Who Are the Unreached?

Some of us might consider our unbelieving neighbor or co-worker as unreached and in need of hearing the Gospel. And they are! But in global missions, the word “unreached” refers specifically to people groups who have little or no Gospel knowledge available in their own language. As a result, they are unlikely to hear about Jesus unless someone outside their culture shares it with them.

With a world population of 7.75 billion, 3.2 billion people have never heard the Gospel. That’s 42% of every living soul on earth who does not have access to the Good News. Many do not have a Bible in their language or a church in their community. In most cases, they don’t know a single Christian! They truly are unreached. And they will live and die without knowing Jesus unless something changes.

With respect to mission resources from churches in America, only 1% of funds go to the unreached and only 3% of missionaries serve unreached people groups. This is the Great Imbalance. As a result, there are more people without access to God’s Word than a decade ago.

What is Being Done

FEBC, along with well-known Christian author David Platt, pastor and author Francis Chan, David Joannes (co-founder of Within Reach Global), and the Joshua Project, to name a few, are challenging church leaders to rethink their approach to missions.

Churches and individuals who recognize this “imbalance” are doing their homework and identifying unreached people groups, funneling their time and resources specifically to sending missionaries and other resources to reach them. We applaud their efforts and passion for reaching all people, as Jesus instructed. We hope more churches will adopt this approach.

In fact, we recently launched the Unreached Prayer Initiative, desiring to partner with churches to pray for and ultimately impact people groups who currently have no access to the Gospel.

The Good News

Radio continues to be an effective way to reach people groups living in remote locations. Why? Radio is not hampered by geographical, cultural or political barriers; it’s available worldwide, reaching large populations; it’s accessible to the blind and illiterate; and it’s heard in the privacy of one’s home, which is especially important in areas where Christians or seekers are persecuted for their faith.

We are currently broadcasting in 145 languages, 115 of which reach ethnic people groups, many of them living in remote regions of the world. Very recently we added 2 additional ethnic languages to our broadcast schedule in India. We are always on the lookout for strong Christians from various people groups, to reach more of God’s children who don’t yet know Jesus as their Savior.

Your support and prayers are all part of the solution for reaching the unreached; we’re grateful for your faithful commitment to Jesus’ command to “go and make disciples of all nations.” Thank you!