They Still Exist
A parallel of the unreached ...who still exist...
Leprosy still exists. It still ruins live. It starts as an almost unrecognisable “spot” on the skin, yet at this early stage it is completely curable with the correct treatment. Left undiagnosed it can end up with horrible permanent consequences. One of my goals as the medical director of a health district in Chad was to find these early cases and “get the word out” about the cure. We travelled to the most distant and isolated villages in this remote sub-Saharan region of the world. Often the villagers would flee from our vehicle when they saw my pale skin thinking I was the one with a skin disease!
We did find early cases of leprosy, and we made a huge difference in lives. But the people needed us to go to them. We could not have expected them to make the diagnosis and give treatment on their own. What these leprous people needed was someone from the outside to go to them, care about them, touch their skin and give them the opportunity for cure.
The same holds true for unreached people groups. Entire ethnic groups have no one in their culture, language or location who knows the Good News of Jesus. It’s not that these people have no desire for a cure for their souls. Many search for the truth about God but have simply never heard. My wife, Susan, visited an elderly lady in our village and told her about Jesus Christ. The woman responded “This Jesus sounds like a really nice man. Next time he comes to town would you bring him by?” In all her sixty-plus years this Chadian woman had never heard of Jesus Christ. And she might never have heard unless someone entered her culture, learned her language, “touched her skin” and gave her opportunity for cure.
Unreached people groups still exist. Spiritual depravity still ruins lives. There are almost 7,000 identified groups of people in our world today who, because of cultural, linguistic, or geographic boundaries, have no way of knowing the diagnosis or treatment for their souls unless someone goes to give them opportunity for cure.
At a recent international festival, I asked the attendees, “So how many unreached people groups do you think are in the world today?” Most guessed 100–200, maybe 1000. Then we showed a full-sized banner listing all 6,747 groups! The impact was palpable.
One little boy gazed at the banner in awe and asked “Are these the names of all the people left in the world who don’t know Jesus?” We wish it were only single names rather than entire groups of people, sometimes numbering several million. The banner was effective. It stirred hearts. God’s heart is already stirred. His passion is that one day every one of these nations and tribes and peoples and languages will be standing before the throne knowing the joy of Christ. It can happen. It will happen by God using weak vessels like us to go to them, care about them, “touch their skin” and give them opportunity to find the “cure” in Christ.
Dr. Louis Sutton
Louis and his wife Susan currently serve as WEC USA Directors. Varsity, medical, pastoral and missionary work aside, Louis’ current passion is Frisbee Golf.