Defining The Great Commision
Jesus commanded his disciples to “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.
In the Bible, “Nation” (ethne in the Greek) means “people group”—a group of people with common ethnicity, heritage, culture, and language. So, ALL NATIONS means every people group.
There are about 12,000 unique “nations”— people groups—worldwide. So if Jesus commanded us to take the gospel to ALL NATIONS, the Great Commission cannot be completed UNTIL there are disciples in EVERY PEOPLE GROUP on earth.
For more than 2000 years the church has worked to fulfill the Great Commission, and much has been accomplished. Today, there are still about 500 people groups that have never heard the gospel. These Unengaged People Groups have no known believers. The Great Commission cannot be completed UNTIL ALL these groups have been engaged.
Jesus said, “Make disciples of EVERY NATION,” and that’s what we have to do: make disciples in all of the remaining 500 people groups. When at last there are disciples in every people group, we will have crossed the first finish line. The work of expanding the kingdom will continue until Jesus returns, but for the first time the Church will be able to say that we have finished Jesus’ Great Commission.
That’s the mission of the Finishing Fund: to support the engagement of the remaining Unengaged People Groups of the world so that there are disciples of Jesus Christ in every nation by 2023.
