Buddhist Peoples
Meeting 1
If you have not already done so, read Read This First before beginning this POD.
Fast Facts
- Unreached Buddhist peoples live in the following regions: Southeast Asia (Cambodia, Thailand, Laos), South Asia (Myanmar [aka Burma], Bhutan, Sri Lanka), Mongolia and Japan, China (Tibet)
- The second-largest unreached people group in the world is the Japanese, numbering over 120 million.
Study
Read Romans 1:14–17
- Do we feel obligated to bring the gospel to unreached peoples? Explain.
- Are we confident in the power of the gospel to convert unreached peoples? Explain.
View
Watch Waking with Sochea (5:12)
- "When I first met Sochea, I saw a unique young man who I wanted to walk alongside with. God was powerfully at work in his life. As we walked alongside of each other, I saw his faith constantly being challenged, but I could also see him growing.
How does one walk alongside someone? - “I [Markus] have learned so much by sharing in his [Sochea’s] spiritual journey.”
It’s been said that we learn more by teaching than by being a student. List five things a teacher might learn by making disciples among unreached peoples?
Discuss
This is a true story passed along by workers in South East Asia. What does it say about the roles God and man play in making disciple among the unreached in Buddhist cultures?
- "She felt dizzy and weak, having been unable to keep food down for over a week. Would Donnie and Danielle fire her because she was too sick to return to her work as a housekeeper in their home? Nurul worried that she was dying.
Out of the blue, Nurul received a phone call from a Christian woman who followed Jesus after He brought her out of a coma. She told Nurul that she would pray for Jesus to heal her and give her a dream of Himself.
Fearing for her family’s livelihood and her own life, Nurul lay on her bed and began to pray, “Isa al-Masih (Jesus the Messiah), if you are really King of the world, would You heal me like You healed my friend? I am so sick, and I can’t take care of my family. Come heal me.” Then she slept.
A man in white shook her from her sleep, saying, “Nurul, get up now. Get up and eat. You are well.”
“What should I eat?” she asked him.
“Eat whatever you want,” He continued. “You are well. Eat now.”
She asked her son who had been napping beside her if he had seen the man, but he had no idea what she was talking about.
Her stomach began to growl with hunger “like a pregnant woman.” She ran to the street to buy food.
When her husband, Eko, came home, he said, “You look so beautiful! What happened?” She told him about her dream. He fell to his knees and wept, thanking Isa al-Masih for restoring her health.
After she told Donnie and Danielle her story, Donnie asked her, “Now what?”
“We believe.” She hesitated. “Actually, my husband has been reading about Isa al-Masih for the last month.”
Donnie and Danielle were surprised but delighted to hear her explanation. Eko had been helping them on occasion as a handyman in their home. One day a few months ago while working in their home office, he found several copies of Luke in his own language. While no one was looking, he stole a copy to read for himself. God’s Word and Jesus’s appearance to Nurul brought them to faith in Jesus."
Learn
Read any Global Starting Point
Respond
SOGY —Support others or go yourself—describe your level of involvement. If your group has not done so already, read Read This First. This will help give direction to supporting others or going yourself.
Pray
Reflect on what you learned in this meeting, let it guide you in prayer, and then pray together as a group.