Unreached People Group: an unidentifiable group of people distinguished by a distinct culture, language, or social class who lack a community of Christians able to evangelize to the rest of the people without outside help. In simpler terms, unreached people groups have never heard the good news of the gospel and don’t know Jesus as Savior.
There are approximately 7.5 billion people living in the world today. Of that 7.5 billion, 2 billion is considered Christian. 1.5 billion are Muslim, 900 million are Hindu, and 375 million are Buddhist. Of that 7.5 billion world population, 3.2 BILLION are considered unreached people groups. 3.2 billion people in the world don’t know the gospel. 3.2 billion people don’t know a savior so good that He actually died to make a way for us, so that we don’t even have to feel the weight of our sins. 3.2 billion people have no idea that they are so loved.
In Myanmar, my team actually had such a divine meeting with a missionary named John, who would pop in every few days at our college and help with the new girls’ dorms that were being built. We got to learn more about him and his wife throughout the month, and learned that they actually live in Chiang Mai and would be going back two days before us, so naturally, we exchanged contact information in hopes to meet up. And we did.
On Saturday, my team went to their missions office. He works for an organization called Empower International, whose main goal is to empower missionaries from this generation. They have ministry sites in Thailand, Myanmar, and Pakistan, and work towards giving minority Christian children education where they won’t be persecuted or become slaves due to their faith, along with planting churches, bible schools, and leadership development. The founders of the organization shared their hearts with us and their heart for the 10/40 window.
The 10/40 window is an area located between 10 and 40 degrees north of the equator, stretching from North Africa, through the Middle East, to East Asia. Out of the 7 of us there, 5 of us had never even heard of the 10/40 window, but I think it’s something that needs to have more of a spotlight.
2/3 of the worlds population lives in the 10/40 window. Approximately 5 billion people. Islam, Hinduism, and Buddhism are the dominant religions in this area, and it is believed that the Garden of Eden was actually right in the center of it. The 10/40 window has the highest concentration of poverty in the world and has a history of widespread child abuse, prostitution, and slavery. And 97% of unreached people groups in the world live there.
America. 90% of all church workers live there. So pastors, evangelists, even missionaries; 90% of them live in America. Of the entire world population, 7.5 billion, America accounts for about 4% of that. So we have 90% of people involved in the church and the Great Commission focused on 4% of the world population. Quite the unbalance.
I believe there’s a revival occuring in America, and that it’s going to continue growing and growing throughout the next few years. That’s incredible. I mean, have you seen the impact of The Send? That’s just the beginning. But when is there going to be that same kind of revival in areas where Christianity is the minority and unreached people groups are the majority?
We need missionaries to be the ones to walk in courage into those countries and bring revival and restoration and redemption. We need people to just share the hope that we have in Jesus, because they’re hungry for it. They want it so bad.
So who’s gonna go? Who’s gonna be the one to stand up and share the gospel to the one’s who have never heard? Who’s gonna be the one to go to the scary places on earth because the gospel is so urgent? Who’s gonna be the one to leave the comfortability of predominant Christian community to go to places where you may be the only one, but what a privilege it would be to share with people so desperate to know a Savior? It’s urgent and it’s necessary, so let’s be the generation to make a difference in that window.
