The recent focus on urban church-planting is a necessary corrective to the flight of Evangelicals to the suburbs in many North American contexts, but must not become an overreaction in a world in which as many as seven thousand distinct ethnic groups remain unreached with the gospel and over four thousand of the world’s seven thousand languages still lack a single, translated book of the Bible. Throughout much of the world, the rural ethnic minorities still remain the people with the least access to a comprehensible presentation of the gospel.

My wife and I are linguists working to translate the Bible for a language group in Asia composed of a bit over half a million people, the vast majority of whom have never heard the name of Jesus. The region in which we live is so far off the beaten trail, I can guarantee that you’ve never heard of it and most North American travel agents would be have trouble making travel arrangements to come visit us. So you could say we’re coming from the far outfield.

We recently returned to the US for a study leave and settled for a few months in my wife’s hometown at the base of the Rocky Mountains. My wife did not grow up attending a local church, so we have not previously had a home church in her town. Not wanting to waste time church-hopping, we looked online for a local Reformed congregation and were surprised to find, in this town of 150,000 people, two Presbyterian Church in America (PCA) congregations, an Acts 29 Network church, an Orthodox Presbyterian Church (OPC) congregation, an Evangelical Presbyterian Church (EPC) congregation, and at least one Reformed Baptist congregation that participates in the Gospel Coalition, many of these literally within a few blocks of each other. In the next town over we found a congregation of the United Reformed Church (URC), another PCA congregation, and another EPC congregation. If we drive 15 more miles and we could attend a congregation of the Reformed Presbyterian Church of North America (RPCNA), a different PCA, etc. In addition, this area has quite a few conservative churches not of Reformed background but which are proclaiming the inerrancy and authority of the Bible to the community, as well as dozens of college student ministries such as Reformed University Fellowship (RUF), Navigators, Inter-Varsity Christian Fellowship (IVCF), Cru, Baptist Student Union (BSU), International Students, Inc. (ISI), etc.

Our local prefecture in Asia has a population of four million, with only a single openly-publicized church and a dozen or so “house churches.” There are no local seminaries, Christian colleges or schools, no Christian bookstores, and no Christian radio stations. The vast majority of the several thousand farming villages and small market towns have never been home to a single follower of Jesus or heard his name proclaimed in their streets or homes. But God is not absent and there are now people of half a dozen language groups hearing, for the very first time, the truths of the Bible: their own desperately sinful situation, God’s sovereignty, power, holiness, justice, mercy and love, Jesus’ perfect life, atoning death, victorious resurrection and His life-giving Spirit.

So what’s my point? I’m glad that these Reformed and other conservative denominations, congregations and organizations are doing such a good job of being faithful witnesses to urban and suburban communities like that of my wife’s home area. Some of these churches are even reaching beyond their own members to find ways to be bold witnesses in public places to our God and his Son Jesus, for example, by partnering with International Students Incorporated to share the gospel with Chinese and other students who might otherwise never hear it, or by sharing Jesus’ love and life-changing power with residents of local half-way houses. In fact, if even just the church-going members of the theologically liberal churches of this city (not to mention the unchurched) were to be convicted and to attend a biblically conservative church next Sunday, I’m sure that there would be standing-room only in all the Biblical churches of this town.

But to be honest, from the places in Muslim Africa and Animist Asia where we have lived for the past 15 years, the differences between the PCA, OPC, RPCNA, Acts 29, and the other various theologically Reformed conservative denominations, networks and independent churches do not seem great enough to justify the millions of dollars and decades of ministry that it takes to plant more Reformed churches right next to existing Reformed churches, when there remain huge areas of the world with no biblically-faithful congregation.

The report of the Ad Interim Committee on Insider Movements to the Fortieth General Assembly called on the churches of the PCA to “support the training and labors of competent preachers and teachers who are committed to evangelizing, preaching, and explaining the Scriptures and serving in communities around the world.” This needs to mean more than just the giving of finances to overseas missionaries, as important as that is (my family depends on it!).[1] It has to also mean prioritizing the planting of biblically faithful churches in the least reached communities of the world, and this will require a growing investment of people as well as dollars.

Within the North American context, the majority of the men from our denominations and congregations who perceive a calling to preaching, teaching, and church planting ministry, and women called to equally important mercy ministries, women’s discipleship, etc. speak English, Korean or Spanish as their mother-tongue and are probably middle class, educated, and of Anglo-American/Canadian, Korean-American/Canadian or Latino-American/Canadian culture.[2] So we might be tempted to say that these men and women are naturally best equipped for “missional” churches in urban[3] North America or Europe that will target other people similar to themselves. But unless someone is willing to be “missional” to those not like themselves, how will there ever be strong churches in the unreached and under-reached nations and language and ethnic groups of the world?

Of course, the road will be long and difficult for those who hear and heed God’s call to cross cultural boundaries with the gospel. It will include learning difficult languages and cultures and being willing to forgo certain comforts (including perhaps theological libraries, Christian elementary schools, and stimulating Reformed fellowship at times). Reaching the thousands of ethno-linguistic groups still without any comprehensible witness to “the good news of the kingdom of God and name of Jesus Christ” (Acts 8:12) may require raising one’s own financial support, accepting radical downward mobility of income and living conditions (as compared with home country earning potential for one’s academic or professional qualifications), and enduring the scorn of peers, the suspicion of authorities, and even the subtle disapproval of other Christians. It may include exposing one’s self and family to limited or poor quality medical care, less than healthy diet and environment, and physical danger and insecurity. Not only will the individuals who go have to “die to self,” there will be a heavy cost for family members who stay and home and for congregations and denominations who must do without brothers and sisters whose presence and contributions were considered to be “essential” at home.

But if we really believe that it is the Father’s will to glorify himself by having his gospel preached to every ethnic group (ethnos) under heaven, how can we not be willing to go? And when we realize that it is God’s plan to use the verbal, direct testimony of his people to share that gospel,[4] we realize that, like Moses, our lack of linguistic ability or articulateness is not a sufficient reason to rule out the possibility that God might use us. Of course, we’ll never preach or teach as well in a different language or culture as we might in our own. But that’s not the point, Jesus didn’t command us to “eloquently preach wonderful culturally-relevant sermons to all nations” but rather to “make disciples of all nations, baptizing them and teaching them” all that he commanded (Matt. 28:19-20). And it’s those disciples who will communicate the truths of the Bible to their culture much better than we as outsiders ever could. But in order for that to happen, it is necessary that we who have been blessed with such a rich understanding of God’s Word actually go there, to where they are, get to know them, share their lives and our Lord with them, and equip them to be “missional” to their own community and nation.

The apostle Paul was very gifted and comfortable in both the Greek-speaking Hellenistic culture of the eastern Roman Empire and also the Hebrew/Aramaic-speaking culture of Judaism, yet he longed to go to Latin-speaking Rome and even beyond to Spain, where he must have known language would limit his preaching. But Paul was not afraid to be seen as a fool in hopes that some might be saved, and knew better than to depend on his own strength and abilities, having learned that God’s grace is sufficient, for God’s power is made perfect in weakness (2 Cor. 12.9).

E. Dennison is a pseudonym as the author works in a sensitive location.