Mutual Intelligibility Skit: Global Frontier Missions

Mutual Intelligibility

Has the Great Commission been completed? "Make disciples of all nations" it says. Aren't there believers in every nation on earth today? And doesn't everyone have access to the gospel even if its via radio or television? Well, let's take a look at what Christ meant when he used the phrase "all nations". It comes from the Greek word "ethne" from which we get words like "ethnic". Christ wasn't telling us to go to every political nation of the world but to every ethnic or people group of the world. There are over 24,000 people groups on the planet today and over 8,000 are unreached and don't have a church that is capable of evangelizing the rest of the people group.

But the question remains: do we really need to communicate the gospel to every people group in the world? I mean, don't most people in the world speak some sort of trade language where they would have access to the gospel even if it were their second language. While it is true that many people in the world speak some sort of trade language, there are still over 300 million people in the world speaking over 3600 languages that do not have access to any part of the Bible and speak no trade language. There are 1 billion people that have never heard the name of Jesus! How will they hear unless someone goes to them? Also, most indigenous people that speak a trade language only have between 20-80% proficiency in that language. That would seem like plenty to get a gospel message across, but let's do a little experiment.

I'm going to give you a quick gospel presentation taking out about 20% of the words. I'll take some of the more difficult words out as those are usually the ones that people struggle with as they are learning a second language. So, let's pretend that you are a Mixteco Indian from the village of Yucuane who understands about 80% of the Spanish you hear. If somone shared with you the Good News of Jesus, it would sound something like this:

(say "blank" for every crossed out word) Did you know that God created you for a special purpose and that He loves you so much? He desires that each of us come into a direct relationship with him, but there is a problem in the world. Each of us has sinned and turned our back on God and therefore deserve judgment . The Bible says that the punishment for sin is death. The Good News is that Jesus , God's Son, came to earth, lived a perfect life, and died on a cross so that we wouldn't have to pay for our own sins . If we confess with our mouths that Jesus is Lord and believe in our hearts that God raised him from the dead , we will be saved .

Do you think that you would be ready to serve Jesus with your whole heart after hearing a message like that? You understood 80% of that message and probably didn't have a clue what I was trying to tell you. Do you see why it is important for us to send church planting teams into every unreached people group even if they may have access to some trade language? Would you be willing to go to a village, learn a new language, and live by new customs so that those people could have eternal life?

Let's take one other scenario. There are around 50 Mixteco people groups in the state of Oaxaca. Let's assume that there is a booming church among the people group, "Mixtecos of Magdalena Penasco". Can't we consider the Mixteco Indians reached with the gospel if there is a growing church? Can't they go right next door and share the gospel with their Mixteco neighbors? Well, the "Mixtecos of Sinicahua" live right over the mountain and can understand about 75% of what the people from Magdalena speak. So, the Magdalena Christian opens his nice little Mixteco Bible and begins sharing John 3:16 with his friend:

The man from Sinicahua hears: "For God so loved the world that he gave his only son that whosoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life ."

Get ready for a revival! Do you guys see why it is vital that we take the gospel to every unreached people group in the world and communicate the gospel in a way that is culturally relevant? There are 8,000 unreached people groups in the world that can't confess that Jesus is Lord because they've never heard of him. God is raising up church planters, evangelists, Bible translators, and many others to see all of the nations reached in our generation. Pray to the Lord of the Harvest and ask him how you are supposed to be involved in seeing the ends of the earth reach with the Good News of Jesus. Let's step up to the challenge and see God glorified and worshipped like he ought to be among all the peoples of the earth.