As IMB missionary Rita was training seventy new believers in Storying in Liberia, she asked if they knew anyone else who needed to hear the story of Jesus healing the man possessed by demons. One woman responded with great conviction that her stepson — a runaway drug addict who once tried to kill her — needed to hear the story.

“The story reminds me of how difficult I was when people tried sharing Jesus with me. It took many times. Jesus didn't get tired,” says the woman. “He sailed all day and stopped in this village for one soul. Then He went back. I have not had the same patience. I need to go back to those I tried to share with before and not be tired. They need to hear this story. Nothing is impossible with God.” 

Following the discussion, the women wrote a new song about the demon-possessed man in their heart language.

"Jesus has delivered me from demons
And so I must go and tell everyone that I've been delivered.
I've been set free.
I must let everyone know that I've been set free.
You can be set free.
So I must go and tell everyone
That they can be set free, too."

 After sharing this story and song with others, twenty people became followers of Christ!  Pray for these women to continue to have the zeal to share the stories they are learning.

SOWETO, South Africa -- After Desiree Moloi suffered a stroke in 2006, she was afraid to leave her home due to her disabilities. The stroke made it very difficult to speak, so she did not want to interact with anyone.

“I couldn’t go out and face people,” says Moloi. 

Then one day IMB missionaries Alan and Beth knocked on her door and invited her to attend one of their church plants in Soweto.

Soweto is a township of Johannesburg that was built for blacks during apartheid, a nearly 50-year period of racial segregation enforced by the South African government. Since apartheid ended with the election of Nelson Mandela in 1994, Soweto has grown into a melting pot of South African cultures and languages. All 11 of the country’s official languages are spoken in the township, and the landscape is littered with government housing and squatter camps. Unemployment is high, which has led to crime and drug abuse. The need for a Savior is evident.

It was at that Soweto church plant that Moloi found Christ. As she attended church and confided in Beth, she learned God had a purpose for her life, and her confidence was renewed. She now opens her home for Bible studies and has become a dear friend and ministry partner to the missionary couple.

“Only God can transform Soweto,” says Beth. That is why she and her husband have devoted their lives to the township. Their goal is not to just have people accept Christ for themselves but, like Moloi, to train them to share Christ with others.

 “Without finding Christ, we are a lost nation,” says Moloi. “I want God to change the way we live.”

Pray that the believers in Soweto will share their faith and that the Gospel will go out clearly.

A large truck driving down a dirt path pushes past tall grasses and through a small village. Children catch sight of the white face inside and run giggling and shouting after the vehicle.

Inside is Aly, a native Californian who serves as a researcher for the International Mission Board in Tanzania. Aly is working her way across Tanzania, learning religious and cultural knowledge about the unreached. Her goal is to understand their physical and spiritual needs better.

 “The International Mission Board is one of about three organizations that keep up with this research information,” says Priscilla, a strategy research associate for the IMB. “We know which people groups actually have access to the Gospel and which ones do not. That helps us make strategic decisions, especially for placement of personnel.”

On her expeditions, Aly searches for people groups who are believed to be an unengaged, unreached people group (UUPG). A UUPG has less than 2 percent evangelical Christians in its population and no evangelical ministry happening among them.

Once she has found the people group she is searching for, Aly sets up interviews with local pastors, chiefs, or religious leaders in an attempt to understand their worldview. 

“In Tanzania, there are more people who have heard about Coca-Cola than about Jesus,” says Aly.

According to Joshua Project, there are 16,598 people groups in the world, and nearly half of them are unreached. Six hundred and forty-five of these people groups are in Sub-Saharan Africa. In Tanzania alone, there are 39 people groups in which two percent or less are evangelical Christians.

Revelation chapter 7 indicates there will be people from every nation, tribe, people, and language standing before God’s throne in heaven. This is why the IMB believes it is necessary to find and identify not just countries and cities, but also specific people groups who may not have heard about the Lord. Gifts to the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering allow IMB personnel such as Aly to identify and understand the unreached and partner with churches to reach them.

Aly prays the people who read her research will act.

“I think if God had His way, all of our churches would be adopting people groups,” she says.

That is exactly what her home church in California did with the Kisi, an unreached people group in Tanzania. The church has committed to pray for and visit the Kisi people at least three times a year for the next five years. On each visit, they focus on sharing the Gospel and discipling believers so that the church they are establishing can eventually thrive independently. 

Because they obeyed the Lord and engaged the Kisi, the church members have seen several come to faith and become Totally His who may never have had the opportunity otherwise.

“Go where God leads you!” exclaims Aly. “Pray about a people group. Find out what you can and go for it!”

“For quite a while now, the Lord has been doing some exceptional things among the Nuni people,” says IMB missionary Jay.

The effectiveness of sharing Bible stories with the Nuni in Burkina Faso has allowed more and more believers to be trained to share their faith. In fact, Jay recently joined a local pastor named Paul to visit and encourage eight of the newly established churches.

At one particular church, Jay and Paul shared stories from the Bible, encouraging them to surrender fully to the Lord. Afterwards, the 200 or more who had attended the teaching went into the town to invite people to a film showing that evening.

“It was impossible to tell how many people came because of the dark, but they came expectantly,” says Jay.

However, due to an equipment malfunction, the showing didn’t take place. Instead, Jay preached, and men and women stood shoulder to shoulder in the church to receive Christ.

The next morning, they were preparing to go to the next village, but were met by a woman who had heard about what had happened the previous night. She was unable to attend the meeting, but wanted to accept Christ. Another woman soon came to convey that her prayer had been answered – she had been healed during the night. In all, 15 more people prayed to receive Christ that morning.

Later that day, as Jay and Pastor Paul were packing their bags to leave, a man asked to speak to them. He had been riding his bicycle through town, heard the message, accepted Christ, then went home to tell his family and the chief of his village. The chief wanted them to visit their village and plant a church. A few weeks later, Paul visited the village and found at least 400 people worshipping the Lord under a tree.