WHEATON, IL – Did you know that there are two billion people who have never heard of Jesus Christ? They don’t know that He came to earth to redeem them from the curse of sin and grant them eternal life in heaven. They don’t know that He is the only Way to the eternal life they are hoping for.

These people are collectively referred to as “The Unreached,” and they have a special day named for them.

The International Day for the Unreached is on May 23, 2021. The event occurs annually on Pentecost Sunday. It is a day for Christians around the world to pray that someone will be able to minister in the name of Christ and present the Gospel to the unreached.

Don’t mistake the International Day for the Unreached as a traditional “Missions Sunday.” It is more akin to a global prayer meeting for the Lord to open doors and lead His followers to be able to share the Gospel with people who have never heard of Jesus. It is also a day for praying for the Lord to open the hearts of the unreached so that, when they hear the Word, they will respond by entrusting their lives to Christ, committing to following Him faithfully.

It boils down to this: Pray for the unreached, not as a group of two billion, but as two billion individual people in need of the truth of God.

That is something we can do. This question is, “Will we do it?”

We don’t even need to know these unreached people. The Lord knows who they are. He knows their names. And He is not willing that any one of them should die without first encountering and accepting His gift of salvation.

The International Day for the Unreached is meant to remind us that these people need to know Jesus. We should also pray that the Lord will show us how we can become personally involved in reaching them. We need this reminder because, as a representative of Missio Nexus said several years ago,

“As many believers in North America have lost concern about their neighbors who don’t know Christ, it’s becoming even harder to be concerned about people around the world who they will never meet.”

The souls of men, women, and children are at stake. We cannot stand idly by as they enter eternity without Christ. Let us commit to “employ every resource, talent, and ounce of energy God gives us to shine the light of His grace into the darkest recesses of the planet.”

Click on this link to learn more about the International Day for the Unreached and the Alliance for the Unreached, which sponsors it.

Learn about the many ways that you can support one of the most effective faith-based organizations that has been committed to reaching the unreached for more than 40 years.

Consider the words of the late Oswald J. Smith, pastor of People’s Church in Toronto.

“We are loaded down with countless church activities, while the real work of the church, that of evangelizing the world and winning the lost, is almost entirely neglected!”

Read more news on the International Day of the Unreached and World Missions on Missions Box.