A Question of Access

Why should getting the gospel to unengaged unreached people groups receive our greatest effort?  Why should the message of Embrace take priority over other appeals to reach the lost?  Why should we pass by thousands of souls ready to be harvested in order to plant the seed in a person of a different tribe?  Why focus on those hardest to reach when there are so many others to rescue?

After all, lost people are just as lost in Texas as they are in Tanzania.  Without the gospel, boys and girls face a frightening eternity no matter where they live or what people group they belong to.  The unbeliever across the street needs Jesus just as much as the man without the gospel on the other side of the world.  The souls of those in people groups who have received the gospel are just as precious as those in groups that have not.

It's a question of access to the gospel.  My neighbor in Texas is surrounded by churches, by Bibles and Christian literature, by preaching and teaching through radio, TV, and other media, and by co-workers, friends, and, in many cases, family members who are sharing or could share the gospel with him.  The case is similar for many people groups around the world who received gospel workers years ago.  They have established churches and ministries even though as much as 98% of their population may not have yet have been evangelized.  Even those people groups classified as "unreached" have someone working to get the gospel to them.  But the "unengaged" are without a witness.  They have little hope of hearing about Jesus unless someone steps up to the task.  Shouldn't they at least have a chance to hear the gospel?

In the parable of the lost sheep, Jesus said that the shepherd would leave 99 sheep in the fold to search for one that was lost.  One missionary spokesman used to say that no one should get to hear the gospel twice until everyone had heard it once.  After all, the only thing worse than being lost is being lost and having no one looking for you.