How to Impact 20 Million People

If you have a Bible—and I hope you or someone around you does—let me invite you to open with me to Matthew 28. Today is not the day we will outline a specific plan for impacting 20 million people around the world with the gospel. We will dive more into that in the days to come. My aim today is much simpler and much more significant.

I want to show you from God’s Word that if this is going to happen—if we are going to impact millions of people around the world with the good news of Jesus—it will take each and every one of us. And it will require a radically different understanding of Christianity than most Christians have today. But if our understanding changes, and if each of us participates, I am confident it will lead to eternal life for multitudes around the world—and to greater life for you as well.

Imagine the scene: a small, ordinary group of men and women sitting on a mountainside. None powerful. None wealthy. None famous. None particularly noteworthy. They were nobodies—fishermen, tax collectors, zealots, outcasts—all with complicated pasts, glaring flaws, hidden fears, and struggling faith. And this is the group Jesus chose to change the world.

Days after conquering death, Jesus gathered them, looked each of them in the eye, and said, “I am going to fill every one of you—without exception—with supernatural power for a global purpose.” He invited each of them into a life of greater meaning—more thrilling and more rewarding than anything the world could offer. He called them to participate in a movement that would topple idols and transform nations.

And this group of nobodies said, “We’re in.”

Days later, the Holy Spirit descended upon them. Suddenly, they began speaking of God’s love in languages they had not known that morning. Thousands heard and turned from their sin to trust in Jesus. The Spirit fell upon them as well, and they proclaimed God’s love. Thousands more followed Christ.

Authorities—both secular and religious—tried to silence them. They were threatened, imprisoned, stoned. Yet they could not be stopped. They scattered from city to city—ordinary people filled with extraordinary power. The story of Jesus, born in Bethlehem and blazing out of an empty tomb, spread like wildfire across land and sea.

The God who so loved the world that he gave his only Son also loved the world enough to invite his entire church—every son and daughter—to find life and joy in making Christ known among all nations.

So here is the question: how is it that, two thousand years after that movement began, there are more people today who have never heard the good news of Jesus than ever before in history?

What are we doing?

We are settling.

We are settling for an unbiblical version of Christianity that would have been unrecognizable to those first believers. They could not have imagined a faith consisting of comfortable, casual spectators in consumer-driven services while billions die without hearing the gospel.

They would ask, “What are you doing? You were commanded to make disciples of all nations. Why are you simply coming, being baptized, and sitting?”

You were saved for more—for a life walking in the supernatural power of God to accomplish the global purpose of God. What in this world is more worthy of your life?

Yet many say, “I’m not a missionary.”

But what does that even mean? The term missionary is never used in the Bible. Why use it as an excuse not to share God’s love?

“I’m a parent.” Who said raising the next generation excludes loving the nations?

“I have a job.” First-century Christians had jobs.

“I have hard things in my life.” Imagine walking through suffering without ever hearing the hope of Jesus.

Why are we making excuses not to spread the greatest news in the world?

If we discovered a cure for every kind of cancer, would we not rush to share it? How much more should we proclaim Christ? Those healed of cancer will still die. Those who trust in Christ will never die—ultimately.

Each week Jesus speaks these words to us:

“All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations.”

The word for “nations” is ethnē—ethnic groups, people groups, tribes, language groups. Not merely geopolitical states. Jesus commands us to go to all of them.

In Acts 1:8 he says, “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses…to the end of the earth.”

In Acts 8 and 11, it was not apostles but scattered, unnamed believers who spread the gospel. In Acts 19, ordinary people carried the message throughout Asia. In Romans 15 and 16, Paul lists ordinary names—men and women who played their part in a global purpose.

This is Christianity: following Jesus and making him known.

Yet we have created a strategy that is woefully inadequate. We give small percentages to “missions,” and most of that goes to places where the gospel is already present. Meanwhile, billions live in “red zones”—regions with little to no access to the gospel.

Roughly 3.2 billion people live in such areas. Many will be born, live, and die without ever hearing the truth about Jesus.

At the same time, only about one in forty-two thousand Protestant Christians goes as a missionary to those regions—approximately 0.002 percent. This is not a strategy sufficient for the Great Commission.

The solution is not merely to increase that percentage slightly. The solution is for every Christian to see himself or herself as part of God’s global purpose.

How, then, do we participate?

First, by learning about the nations.
Second, by praying for the nations.
Third, by going among the nations—as we go about our daily lives and wherever God may lead us.
Fourth, by giving to the nations.

As you go to work, to school, to the gym, to the store—make disciples. As immigrants come to our neighborhoods, love them and share the gospel. Consider whether God may call you to move elsewhere. Steward travel, vocation, technology, and opportunity for the spread of Christ’s glory.

We live in a time with unprecedented access to the nations. There is no reason the church cannot bring the gospel to every people group.

And we do so with Revelation 7:9–10 before us: a great multitude from every nation, tribe, people, and language standing before the throne, crying out, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!”

This purpose is worth your life.

So pray: “God, I’m in. Use my life with your supernatural power for your global purpose.”

If you have never trusted in Christ, pray: “God, save me from my sin through faith in Jesus and fill me with your power for your purpose.”

He promises to answer.