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Christmas Is for the Hard Places

Jesus came into a world full of poverty and violence; He suffered deeply, but called us worth it.

Based on a recent report by an Alliance worker, serving in the spiritually desolate North and Central Asia Region—one of the last missions frontiers

As a teenager, Bruce Olson knew he needed to take the good news to a remote tribe in South America. It was a place where every visitor previously had ended up dead or missing.

Did people try to discourage the young man from going? Yes. Did Bruce make a difference through his sacrificial act of worship? Absolutely. (Read Bruchko to learn more about his remarkable story.)

He Seeks the Lost

We need more Bruce Olsons willing to go to the hard places in our world, armed only with a passion for God to be glorified (Luke 10:2).

Samuel Zwemer, an American missionary to Arab lands, once lamented that were it not for the “wicked selfishness” of believers, the Arab world would have been changed in one generation.

Today, 1.5 billion people are stumbling in spiritual darkness; among them a small percentage wreaking terror and havoc. If we who know Him don’t choose to go to those most in need of some good news, God will find a way to bring them to us.

A mosaic star in the former Persia. Photo courtesy of an Alliance worker

We have seen Him do this—connecting the lost with His people to accomplish His purposes. One biblical example of this is the Syrian Naaman who traveled to Israel where he met Elisha the prophet and was healed of leprosy (see 2 Kings 5).

We know by our experience that the peoples in the North and Central Asia Region are hungry for the love and peace found only in the One who was born in a humble stable. The One who knew He would suffer and die at the hands of those He intended to serve is the One whom we can emulate.

Positioning Our Hearts

One of my Alliance colleagues serving with us in this spiritually dark region recently wrote, “This year God has used His Word and Kate McCord’s book Why God Calls Us to Dangerous Places to position my heart for this season.

“Kate writes, ‘God passionately loves the world. He loves the world so much that He sent His Son into the world to touch, heal, teach, save, and die for [it]. Jesus Christ, His Son, came into a very dangerous world . . . full of poverty and violence. He loved deeply the people He encountered. He suffered for having come. He counted the cost, paid the price, and called us worth it.’

“This season,” my colleague observes, “I want to reflect on Jesus’ willingness to come to a hard place for all of us. I want to be willing to follow Him into hard places, whether in prayer or in going. I want to love like He loves. I want to see Jesus exalted and men reconciled to the Father. I call Him worth it.”

Pray

Use the weekly Alliance Prayer Requests to join the Alliance family in interceding on behalf of our global teams, who often serve in hard places that require Holy Spirit–inspired wisdom to share God’s love with peoples who don’t know Him.

Give

“Most of the funding keeping us in the North and Central Asia Region is from the Great Commission Fund,” the author adds. “A year-end gift to this fund is a great way to support the work of The Alliance in some of the world’s most challenging, hopeless places.”

Go

Check out opportunities to serve with The Alliance.

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When you give to the Great Commission Fund, you help to equip more than 700 international workers, including Alliance workers in the North and Central Asia Region, to bring the gospel to some of the most spiritually desolate regions of our world. Consider a gift today!

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