Between you and me, I’m a little nervous today. As I write, five days remain until the live-at-home kids are out of school for the summer, until I’m their adult all day, every day! Thanks to the foresight of Apple Computer and a bad Christmas decision a couple years ago, they have screens that will entertain them. Just doesn’t seem optimal!
You may face overwhelming situations of a more real nature. Me too:
Following a pertinacious leader, a handful of intrepid friends and I are wrestling with a list of around 1600 people groups among whom no one is living, speaking a local language, and working toward reproducing disciples to Jesus. We want to see all 1600 unengaged groups engaged by the end of 2025.
Yep, it’s a little overwhelming!
Sarah Bessey, in her winsome book, Out of Sorts, shares how it helps her sometimes to think not of the big thing, but one small expression of it. For instance, rather than Church, my local body of believers. Not Marriage, but my own spouse and our partnership.
In that spirit, I want to introduce you to the Rath people. They number around 400,000 and herd sheep in the western reaches of Rajasthan, India. They come from Hindu stock way back, but got converted along the way and now follow Islam with a blend of folk practices.
The best, current research says no one is living among the Rath, saying in their language, “God has come to you in Jesus to give you life.” Friends, that should not be.
What can we do?
- Pray.
- Invite others to pray.
- Ask ourselves, "Who do I know who may know someone who’s near to (culturally or geographically) the Rath and might move into their neighborhood?"
- Move to Rajasthan and learn the Rath’s language? (There are worse places to live!)
Check out the new World Christian Role video that asks whether senders are just goers that didn't make it or maybe they're something much more!