For You Too Were Once Foreigners...

Published: Jan 26, 2026

"...we will need an additional 60,000 missionaries!"

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The Numbers Are Staggering!

Jesus' Passion for the Lost

In Luke 19, Jesus tells Zacchaeus the purpose of His trip to Zacchaeus's' house:

"For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.” (Luke 19:10)

Seeking and saving the lost... Jesus’ greatest passion!

While on earth Jesus searched out the worst of the lost (if there is such a thing). He engaged them, and at the price of his own reputation among the Jews, he spent time with them and loved them.

He was never ashamed to be seen with anyone, no matter the depth of their sins - time was too short for that.

His Charge to Us

As he was preparing to leave the world in Matthew 28, he passed on this passion to his disciples and, by default, to you and I through his last command before leaving Earth:

Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age. (Matthew 28:19-20)

So how are we Christians doing when it comes to joining in the passion of Christ for loving the lost from ALL nations?

Staggering Numbers

In a 2021 article by David Platt (click here to read the original), we find some hard numbers.

First, there are still A LOT of unreached people and places:

Second, our resources are not as focused on reaching the unreached as you may have thought:

This doesn’t mean that funding going to the 5 billion people in places that already 'reached' by the Gospel is being wasted. But it does mean that only about 1% of money given to missions is going to reach the 3 billion peoples in unreached areas (areas with only 0-2% Christians).

Even more concerning is, we are falling further and further behind as each day passes. David Platt puts it this way:

“The number of unreached people is higher now than ever before. It will continue to increase until Christians and churches decide to change how we use our resources…” David Platt

Simple Math

There are over 3 billion unreached people in the world today (people living in areas with 0-2% Christian population). If we want to send just one new missionary out for every 50,000 people in these areas, we will need an additional 60,000 missionaries!

If, on average, each of these missionaries needs $60,000 to survive each year, we will need an additional $3,600,000,000 in tithes and individual support to send our additional 60,000 missionaries.

These are BIG numbers!

It's Not the Money!

But it's NOT actually the money that is holding us back.

If each of the 2.6 Billion Christians in the world today gave only $2 a year towards sending out the 60,000 new missionaries needed, we would have hundreds of millions of dollars left over!

So, in the end, it is a heart issue (because the money is there).

We Too Were Once Lost

The people of Israel were known to look down upon and abuse the foreigners living among them. God commands them, as His people, multiple times, NOT to do this.

Do not mistreat or oppress a foreigner, for you were foreigners in Egypt. (Exodus 22:21)

The foreigner residing among you must be treated as your native-born. Love them as yourself, for you were foreigners in Egypt. I am the Lord your God. (Leviticus 19:34)

God is telling the Israelites, you were once foreigners yourself, so have compassion on those who are now like you were.

I believe there is a principle in these commands that can be applied directly to our efforts to reach the lost.

We should love the lost and treat them as our own, for we too were once lost, just like them! But now, by the grace of God, we are saved.

What does it say when we no longer have compassion for the plight of the lost? It means we have forgotten where we come from, who we once were, and what God has done for us.

Over 3 billion people living in areas with no Gospel opportunities are waiting for the Church (us) to remember who we once were without Jesus Christ.