As I’ve worked on the computer this week in my “office” (a closet in our guest bedroom with a sliding desktop that rolls-in when guests appear - less space, but beside a window) I have repetitively called or gone to Jack’s “office” (our re-purposed hallway linen/storage closet - more space, but no window) to ask if he is talking to me. Most often he has been conversing with his computer – or more accurately – FUSSING at his computer screen!
Jack’s assignment this week is completing the first round of what will be monthly reports to the IMB via the internet of the status of Baptist Legacy Work among REACHED People Groups of Kenya (30+ million people). Though sharing events related to Church Growth (Church Planting Movement training, discipleship, church plants, new believers/baptism) can be frustrating with our faster than the past-but still slow for most of the world/on-off internet, Jack finds it extremely rewarding to document how God is at work among these People Groups which have been considered REACHED for several years.
SO… IF these people groups are REACHED by the gospel, why are we still in Kenya? First, the JOSHUA PROJECT, “a research initiative seeking to highlight the ethnic people groups of the world with the least followers of Christ” (1), defines UNREACHED PEOPLES as those less than 2% evangelized and LEAST-REACHED PEOPLES as those less than 5%. Thus, being REACHED means that at least a few among these People Groups claim our Father’s love and salvation, NOT that the majority of them are Christians. Second, as the IMB and other groups work towards making “disciples of all peoples in fulfillment of the Great Commission found in Matthew 28:18-20” (2), “Over 6,000 people groups - 1.7 billion people – still live with little or no access to the Gospel” (2).
Knowing that our Savior’s words, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few” (Matthew 9:38), are still true today, Jack and I are committed to “Strengthening and encouraging East Africans as we engage lostness together” (Acts 14:22; Rev 14:6). Jack does this by teaching at our seminary and encouraging/ facilitating Kenyan Baptists to take the Gospel to their Jerusalem (homes and neighbours), Judea and Samaria (Kenya and neighboring countries – Sudan, Ethiopia, Somalia, Tanzania, and Uganda), and to the ends of the earth (Acts 1:8). I do this by sharing information from our part of the world with “God’s fellow workers” (1 Cor 3:9) – those who provide prayer, finances and personnel. One such bit of news this week is the need for prayer in Southern Sudan as their people vote for seceding from the northern part of Sudan. Prayer Nudges for this volatile issue can be found in “What a break-up would mean to the Sudanese and Africa” (3).
Jack has just taken a break from fighting with his computer and my rumbling tummy says it is lunch-time, so I will stop – Plus, I’m sure that I’ve given you more than enough to nudge you to prayers this week for us, but more importantly for the billions of people in our world who lack our Father’s love and salvation, especially for the 1.7 billion people not yet represented in the nations, tribes, people and languages praising at our Father’s throne! BERT YATES
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(1) JOSHUA PROJECT: http://www.joshuaproject.net/
(2) About the IMB: http://www.imb.org/main/page.asp?StoryID=4528&LanguageID=1709
(3) “What a break-up would mean to the Sudanese and Africa” – DAILY NATION/ 11-01-10 – http://www.nation.co.ke/News/africa/What%20a%20break-up%20would%20mean%20to%20the%20Sudanese%20and%20Africa%20/-/1066/1086160/-/e514pj/-/index.html
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