Greetings, readers!
A pastor wanted advice on how to talk to his church about unreached people groups. “Do people still talk about the 10/40 Window?” he asked. “Not like they used to,” I said, and glibly trotted out some of the latest jargon, messages, and models, then dove down a few rabbit holes with my own critique and commentary developed by decades of debate. “But keep it simple,” I concluded, realizing my little speech had been anything but.
What would you tell my friend? If you were talking about the least-reached in a church service or in front of a class or small group today, what would your message be? Maybe you’ve done this recently. I’d love to hear your talking points and how you balance clarity with nuance, to empower rather than overwhelm.
Next month I will attend the annual Mission Leaders Conference from Missio Nexus and hope to see some of you there. This year the conference will explore what’s happened with the unreached people paradigm in the last 50 years, how we understand it now, and what the future holds for this kind of thinking. So that may help with my question.
Along those lines, see Ted Esler’s recent article with four reasons to prioritize the unreached as well as one on why closure missiology is bad theology. You might also want to read Len Bartotti’s upcoming book, People Vision: Reimagining Missions to Least Reached Peoples (William Carey Library).
Such topics should also be part of the conversation at the Lausanne Congress coming up. If you’re heading to Korea for that (or attending the interactive online conference), let us know how it goes!
Grateful to partner with you,
Marti