Discipling Nations

When Jesus gave his disciples the commission to GO, he asked them to “make disciples of all nations”. (Matt 28:18-20) Some translation says “teach all nations” which can bring confusion to understand what Jesus meant. The original greek used “mathe-teuo” refers to discipling. A disciple or “mathethes” is a learner, follower. Discipling is clearly more than teaching. You can teach someone without necessary discipling them.
The word “Nations here is referring to “ethnos”, which means people group, and where we get the word “ethnic” from.
In the Strong’s concordance, “ethnos” refers to. a race (as of the same habit), i.e. a tribe; specially, a foreign (non-Jewish) one (usually, by implication, pagan):—Gentile, heathen, nation, people.

it is interesting with globalisation and convenience of air travel, the nations are no longer kept by political or geographical boundaries. They are scattered into every place and city of the earth, with some so cosmopolitan that for eg. in cities like Sydney, Los Angeles, Singapore, there are about 39% of foreign-born residents. In LA, it consists of people from around 140 countries and on any given day, and about 86 different languages can be heard on the streets! And topping the chart is Dubai with a whooping 83% of foreign born residents in the city!

Perth alone has foreign residents of over 140 different countries! And did you know that Perth City has the largest number of Bhutanese outside of Bhutan? They have a total population of over 700k, and it is estimated that about 20k of them are in Perth!

Bhutan is a landlocked Southern Asian country, which is situated in the Eastern Himalayas, between China in the north and India in the south. A mountainous country, Bhutan is known locally as “Druk Yul” or “Land of the Thunder Dragon”.

With majority 85% Buddhists and only 0.7% Christians, we have an open opportunity to reach them while they are on Australia shores, particularly in Perth!

Let’s keep going for Jesus!