UNREACHED
In Revelation 7, John shares his vision of heaven with members from every tribe, tongue, people and language standing in the throne room before the Lamb.
Yet today there are still over 7,000 unreached people groups around the world.
For the last six years, my family and friends have been on a journey to find, vet and fund the task remaining.
Come journey with us to the ends of the earth as we share the supernatural stories of God at work through the men and women he has called to reach the UNREACHED.
UNREACHED
Calling For a Second Reformation with Andrew Scott
Have you ever longed to trace the footprints of early Christians beyond the well-trodden apostolic paths? Join us as Andrew Scott returns to uplift our spirits with tales of the global mission field, from his humble beginnings in Northern Ireland to his impactful endeavors with OM on a mission ship. Our conversation doesn't just admire the apostles' work in the Book of Acts; it honors the unsung heroes — ordinary believers whose daily lives told a story of faith that echoed through the generations. Discover how their narrative is not just history, but a catalyst for today's mission to reach those who have yet to hear the gospel.
As we navigate through time from the early church to modern-day spiritual landscapes, we marvel at Christianity's explosive growth, particularly in regions like China and Iran. We pay homage to the pioneering Moravian missionaries who set a stirring example of dedication. Yet, in the midst of celebration, we recognize an urgent call to action for the church to rise anew, refocusing on the vast fields ripe for harvest. This episode is not only a historical journey; it's an invitation for you to join a movement longing for more hands to share the love of Christ worldwide.
Wrapping up, we delve into the core of our Christian identity, pondering the profound implications of living out our divine purpose. Through prayer, we seek wisdom for leaders like Andrew and for the global church as it steps into a new era of leadership and mission. This episode is a soul-stirring call to embrace our role as God's image bearers, to weave our threads into the rich tapestry of His redemptive story, and to walk in the wisdom that guides us to the frontiers where His light shines brightest.
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In Revelation 7, john shares his vision of heaven with members from every tribe, tongue, people and language standing in the throne room before the Lamb. Yet today there are still over 7,000 unreached people groups around the world. For the last six years, my family and friends have been on a journey to find, vet and fund the task remaining. Come journey with us to the ends of the earth as we share the supernatural stories of God at work for the men and women he has called to reach the unreached. Hello friends, welcome back to the Unreached podcast. If you have not heard the first episode with Andrew Scott, ceo of OM, author of the book Scatter, go back and listen to that before you start this one. But for a quick recap, andrew's back. We're ready to wrap up his story and what God is doing in just this massive paradigm shift of how Andrew sees our engagement as Christ followers in the world of missions and in the mission of God.
Speaker 1:To recap where we've been Andrew is born and raised in Northern Ireland. He grew up in the church. He served on a mission ship with OM. I don't know how many of us even knew that was a thing, but that sounds incredible. The ships that are out there today, as many as 50 different people groups on a ship, going port to port and doing life together and all the things you've learned. You came back. You've been equipping the American church through OM ever since You're married, got two kids, got a grandkid on the way, yep, and we don't know what we're going to call you yet.
Speaker 2:No, we're still working on that. We're still working on that, yep, and we don't know what we're going to call you yet.
Speaker 1:No, we're still working on that, we're still working on that, all right, but we're back with Andrew and we were thinking like man, what should we hit on that we didn't quite get to in the first episode? The first thing we want to hit on today the book of Acts. There is biblical precedent for what we're talking about today and how the early church formed. And what I mean by that is like it wasn't varsity Christians, only apostles, that went out and planted churches. In fact, the church in Rome was not even planted by a quote named varsity Christian apostle. So how do we look to the book of Acts? I mean, I know you've taught on this and studied this extensively how do we look to the book of Acts as an example of how we're doing it today?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I love that, of course. I mean one of the most exciting books you can ever read, right, no doubt? And just blows your mind to think of what happened through this group of very ordinary guys that Jesus invited into the story and what happens even in the first couple of chapters of chapters. You know, one of the things that I was convicted of in my reframing of my own thinking that in the last 10 years was that I had jumped straight to Acts 13, to where the church in Antioch sends out Paul and Barnabas. And then we start to and we, you know it doesn't help that we list that as the missionary journeys of Paul and all of a sudden Paul's the first missionary and we skip right over Acts 8.
Speaker 2:And Acts 8 tells us that after the persecution of Stephen, and we skip right over Acts 8. And Acts 8 tells us that after the persecution of Stephen, or the stoning of Stephen, a great persecution broke out and all the believers scattered. So we get this all the believers and not the apostles, or except the apostles, scattered. And then this key phrase everywhere they went, they preached the gospel Everywhere they went. Now we know from other writings of that time it wasn't like they were out on the street corners preaching the gospel it's. They took the gospel with them. The gospel was something they lived out and they spoke out wherever they went. And so, by the time we get to Acts 11, we find out two key things. One is well, they'd only really done it with Jews. So they joined new Jewish communities wherever they went, and they'd done it in a rather contained area. But now they'd gone further and they'd start to also preach to the non-Jews, the Greeks, which is also key. But these are the ordinary believers.
Speaker 2:And so, by the time we get to Acts 13, the church in Antioch, sending out Paul and Barnabas as the apostles as we would see them, as the guys we thought that built the early church. Well, no, antioch was built by these everyday followers of Jesus who scattered for fear of their life. And when Paul went to Melita, to Cyprus, to Rome you've mentioned a number of these places the church was already there with the ordinary, everyday followers of Jesus. There's a few books out there that really helped me reshape my thinking.
Speaker 2:There's the book I mentioned in the last episode, which is Evangelism in the Early Church by Michael Green. There's the book I mentioned in the last episode which is Evangelism in the Early Church by Michael Green, very powerful book. In that he says that 80% of church growth and evangelism and church growth that happened in those first 300 years was done through these everyday followers of Jesus, many scattering for fear of their life. But then it was through the natural trade routes of the day right. So not everybody went, but there was some natural movement of people and they just kept going further and further and further.
Speaker 2:They outmaneuvered the Roman Empire. They went further than the Roman Empire by the end of 300 years. Another book is the Spontaneous Expansion of the Early Church by Roland Allen. They're all little books and they're very easy to read, but just getting this picture of how the Jesus followers of those days untrained most of them probably, were illiterate, certainly didn't have a copy of the scriptures in their bedroom or in their smartphone or something like that. But they had the good news that the gospel was ringing in their ears, that this man called Jesus had come to show them a way of life that was radically different from the way of the Romans, and that was you loved your neighbor and you loved your enemy, that you were peacemakers in the world, that how to treat your wife, how to treat your enemies, how to live in the world around you. And then he died and he rose again and this was like, oh my goodness, and he's asked us to live this way and tell others about him. And they were doing it, they were doing it, they were doing it.
Speaker 2:And if you read through the New Testament, as one pastor told me Australian pastor he said, you know, I'm convinced when I read through the New Testament, it's Paul's cleanup operation after the mass mobilization of God's people. Right, so the people, jesus followers, the people came to know Jesus. They were so excited about the risen saviour and how he'd called them to live. They had to tell other people and there was a whole lot of things they hadn't got straight. Just read the epistles, you know they're cheating, lying. They were doing all these things and Paul had to keep saying, hey, stop doing that. That's not who you are. Who you are is, you're a child of God made to represent him in the world. And somehow, as Tertullian wrote, they had an alternative. This alternative way of living attracted the Romans in because it was something incredibly beautiful about people living in unity and love, and that drew people in.
Speaker 1:I love that and you know what I have in my notes. I've been putting a Bible commentary together for the years that I've been leading discipleship groups. The zeal, faith, joy, commitment and obedience of the early saints serve as examples to all believers today. I love that, but I also want to add this part, the purpose of the book of Acts. Right, you think about the main stories, the characters, like the highlights that are in the book. I mean, obviously you've got Pentecost, the flaming tongues.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, yeah, sure You've got the Acts 1-8.
Speaker 1:You will receive my power when the Holy Spirit comes on you and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, judea, samaria and to the ends of the earth, which we've referenced many times on the podcast. And I go back to Peter in South Sudan, because they were praying about how do we, as a tribe, how do we get to the ends of the earth right? What's our mode of transportation? Do we have a ship? Can we get an airplane? Right? But I love this.
Speaker 1:Just the Samaritans, the Ethiopian eunuch, the Samaritans, the Ethiopian eunuch, cornelius, the Gentiles at Antioch, and what you said in the last episode.
Speaker 1:You talked about the importance of placing people in different, I'm going to say castes, which would be kind of a Hindu or Indian term, but in different levels of society. What Acts showed was that it was not just for the Jews, it was also for the Gentiles, but it was for the poor. It was for the wealthy, it was for the educated, it was for the Gentiles, but it was for the poor. It was for the wealthy, it was for the educated, it was for the not educated, it was for women, it was for the men, it was for the high and lofty, it was for the humble, it was for everyone. Acts sets forth the story of the church as something that is inclusive and for everyone, and you, in the first episode and now in the second episode, are trying to tell the Christ follower you were made for this, you were made to, you were equipped and made to take this story and take this message out through your work and how you live your life, 24-7, 365.
Speaker 2:Right, that's a beautiful picture you've just painted. Michael Frost in one of his books, I think it's. Mission is Liquid, he's just published.
Speaker 1:Do you get the feeling like you're well-read? I mean seriously yeah.
Speaker 2:I like to read because I'm not smart enough to know these things myself.
Speaker 1:I mean, you brought up Malcolm Gladwell in the last one, I'm sitting here over here going yeah, I've read Blink, and what was that other one? Yeah?
Speaker 2:OK, so he he talks about this alternative society. That was that you know, when the Romans would walk past, they would hear this noise over the wall and they would peek in through the gate. Of course he's imagining it, and in through the gate was exactly what you saw. You just said you would have a table, a love feast going on, and there would be the slave and there would be the slave owner. Probably there would be women and men at the table, young and old, jews and Greeks, and it was like, is this even possible? But there was something incredibly attractive to it, because in the heart of every human being, I think, there's this longing for community, there's this longing for oneness that just wasn't present in Roman society. And so I think this is the power, should be the power of the church.
Speaker 2:Now, unfortunately, dustin and I and you sort of did a call out in the last episode, which I thought was really important, is that in the church today we are almost seeing each other as enemies, sometimes. Right, and the power of the church today is going to be, whenever we can see each other as friends and those that disagree, we love them because we know the disagreement is beyond the flesh, it's in another world. So I just think that disagree. We love them because we know the disagreement is beyond the flesh, it's in another world. So I just think that let's not lose sight of this incredible picture of the ecclesia, the called out ones, which has a space for everyone. And let me make this point I think this is important that most people can see. Most Jesus followers can see themselves in that picture because they've heard this before and they see that, yeah, I'm a recipient of God's love. Therefore, I join this community as, in a sense, an equal.
Speaker 2:But where most have failed to see their participation is in sharing that story with others. So the way I say it often is that most can see themselves in the story of God as a recipient of his love, absolutely. What I want to say is you're a participant, a full participant, in the story of God, as a recipient of his love. What I want to say is you're a participant, a full participant in the story of God, in sharing it with others. It's not for a few people, it's for all of us, a reproducer, and so let's move beyond simply being a recipient or a consumer, but let's move towards full participation. And there's no hierarchy there. Yes, there's some people that were God-designed to equip us, that's their pastors, evangelists, teachers, but all of us are participants with him in sharing his love with the world.
Speaker 1:Okay, I've got an idea. I'm going to try something fun. The book of Acts some may know this, some may not has a group of scriptures called Progress Reports. You familiar with the Progress?
Speaker 1:Reports in Acts. Okay, I'm going to read the progress reports, I'll tell you what they are and then I want you, I'm challenging you, to give us the progress reports since the book of Acts in the growth of the church. Okay, wow, ready, on the spot, here, on the spot, here we go. Okay, progress report number one is in Acts 2, 47. It says and the Lord added to their number daily, those who were being saved. Progress report number two 6.7. The word of God spread. The number of disciples in Jerusalem increased rapidly. Progress report number three in 9.31.
Speaker 1:Then the church throughout Judea, galilee and Samaria was strengthened. It was encouraged by the Holy Spirit. It grew in numbers. Progress report number four in 1224. But the word of God continued to increase and spread. Progress report number five in 1605. So the churches were strengthened in the faith and grew daily in numbers. Progress report number six in 1920. Strengthened in the faith and grew daily in numbers. Progress report number six in 1920. In this way the word of the Lord spread widely and grew in power. And progress report number seven in 28, 30, and 31. Paul welcomed all who came to see him Boldly and without hindrance. He preached the kingdom of God and taught about the Lord Jesus Christ, there's a rhythm to these progress reports. It's growth. It's growth in numbers, it's growth in strength, it's growth in power. So, if that's the early church in the book of Acts, what are our progress reports to 2024?
Speaker 2:You mean in 2024? To 2024. Oh my word. What have we? I know you're a historian too, so what are some key?
Speaker 1:progress reports. Right that we've hit to get to where we are today.
Speaker 2:Currently I'm learning a lot more about what happened from 300 to maybe 1,600. Incredible stories of people and movements in that stage. But one of the ones that maybe I would fast forward to that I'm more familiar with is the Moravian movement, and this was a group of people that were refugees, if you like. They fled, under persecution, they were followers of Jesus and they ended up with Count Zinzendorf, who was just this incredible guy from Austria who loved the Lord and had been awakened sort of, to God's global task and God's global mission and started to disciple this group of Moravians that camped out in his big estate and they caught this vision from Count Zinzendorf and they decided that they had this motto that the lamb, the suffering lamb, is worthy and so they would give everything for them. So they and they recognized, as count zinzendorfer told them, that, that all of them were involved in the mission. So not everybody went, but those that stayed, worked hard and raised money to launch these people. But all of the moravians that went went in jobs wherever they went, and they started in the caribbean. They went further afield. There's moravian churches all over the world. In fact, in my little town in Northern Ireland there was a Moravian church. They took the gospel to parts of the world in a very. They moved quickly, in a sustainable way, took the gospel to the nations One of the most incredible stories that people skip over.
Speaker 2:And they say William Carey was the father of the modern missions movement. William Carey built his model on the Moravians who came before him. So I think that's I mean. Then you have stories like the Chinese church, where people like Hudson Taylor and others went and sacrificed so much and saw so little really happening. But then it slowly grew and then in the 1950s, when all of the missionaries were kicked out, we thought it was the end. But then the church just multiplied and people were being added to the church every day, to where? Now I really don't know the accurate number, but it's in the tens of millions of people that have come to know faith in Jesus. And so we're hearing that's happening. We're seeing it happening in Iran. We're seeing it happening.
Speaker 1:Of course, continuing in China exactly.
Speaker 2:Algeria, in India, things are expanding. The church is expanding quite rapidly in the non-Western world as God is on the move in these places. So yeah, I would say progress report. Today the church is growing like never before. There's still huge parts of the world.
Speaker 1:Still growing in numbers.
Speaker 2:Still growing in numbers, still being added daily and growing strong.
Speaker 1:And growing in power.
Speaker 2:In fact, we're seeing theology start to emerge from within the Global South context, the majority world context, which is really rich and is adding to our understanding as well that we celebrate. So, yeah, the church in the majority world, I would say, is in good health, but there's still big chunks of the world. There's work to do. There's a lot of work to do. There's a task remaining. There's still big chunks of the world. There's work to do. There's a lot of work to do. There's a task remaining.
Speaker 1:We've talked about it many times, there's more workers needed for the harvest and quite frankly, we're kind of seeing this now as workers who are still workers and what they're good at can participate. Just to give some context to the maybe like way to think about church history since the early church and kind of last 2,000 years the early church is like the apostles to the fall of the Roman Empire right, which is around a little before 500 AD. Then you have the middle ages, which is about a thousand years of what you may call Christendom in various forms, and then with your Moravian story, which is consistent with the timing of the Reformation in the early modern era, so that's like 1500 to 1750, and this is Luther and this is the birth of the USA, which arguably is only the second nation historically ever founded on the premise of one God, a nation under God. And then you have kind of this late modern contemporary era that we're in now and with that context you've had the charge of God, the mission of God, the mission of the church, very clearly stated in each gospel. We know it best in Matthew 28. We know what there is to do and yet we know that today there's still somewhere in the neighborhood of 3 billion people on earth without access to the gospel.
Speaker 1:And the key for why Andrew's here, the key for why Clint and I devote our time and energy to this podcast, is not on our watch man, not on our watch, like we have New Roman's Roads. We have the technology, we have the resources. In fact, let's talk about the resources. I'm not going to quote you, but I have said your quote nowhere short of 100 times, and everybody that's ever heard this podcast has heard your quote. How much do Americans give to sending people to unreached people groups? What's your quote?
Speaker 2:That we spend more money on Halloween costumes for our pets than we do on reaching the unreached in the world.
Speaker 1:Man, that one, just that one just hits me. That one hits me to the core. To quote Clint, I am undone when I get that one. It, just it, just it hits me personally. I'm not just talking about speaking for my brothers and sisters and neighbors in America, I mean it hits me personally. It hits my wife and I when we look at how we spend money. Yeah, sure, we're generous, we're committed to living out our life and being generous and doing things, but are we fully there? I mean, have we capped our standard of living? Are we giving everything over and above a certain level yet? No, we're not doing that yet we're prayerfully working on that. But man, that one just slams the door in my face when I think of that and then I go dig deeper, tell us some more. Dig a little deeper for us into what amount of resources are actually going, even within the church.
Speaker 2:The same is true, Dustin. When we look at people, it's frightening to think of how few we have actually engaged. The vast majority and I can no longer remember the statistic, but it's 90-something percent of American Christian workers are in America. With 4% of the world's population, there are only about 13,000 cross-cultural workers working among the unreached. So 13,000 among 3.2 billion Among 3.2 billion.
Speaker 2:Now, of course, there's thank God, there's a lot more local believers coming to the fore, which we didn't have before. But this is our sum, total contribution, right, and so this was part of my undoing 10 years ago was I was sitting, and I write about it in the book. There's a number of different snapshots that I use but sitting in a coffee shop in one of the big malls in the Middle East, talking to some workers there, and just seeing myriads of people file past me in their local attire, I just think how on earth do we think we can change this reality by thinking we can delegate this to a few people? We've gotten something horribly wrong here that we're okay with giving a little bit of our money to send a few of our people to go change the reality of the world, and we have to think of this differently.
Speaker 1:And let me tell you something, andrew Giving across the US was down 10% in 2022. Wow, volunteering in the US was down 10% in 2022. Volunteering in the US was down 30% since before COVID.
Speaker 2:Wow, so we're going the wrong way. We're going the wrong way.
Speaker 1:Now that's overall, that's to all causes. So not only are we not giving more and not only are we not doing it the traditional way, but it's clear that we're not going to just get people to do that right. That's not just going to happen in the next few decades and we're going to solve. So I'm going to go to this space that's one of the coolest things I've read in a long time and I'm going to go back to Steve Richardson, who quoted you. In the book, andrew Scott calls for a second reformation with world-changing implications, a rediscovery of the mission of the believer.
Speaker 2:Now, what does that mean?
Speaker 1:What does?
Speaker 2:that look like yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, I go back to what we were talking about in the first episode of our time together. It starts with an awakening to who we are. If you don't know who you are, you can't be who. You are right, and I think that one of the biggest issues we're facing today is an identity crisis of the people of God. We're trying.
Speaker 2:Our identity has been more conformed to the pattern of this world than what our creator says about us. Right, that's Romans 12. Yeah, exactly, exactly. So Romans 12, for me, is a critical passage, this whole idea of not being conformed to the pattern of this world but being transformed by the renewing of your mind, because Paul says that when you do that, you will understand the good, the perfect, the pleasing will of God. Everybody wants to know what their purpose in life is like. If you're a Christian, you want to know the will of God.
Speaker 2:God has not been in any way unclear about what he wants for us. He's clear about our identity. You're my child, right, with all of the privileges, you're joint heirs with Christ. I mean, this is mind-blowing stuff. So your identity is clear. He's clear about our purpose. I've made you to represent me, so you're not here to live life according to your rules, you're here to live life according to my righteous way.
Speaker 2:This is the great sin of mankind is. They said no, we're going to play by our rules. Right? And God has relentlessly sued his people because, number one, he wants the people for himself. Number two, he's made humanity and he knows the right way for humanity to flourish. He desires for humanity to flourish and when humanity says no, we know better. They don't flourish. But he's given 10 commandments, not to. This is a whole other message.
Speaker 2:But the 10 commandments were not given to confine the people of god within a certain restrictive set of rules. They were given to say hey, if you follow these, life works. It works if you don't commit adultery, hey, that makes life a whole lot easier if you don't lie, if you don't covet, if you don't steal. Here's the way to live among the nations. And if you live this, the nations will look on and say, wow, those people have a powerful God. Why? Because the people live according to this way.
Speaker 2:So God has made it pretty, very, not pretty very clear as to our identity and our purpose in the world. And honestly, dustin, this is what I believe is the biggest thing we it's why I want to give the rest of my life to this is I think we have to start there Awaken the people of God to who they are and why they exist. Because if we don't get that right, then we spin our wheels doing a bunch of other things for ourselves and for those around us and we don't get that time back, and we don't get that time back right. And so it takes the excuse clause. Well, god has never called me. No, no, no, you probably haven't had a burning bush, yes, but God has clearly said this is what I made you for and he's uniquely shaped you.
Speaker 1:How do you know? How do you understand it? How do you talk to God? How does someone find out?
Speaker 2:what that is. Well, I think they need to get into the Scripture. Come on, pastor, come on, read your Bible. Get in there and when you read it.
Speaker 1:What's the prayer you should have Not like? Where do I see myself in this right Like God? Show yourself to me, show me what you meant by this, show me what was the context when this was written and how do I apply my life to your will, not just your word to my life? There you go, right.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I don't know if I could say it any better, dustin I think we're so intent on finding things to help us in our story in a society in the West that has pushed us towards individualism in the church that has pushed us towards consumerism. Quite frankly and I think this is the big awakening post-COVID for many churches They've recognized and I've heard this from many of my pastor friends, we've recognized in the 65% return rate to church that we have created consumers and not made disciples. We have to recognize that in our day and age is that, and certainly in the Western church, we have to go back to the basics of who we are as followers of Jesus in the world and whose story we're part of.
Speaker 1:Three times. I've been prompted to say what I'm about to say and I haven't found my moment to say it yet, but I'm going to say it now. The first book when we do a new discipleship group I lead a discipleship group with six or eight guys every year the first book we read is called Not a Fan, not a Fan by Kyle Eidelman. If you're hearing this and you're not sure where to start, this is a great book. If you have people in your life you're discipling and you're trying to help them contextualize where they are, this is a great book. And the essential point of the book is Jesus is not your homeboy, you are not his co-pilot. He is not a vending machine that you go put a prayer in and ask for help with something when you need it. He is the sovereign creator of the universe and the Lord of your life. You will prayerfully see a shift at some point from being a fan of Jesus to being a follower of Jesus.
Speaker 1:65, 70, whatever the number is percent of Americans say they're Christian, part of why the American church's witness is compromised among the nations. To your point earlier, they think of American as Christian and they see what they see on TV and that obviously doesn't appeal to a very moral high ground or something you want to follow. That is not salt and light, if you will. What percentage of Americans, even church-going Americans, are actually walking with Christ, following Christ? I hate to guess, I don't know. If it's out of the single digits, then you go and you just show 13,000 workers among the nations, in unreached people groups. That is a fraction of a fraction of a fraction of engagement. Now, that's full-time mission workers.
Speaker 1:That's not necessarily business people that are on mission. So we're not including the full calculus in that equation, but the point is still well received, right, right?
Speaker 2:And let me jump off that, dustin, and take it back maybe to a more practical within the world of missions. Is that part of the problem I see? So you have the problem of a reframed thinking within the church that gives no one an excuse or makes no one feel excluded. That has to happen.
Speaker 2:But then we have to turn the spotlight towards guys like me and say well, hold on a minute, you have this little narrow pathway for people to go to the nations. Right, you have to have the special call, you have to be somewhat highly trained, depending on what organization you go with, you have to raise your support and you have to come over here and fit the mold, the model that we have set back to the armor of Saul thing again, and so part of what I'm saying is no, if it is true You're blowing up that narrative. Yeah, exactly, if it is true. Again, please hear me in saying- that's okay.
Speaker 2:If that's your story, I got it we have to ask some questions of that and say how are you living in that space? What is your role as a Westerner now in today's changing world? Absolutely, but that's for another day. I want to define what I think the future should be like, and that is how do we look and say if it is true that every follower of Jesus was made to live on mission for God in the every day of life, and in Genesis 1.28 and in Matthew 28, on their job description was put the nations Then how do we help people go live out their job description? So in Genesis 1.28, when we see that the Godhead decided to make humans in their own image, that was to be as their children, to represent them in the earth, so that they could reign, they turned to those image bearers and said now go be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, right? By the way, he hadn't said stop and he hadn't said stop, yeah, right.
Speaker 1:Come on, grandkids, job done, keep making them.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, yeah. So you know, and I and I joke in the book I used to think that that was just about having babies and of course part of it is procreation and multiplication and all the rest. I get that, but really I believe the bigger idea in that is that because humans were God's representatives on the earth and because God wanted them to take care of creation, what he brought into existence, to rule and reign, to subdue it, the whole earth needed to feel the hands of humanity taking care and cultivating. So Genesis 2, to care for and cultivate that word is similar to that. The word of work is the same as worship. So he wanted the whole earth to be filled with that. So he said go fill the earth. Now Jesus is coming and after showing people what it looks like to live God's way, he turns to these disciples.
Speaker 2:And here's where it might get a little bit controversial again for some people. I don't believe the Great Commission is a new plan. I believe it's God's restating, jesus' restating of Genesis 128. In other words, you've heard me, I've taught you what it looks like to live as my representatives on the earth, as part of my family. Would you now go and make more of who I've taught you what it looks like to live as my representatives on the earth, as part of my family. Would you now go and make more of who I've made you to be, until the whole earth is filled with people that live this way and, by the way, bring them into the family. And the way to bring them into the family is baptize them in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.
Speaker 2:So there's this reiteration of a Genesis 128 mandate to go and make disciples of all nations. The Genesis 128 mandate to go and make disciples of all nations. So the plan is still in place, it's still for every person and it's still all nations. And so, if you're a Jesus follower, your scope of thinking of how you use the resource of time, talent and treasure should not be confined simply to your own area, but it should be concerned with the nations and asking the question what might it look like for me to go be who I am, to do what I do, somewhere in the world where Jesus is?
Speaker 1:less known. Is there any risk, Andrew, of the work not getting done?
Speaker 2:Well, of course, in God's sovereignty, he's going to do it, yeah. Is there any doubt to the end of the story?
Speaker 1:No, of course not Revelation 21, 22,. I hold on to those.
Speaker 2:And there's coming a day. No, of course not. Revelation, 21, 22. I hold on to those and and he's, it's there's gonna. There's coming a day. And of course, the great choir and all the rest of it in there, there's coming a day. The question is not whether the job's going to get done. The question is whether we will step in and play our part. And it's not a bit part, as they say in america. It's not a small part, it's it's, it's a full participation, it's an all play and it's a full participation. And so the question becomes the question of am I worthy to serve God or am I called to serve God, or am I able to serve God? He's taken care of all those things. He's made you his child, he's made you for his purpose, his mission, and he's uniquely shaped you to live it out in very unique and beautiful, brilliant ways. In whatever way he shaped you, the question is am I surrendered to his plan? Am?
Speaker 1:I surrendered.
Speaker 2:Am I surrendered?
Speaker 1:Do I have to do that once, Andrew, or is that something?
Speaker 2:I have to do every day, moment by moment.
Speaker 1:Uh-huh, yeah, I love that. So we know the plan. Yeah, it's pervasive, it's throughout the Bible. We know the end of the story. We know we've been invited. We know we've not just been invited, we've been made. We've been created with this plan in mind, in a role in it. How long is eternity?
Speaker 2:Boy yeah.
Speaker 1:Right.
Speaker 2:That's the thing. Yeah, we've gone forever.
Speaker 1:We have to weigh the magnitude of this whole thing. Sometimes we have to pause and think of all of it. Right, I mean eternity. I think of Francis Chan. Have you ever seen that old video he did where he gets that length of rope?
Speaker 2:That's a big rope. Yeah, I was almost going to answer it, but how long is a piece of rope? I love that picture, yeah.
Speaker 1:So Francis Chan walks out on stage and he has this long, long piece of rope and he has a little two-inch-long piece of tape on the end of it and he makes this reference to the length of rope is all of eternity and this little two-inch piece of tape is your time on earth. And he kind of draws this little mark with his finger of about two-thirds of the piece of tape and he's like and that's your working years and you're trying to get to something called retirement, so you don't have to work anymore. And that's your story. That's not your story. You're eternal, whether you like it or not. Right Right, right, right. So what you get to do on this side of the grave determines how that eternity goes for you and those that God brings into your life while you're here. And you're here to call for a second reformation. Is that what you're doing?
Speaker 2:Yeah, and hopefully a lot of other voices and hopefully this podcast is one of them, hopefully a lot other voices, and hopefully this podcast is one of them. You know that, not me in the podcast, but the podcast as a whole is one of them to say, hey, folks, we have to think differently about this, um, and I would love. My plan is to give the rest of my life to saying, hey, if you're a jesus follower, you're in no excuse, no exclusion, and he wants all of your life, not part of your life, and he wants the nations to know, not just this nation. So let's think and act according to that big idea of God. And I tell you, as Paul says in Romans 12, let's go back there one more time. When we have that transformed way of looking at the world that is God's way, not Andrew's way, not Dustin's way, but God's way, when we have that transformed view that he has made us as child to represent him in the world, uniquely shaped to do it, and he wants us to, to live it out in all of life, when we do that and we, we test and here here's maybe the challenge, as we, we come to a close, I'm sure pretty soon is that?
Speaker 2:It's and you mentioned it, dustin it's a moment by moment, day by day thing and that's what that prove, or to prove and attest the perfect pleasing will of God. That word means you're testing it, and as you test it, test and see that God is good, test and see that God is good, or taste and see that God is good. As you test that and work it out, you'll take a step and go, huh, it's good. Another step it's pleasing. Work it out. You'll take a step and go, huh, it's good. Yeah, another step is pleasing. Another step it's perfect, not easy, not without challenge, not without difficulty, but it's good, it's perfect and pleasing. Why? Because it was what we were created for andrew, I want to thank you.
Speaker 1:This has been one of the more fun conversations I've ever had in my life. Personally, for me to meet you means so much, so much of our story. My wife Brittany and I and our understanding of our call and our role has changed over the last seven or eight years as we got married and got involved with this church and met Heath and Tabitha Hill and Todd Arendt and so many people that you and I, dana Tucker, that you and I both know together and I'm going to shout out Clint over here, we're with you. All right, I'm just saying we're in. Clint is in Amber's, in Brittany's, in. I'm in, we're giving our life to it with you.
Speaker 2:We're ready.
Speaker 1:Right and we got a lot of friends that are coming along with us and new friends that are getting engaged with the podcast. Before I let you go, you made mention at the end of the first episode we did together that you're leaving OM. I know through friends, of friends and our mutual friends, that y'all are in a season of. You're in a season of prayer and you're looking to the right medium, if you will, or strategy for taking this kind of second Reformation theme out to the world. Is there anything you want to share about what we might see coming down the line or how we could be praying for you or resourcing and equipping you?
Speaker 2:What's happening. Thanks, dustin, I appreciate you asking about that. Yeah, so I've been the CEO for 14 years, so it's time that some other person lead and guide that part of the work, and it's been a great season. I've been grateful to the organization that has allowed us to innovate and disrupt in the space we've been referencing as Scatter or Scatter Global after the book, and so really it's just to step into a space that's untethered to any institutional structure and system and ask the question what could it look like if we were to do this without any current frame of reference other than the scriptures? And again, not saying anything wrong with the mission agency at all, but it's just.
Speaker 2:What does it look like to awaken the people of God to live on mission with God in the everyday spaces of life and help them take steps towards doing that in places of the world where Jesus is less known, and not only for Americans going overseas, but local workers who don't fit the Western model of missions, or the Western model of missions doesn't fit them. Actually, let me put it the better way, it doesn't fit them. How do we come alongside them and resource them? Because I don't want to continually export Western models to the rest of the world, because the world is different and the world has changed. So how can we help people, god's people, in other parts of the world who want to see their area of the world reached and don't want to do it or can't do it using methodology that we have developed?
Speaker 1:How about meet people where they are with the best of us, not the rest of us?
Speaker 2:There you go. I can take that, can you?
Speaker 1:take that. Yeah, I'll take that. All right, let's do that, make sure we write that down.
Speaker 2:Yeah, no, so thank you for asking. There's a lot of things we don't know yet, but we want to stay curious. We want to keep asking questions. We want to find out where are the gaps and how do we step into the gaps so that all may know. I love it.
Speaker 1:I love it. Let me close this in prayer. Heavenly Father, we come humbly before you tasked with built for, made for, created image bearers in your name, with a job, with a role in your story, your redemptive story of taking the gospel and the truth and the love of Jesus Christ to the nations. And we come before you today in prayer and we're asking earnestly for wisdom and discernment for all of us, particularly for Andrew Scott, particularly for OM and the transition to new leadership there, and particularly for whatever the new venture is that he comes into untethered, to use his words, untethered from anything institutional other than you, other than you as the creator, your scripture contextually understanding when it was written, why it was written, how it was written and for what purpose? How do we continue, lord, to give progress reports since the book of Acts? How do we continue to move the needle? How do we move from 7,000 unreached people groups to 6 and 5 and 4 and 3?
Speaker 1:And, prayerfully, we're here for part of the day when it's zero and your story unfolds through the book of Revelation as we know it will, lord, guide us, take us through it, equip us to bring others into the story and know that we love you and we're grateful for the opportunity. It's in your name we pray. Amen, amen. Thank you for listening to Unreached. Our sincere desire is that what you've heard today will cause you to see the mission of God differently and your role in it more clearly. If this adds value for you and we hope it does would you please rate and review the podcast wherever you listen. Also, share with your family, your friends, your church, your life group, small group, d group wherever you do life, and if you want to connect with us, find us on Instagram at unreachedpodcast, or email us at unreachedpodcast at gmailcom.
