(May 11, 2016 - by Harold Goerzen)  The calendar is replete with special days of the year for good causes: World Water Day (March 22), Orphan Sunday (Nov. 13), World AIDS Day (Dec. 1) and even National Learn to Swim Day (May 21).

“I opened my mailbox and there was a postcard promoting a day set aside for a certain worthy cause,” observed Jon Fugler, Reach Beyond’s vice president of advancement. “Then it hit me, There should be a day for the unreached. So I approached some of my colleagues, and they embraced the idea.”

Steve Johnson, executive director of communications, agreed, saying a special day could help educate and motivate believers worldwide about the need to spread the message of salvation to the lost.

“The greatest injustice of the 21st century is that there are 2 billion people who don’t know Christ,” Johnson noted. “We started to look around and said, ‘Who is the voice of advocacy for the unreached?’ There are lots of initiatives that are outward-focused, but nobody was making a call to the churches to say, ‘It’s time for us to ignite a new missionary zeal to reach those who have never heard the gospel.’”

The idea, birthed 1½ years ago, is set to become a reality as Pentecost Sunday, May 15, has been designated as the first International Day for the Unreached (IDU).

The event, announced at the annual National Religious Broadcasters convention in February, is sponsored by the newly formed Alliance for the Unreached. This is a globally focused group that includes Reach Beyond, Bibles For The World, Operation Mobilization, The Seed Company and Missio Nexus.

“The rationale was that we all have different approaches to missions, but the opportunity for partnership makes the sum greater than all of the individual parts,” Johnson explained. “The level of cooperation has been absolutely incredible. I’ve been part of other cooperative programs in the past, but seldom do they work because of things like organizational agendas and financial restraints.”

He was also surprised at the high interest in the special day expressed by participants at NRB, sparking dozens of on-air interviews with media outlets ranging from small radio stations to major television ministries such as CBN.

“We’ve also had a number of major ministries—many significantly bigger than we are such as Cru—approach us, saying, ‘How can we be a part of this?’ So we may expand IDU in the future.”

Johnson says the focus of IDU is four-fold. “We need people to pray; we need people to advocate for those who haven’t heard; we want people to serve, whether it be their own backyard or overseas; and we want people to share—not just in finances, but their time, talents and creativity to be multipliers in reaching people with the gospel.”

Source: Reach Beyond