--- title: "Sharing the Gospel with Those Who Haven’t Heard" date: 2025-04-24 author: "Laurie Stroud" featured_image: "https://birminghamchristian.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Rachel-Allen-with-friends.jpeg" categories: - name: "Spiritual" url: "/category/news/spiritual.md" tags: - name: "Featured" url: "/tag/featured.md" --- # Sharing the Gospel with Those Who Haven’t Heard **Mission Makers** Ever since I was 16, I knew that God was calling me to Japan and I never understood why until after I fell in love with the country and the idea of doing ministry there full-time. Most people are unaware that Japan contains one of the largest unreached populations in the entire world, with only about one percent identifying as Christian. Unreached means that they have never heard the Gospel, not that they are hostile to it. Also, there is only one church for every 16,000 people and each church can only hold about 40 people. [![Rachel Allen with friends](https://birminghamchristian.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Rachel-Allen-with-friends-225x300.jpeg "Rachel Allen with friends")](https://birminghamchristian.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Rachel-Allen-with-friends.jpeg)Rachel Allen (third from left) is a freshman in college majoring in Global Ministry.I believe God has given me the skills and the passion “for such a time as this” (as Mordecai said to Esther as a call to action to save the Israelites from death). This summer, God has called me to serve in Japan under Pioneers, which is a nonprofit organization that sends missionaries all over the world, specifically in the 10/40 window. I will be teaching English alongside my teammates, serving local churches, and participating in street outreach. [![Rachel Allen ](https://birminghamchristian.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Mission-Makers-Rachel-Allen-talking-241x300.jpeg "Rachel Allen")](https://birminghamchristian.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Mission-Makers-Rachel-Allen-talking.jpeg)Rachel first became interested in sharing the Gospel in Japan when she attended the Motion Student Conference in 2021 where one of the speakers told a story about a missionary who went to Japan.There are millions of people in Japan who will die never hearing the name of Jesus if we as a Christian community don’t do something about it. This is the ‘why’ that drives everything I do. From learning about missions at Highlands College, to praying for the unreached, to developing relationships with international students weekly at an event hosted by Baptist Campus Ministries at UAB, I strive to be the best I can be while also relying on Christ to eventually make it to the mission field. But I can’t do it alone. There’s a saying that I think perfectly captures the idea of missionary work. “I’ll go down in the pit if you’ll hold the rope.” Missionaries like me rely on the support of God’s people to hold us up as we dive headfirst into sharing the Gospel. We need a strong team of “rope holders” who will help us bring God’s light into communities that may never otherwise experience it. That, readers, is what I am here to offer. An opportunity to join me in sharing the Gospel in Japan through two forms of partnership: prayer and financial support. If you would like to become a partner in this mission, please email me at and I will send you the link to donate as well as add you to my e-newsletter which will have updates and prayer requests. *-Rachel Allen*