These are the words that Jesus spoke to his disciples about what to expect as God fulfills his plan of redemption and restoration of all things. To the best of our ability to calculate, there are still 7,246 people groups who have yet to even know that this good news exists. That’s roughly 3.39 billion people who don’t know that Jesus has come, conquered sin and death, reigns at the Father’s right hand, and wants every single of the 3.39 billion individuals to have an intimate, familial relationship with him. These 7,246 people groups are designated as unreached people groups (UPG’s). Simply, a UPG is an ethnolinguistic community with little to no access to the story and work of Jesus. They require someone from the outside to bring that good news to them and their people. This differs from reached people groups, defined by a group that has a sufficient Christian presence to spread the Gospel internally. In other words, one group can self-sustain a Chirstian movement, and one cannot.

It is a huge task for the name of Jesus to be known and accessible to every people group on the planet! That’s why some, stirred by the Holy Spirit, answer the call to go to places so that people who don’t know can choose for themselves what their future eternity looks like. Benedictio exists to bless and shepherd teams of workers in unreached areas of the world to help them complete their task well and in a condition that is pleasing to, and reflective of, Jesus.

There are about 445,000 total workers worldwide sharing the good news of the kingdom (that includes Catholic and Protestant). Of that total, there are an estimated 15,000 workers who have gone to areas where there are UPG’s. Those areas are often where the work is slowest, hardest, and most isolated – hard places to work and thrive. In January of 2024, Global Trellis did a survey of workers on the field. The results of one of the questions they asked has impacted us in a very deep way – not just because of the people responding in the survey, but because of the people we have personally met and love on the mission field. The question was, “Do you have an issue (or issues) that, if your organization knew about, you worry might jeopardize your ability to stay on field or work in the home office?” The response was heartbreaking but also not surprising. 50.8% of respondents said that they do have a something that they don’t feel they can share. The follow up question shed more light to the struggle, “Now, we’re going deeper with the question. Consider this statement: ‘If my supporters, organization, or sending fellowship knew this (whatever this is), it might jeopardize me being on the field or in my support role.’ What is your this’”? If you’d like the entirety of the Global Trellis survey results, you can go here.

Longevity on the field is often not great as there are so many pressures on workers and teams. The number one reason that workers leave the field prematurely is because of team dynamics. In John 17, Jesus prays for his disciples and all those who would come after them. His prayer, in a nutshell, is that God’s family would be one as Jesus and the Father are one – that they would be unified in passion and purpose. No wonder that teams are spiritually attacked by the enemy!

This is why we, as Benedictio, go to unreached places to work with teams carrying the good news of the kingdom. This is why we love and care for workers who are doing the best they can in really difficult circumstances. This is why we are leveraging our time and our resources to bless and shepherd teams that are doing the thing that opens the door for Jesus to return and restore all things to himself.