We love hearing (and sharing) stories about the mission to the unreached peoples around the world. It helps us to see that this is more than just an idea, but that real people are being touched each and every day by not only Assembly of God Missionaries, but others who are on the front lines in the mission to unreached peoples. 

Today, I have three stories from Assembly of God Missionaries that have taken place in the past couple of years. I hope it can remind us that even if we aren’t on the “front lines” of the field, our job in the mission to unreached peoples is to be constantly in prayer for those who desperately need Jesus.  

This is a short story back from 2018 from our good friends at  Live Dead:  

I spent most of today at the home of a student. She is originally from Sudan but has lived here for more than 20 years. We quickly became friends at the beginning of the year when she started attending classes at our school. 

Today was the first opportunity I’ve had to visit her home. We talked, laughed, and ate more Middle Eastern food than you can imagine. She shared with me that she had no friends before coming to our school but now finds that she has many friends. She was told that Americans were not very nice, but she’s happily found that not to be true. She welcomed me so graciously into her home and showered me with hospitality. 

I walked away feeling as though I had spent a day with family. As I left, she embraced me tightly and said, “I love you! Please come back anytime. You don’t even need to call.” 

I got in the car fighting back tears as I reflected on my time with her and the thought of her lostness. I have prayed lately that God would help me to continue to feel the lostness around me. I don’t want it to become normal. 

Please pray for my sweet friend and her family. Pray that our relationship will continue to grow and her heart would be soft soil so as seeds are planted, they will take root. Pray for all the missionaries that live among the unreached. Pray that we would continue to see the lostness around us and be driven to do all we can to see that our friends spend eternity with us. 

Join us, as we join them, in prayer for this sweet friend and her family. In the mission to the unreached peoples around us, prayer changes everything! 

(This article originally appeared on the LiveDead blog and was shared with permission.) 

Mission to Unreached Peoples: A Gospel for the Brothel  

Back in September of 2019, I had just returned from a week in Southeast Asia. It was my first time being a part of the Gospel mission with unreached peoples in this part of the world, as well as my first time with this prolific, Christ-centered ministry that is rescuing young girls from the vile evils of sex-trafficking. This trip left my head spinning and my emotions reeling. It also filled me with hope.  

There are so many stories on the week-long trip that I could tell, many of which we need to wait to fully share. But one encounter I cannot fold up neatly and set aside has more to do with you and me than the things I saw there.  

We attended a worship service in the Red-Light District of this major global city. As I stood in the back of the room, I listened to dozens of young women trapped in the prostitution industry as they raised their voices in praise to God:  

Every blessing You pour out, I’ll  

Turn back to praise  

When the darkness closes in, Lord  

Still, I will say  

Blessed be the name of the Lord  

Blessed be Your name  

Blessed be the name of the Lord  

Blessed be Your glorious name  

Try singing those lyrics in that place with those people without weeping. Go ahead, I dare you.  

These beautiful image-bearers of God Almighty literally walked out of the brothel into this life-giving gathering, sang and danced and wept and prayed, then returned to their perverted “customers” a few hours later. Physically rescuing these girls is far from simple, regardless of what you may have heard. But one thing I can assure you of, the mission to the unreached peoples involves some dark places, and Jesus is right there too.  

As I worshipped Jesus with these women, a strange realization came over me: I am one of them. Weak, lost, exploited by the darkness of this sinful world, unable to free myself, desperately in need of a Savior.  

And yet, I am also the brothel owner. Vile, rebellious, full of darkness, manipulating the power of this sinful world for personal gain, desperately in need of a Savior.  

It’s humbling to realize who you are without Jesus.  

As I left that church gathering – head spinning, theology challenged – I knew one thing for sure: A gospel mission to the unreached peoples of a brothel, also happens to be the same Gospel for me. It’s a Gospel for you, too.  

Blessed be the name of the Lord.  

Mission to Unreached Peoples: When Rebuilding Simply Isn’t Enough  

And for our last prayer story, I went on a trip back in April of 2019 and had just spent the day in Chechnya.  

Less than two decades ago, this Russian republic in the southern region known as “The Caucuses” was completely decimated by war. In fact, the UN called Chechnya the worst war-time destruction in any territory since WWII. Even as the capital city of Grozny began to rebuild, skirmishes continued to plague the city until just a few years ago. As far as the mission to unreached peoples go, this area remains a key recruiting area for militant Islamic groups and is need of the gospel. 

Rebuilding Physically  

Today, a few tall buildings are beginning to repopulate the skyline, a brand-new state of the art mall is under construction, and the foundation has been poured for a 102 story, Dubai-inspired high-rise. We walked down a quaint, brick-paved pedestrian street lined with cafes and retail shops, ate in an authentic Chechen restaurant, and had a great Americano brewed from a mobile mini-van barista. It was not at all what I expected.  

But while the physical Chechnya may be coming back to life, there is still a need for a need for a mission to the unreached peoples there. 

At the center of the city’s redevelopment stands an ornate mosque that can hold up to 10,000 people. Few things move me more than hearing the Muslim call to prayer. It’s the sound of devout longing, the cry of a people who know no Savior other than a shot-in-the-dark hope in their own pious discipline. 

These are the hard, resistant places that the mission to the unreached peoples must be taken. Not because we are “right” and they are wrong, but because we are all completely hopeless apart from Him. 

Rebuilding Spiritually 

Whenever I travel to unreached areas of the world, I’m not sure what moves me more deeply — meeting people who have no access to the gospel or meeting the people who give their lives and their families to go to these hard places. They’re my heroes. 

So today, we walked the streets of Grozny and prayed with some of our new missionary friends. We prayed for the Spirit of God to move among these beautiful people. We prayed for Jesus to begin drawing Chechens to Himself. We prayed for God to raise up more workers who will take up the mission to the unreached peoples like these so that everyone can have access to the Gospel.  

Let’s not forget to pray for those who have never heard the message of Jesus and for the Assembly of God missionaries (along with other missionaries as well) who give everything to make sure they do.  

You don’t have to be a theologian to be a missionary. The mission to the unreached peoples around the world needs teachers, entrepreneurs, and businesspeople. We need give-a-years, and short-term specialists, as well as full-time appointments. If you feel God tugging on your heart to take up part of the mission to unreached peoples, we can help you connect the dots. 

“How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!” — Romans 10:15  

#mission-to-unreached-peoples