Unreached

To Reach All Peoples

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7,244

This is the number that is before us every day: the number of people groups in the world who remain unreached (no churches, no Christians, no access to the gospel, no Scripture in their language…)

While the number 7,244 is approximate, it remains a daunting figure and motivates us daily. And to reach those people, we need to pray for the Lord of the harvest to send laborers–missionaries–to reach those groups.

The Lord is doing just that, and we’re excited that many of these laborers are being raised up from countries that used to be mission fields. Those churches now want to send their people to other unreached groups.

The reasons those groups are unreached are:

  • their language is unknown
  • their worldview is a barrier to understanding or accepting the gospel
  • they are remote and hard to access
  • they belong to other major world religions
  • they are in countries ruled by regimes that are hostile to the gospel

M.A.P.

Bill and his team are focusing on the first two: helping missionaries learn unknown languages and worldviews. To communicate God’s truth clearly requires a high level of fluency in the language, and deep insight into a people’s worldview.

Part of the online course we created for missionaries being trained remotely in closed countries include the “principles of communication” under the acronym M.A.P. “Know your Message, Know your Audience, and Know your Plan.” We’re including this in the materials we are working on how for a wide audience of missionary trainers and trainees.

KNOW YOUR MESSAGE: this one is obvious. A missionary needs to have a good understanding of the Bible! And they need to be able to explain how the plan of God’s redemption is one story from Eternity past to Eternity future.

KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE: (this is where Bill and his team come in!) Missionaries need to gain a high level of fluency in the people’s language, a deep insight into their worldview and the implications that has for presenting Biblical truth, and they need good relationships with people–a level of trust where they have earned the right to be heard.

KNOW YOUR PLAN: (this is where our church planting consultants take over.) A missionary needs to prayerfully compare Biblical truth (a Biblical worldview) with the people’s worldview. Then they can be very strategic in dealing with all the areas where the people are likely to misunderstand. Teaching without this kind of plan results in syncretism, where the people mix Biblical concepts with their worldview.

Engage and Stages

Bill’s team is gradually rolling out a new Culture and Language learning guide (called Engage), and an amazing app called Stages) that is integrated with Engage and makes planning, elicitation, and review easier, and helps the learner reflect on the worldview.

Recently we handed some of these materials to our translation teams in Latin America. They are translating all of Engage and Stages into Spanish and Portuguese so they can be used by missionaries from those countries. We’re just about ready to give them another bunch of documents to be translated.

Our training programs in Canada, the US, and other countries are using some of these materials already. They will soon be able to use the whole program and the app. A few months ago Canada actually used the Stages app in their language learning practicum as a good beta test for us.

Our training program in Germany plans to start using some of these materials in their next semester. Many other training programs will gradually start implementing Engage and Stages soon. And not only that, we’re excited that a number of other evangelical mission agencies and training programs are anxious to use our materials to help their missionaries become better communicators of God’s truth!

Most Recent Work

Most recently, Bill has been testing the more advanced features of the Stages app, and overseeing some other people who also doing testing. He’s letting our programmers know about any bugs or issues. As he tests the app, Bill is writing the user manual, including screen shots for each step.

In testing the Stages app, some great ideas have come to light to improve the way it works. So the programmers are making those minor changes, and Bill is updating all the how-to documents and the Stages User manual to be up-to-date.

Update on the Palawanos

Bill continues to be in touch with many of the Palawanos through Facebook. He gets to answer their questions and give counsel to the men who are leading the Palawano church. Recently he learned that a Korean pastor has moved into our area. He is with another denomination that many consider to be a cult. He has used financial incentives to lure some unbelievers and even some weak believers to get baptized and join his church.

The good news is that Bill heard from Arnel, one of his translation helpers, who is helping to lead the church. He said that many of the believers are standing firm and are refusing to join the other church. They won’t even let the other pastor into their homes. Not only this, but the Palawano church is conducting new outreaches and there are many new Palawanos who have come to Christ! These new ones have gotten baptized and attend the church.

Please pray with us for the Palawano church. Pray for Arnel and Joseph, another church leader, as they do outreach and shepherd the flock. As for that other church, please pray with us that people will not be deceived. Pray that that Korean pastor will pack up and leave like many before him have done in the past.

Health Update

We’re thankful for those who have been praying for us!

The good news is that Bill’s heart has been staying in rhythm for almost a year and a half. His knee replacement a year ago was a huge success and he can easily do things he hasn’t been able to do for over ten years! One weekend he was up and down ladders all day installing screens on our rain gutters and the next day the only thing that DIDN’T hurt was his knee!

Bill’s sinus issue continues to be an issue. Write us if you want more details, but in a nutshell, for 28 months and counting, he has had excessive sinus issues. Two surgeries and lots of treatment options have not resolved this. It’s exhausting and very annoying! It affects how much we can do out in public (ever since COVID, if you cough or clear your throat in public, people can get concerned). We’ve heard people in a restaurant ask their server to move them to another table.

We try to keep our focus on the fact that it is a trial allowed by the Lord. We’re asking him to teach us through this. Bill has a video conference with his doctor on May 5.

We have some potential upcoming ministry travel to Brazil and elsewhere, but it’s hard to see how international travel or all-day teaching sessions would work. We’d appreciate your continued prayers for grace under trial, and for God to provide healing and to give the doctors wisdom in dealing with this.

God Works Long Distance

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Africa (w/out the Trip)

If you’ve been following our recent saga, you know we weren’t able to actually go to Africa as planned. So we can’t call this an Africa Ministry Trip. But Bill was still able to do the ministry part.

He pre-recorded his main introductory two-hour session last Sunday, once his cough was a little better. That way the Africa workshop attendees could watch it first thing Monday morning their time. (To do it live over the internet, Bill would have been teaching it at 1 a.m. San Diego time!)

Throughout the rest of the week, Bill was able to teach several sessions live (see picture below), and to answer their questions which he was getting by email. One of Bill’s teammates covered for him and did another session since Bill’s voice was still tentative all week.

Bill teaching via the Internet

A total of 58 missionaries attended the workshop. These included both Africans and foreigners. Most are on teams working to reach Unreached People Groups, and some of them are also consultants (or “coaches”), who are experienced missionaries who help others learn language and culture in order to succeed in their ministries. Bill and his team were teaching some helpful ways to learn culture and worldview to an even deeper level.

We’re not sure why God chose to change our plans at the last minute. It would have been so nice to be there in person interacting with everyone all throughout the week. But we’re grateful for technology, and the fact that Bill was still able to teach those sessions from a distance. We received some gracious and encouraging positive feedback about the workshop.

And we are so thankful for you and your prayers! Bill’s sickness lingered on, but was never very severe except for fever the ninth and final day.

Please Continue to Pray

Please pray for Bill and his team and they finish the development of the CLA (Culture & Language Acquisition) training materials and the mobile app to go with them and prepare for the global launch of these tools.

Lord willing, there will be more trips to Africa–and elsewhere–throughout the coming year as part of that launch, to get these tools into the hands of missionaries and those who train and coach them.

Pray, too, as they prepare and record training videos using these materials to train missionaries around the globe to communicate the Gospel clearly and effectively.

Need a quick update of what we’ve been up to? Click here to get up-to-date.

If you’re interested in partnering with us in this ministry, click here for more information.

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Africa map photo by James Wiseman on Unsplash, text added

When God Has Different Plans

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Thanks to all who prayed. We believe God heard your prayers and answered in an unexpected way.

Sick!

We were packed and ready. Our Uber to the airport was booked for 3:30 a.m.

But Bill had a cough and other chest cold symptoms all through the night. It was worse in the morning.

Then it was 3 a.m. and down to the wire.

We realized that not only would no one want to sit next to “that guy with the cough and sniffles,” but the airlines would never let us on board unless we lied. We could not truthfully say, “Nope, no COVID symptoms for the last few days.”

Changes

So we cancelled the Uber.

We cancelled the airline tickets, and wrote some quick emails to Africa.

It was so hard to push those buttons and cancel! There would be no going back after that. No way to change our minds. But it was the right thing to do, even if we didn’t understand God’s will. So we prayed and clicked those two icons.

“…you cannot understand the activity of God, who does all things.”

Ecc 11:5b NLT

We’re thankful that so far, Bill isn’t critically ill, although he fells pretty yucky and the flight-cancelling symptoms remain. He slept all day. We’ve booked tests for tomorrow to determine if he has COVID or just a cold. We’ll keep you posted.

Keep on Praying

So please continue to pray. Pray for a quick return to health. Pray for us as this is disappointing, and we hate to let people down. Pray for wisdom for the workshop organizers in Africa as to how to adjust to Bill’s last-minute cancellation.

Thanks for standing with us.

Good to be Negative

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Here’s a very quick update (you’ll see why it’s quick in a minute.)

We’re taking off on a ministry trip to AFRICA tomorrow! This is the first international trip we’ve taken since mid-2019 (Thanks to COVID). It’s Donna’s first trip AT ALL in about 2 years, and her first trip to Africa!

We’re thankful to the Lord for this ministry opportunity and for his provision of our tickets, a house (and cat) sitter, and so much more.

By the way, “negative” here refers to the negative COVID test results which the airlines required.

We’re EXCITED

Bill will be presenting to a group of about 50 African and expat missionary language and culture consultants. Bill will be updating them on some of the content of the CLA (Culture & Language Learning) program his team has been working on, and they will discuss with him how to best “Africanize” it. They want to continue to better help all their missionaries to learn culture and thereby to be effective communicators of the Gospel.

We’re TIRED

Packing and preparing for travel can be exhausting, but hey… we’re good at it! But this time it’s different. The hardest part is actually meeting all the COVID travel requirements for two airlines and three countries! We can’t believe the number of forms to fill out, copy, scan, upload (and sometimes re-upload, and re-re-upload) this trip involves. It’s taken HOURS. But we’re done and packing (the easy part)! We’ll be MORE tired when we get there (jet lag after 25 hours of travel), while teaching with jet lag, and then with a quick turn-around, a long trip and jet lag when we get home! (did I mention jet lag…?)

Please PRAY

We’ll update you when we get back! In the meantime, please pray for:

  • health during and after the trip
  • safe travel and smooth connections
  • clear-headedness (minimal jet lag)
  • a successful and fruitful workshop

Thank you for partnering with us in reaching the unreached.

Say What?

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How can missionaries break through walls of misunderstanding?

Everyone Needs to Hear!

We say this often. It’s our passion. This is what missions is all about: The unreached need to be reached with the Gospel. They need to hear the message of Christ.. and we believe they deserve to hear it in their heart language.

What Does “Hear” Really Mean?

If they misunderstand our message, have they “heard” it? If they reject it because we communicated poorly, have they really been evangelized? If they mix parts of God’s truth with their existing beliefs, have they been “reached”?

The answer to each question is No.

Culture is Important…

Language fluency is important. But it’s not enough! A big part of what Bill does is to help missionaries learn language and culture so that they can effectively communicate the gospel. Clearly. So it will be understood. So the Unreached can respond with faith to the truth of the Gospel. So they won’t simply put faith in their own misunderstanding of the Gospel.

Missionaries need to be able to get inside the head of their audience. We must understand what the Unreached believe… what they think—even their unconscious preconceptions—and most importantly, how might they misunderstand the Gospel.

THIS IS IMPORTANT: Missionaries don’t study the culture in order to change the message to make it more palatable! We do not change the Gospel to make it fit the worldview of the audience. Rather, we learn the culture and worldview so that we know how the audience might misunderstand; how they might make the message fit their preconceptions. When we can anticipate how they will misunderstand, we can teach in a way which will avoid that… a way where God’s truth can be clearly understood.

We don’t change the Gospel; we want to see the Gospel–clearly communicated–change people’s thinking.

Recently, Bill took two trips to Ethnos360’s training center in Missouri to meet with others on his team as they develop the updated CLA (Culture & Language Acquisition) training materials for missionaries worldwide. The second set of meetings focused on helping missionaries gain insight into the worldview of their audience, and who to deal with potential misunderstanding of the Gospel message.

Health Update

This has been a year of doctor visits (32 and counting): ER, urgent care, doctors, ultrasounds, CT scans, an MRI, injections, physical therapy… whew! Since our last update, Bill has seen great progress in recovering from his pelvic bone/muscle injury. He spends hours each week faithfully following his physical therapist’s instructions, and that has made a big difference! He can walk around now without pain, and can even climb stairs. But he still needs to set some limits.

On top of all that, this week he has a kidney stone removal procedure (on September 14). Please pray for that to go well with no complications. Pray that it will not interfere with his teaching at Radius International the following week.

Upcoming Ministry

Updates coming soon on:

  • teaching at Radius International
  • development of culture/language learning software
  • a language consulting trip to Mexico in November
  • plans to revisit Asia Pacific in January

What Drives Us?

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If every Christian in the world shared Christ with every single person they knew… and all of those people believed, there would still be two billion people in the world who had never heard the gospel.

 

-David Platt (Cross 2015, paraphrased from one the testimony of one of our Radius students)

 

 

(sorry, but the video we shared in our last post suddenly became “private” and unable to be viewed)