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Bryan: Throughout the world, various governments have blocked access to many unreached language groups. An anonymous listener says, "From a conversation with an NTM worker in Brazil, I was told there are around 20 people groups with no outside contact that the government has blocked off access to. May the Lord make a way." Millions of people around the world have never heard the gospel and are allowed limited access. It may seem like there is little we can do for them. Josiah asks, "Besides praying, what can be done for reaching unreached places that are legally closed to outsiders?" Listen as Brooks Buser answers what to do to reach those who are blocked from missionary access.
Brooks: Yeah, this is a good question, Josiah. I have come across three countries, maybe four, that still have isolated pockets of people—unreached language groups, I believe, is the best way to identify them—that have had no outside contact, very little outside contact I would say, with the world outside the national language culture, so to speak. Your three most well-known are in the Congo, in the Amazon, which you're alluding to, which is in Brazil, that whole area, and then also in West Papua, which is Indonesia, but it's the half of the island that is connected to Papua New Guinea. So you've got Papua New Guinea on the right hand side or the east, and then West Papua, the other side of it, which is under Indonesian control, which is part of the reason it makes it so difficult to get to. It's hard to get access because there's guerilla warfare going on in there and there's some government issues that the West Papuans are not very happy about.
And so, getting back to your question about what to do about these things. One, what can be done besides praying for them. Brother, I would just encourage you, Josiah, that that's our most important weapon. But I think to pray specifically for a few specific things. Sometimes I think those of us from the West—and I'll include myself in this because I think my mind naturally goes there—how do I get North Americans into those areas? And you rightly point out that it's very difficult, it's a closed access. But there are much easier ways for Brazilians, for Portuguese speakers, for Africans to get into some of those areas.
Most people know this, but you've got Radius International, which is the training school that I lead. That campus is down in Mexico. And then you've got Radius Asia, which is predominantly made up of aspiring missionaries from China and from Taiwan. And then you've got Radius India, which, obviously, they're in the north of India, not the south, south is easier to be a Christian, north is harder. But they speak Hindi. Radius Asia all speaks Mandarin. And where our graduates from Radius Asia and India can go, in comparison to the students that come out of the West that are trained down in Mexico, is radically different—to see them being able to get into Tunisia, Iran, back into China. These are just things that are off the table for many of the Radius graduates .
And so I would pray intentionally—Lord, would You raise up some from Brazil, some from those areas—and then start working on who are the organizations. There are a couple good missions organizations that I know of that are working down in Brazil with Brazilians and they're able to go much further and much deeper than other orgs that I know that are coming from the outside. Pray that the Lord would raise those ones up and see what you can do about putting those on the radar.
Again, working in unreached language groups is a very unique niche. It's not everything in missions, but it is one of those things where, if it's not targeted—and I'm parroting what Mark Dever says—if you don't focus on fourth lane missions, unreached language groups, you're just never going to get there. And so part of the process is making sure churches and sending agencies are intentionally targeting those places, those people, those languages to get to those groups that still have yet to hear.
And I'm encouraged again by Matthew 9:38 and just how our Lord was cognizant that there are always going to be places, there are always going to be peoples that haven't heard. And so pray earnestly is what He says to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest. We pray earnestly for those places, those peoples.
I've been encouraged recently as I've seen more and more of an appetite building, not just in the West. Coincidentally, I met with a pastor at a pastor's conference just a few weeks ago and he was from Brazil, and he was asking would there be a chance that we would ever start a Radius campus in Portuguese in Brazil. And now just getting this podcast a few days ago and thinking on it and praying on it and just wondering what the Lord may be doing, we'll see where that goes. And Radius isn't the answer to everything. It's not even the answer to most things, but for getting to those places, getting to those peoples, that awareness that these ones too deserve the gospel—I think that's something that is notable and laudable.
So one, Josiah, I would encourage you just in your heart for these things. And two, I would continue to pray. I would continue to find out what are the conferences that are going to speak to these specific issues and possibly these specific groups of people. I'm really encouraged with missionary.com— f you're listening to this podcast, you've obviously found them—but the prayer guides for the unreached, that first prayer guide has gone like wildfire. It's our fastest selling product that I've heard of. And we don't have a lot of products, so it's not like these huge bragging rights, but churches are excited to pray for those peoples, those languages that still haven't heard. So I think by God's grace, things are pushing in the right direction.
I would just encourage you to pray beyond the Western world. Pray for people that God may raise up that could get there much easier than you or I with that big blue passport with the eagle on front can get into those places.
Bryan: To pray for specific unreached language groups, you can pray through Gospel Ambition, a prayer guide for the unreached. Each of the 30 entries includes the approximate population and how much access to the Bible they have in their own language. Pray for those who are not yet reached. If you have a question you would like to hear answered on Ask Missionary, drop a comment on this episode, get in touch with us on social media, or send us an email through missionary.com and your question may be featured on this show. And don't forget to subscribe to the show to get notified when the next episode, where we will hear Chad Vegas answer "Should all Christians be missionaries?", airs next week. Thanks for listening.