like Billy Graham, Bill Bright, Amy Carmichael, Brother Yun, Open Doors Ministry and many more. My love for the Lord and the passion to serve him opened my eyes to what’s going on around the world and what He is doing through different initiatives.

Support missionaries and mission groups

First off, support doesn’t just mean supporting them financially. Of course, money is needed when we go to missions. But first and foremost, I believe that supporting missionaries starts by becoming their helping hand, being there when they need encouragement and help them fulfill God’s calling on their lives.

We can always support them by sending them encouragement from time to time, be part of their prayer teams or start a missionary care group for them.

There are a lot of ways to support missions, we just have to be open and sometimes be creative about it.

Go and make disciples

Perhaps God is calling you to serve him as a full-time missionary in a remote place, an urban city or even inMindanao. It’s all the more that you start praying and listening to God’s voice and direction for your life.

Our endeavors might not be written in books like Joshua’s or David’s feat but it will indeed bring us to the very feet of our savior and lord, with his very words “well done, good and faithful servant…” that we always pray for. Indeed, that’s good news!

"Raising generations of Filipino Youth for cross-cultural missions"

The Church's Great Challenge

I was browsing through The Joshua Project earlier this afternoon when I saw some interesting statistical data and facts about missions. 

To those who are not familiar with the Joshua Project, here's a brief description from their About Page:

Joshua Project is a research initiative seeking to highlight the ethnic people groups of the world with the fewest followers of Christ. Accurate, regularly updated ethnic people group information is critical for understanding and completing the Great Commission. 

Here are some challenging mission facts I copy-pasted below:

Challenging Mission Facts

Of the 16,790 people groups by country, 6,955 are still considered unreached.  9,835 people groups by country are not considered unreached, totaling 3,983,293,000 individuals, or about 58% of the world's population. Of the 16,790 total people groups, 6,955 are identified as unreached using Joshua Project criteria, totaling 2,841,516,000 individuals. Of these 6,955 groups, 5,892 are in 10/40 Window countries. That means 85% of all unreached people groups are in the 10/40 Window. 1,063 of the unreached groups are NOT in the 10/40 Window, totaling 84,003,000 individuals. These groups are relatively accessible to the Gospel.  Of the 6,955 Unreached people groups, about 3,553 (51%) are small groups under 10,000 in population (or population unknown) and all these groups total less than 8,000,000 individuals. Of the remaining 3,402 unreached groups, about 1,314 are under 50,000 in population. That leaves 2,088 Unreached groups 50,000 and over in population. A vibrant church in a large group may take the gospel to a number of smaller satellite people groups that have ethnic similarities.

We still have 35% of all people groups in the world not hearing the message of the gospel which transforms lives and give eternal significance to a dying world. 

The Project's Progress Report:

You’ll also notice a world map that shows the location and progress report on this big task of reaching the nations for Christ. 

The map actually signifies the bigger picture of the present need to evangelize and establish a Christ-believing church in these regions.

Below is the screenshot of this report:

If you count the progress stage above, almost 2.7 billion people are mostly located in the 10/40 window and all of them has not heard the message of the gospel. 

Surely, you’ve heard this very verse from Paul, the Apostle:

How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can anyone preach unless they are sent?- Romans 10:14-15a

His epistle to the Romans may have been sent more than 2,000 years ago but the challenge it presents still rings true today. Paul's question is actually relevant to the very command of our Lord Jesus Christ before he ascended to heaven:

Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

This command is not just given to a fateful few but to every believer and disciple of Jesus Christ. 

Our Challenge

The figures speaks for itself and personally, I think the task is BIG for just one group or denomination or even a Christian nation can accomplish. It takes every believer to make himself available to accomplish our task commanded by our Lord.

We can do better when we work hand in hand, regardless of denomination or location. Our common ground is not just our faith in Christ but also the great commandment and commission.

The church (referring to the local congregations) need to understand this concept. We need to establish this truth seriously. 


I strongly believe that there is only one church established by Christ (His bridegroom), one Lord over all believers and therefore only has one great commission to accomplish. (more on this topic next time)

The task may be big but it doesn't mean it cannot be accomplished when we work hand in hand.

It may sound challenging but we do have a BIG GOD who is Lord of ALL. 

Points to Ponder:

• What do you think can we do, as Filipinos and believers in this great task?
• What probably is the reason why this great task is still not completed?
• Which could possibly be harder - uniting the body of Christ or fulfilling the great commission?
• Who could probably answer the call of the Lord of the harvest - “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?”

"Raising generations of Filipino Youth for cross-cultural missions"