Imagine the city or town in which you live and having the task of traveling to another town 200 miles away. There are no roads, no asphalt, and public transportation is sketchy. But, you have a dugout canoe, a paddle, and a stream – and a 60-hour journey in front of you. Or, if you are very fortunate, maybe you have an open hull boat, 18 feet long and 4 feet wide, with a single cylinder motor that can make the trip in a mere 25 hours. The primary field of operation for the Xingu Mission, the Eastern Region of the Amazon, is twice the size of Texas where you can drive 1000 miles across the state. And there are no paved roads here. And in many areas, no roads. Recently we made a trip and it took almost 6 hours to cover a 60-mile stretch of dirt road. 10mph. Last summer we travel three days, one way, by boat to reach some villages.
In Evangelical Christianity today, there are several definitions of “Unreached”. The classic definition includes, at least in part, that a “people group” has no Bible or portions of Scripture translated into “their own language”. All three of these concepts, Unreached, people groups, and own language, have a variety of definitions available.
Which is why I would like to refer to a different term. The people we work with are not “Unreached”, although by some definitions, we could call them that and defend that statement. But, the reality is this – they are remote. Remote (adj) defined by Webster means separated by an interval or space greater than usual, far removed in space, time, or relation, out of the way, secluded.
Now, what does the term remote mean in the context of missions? These people clearly have the Bible in their own language (Portuguese), but they do not have access to a Bible in their community, there are no believers in these communities, there is no accessible church, and there is no effort being made to plant churches in these communities.
Lets take a closer look at these concepts:
1) No available Bibles – Even for those that read, there is no Bible available. There is no Bible in the homes and there is no one from whom to borrow or buy a Bible.
2) No Believers – These communities have no one that proclaims Jesus as their Lord and Savior, no one that recognizes Jesus as the light of their life. There is no one, not a single person, which is called by the name of Christian.
3) No Churches – No believers = no churches. There are no communities of believers being light and salt, representing Jesus here on the earth.
4) No effort – There is no attempt to start churches in these communities, the result of what is referred to as the access barrier, the forgotten barrier and the resource barrier.
a. Access barrier – these places are “at the ends of the earth”. There is nothing past them. They are hard to find, hard to get to, and difficult to be concerned about. Recently, in January 2007, the community of Rio Novo, the 17-year-old girl to whom we had given a Bible, died of a hepatitis infection. Naldo, one of the pastors that went with on the outreach, contracted malaria.
b. Forgotten barrier – the people are forgotten, overlooked by the progress of their own country, left to fend for themselves as development and modernization passes them by. It is not unusual to find people who do not know their own birth date, their birth year, do not have birth certificates, and are not registered with any government organization.
c. Resource barrier – reaching these communities, the people that are “out there”, takes resources. It is a dollar & cents matter of reaching them with the Gospel. Often there are nationals willing to go and help out, but the resources and means to achieve that end are not available.
While some of these people have a concept of a Biblical God, there is no concept of Jesus as the only son of God, the Light of the world, the only true God, the creator of all things, the significance of his birth, his life, his death and his resurrection, the ideas of eternal life, eternal judgment, the Kingdom of God, who the Holy Spirit is, how he works and communicates, why the church exists and for whom, why there is baptism, and that there is a hope of eternal life (these concepts find their roots in the Nicene Creed).
Remote – Far removed from modern society.
Remote – Far removed from the efforts of others.
Remote – Far removed from the Good News of Jesus Christ.
Remote – Far removed from even the opportunity of hearing the Good News.
My work, as part of the team, is to help change the equation.
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