How Are We Doing on Finishing the Task?

/ Steinar Opheim
Persecution of Christians is on the rise around the world. This makes it more difficult to fulfill the great commission. The number of unreached people groups is still declining.

The number of unreached people groups is finally declining

The number of unreached people groups in the world is finally falling. There is still much work to be done before the great commission has been fulfilled.

It has been frustrating to follow the statistics published by the Joshua Project, one of the main mission reference centers, for those wanting to finish the task of bringing the gospel to all people groups. Over the years, the number of unreached groups has increased instead of declining. Partly, this is due to the people group definition Joshua Project uses. Still, their overview has given a feeling of the worldwide church being further and further away from finishing the task Jesus gave. 

Now, it finally looks like the numbers are on a steady decline. One year ago, the total number of unreached groups was 7,425. Today, the comparable number is 7,276. India remains the center of gravity when it comes to unreached. In January last year, India had 2,135 groups of people defined as unreached. Now, 13 months later, the number is 2,048. 

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Faroe Islands Mobilize to Reach the Unreached

/ Steinar Opheim
Jakúp Brúsá, the new general secretary of the Faroe Islands domestic mission, looks forward to mobilizing people for foreign missions. Training and sending businesspeople and professionals will be a main strategy.

Small islands making excessive plans for missions

The Faroe Islands are far away from almost everywhere. Still, new and comprehensive plans are being made to mobilize numerous people from the islands for missions.

“Tithing is an established principle among followers of Jesus worldwide. I want to apply it to a new sector in our church work. My desire is to see 10 percent of our church members go to share Jesus around the world,” says Jakúp Brúsá. 

A few years ago, the young Faroese started a digital marketing company in the capital, Torshavn. However, his life took a new turn when he recently signed up as the general secretary or CEO of the nation’s domestic mission – in the local language named “Kirkjuliga Heimamissiónin.”  Even if the organization mainly focuses on domestic affairs, Brúsá assures that foreign missions and unreached people groups will be high on the agenda in the coming years. Sending professionals, businesspeople, and students as tentmakers will be the primary way of getting people going. 

“We will also reach out to Faroese people already living and working abroad. It should be possible to mobilize many of them as ambassadors for God’s kingdom,” says the general secretary.

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The Sacredness of Secular Work, a book review

/ Phill

In the beginning God created heaven and earth… and work! 

Scripture mentions work more than 800 times. Surely God has an interest and purpose in it.

To begin, I was uncomfortable with the use of the sacred/secular terminology because it is a false dichotomy which the title seemed to support. I soon realized Jordan knew readers would be comfortable with these terms. Then as he teaches about them he draws the two together and erases the dichotomy.

Raynor surveys the broad outline of the whole Gospel in the Bible with the familiar 4 Act Model.

1.   Creation – God created the world and revealed His plan. He gave mankind the assignment/commission to continue the creation process he started.

2.   The Fall – When sin came into the world it disrupted everything. Life became hard and dysfunctional.

“The curse broke much more than just our relationship with God . It broke everything God deemed good in Act 1 — human beings, the nonhuman world, and the world of work.” p.46

3.   Redemption – God sent his son Jesus to redeem His creation and restore it. This leads to the fulfillment of God’s plan for the Kingdom of God where God and man will dwell eternally.

4.   Renewal – The process has begun. It leads to a new heaven and new earth where God and His creation will enjoy each other forever.

 “Jesus said that his kingdom will be implemented, at least in part, through you and me.” p.55

Our work has meaning because it gives God pleasure and because it is part of His plan for the Kingdom of God. Raynor’s examination of the Kingdom of God opened some new lines of thought for me.

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An intentional work model from the New Testament

/ Guest Contributor

In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, we command you, brothers and sisters, to keep away from every believer who is idle and disruptive and does not live according to the teaching you received from us. For you yourselves know how you ought to follow our example. We were not idle when we were with you, nor did we eat anyone’s food without paying for it. On the contrary, we worked night and day, laboring and toiling so that we would not be a burden to any of you. We did this, not because we do not have the right to such help, but in order to offer ourselves as a model for you to imitate (2 Thessalonians 3:6-9).

In Acts 18:1-3, we are given a front-row seat to the third and final reason why Paul appears to have chosen to work as a tentmaker: so that he could effectively disciple other Christians. In these verses, we are told that, upon arriving in Corinth, Paul met Priscilla and Aquila, “and because [Paul] was a tentmaker as they were, he stayed and worked with them” (Acts 18:3).

Many theologians believe that Priscilla and Aquila had already converted to Christianity by the time they met Paul. But by working shoulder-to-shoulder as tentmakers, Paul was able to disciple the couple and bring them further along in their faith.

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