by Gayla Parker

Living in the Last Frontier

1. Prior to your group meeting check out http://www.imb.org/. Click on the “Where We Work” link for a map. There are 5,913 unreached people groups. Using a globe or world map highlight the countries that are classified as “Last Frontier.” Use the following discussion questions:

a. What religions are found in the Last Frontier? Is there one that is predominant?

b. What types of government exist in the Last Frontier?

c. What are the living conditions in these countries? Climate, politics, economic level, etc.?

2. In most of the Last Frontier countries Christianity is illegal. Bible studies are held in secret. Bringing someone to Christ could cost that person’s life. Missionaries cannot socialize with one another. For a defined period of time, ask the participants in your group to not talk to one another while on campus. Continue with meetings, but hold them in a secret place. Do not announce the place in advance, rather find a way to spread the word in secret. (Remember emails, Facebook, and MySpace are monitored in these countries.) Ask one member of the group to not arrive until late. When everyone else arrives, discuss why this person may not be there. Has he/she been put in prison? Was he/she executed? Debrief. What was it was like to not have casual conversations with one another?

a. How difficult was it to know where and when your meetings were taking place?

b. Did you feel isolated?

c. What was it like to be missing a member knowing execution or imprisonment might be the reason?

d. If someone could loose her life for becoming a Christian, how would that affect your willingness to share Christ with others?

e. Would you feel responsible should they be killed?

f. How would you deal with that?

The Cost of Discipleship

1. In this month’s Going Deeper article we are challenged to consider what it will cost each individual to be a follower of Jesus. Before the group session, gather items that are normally not on our shopping list. Ask participants to guess the cost of each item. For the last item to price, show the participants a cross.

2. For each of us the cost of the cross is different. It may require leaving home going to the mission field or giving up a certain lifestyle. It may mean working in the secular workplace instead of the mission field. A friend of mine felt called to China as a college student, but did not make her first trip until she was 72. Guide the group in a discussion of what the cross has cost in their lives. Consider what it would be like for someone in the Last Frontier to know discipleship means execution.

3. The cross comes with an incredible “rebate.” We have eternal life because Jesus was willing to pay the price of His cross. When we are willing to pay the price of our cross, our “rebate” is lives that are changed, needs that are met, others meeting Jesus, and our lives full of the joy that only Jesus can provide. What are the “rebates” that you have experienced?

4. In the verses following the focal passage, Jesus talks about not finishing what has been started. A part of the cost of discipleship is commitment to live the Christian life 24/7/365 for as many years as we have on earth. Even Jesus had to carry out his cost to completion or we would not have salvation. On a piece of paper write: “committed to completion.” Place it in your Bible as a reminder to carry through.

Reaching the Last Frontier Through Prayer

1. Muslim women often meet together for tea. Serve tea at your meeting and pray specifically for Muslim women.

2. Visit a mosque, Buddhist temple, or synagogue. Walk in pairs or groups of three or four around the building and pray for the members and leaders to be led to Christ. If your group would like to get up close and personal, arrange a meeting and tour with the leaders. Listen and look for specific ways to pray as you visit with leaders.

3. As a group, choose a country within the Last Frontier. Commit to pray at every meeting for this country. God just might surprise you! As a college student, my group prayed every day for the Berlin Wall to come down opening the way for Christianity. I remember vividly the day God answered that prayer seven years later. Don’t give up. Pray to completion.

Gayla Parker works at the Maryland/Delaware Baptist Convention as a Missions Innovation Consultant. She loves looking for new ways to do missions.