“The Unknown”

February 2025

Whether famous for their positive influence or infamous for the negative, there are certain people in history whose names are well known today and will continue to be spoken for generations to come.  From Pop Music stars like Michael Jackson and Elvis Presley to political icons such as Princess Diana and Donald Trump, these are names and faces known by all irrespective of culture, country, or creed.

In direct contradiction to the recognizable icons made popular by the media for their good deeds, and memorable accomplishments, or even their wickedness and atrocities, there are those who missionaries to the uttermost succeed in making disciples of Christ (Mat. 28:19). In reclusive and restricted access locations around the globe there are local residents of tribes or clans who forsake all and follow Christ due to the witness of a missionary who himself forsook all and followed Christ. This sets them at odds with family and friends from whom they have traditionally found kinship and friendship. As Jesus warned in Matthew 10:35, salvation often times will “set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.” But the outcome is that they find their lives instead of losing them. They do so by following Christ instead of the crowd (Vv. 39-40). They will never be famous though they ever be “the faithful in Christ Jesus” (Eph.1:1) . They are “the unknown.”

You and I may never hear of the African believers Samu or Amakali, the middle Eastern believers Hamduna or Ishraq, or the Asian believers Qiang or Guo. They go on laying down their lives for Christ’s sake and the Gospel remaining in reclusion and restriction among their own people. Yet, as Jesus promised in Matthew 10, whoever received the message of the missionary receives the Christ of the missionary. And whoever received Christ also receives the Father in heaven and the reward of being with Him for eternity. There is more joy and accomplishment among these tight-knit circles than those of the cheering crowds of strangers.

The question comes down to whether there will be a missionary who forsakes all to follow Christ so that he may draw others to forsake all and follow Christ as well. Can you pray for that? Can you volunteer?

For the Lost,

 

 

 

GFF General Director