Missions Blog #2

How many tribes, languages, peoples, and nations are there? A lot. There are over 2500 “people groups” in India alone. The world is typically divided into people groups.

For strategic purposes, a people group is the largest group through which the gospel can flow without encountering significant barriers of understanding and acceptance. There are 15,900 people groups in the world. An unreached people group is a people group in which less than 2% of the population are Evangelical Christians. There are 6,721 unreached people groups.

Another way to divide the world is into 8 Cultural People Blocs.

1. Christian: 2.3 billion people, 97% personally know a Christian,
2. Hindu of India: 1.054 billion people, 3200 unreached people groups, 6% Christian, 14% of Non-Christians personally know a Christian, 1 missionary per 179,636 people
3. Muslim: 1.326 billion people, 5,500 unreached people groups, 3% Christian, 14% of Non-Christians personally know a Christian, 1 missionary per 306,238 people
4. Buddhist of Southeast Asia: 378.3 million people, 1500 unreached people groups, 4% Christian, 15% of Non-Christians personally know a Christian, 1 missionary per 176,000 people.
5. Folk Chinese: 400 million people, 300 unreached people groups, 7% Christian, 15% of Non-Christians personally know a Christian, 1 missionary per 132,857 people
6. Tribal peoples: 230 million people, 2000 unreached people groups, 12% Christian, 41% of Non-Christians personally know a Christian, 1 missionary per 17,126 people
7. Non-Religious: 946.7 million people, 100 unreached people groups, 10% Christian, 28% of Non-Christians personally know a Christian, 1 missionary per 70,041 people
8. Others: 146 million people, 400 unreached people groups, 10% Christian, 67% of Non-Christians personally know a Christian, 1 missionary per 35,405 people

How are the Unreached currently being reached? Good question, and the answer truly brings glory to God.

• There are missionaries who have followed the example of Paul and have gone out to the unreached peoples, learned their language and culture, and are using many different strategies to draw people into a relationship with Jesus Christ. These are not just people from America, but from everywhere.
• There are other missionaries who support these efforts by translating Bibles and literature, making videos and music, etc.
• Many people groups are making efforts to reach themselves. There are many stories of tribal peoples who have risked it all to go to other countries to share the gospel with others from their same tribe. The Akha in Thailand is one such story, where several Akha churches have given money to Akha Christians to go into Laos, China, and Vietnam where the Akha have not yet heard of the one true God. Vietnamese Christians, despite severe persecution and risking their life and possessions, are making many efforts to share the gospel cross-culturally with tribal peoples who have not yet heard the gospel.
• God is making himself known to others in miraculous ways. Have you heard of an entire group of Muslims who dreamed of Jesus being the true son of God, and then woke up to hear that many others in their community had the same dream. This entire group came to believe in Jesus as the Son of God without any outside influence. There are many other stories similar to this. God’s heart is for His people to know Him, and He is more than able to draw people to Himself. We get the chance to be involved in this great redemptive work He is doing.
• The unreached have come to us. Did you know that there are at least 60 unreached people groups represented in the United States. People have come to the US to study and work from some of the largest unreached people groups in the world. Over 5 million Jews, 4 million Muslims, and 500,000 Buddhists from unreached people groups live in America full-time, not including those temporarily here for exchange study programs. Many of these are from countries where Christians are persecuted and missionaries are not allowed such as China, Vietnam, Myanmar, the Middle East, and India. Did you know that 80% of foreign visitors never get invited into the home of an American? Did you know, that these people probably go home telling the world that Christians are unloving because noone made an effort to get to know them. Did you know, you may see someone from an unreached people group when you go to Walmart or eat at a Thai restaurant?
• Prayer- people around the world pray for the unreached. Prayer is well documented as the beginning to the spread of the Gospel. Paul’s missionary journey began as the Christians in Antioch worshipped and fasted (Acts 13:1-3). When missionaries were kicked out of China in the 1950’s, they thought all hope was lost, but they kept praying for the Christians in China. And God worked on their behalf, causing the gospel to spread in an underground “house” church movement in a way no one could have ever imagined. Pick up any biography of a missionary and you will see that they not only lived a life of prayer, but also built a team of people from their home who were dedicated to praying for God to work.