On Feb. 1 at 3:30 p.m. Union University’s School of Theology and Missions hosted the fourth annual W.D. Powell Missions Lecture in Harvey Auditorium where Victor Hou, the International Mission Board’s Associate Vice President for Global Advancement, spoke on sharing the gospel.
Ray Van Neste, the dean of the School of Theology and Missions, opened the lecture by explaining that the W.D. Powell Missions Lecture is named after a Union Alumnus from the late 1800s who served as a missionary to Mexico.
Hou’s lecture was titled “Advancing the Gospel, Pushing Back Lostness.” In the lecture, Hou outlined five seeming contradictions about our time.
One contradiction was that “the Bible is available in more languages today,” Hou said. “But more people are dying without Christ than any time in humanity.”
Hou explained that only 10% of the languages in the world have the entire Bible translated in their language. When Hou was in Central Asia, he shared the story of Jonah and learned that his translator had never heard the story of Jonah because the residents only had the New Testament and parts of Psalms and Proverbs translated in their Bible.
He explained that the need for the gospel is urgent because two people every second die without knowing Christ, and translating the Bible can take as long as 35 years.
“So lostness continues to be the greatest problem that man has seen,” Hou said. “Because lostness…is the only problem that will stay with us for eternity.”
After emphasizing the problem of lostness, Hou said that God is at work. God is moving people from places that have less access to the gospel to places with more access to the gospel. In addition, leadership is on the rise in the global church.
Andy Pettigrew, a former Union alumnus and now staff member for the IMB, introduced Hou and showed how pushing back against lostness is taking place at Union.
“God is raising up a generation of missionaries that are students here at Union University,” Pettigrew said.
Emma Peak, a freshman applied linguistics major and missions minor, attended the lecture and shared some things that stood out to her.
“I did not realize how many people did not have the whole Bible in their language,” Peak said. “I want to consider learning those languages that the whole Bible isn’t translated [in]. I want to do that with my life if the Lord calls me to that.”
