From Our CEO

Dear Friends,

A few hours before our Lord went to the cross, in what is often referred to as His “high priestly prayer,” the Lord Jesus said, “This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent” (John 17:3). Eternal life is found in one source: knowing the Father and Jesus the Christ, whom the Father sent.

Who is the Lord referencing when He asks the Father “that they may know You”? In the next 40 days, the Lord will have died, risen from the dead, appeared many times to many disciples and ascended before their eyes back to the Father. His final words to His disciples are recorded for us by Mathew, Mark and Luke. It becomes clear in those final words who “they” are in His prayer. “Make disciples of all the nations” (Matthew 28:19). “Preach the gospel to every creature” (Mark 16:15). “[Y]ou shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth” (Acts 1:8).

In John 17:3, the Lord was asking His Father to make it possible for all people to come to know the Father and His Son. He wanted all people to have that eternal life found in knowing Him. Jerusalem heard this news in those very days. That good news reached Judea and Samaria shortly thereafter when believers in Jerusalem were scattered by persecution after the death of Stephen and moved to Judea and Samaria (Acts 8:1-4). That leaves “the end of the earth.” So how is that going?

According to most sources, today there are still some 6,000 unreached people groups. These are groups of people who share a common language and ethnic identity but do not have access to the clear teaching of the gospel message in their heart language. Further, these groups lack opportunity to grow to maturity in their knowledge of Christ due to the lack of functioning local churches in their people group. So, there is much left to do in that “end of the earth” category of the Lord’s command in Acts chapter 1.

This issue of the Ethnos360 magazine focuses on the process of entering new regions where these unreached people groups live, entering with the purpose of introducing them to “the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.” As you will read, it can be a long and difficult process.

Yours in Christ,

Steve Sanford