Imagine that you were born into a nation in an area of the world that is unreached by the Gospel. From a young age, you are taught that unless you do enough good deeds in your life to appease the god you serve, you will face his wrath for all eternity. Because of this, you are absolutely terrified of him, and desperately strive to be good enough to earn your salvation from a horrible fate. You have no way of knowing whether you are doing enough to please him, so all you can do is pray that he will look favorably upon you on the day of judgment.

Under constant fear of his anger, you are exhausted from seemingly endless religious deeds in an attempt to save your own soul. You continue on this path of fear and shame until the moment that you unexpectedly enter eternity. You then find out that everything you had been taught and believed your entire life was a lie, and that you will spend eternity separated from the one true God in hell. This is not because you did not do enough deeds to save your own soul, but because you never heard the Name of Jesus, the only One Who could save you.

For People in Unreached Nations, This is Their Reality

Because there are not enough missionaries willing to go to these places to share the Gospel, billions of people are in danger of entering a hopeless eternity without Jesus. Here at YWAM Redding, there are a few reasons why we are compelled with such passion and urgency to focus on ministry to the unreached.

How Many People are Still

UnreachedAccording to the Joshua Project, there are still 3.19 billion people, or 41% of the world’s population, who are considered unreached. This means that there is such a small number of believing Christians in a people group, or none at all, that most of this population has no access to the Gospel and no opportunity to hear about Jesus.Most of these people groups are located in what is known as the 10/40 Window, which stretches from 10 degrees south to 40 degrees north of the equator and covers 69 nations across Central Asia, Northern Africa, and the Middle East. This is the area of the world that YWAM Redding focuses on reaching. God’s heart is broken for these people who are lost in spiritual darkness and have never encountered His love. They are in bondage to religions based in fear, shame, and performance, and have never heard that Jesus died for them to set them free and give them eternal life. As lovers of God, the Holy Spirit wants to fill us with the passion from God’s own heart to reach the lost until we are compelled to go to these places. Billions of people are in danger of eternal separation from God unless someone is willing to go to them with the Gospel.

Jesus Commanded Us to Go to the Unreached

In Matthew 28:16-20, Jesus commands us to go and make disciples of all nations. To go implies that this is not passive, but rather an active commitment of obedience and love. To go also implies that we must be willing to make sacrifices in order to reach others with the Gospel. This willingness will not come from a sense of duty, but must be the overflow of a genuine passion for the lost and deep love for Jesus that comes with the desire to follow His leading no matter the cost. 

Jesus also told us that He would not return until the Gospel has been preached throughout all nations. By going to the places that have not yet been reached, we are preparing the way for His return!

And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come. – Matthew 24:14

Going to the Hardest and Darkest Places to Reach the Unreached

YWAM Redding was founded on the mission of training revivalists in a culture of prayer and worship to go to the ends of the earth. For us, going to the hardest and darkest places is not merely a tagline, but a core value of our base that we passionately live out.

The vast majority of people in need of the Gospel are located in an area of the world that is immersed in spiritual darkness. To be a Christian in many of these nations is to risk persecution, imprisonment, and even death. In order to reach the lost in these nations, there must be lovers of Jesus who are willing to give God their yes.

The vast majority of missionaries are not going to these nations. Instead, they are going to places where most people have already heard of Jesus. The people in unreached nations will spend eternity without hope unless people are willing to go to the hard places.

Will you give God your yes?

You don’t need to have a certain set of qualifications to go to the unreached. You just need to be willing to say yes. At YWAM Redding, we have two options to help equip you to go to the nations:

  • Our Encounter Discipleship Training School (DTS) is a five-month program that is the prerequisite to further involvement with YWAM. After three months of investing in your intimacy with the Lord, you will go on a two month outreach. This outreach will give you the opportunity to share the Gospel in the 10/40 Window. HERE is more information about doing a DTS!
  • After doing a DTS, you can join our School of Supernatural Frontier Missions (SFM). This is a 12-week school that focuses on training revivalists to go to these unreached nations. To find out more about SFM, go HERE.

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