40.3%
of the world’s population
“Go ye therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father,
and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” Matthew 28:19
Christ’s last command before leaving earth was to go, teach, and make disciples of all nations. The word ‘nations’ in the Greek language means ethnic people groups. There are approximately 9,805 different people groups in our world today. Approximately 3,264 (2.9 billion people) people groups are unreached. That is 40.3% of the world’s total population that have never heard of the of the Gospel!
The largest portion of the world’s unreached people live in South Asia. They have not rejected Jesus, they simply have no had the opportunity to hear that Jesus saves.
In our sheltered Christian settings, we talk about Jesus Christ’s second coming while approximately one-third of the world’s population has never heard of His first coming.
From MTM to Third Watch
Third Watch is a personal retirement opportunity dedicated to encouraging, discipling and strengthening pastoral leaders in Asia, whom Raymond Burkholder has served alongside for the past eighteen years. This opportunity continues the vision of Macedonian Teaching Ministry (MTM) – to equip indigenous Christian leaders to bring the gospel to those who never heard.
From its beginning, MTM has been shaped by the apostle Paul’s vision in Epistle to the Romans 15:20–21, to preach the gospel where Christ is not yet known. Third Watch carries this vision forward by strengthening pastors and church leaders who are serving among the unreached peoples.
The name “Third Watch” is inspired by Paul’s third missionary journey described in Acts of the Apostles chapter 20, where Paul shares some of his final and most cherished leadership exhortations with the elders of the church at Ephesus, a congregation he had planted in an earlier journey. His example of encouragement, discipleship, and leadership development remains the model for this ministry.
Third Watch focuses on:
- Encouraging and strengthening pastoral leaders in Asia
- Teaching biblical gospel leadership principles
- Discipling and empowering the next generation of church leaders
- Investing in emerging youth leaders in the United States and abroad
At its heart, Third Watch believes the most effective way to reach the world’s 2.9 billion unreached people is by equipping native believers to share the gospel within their own cultures and communities.
It has been said that few people reject the gospel, but rather the package of the gospel. When a foreigner goes to another people group with the gospel, it is packaged in a strange skin color, language and culture. To the unreached, this man and his message are strange. But when a native person comes with the gospel, the message has a far greater impact because he looks like them, understands their culture and speaks their language.
God has granted MTM the opportunity to work alongside native Christians to equip them to reach their own people with the Gospel. MTM is providing Biblical teaching and training by hosting 3-5 day Bible conferences and two or three week Bible Schools in many countries throughout Asia and some in Africa.
We are thrilled and humbled at the many opportunities to equip native leaders to make disciples of all nations.
Our Mission
It is the goal of Third Watch to provide a reproducible, and sustainable model to train and send out native men of leadership who will evangelize, make disciples, and plant churches among their own native unreached people groups.
Our Goal
- Disciple & Empowering the next generation into Knowing Jesus Christ & Making Him Known
- Ministering & Equipping Final Most Cherished Gospel Truths unto Pastors & Emerging leaders Among the Gospel Unreached
