Most people believe that the dead continue living in the “afterlife” and need relatives to send things to them to make their afterlife better. People go to immense effort to keep the graves clean, “send” fruit, money, tea, and other beneficial things to the afterlife, seek the ancestors for wisdom, and do whatever they can to make sure that they please and take care of them in the afterlife.

Families believe that if they do not honor them, the ancestors will cause misfortune in their lives. However, if they fulfill their duties to the ancestors, blessings will follow the family. Almost everywhere in Asia, we can see people daily bowing down in front of shrines for the ancestors and burning incense for them, worshipping and honoring them. 

One of the things that we have heard many times from Chinese students is that they do not want to believe in Jesus because that would not be honoring to their family and ancestors. 

The truth is, they are right! People really DO continue to live after life on earth—either in heaven or in hell forever. The awful reality that many choose not to accept but also breaks the hearts of those who believe, is that all of their ancestors are in hell and that there is NOTHING they can do for them on earth to change their eternal existence now. 

The truth is, Asian people get it right! People really DO continue to live after life on earth.
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One of my Chinese friends excitedly accepted Jesus as her Savior, but a few days later came to my house with a question: “What about my deceased family members?” I winced, and painfully answered: “I think you know the truth about them.” She agreed with many tears, saying it wasn’t fair that they did not get to hear the Gospel. But a new desperation to tell all of her village about Jesus Christ began to grow in her. 

I was recently contemplating the whole cultural belief system, and the realization hit me of what the ancestors would say if they really DID come back to their families to give wisdom. 

The ancestors would most likely join our team as missionaries! They would plead with their families to believe in the name of Jesus Christ. They would want them to know the Truth of abundant and eternal life. 

The ancestors would plead with their families to believe in the Name of Jesus.
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Jesus gives the account in Luke 16:19-31 of a man who passed away and went to Hades, and miserably pleaded for some cool water to touch his tongue and that someone from the dead could go back and warn his family to repent. 

If ancestors could talk they would praise those of our friends who have believed in Jesus and often face persecution from their families, and would plead with their families to repent and believe in Jesus Christ. 

“Jesus said unto them, ‘I am the Way, the Truth and the Life, no one comes to the Father except through Me.'” John 14:6 

Our hope at Within Reach Global is that the Gospel will get to people before they become “ancestors.” There are still multitudes who have never heard the name of Jesus Christ. This truth breaks our hearts and brings us to our knees, praying to the Lord of the harvest to send laborers into the harvest field.

Will you be one to answer the call with a, “Yes”?

Our hope is that the Gospel will get to people before they become “ancestors”.
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The post Would the Ancestors Join our Mission Team? appeared first on Within Reach Global.

There once was a fisherman who went out to sea. He loved catching all kinds of fish and tried to catch as many as he could each day. However, his Father had given him a dream to find a new species of fish that had never been discovered before. 

The man fished for weeks, months and years and caught boat-loads of different fish along the way. Each fish he caught brought him great joy and excitement! But he didn’t stop with those; he continued after the dream to find that NEW special species of fish.

People praised him for the many fish he would catch and even tried to encourage him saying, “You’ve done enough. Take a rest now.” They would say, “You’ve caught more fish than anyone we have ever known! You’ve made your Father proud.” But the man KNEW the dream His Father placed within him to find that undiscovered fish, so he didn’t give up. He would sail out to dark, scary, untraveled places of the sea, and at different times of the year and day, searching for that special fish. 

The man KNEW the dream of his Father to find that undiscovered fish.
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One day, he pulled up the net and inside sparkled a beautiful, colorful fish he had never seen before. He excitedly went and looked through fish classifications and found that it had never been discovered! He couldn’t contain his great excitement!

He carried the fish home to his Father, who joyfully declared: 

“This kind of fish has never entered the gates of our home before! Well done, my son!” 

All of those living in the house danced and rejoiced! They gave it a name and branded it with the Father’s identity. 

After the celebration, everyone expected the fisherman to retire or settle, since he had completed his Father’s dream. What they didn’t know was that his Father’s dream had now become his own. He responded:

“How can I settle now that I’ve experienced the deep satisfaction of finding and bringing a new species of fish to my Father and seen His joy? There may be more out there in that big, deep sea. I am not going to stop now. I won’t stop searching till the day I die.”

What people didn’t know what that his Father’s dream had now become his own.
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In the same way, our Father God has given us a dream to find unreached people groups and bring them into His kingdom. It may take weeks, months and years. We will have to go to untraveled, dark and dangerous places. People won’t understand why we don’t give up the search when we’re bringing so many people into the kingdom of God already. They may think we are doing “enough”. Each of those people we bring home to our Father IS exciting! But we desire to bring Him someone from a people group that has never entered the gates of the Kingdom of Heaven before. We can imagine the angels rejoicing, 

“THIS people group is new! No one sings in this language around the throne yet! Let’s mark him/her with the Father’s identity! Hallelujah!”

Even after we see a new people group become children of God, how can we stop and retire? The Father’s dream has become our own. There are still too many unreached people hiding in dark places, needing to be brought into the Light of our Father’s House.

We desire to bring a new people group through heaven’s gates to our Father.
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Unreached people are hiding in dark places, needing to brought into the Light of our Father’s house.
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How about you? Will you join us in seeing our Father’s dream become true to see every nation, tribe, and tongue found and brought through the gates of heaven?

The post The Parable of the Unreached People Group Fisherman appeared first on Within Reach Global.

Jesus’ plan all along is for us ALL to work together in sharing the Gospel to every nation, tribe and tongue. Satan is terrified that if we all get together 100% in our roles for missions, that we actually WILL fulfill the Great Commission. So he brings disconnect.

Satan is terrified that if we all get together…that we actually WILL fulfill the Great Commission.
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Since I am writing from the missionary perspective, here are 10 practical ways that family, friends, co-workers, and the church back at home can support and partner with us as we share the Gospel to the whole world.

1. Believe Supportively

All missionaries experience God’s love, then His call to spread the Gospel to the nations. It’s a call that grows up so strong within us, that we can’t think of anything else but getting out to the nations. The world is dying without Jesus, and every day we stay, the realization of souls dying without even having access to the Gospel breaks our hearts. We need the church to believe that the call and power of God within us is enough to stake money, time, and prayers on.  It’s risky for us to go, and it’s risky for you to support. On both sides, we battle doubts and lies from the enemy. We need you to believe that God can do impossible and amazing things through us, and that you get to be part of it. We need you to believe in the dreams the Holy Spirit spoke to our hearts, and encourage us in those dreams. 

You get to be part of the amazing and impossible things God does through us on the mission field.
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2. Pray Powerfully

Prayers put daggers in the heart of the enemy. We don’t need people at home to pray weak prayers for us like, “And God, remember ____. Bless him/her.” We are on the “front lines” in countries where the Gospel has either never been taken or is not well-known.

It’s like living in a dragon’s cave and pulling people out of his tail daily. It takes risk, courage, creativity, and love. Sometimes we get wounded, and sometimes we get paralyzed by fear. Sometimes we battle sleeping as we hear the dragon’s deep breaths as chants from mosques, temples, and nighttime screams. Sometimes we get tempted to let go of people as the dragon roars doubts, lies, and discouragement in our faces.  Sometimes the dragon pulls out temptations of our forsaken family, country, possessions, and old life ways and dangles them between our faces and those chained to his tail, causing a great distraction.

To be a missionary is like living in a dragon’s cave and daily pulling people out of his tail.
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We need powerful prayers from you! Not just short, last-thought on a prayer list prayers. We need to be prayed for as sons and daughters on the front-lines of battlefields are prayed for. I encourage you to adopt some missionaries to battle for in prayer—prayer for faith, encouragement, continued vision, strategy, health, wisdom, protection, and harvest reaping. Then we can celebrate in joy together during the harvest!

3. Contact Frequently

Once missionaries get onto that plane going to our new host countries, we leave all familiar relationships behind. Usually, for the first 6 months, churches and friends stay in contact. After those first months, “out of sight, out of mind” becomes reality. Your lives move on in the process of normal busy life. Even when we contact you or send out newsletters, we often never receive responses (no wonder so many of us stop doing it). A simple “Like” on FaceBook is not connection.

We rely on God for relationship in ways we only said we believed and sang about in our home countries, but we also get lonely. It’s a deep, aching loneliness. We long for contact with friends and churches back home. Then we visit our home countries to big applause and you all saying how much you think of us. Honestly, it’s hard to believe if we never hear from you while we are away. One simple email or quick Skype call a month can make a huge difference in a missionary’s life. Regularly connecting with us is one of the most important ways anyone can support us while we are on the mission field.  You don’t have to be some of our past besties to connect, but you will become some of our dearest friends now. You will also reap in the joy of the harvest due to your deep connection to us and the mission.

One simple email or quick Skype call a month can make a huge difference in a missionary’s life.
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4. Give Sacrificially

We realize that there is a disconnect between giving and missionaries. We don’t want to beg and plead for your money. We dislike it so much, that often we go without needed things just so that the $20 our testimonies get out of you can pay for transportation to an unreached village.

Here is a personal testimony:

I got 3 checks/cash donations the whole 7 weeks I was home over the summer. Later, I had to plead on the internet for money to fund leadership trainings and outreaches all over Nepal and Bangladesh, and even use some of my moving countries money to see those happen. If only you knew how far your money was going to reach the nations, you would joyfully give up the iPhone 9 or 10 or whatever number there is now to pay for the Gospel to be presented in an unreached area.

We wish you knew what you’re sowing into the nations. Even when we tell you, the enemy and flesh often cause a disconnect. Just as Jesus applauded the widow for giving everything she had, we are looking for those of you who lovingly sacrifice whatever you can give to fund the Gospel going to the world. We don’t want guilt money. We desire loving, sacrificial gifts that have a passion for God and the nations behind them.

Missionaries desire loving, sacrificial gifts that have passion for God and the nations behind them.
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I once read something that said how God is looking for martyrs to share the Gospel: Some in the going, and some in the giving. It takes both. We want a deep partnership with you, as “martyrs” for the sake of the Gospel, to see the whole world saved. 

5. Remind Consistently

Did you know that one of the best ways to support us on the mission field is to be an ambassador of sorts for us? We leave for months or years, and people forget about us. Our personal supporters soon jump to the newest missionary about to go to the mission field, the newsletters don’t get mailed out, and nobody knows they can visit us here. If we have a few people back home decide to support us by reminding people to give when rent-time comes, to pray when we go to a new village, to email and encourage us, and so on….it would be an enormous blessing to us. Maybe God is speaking to some of you now to support a missionary by being a go-between and reminder of the mission that the church sent out.

6. Visit Obediently

Sometime you may want to come and see the faces you pray for, how we live, and join in the mission overseas for a short time. It is a great joy and encouragement for us to have visitors from “home” (especially when you bring us home ‘goodies’ too!).  It helps you to see what you’re praying for and giving to, and it helps us to feel better understood. If you feel the Spirit nudge you to come visit us, please obediently do it. It also helps those we reach out to realize that we are NOT the only Christians in the world. Your visit will many times confirm the words we have been teaching. 

If you feel the Spirit nudge you to go visit your missionary, please do!
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7. Help Creatively

Did you know that you can help us plan and strategize for reaching the unreached people groups, from home? We may be the ones on the ground overseas, but through your involvement and prayer, God could give you amazing ideas and dreams into how to reach the people groups we are with daily. This isn’t only our mission. This is the churches’ mission. God wants to use you and your talents that He gave you to see the whole world saved. It could also be that you find some creative way to raise support for us and our people groups, leadership trainings, travels, and gifts to the communities we serve. We also desire to see you excitedly using your creativity to partner with us in reaching to the uttermost parts of the earth. What a fun, helpful, important way to support missionaries!

We love seeing you excitedly using your creativity to partner with us in reaching to the uttermost.
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Reaching the unreached isn’t JUST the missionary’s mission. It’s the churches’ mission.
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8. Listen Compassionately

Missionaries are not superhumans. We see things no one should ever have to see—bloodied dead bodies, kids die from AIDs, violent and unjust abuse of women, and unspeakable things. We experience trauma—natural disasters such as earthquakes, police interrogations, constant loss of dear friends, us or our children being extremely ill with strange diseases, and so on. Yet, we are expected to always have it together and be the strong ones for everyone else. If we start spilling out all of our pains to those of you back at home, we are often preached to or told we should just stay home for a while. We also don’t want to scare you away from going to the mission field. So most of the time, we just don’t speak of our traumas and the ugly side of mission work. We know and believe deeply that God is with us. We have seen Him do Acts-like miracles and felt His tangible presence. Yet, we are still human and feel the effects of what we see and experience. However, experiencing those injustices is also part of what puts that fire and desperation in us to keep going. We see the paths of killing, stealing, and destroying the dragon is leaving amongst the nations, and even though we get injured, we can’t give up. We are warriors for the kingdom.

One of the best ways to support us is to simply listen with compassion about how we are really doing. Not judging. Not trying to relate—most of you can’t, and that’s ok with us. Not being worried something is desperately wrong if we burst into tears, but glad to be a compassionate ear. We are always giving out; it’s nice to have someone simply care and listen to us for us for a few minutes. 

9. Celebrate Enthusiastically

Imagine leaving all you know and love to go to a new culture, then spending months sounding stupid while learning the language, all to introduce Jesus to people who have never heard of Him. Then, breakthrough! Someone gets saved! You are so excited that you can’t sleep for days, and joyfully tell people back at home…to one little “amen”.

We know that all of heaven is rejoicing when a new language and tongue calls upon the Name of Jesus. What a joyful sound!  If we are really partnering together in the Gospel efforts as we say we are, then there should be an enthusiastic celebration from home too. We want you to see the fruit of your sending, prayers, finances, and rejoice at what God is doing.

Missionaries want you to see the fruit of your sending, and REJOICE at what God is doing.
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10. Join Courageously

After years of support and prayer for us on the mission field, God may call you to join the harvest fields amongst the nations. Maybe you came and visited us and saw the faces of the millions of unreached. Those faces haunt you while you drive to work, and you just know that you’re supposed to make that courageous move overseas to join us. One of our greatest prayers and desires is that as people witness our brokenness over the lost and faith in God, that one day they also will answer the call to be sent to the ripe harvest fields. The harvest is plenty, but the workers are few. Who wants to join us?

The harvest is plenty, but the workers are few. Who wants to courageously join us in reaping?
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The post 10 Practical and Powerful Ways to Support Missionaries appeared first on Within Reach Global.