THE STATS
Population & People Groups // Every man, woman and child deserves to hear the Gospel of Jesus Christ before someone has the luxury of hearing it twice.
Population
7.7 billion total population
3.23 billion total unreached
41.7% percent of unreached people on earth
People Groups
17,443 people groups
7,418 unreached people groups
42.5% percent of unreached people groups
Information Source // CIA World Fact Book & Joshua Project (March 2021)
Definitions & Awareness // Martin Luther King Jr. said that, “Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance.” and this is true when it comes to our global missions efforts and strategies.
The Great Commission // The last command of Christ to his disciples to go and make disciples of all nations and people on earth, repeated in all four Gospels and in Acts. Matthew 28:19, Mark 16:15, Luke 24:46-47, John 20:21 and Acts 1:8
Unreached People Group (UPG) // A group of people separated by culture, language, geography or social class who lack a large enough community of Christians (typically less than 2%) to evangelize the rest of the people group without outside help. A simplified definition, a group of people with little or no access to hear the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Unengaged People Group // An unreached people group is where there are no known church planting efforts, typically no missionaries working and often no known Christians. A simplified definition, a group of people with no access to hear the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Unevangelized // A person or group of people who may not have heard the Gospel but has public access to the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
10/40 Window // The geographic region of the world which spans West Africa to East Asia between 10 and 40 degrees latitude north of the equator.
Missionary // One sent to a foreign country to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Minister // A person who has been authorized by a church or denomination to perform specific religious duties, typically within their own cultural context and community.
70% of evangelical Christians are unaware that there are still people who have never heard the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Only 29% of Christians believe that reaching the unreached around the world is “very urgent”.
17% of church going people say they have heard AND remember what the Great Commission is all about, with less than 10% of the emerging generation saying they have heard AND remember what the Great Commission is all about.
Implications // If so few Christians today have never heard that there are still unreached or even remember what the Great Commission is all about, what could happen if we could raise the level of awareness about the needs and challenges of the unreached?
Information Source // Barna Research Report on the Great Commission & World Evangelization Research Center (March 2018)
Location of the Unreached // But how can they call on him to save them unless they believe in him? And how can they believe in him if they have never heard about him? And how can they hear about him unless someone tells them? Romans 10:14
The Importance of the 10/40 Window
97% of the worlds unreached people live in the 10/40 window
Over 4.89 billion people live in the 10/40 window, 3.05 billion are unreached
Over 8,000 people groups living in the 10/40 window, 5700 are unreached
Top 10 Countries
India - 1.3 billion unreached people and 2,245 unreached people groups
Pakistan – 217 million unreached people & 504 unreached people groups
Indonesia – 170 million unreached people & 236 unreached people groups
Bangladesh – 162 million unreached people & 299 unreached people groups
China – 146 million unreached people & 444 unreached people groups
Japan – 123 million unreached people & 23 unreached people groups
Iran – 83 million unreached people & 84 unreached people groups
Turkey – 83 million unreached people & 45 unreached people groups
Nigeria – 64 million unreached people & 83 unreached people groups
Thailand – 61 million unreached people & 77 unreached people groups
Implication // The social, religious, economic and climate of the 10/40 window make the advancement of the gospel very challenging and often require non-traditional missions efforts.
Information Source // Joshua Project (March 2021)
Money & Missions // The unequal distribution of the Gospel of Jesus Christ is the greatest injustice on earth today.
$42 trillion is the annual income of all church members
$700 billion is given to Christian causes
$677 billion (96.8%) for church and pastoral ministries
$45 billion (6.4%) for “missions” which includes efforts within the US
$450 million (.064%) for unreached peoples
Points of comparisons
We spend more on Christmas gifts each year than we give to Christian causes (over $1 trillion per year)
We spend far more on weight loss programs in America than we give to missions (over $72 billion per year)
We spend more on Halloween costumes for our pets than we give to the unreached ($490 million per year)
Implications // The actual amount of money given to reach the unreached is less than 1% of all the money given to “missions” and less than .001% of the annual income of churches members.
Information Source // Market Watch, Deloitte, Business Wire, The Traveling Teams (March 2021)
Ministers & Missionaries // The 30:1 Ratio // Roughly thirty times as many missionaries go to reach people groups to work with Christians, as go to unreached people groups. – R.W. Lewis
Full time Christian Ministers serving the World // 5.5 million workers
Christian Ministers in the Reached World // 4.19 million local workers (75.9%)
Christian Ministers serving the Unevangelized // 1.3 million local workers (23.7%)
Christian Ministers serving the Unreached // 20,500 local workers (0.37%)
Missionaries serving the World // 400,000 foreign missionaries [1]
Missionaries serving the Reached World // 309,315 foreign missionaries (77.3%)
Missionaries serving the Unevangelized // 77,610 foreign missionaries (19.4%)
Missionaries serving the Unreached // 13,315 foreign missionaries (3.3%)
Implications
Based on the current global missionary distribution, is it really possible that God is only “calling” 3% of all missionaries to work among the unreached and “calling” the remaining 97% to serve among the rest?
The ratio of Christian ministers and missionaries working among the Unreached is 1 worker for every 216,300 unreached people
There are more than 78,000 Evangelical Christians for every one unreached people group
Information Source // The Traveling Teams (March 2021)
Scripture // Over 1800 language groups on earth have still never heard that God so loved them that he was willing to give His son for them to be saved.
7,359 language groups on earth
704 languages with a complete bible
1571 languages with the New Testament
2726 languages in process
2002 language groups do not have Scripture translated into their language
There are at least 171 million people who still do not have a single verse of Scripture in their own language.
Information Source // Seed Company (January 2021)