Usually, headlines focus on need, but today we’ve got a praise report from Bibles For The World. President John Pudaite says their Asian partners recently met a believer from one of the UUPGs they adopted last year.

“We’ve asked them to take on that role of discipleship, of guiding him and bringing him into their fold – at least for a time – so that they can… prepare him to go back into his village and be able to share the Gospel.”

Making headway…

As described here, UUPGs have millions of people, no known believers, and no one is actively trying to reach them for Christ. Download the Great Commission Action Guide to learn more.

(Photo by Artem Beliaikin from Pexels)

Bibles For The World met the “engaged” criteria when they adopted the people group last year. To protect current and future Gospel work, Pudaite won’t name the people group or describe its specific location.

“It’s a country where things are a little bit in flux; there is freedom of religion in their constitution but there [are] also statements about the country’s character being aligned with a certain religion,” Pudaite explains.

“This makes it a little bit difficult, a little bit challenging, and [it’s] something that we want to try to navigate as carefully as we can.”

Additionally, “there is no Scripture that we’re aware of in that language,” Pudaite confirms. It’s one of the initiatives Bibles For The World is trying to launch, but they need partners.

“Perhaps we can work together on getting some… translation work going… so that we can start to help him reach his own people.”

Progress, but not completion

It’s great to find a believer, Pudaite agrees, but this story is far from over. In fact, it’s only just beginning.

“It’s just one person right now, but it’s a start. From my own experience with my tribe in northeast India, we started with just five believers and within a generation, we were entirely evangelized,” Pudaite says.

(Photo courtesy of Bibles For The World)

“So, this is still possible… as the Holy Spirit leads, guides, and moves, and God provides all our needs for this effort.”

Contact Bibles For The World today and mention this article to find your place in the story. Most importantly, pray. “Each step of the way needs prayer because there are just so many potential obstacles,” Pudaite says.

“There [are] so many little steps along the way: finding the right national partners that have an interest, maybe have a similar calling to reaching the unreached in their nation… mobilizing them to get out there… finding the right strategies… and then, how do we resource that?”

Header image courtesy of Bibles For The World.

Sudanese believers face monumental challenges too; namely, how to secure religious freedom no matter who comes to power. At the same time, they’re trying to keep ministry moving forward during this limited window of Gospel opportunity.

A Christian worker we’ll call “Ken” collaborates with believers throughout northern Sudan. He’s urging them to keep Sudan’s unreached populations in mind as they plan their “next steps.”

“There [are] about 42 million people in Sudan today. The vast majority of them are Muslim, and have no knowledge or understanding of Jesus Christ at all.”

Decades of oppression under Bashir’s rule earned Sudan harsh sanctions and a Tier 1 “Country of Particular Concern” title from the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF). Read more about persecution in Sudan here.

Conditions like these have made ministry in Sudan extremely difficult. As a result, few people know the Good News of Jesus.

Sudan has a lot of unreached people…

(Photo courtesy of Open Doors USA)

The number of unreached people in Sudan varies widely; for example, the Joshua Project lists 130 unreached people groups (UPGs) or approximately 23,633,000 people. In a file accessed on November 25, Finishing the Task lists 29 unreached and unengaged people groups (UUPGs) in Sudan: approximately 835,400 people.

Ken says many of Sudan’s remaining unreached people groups are “oral communities,” which means they don’t use traditional methods of reading and writing to learn or communicate. More about orality here.

“They have no reason, for the most part, to learn to read and write… certainly, they should not have to wait ‘till that happens before they understand God’s Word and Jesus’s love.”

As explained here, understanding culture is critically important to effective Gospel communication. For example, Egypt and Sudan share some similarities as neighboring nations and fellow members of the North Africa region. However, their individual history and cultures are vastly diverse, so certain evangelism methods might “work” in Sudan but not in Egypt, and vice-versa.

…reaching them requires collaboration

With this in mind, organizations and individual believers are working hard to develop Gospel resources for Sudan’s unreached oral people groups. The process initially began by identifying five of Sudan’s “most influential” languages, Ken explains.

“If we can impact these languages, we will impact the most people groups, and it’ll indirectly or directly affect the entire country of Sudan.”

(Screenshot image courtesy of Prayercast: Sudan)

One initiative focuses on a language spoken by Sudan’s Beja people. “They’re predominantly nomadic and the vast majority, over 90 [percent], cannot read and write,” Ken says. Right now, ministries are working together to translate The JESUS Film into the Beja’s heart language.

“From that, they’ll have the introduction to the message of Jesus Christ. Then, we’ll go into orality. At the end of that process…we’ll have the entire Gospel message for a people group who do not know how to read and write.”

Here’s how you can help

Typically, believers can pray, give, or go to support Kingdom-building initiatives like this. However, when it comes to Sudan, “a lot of the hands-on stuff – because of security issues and danger – is probably not for everybody,” Ken says.

For the same reason, MNN cannot name or describe the ministries behind the projects described above. Even so, there are opportunities to give directly to this effort and, of course, there is an abundant need for prayer. “For instance, choosing a translation team for the oral Bible stories – [if] people around them find out what they’re doing, there’ll be huge negative repercussions,” Ken describes as an example.

(Photo courtesy of Open Doors USA)

“We need to bathe this in prayer over the next two or three years because there’s a lot at stake here.”

Pray for Sudan using prompts listed in the sidebar. You can also use this free video resource from MNN’s sister ministry, Prayercast.

If you would like to give, please let MNN know, and the organization leading this UPG Initiative will be in touch. Last but not least, use the “share” buttons below to post this article on social media and ask fellow believers to surround Sudan in prayer.

Header image depicts shell casings in the Nuba Mountain region. Photo courtesy of VOM USA.

Larry Andrews, President and CEO of Partners International, says he’s excited about the global engagement level of churches and ministries who are involved with and have adopted unreached unengaged people groups (UUPGs) through Finishing the Task.

(Photo courtesy of Partners International)

But, as the numbers drop for those who are currently UUPGs, the groups which remain have their own challenges when it comes to Bible translation work.

“Those last couple of hundred are really difficult groups. I think there’s a caution that I have about how that relational connection with these organizations is going to happen because reaching those groups will take a relational, intentional effort that, hey, it might take more than two years,” Andrews says.

Andrews, who also serves with Alliance for the Unreached has a vision for every church in the United States to be a part of fulfilling the Great Commission.

“Every Christ follower is required to fulfill Christ’s mission. This passionate call to have every church engaged, every Christ-follower engaged, is one that the Alliance for the Unreached is all about,” Andrews says.

International Day for the Unreached

One of the ways Alliance for the Unreached raises awareness is through the International Day for the Unreached (IDU), which takes place on Pentecost Sunday. The day is devoted to learning about and praying for UUPGs. However, in the past, the Alliance has focused on raising awareness. Now it is time for action and revival.

(Photo courtesy of Alliance for the Unreached)

Jesus calls His people to personally engage with the Great Commission. Therefore, Andrews says it is time for every church to take steps towards fulfilling the Great Commission. However, Barna Research reports only 49 percent of the Church in America knows about the Great Commission.

“The Church in America essentially needs to be woken up. We’re asleep at the wheel and how do we prayerfully move the 51 percent of churches out there to engage and to be part of the work that Christ is doing across the world. It’s sad from one perspective, at least how I look at it, because part of finding joy in Christ and really having an intimate relationship with Him, is doing, being about the things that He cares about the most,” Andrews says.

Get Involved

Pray for God’s guidance for ways the Church in American can engage with the Great Commission. Ask God to reveal ways to get involved.

For example, Andrews’ church began the process of collaborating with partners in North Sumatra about three years ago. Through this work, his church has become engaged with reaching the unreached in efforts to help fulfill the Great Commission. Pray God would lead His churches in how he wants them to get involved, too.

Get involved with Alliance for the Unreached here!

*Final quote omitted and paraphrased at the request of the source. 

“That’s a third of the world population, and when we say ‘unreached’, we’re saying they don’t have the opportunity to be reached,” explains Marv Newell, Senior Vice President of Missio Nexus.

“Our goal is to continue to ‘fly that flag’ of unreached and unengaged peoples being able to have an encounter with Jesus Christ.”

Missio Nexus is a founding member of the Alliance for the Unreached. More about Missio Nexus here. Newell says the ministry leverages its wide network to resource groups working on the “frontlines” of the Great Commission.

(Photo courtesy Missio Nexus)

“Missio Nexus is not a missions agency as the other Alliance members are. We are an associations of missions,” Newell explains.

Sometimes, it’s hard for people to understand how Missio Nexus helps reach unreached people groups, he admits. He attributes this to the organization’s function as a “behind the scenes” player, or “resourcer.”

Instead of directly reaching unreached people groups – doing the work of Bible translation or church planting, for example – Missio Nexus operates in a support role. It educates and connects ministries and individual believers who are doing frontline work.

“We have information, services; we have webinars… even publications like Evangelical Missions Quarterly… that make sure the Unreached are foremost in what we’re doing in the world of missions.”

Admittedly, ensuring Gospel access for two billion people is an immense goal. It’s important not to overlook the importance of support roles when considering this vast vision. As the Apostle Paul mentioned in 1 Corinthians 12, every member of the Body of Christ is essential.

Pray for Missio Nexus and others serving “behind the scenes” to support the work of the Great Commission. Oh, and don’t forget to save the date – June 9 is the International Day for the Unreached. Share this story with your pastor or church secretary to make sure it’s on your church’s calendar, too.

While you’re waiting for June 9 to roll around, check out the IDU website and read the Manifesto for the Unreached. Newell says it’s what inspired him and other Missio Nexus leaders to get involved.

“We refuse to stand idly by as people enter eternity without Christ when we can share the Good News that transforms them through any means possible.”

Header image courtesy International Day for the Unreached via Facebook. 

“You have Bible translation groups that are working with unreached people groups, or UPGs. You have church planting groups working with UPGs,” he explains.

“All of those things are happening, but they’re [often] not happening in concert with one another.”

On the mission field, Pope says, ministries are often completely unaware of the others’ existence.

“It would be like… [farmers] plowing furrows in a field right next to each other, and not even know[ing] the other person was there.”

To remedy the situation, Pope proposes a three-step process. Unifying the Body of Christ cannot happen without the Holy Spirit, he stresses, but “what we’ve found is that if you can raise up a ‘banner’ of a like-minded goal, then you can get people to come around [that] idea.”

Step One: Aggregation

Aggregation is defined by Merriam-Webster as “a group, body, or mass composed of many distinct parts or individuals” or “the collecting of units or parts into a mass or whole.”

Pertaining to the Great Commission, Pope defines aggregation as rallying people around the idea that unreached people groups need to be reached. This is usually the easiest one to complete, he adds.

Once people and ministries are “sold” on the idea, partnership is a natural next step.

Step Two: Collaboration

Turning once again to Merriam-Webster, collaboration is formed from the intransitive verb collaborate, which means “to work jointly with others or together especially in an intellectual endeavor.”

(Graphic cred: VictoriaEstrella.com)

In the missions world, collaboration implies shared effort toward a common goal. Unfortunately, it means “you help me with my thing” for most ministries, says Pope.

“There’s not a lot of sharing that goes on in the process. True collaboration is when we’re open-minded and open-handed with one another.”

If ministries are “willing to receive input and give input… but also be willing to be open-handed about what we have [and] ‘give it away’ to others,” he continues, then the process can potentially move into its third step.

Step Three: Integration

Finally, integration can be defined several different ways. However, the most applicable definition comes from the transitive verb “integrate” which means “to form, coordinate, or blend into a functioning or unified whole” or “to unite with something else.”

As defined by POPE Initiatives, integration happens when ministries combine their strengths to create something new.

“The goal is for us to create a new thing that will accomplish the ultimate task with the least duplication of effort.”

What’s Next?

Defining a process is one thing, but acting it out is another. “I think we’ll see success when we see that first project begin to happen,” Pope concurs.

“Work is already beginning in some places.”

(Photo by Dzenina Lukac from Pexels)

POPE Initiatives has teamed up with two “strategic” partners we’re leaving unnamed for security purposes. Using the process Pope outlined, these ministries are striving to reach UPGs (Unreached People Groups) in two key regions.

“Region A” is unnamed for security purposes, he says. In an initiative consisting of more than 14 nations, about 100 UPGs are currently targeted; eight of them are UUPGs (Unreached and Unengaged People Groups). “Region B” is West Africa, and the ministries are focusing on unreached people groups in 15 countries.

Please pray for wisdom as POPE Initiatives and its partners define ministry targets for West Africa. There are 298 UUPGs in the region, Pope explains, and the ministries need help deciding where to begin.

Prayer undergirds the entire movement.

“Pray that we would keep our eyes focused on Jesus because ultimately, we want Him to get the greatest glory,” Pope requests. “We recognize that we will utterly fail what we’re attempting if God does not step in.

“I’m reminded of what Moses said: ‘Don’t lead us from this place if You don’t go with us!’ We feel that way. Don’t send us out to accomplish this task, Lord, without Your palpable presence.”

Header photo is a stock image obtained via Unsplash.

Earlier this month at the Finishing The Task conference, 53 Deaf groups were listed as UUPGs (Unreached and Unengaged People Groups). “Each of those 53 groups was adopted by some other organization that was present,” shares Rob Myers, President/CEO of DOOR International.

“This is a really critical part of completing the Great Commission: seeing every tribe, every language reached with the Gospel, including every Deaf community.”

What does “adoption” mean?

“Adopting” a UUPG doesn’t necessarily require an individual or organization to be working on-the-ground. For example, knowledge of Deaf culture and sign language are severely lacking among most of the ministries that adopted Deaf UUPGs at Finishing The Task. However, those components are basic requirements for effective Deaf ministry.

By adopting Deaf UUPGs, ministries essentially said, “we’re responsible for trying to gather the ingredients that are necessary to see this people group get the Gospel within the next two years,” Myers explains.

The two-year timeframe fits perfectly within DOOR’s “50×25” vision: access to sign language Scripture and a church planting movement for 50-percent of the world’s Deaf by 2025.

50×25: an attainable goal?

(Graphic courtesy DOOR International via Facebook)

DOOR’s Deaf church planting teams are starting work in East Asia, Democratic Republic of the Congo, and the U.S, while translation teams are putting God’s Word into four new sign languages. As explained in a recent newsletter, DOOR plans to give 13% – or 9.5 million Deaf – access to God’s Word in sign language and a church planting movement by the end of 2019.

Achieving this goal would be a significant feat. Yet, compared to the tens of millions of Deaf who would still lack access to the Good News, 13% seems like a mere drop in the bucket. Myers admits their “50×25” vision cannot be accomplished overnight.

“You can be within sight of the summit of Mount Everest but there are several steps you have to take in order to actually get there,” he describes as an example.

“In the same way, we have these Deaf groups within sight…but in order to reach them…we may need to establish base camps.”

You can help by praying, learning, and giving.

Emphasizing DOOR’s need for prayer warriors, Myers says “we sometimes encounter a lot of resistance, but prayer breaks down those barriers.”

Hari is a Japanese pastor and Asian Access’s National Director for Japan. When he made arrangements to attend the Finishing The Task conference, he thought he was going to celebrate what God did in India through several ministries, Asian Access included.

God had other plans in mind.

Joshua Hari is a Japanese pastor and Japan National Director for Asian Access.
(Photo courtesy Asian Access)

“I thought Japan was one linguistic people group (Japanese), but I noticed on the [FTT] list there were 3 linguistic people groups located in Japan,” Hari notes.

“I sensed God’s calling [and] I decided to adopt those UUPG groups.”

Totaling an estimated 80,700 people, the Toku-no-shima, Yaeyama, and Yoron people groups live in Okinawa, a Japanese prefecture comprising more than 150 islands in the East China Sea. Evangelical Christians make up less than two-percent of the population in each group, and – until now – there were no efforts to make Christ known in these communities.

Reaching the unreached in Okinawa

What does Hari’s “adoption” mean for the three Japanese UUPGs? On a basic level, it means Hari, Asian Access, and their partners in Japan are going to do whatever it takes to start engaging these groups with the Gospel. And, they’re going to do it in two years or less.

It’s a pretty big undertaking.

“One of the second-largest unreached people groups [is] the Japanese. One-third of the municipalities are unreached [and] unchurched, there is no church at all.”

Japan’s resistance to Christianity is widely-known throughout the missions community. The East Asian nation was even called “the missionary’s graveyard.” As noted here by Operation World,

Japan is the largest unevangelized nation that is completely open to missionaries. Yet, due to spiritual, socio-cultural, linguistic and financial difficulties, becoming an effective minister of the gospel is a long, hard process of adaptation.

This resistance hasn’t stopped Asian Access, though. The triple disaster of 2011 softened Japanese hearts and opened minds, and in 2016, Asian Access announced a seemingly-impossible goal: plant 50,000 churches by 2035.

The unreached and unengaged Toku-no-shima, Yaeyama, and Yoron reside in southern Japan, but Hari and his team also have their eyes on the north.

Hope for Hokkaido

Home to 5.4 million people, Hokkaido is Japan’s northernmost main island. There were 400 churches present in 2014; each one averaged between 10 and 12 people in attendance.

Hokkaido is Japan’s northernmost island.
(Wikimedia Commons)

“Hokkaido is the largest unchurched prefecture [and] we are really praying to start [a] mission network in Hokkaido,” Hari shares.

This month, Hari is meeting with local pastors throughout Japan and they’re starting to form plans for Hokkaido and Okinawa. Please surround them in prayer.

“Please pray for us to open our eyes to see the spiritual poverty. Pray for us to raise up [with] the compassionate heart of Jesus Christ.”

Header image obtained via Pexels.

Just over one-third of those surveyed by Pew Research Center in 2015 – or, 2.3 billion people – claimed to follow Christ.
(Graphic courtesy of Pew Research Center)

The Great Commission has become a bigger task than ever before. According to Worldometers.com, our world currently holds more than 7.6 billion people. Pew Research Center reports that an estimated 5.3 billion belonged to a religion other than Christianity in 2015.

Furthermore, approximately 32 million people have no way of even learning about Christ. They have no believers living among them, and no churches or agencies who are trying to reach them with the Gospel.

To “finish the task” ahead of us, is it better to send church workers overseas? Or should we equip local Christians to do the work?

“There is somewhat of a false dichotomy between sending or coming alongside to support a local indigenous Christian population,” notes Chris Lang, the Director of Mobilization for Frontiers USA.

“I don’t think the call that Jesus has on the Church has changed. We are called to go and make disciples of all the nations. Regardless of where we are, regardless of where the Church is…the call remains the same.”

How to reach Muslims for Christ

As described here, Frontiers is helping bring the Good News to Muslim people groups, one of the world’s largest unreached and unengaged people groups (UUPGs). They’re concentrating on groups in six regions: Northeast Africa, the Caucuses, the Arab Gulf, South Asia, Southeast Asia, and Southwest Asia.

“There are over a thousand unreached, unengaged Muslim people groups today,” Lang notes.

In order to reach Muslims for Christ, Frontiers employs both sending and equipping methodologies.

Frontiers partners with local believers in places where a local Church body exists, Lang explains. They help support and equip those Christians with theological education and training.

“Part of what I think we bring to the indigenous Church worldwide is vision – vision to finish the task; vision to engage all of the unreached people groups that remain,” he adds.

However, in many instances, there is no body of believers to support.

“Throughout great swathes of the Muslim world…[there is] just not a local Church that can engage that population.”

Your role in the Great Commission

As a Chadian pastor recently described to Lang, the task of the Great Commission is too large for a single church or organization to accomplish alone. The task also requires more than one approach or methodology.

“He said, ‘Don’t just send us your money,'” Lang recalls. “‘We need people because the task is so big, it’s so great that the African Church can’t accomplish it on its own.’

“They’re asking us to come alongside and to help,…to be in the role of co-laborer with them, and I think that’s what we need to do as a sending entity in the West.”

Just as the approach differs by organization, the role you’re called to play in the Great Commission may vary as well.

(Photo courtesy of Frontiers)

“As individual Christians, we need to continue to advocate for missions in our local congregation. Let’s put together prayer meetings so that we can pray for the nations,” Lane suggests.

Download a free prayer guide or sign up for prayer updates here.

Some people “may be hearing that still, small voice calling them out to something beyond themselves, something beyond the work in their local congregation….

“I would encourage [readers] to pay attention to His leading because they might be called not just to pray, not just to send others, but to go themselves.”

Visit Frontiers’ website to learn how you can enter the mission field.

“We still need to send, we still need to ‘go and make disciples’ until Matthew 24:14 is accomplished, ‘til all the nations have heard.’”

(Header image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)

For one global community, the Gospel needs to be seen – not heard.

(Photo courtesy of DOOR International)

“The Deaf are the largest unreached people group on the planet, and we need resourcing to help get God’s Word to these people,” says Brad Wiechertjes of DOOR International.

FTT is an “association of mission agencies and churches who want to see reproducing churches planted among every people group in the world.”  At the group’s annual conference, presenters like Paul Eshleman and Rick Warren inform and mobilize believers to engage in the Great Commission.

This year, FTT revealed an updated list of UUPGs – people groups that are “unreached” (they’ve never encountered the Gospel) and “unengaged” (no one is trying to reach them).  Nearly 100 of the groups are Deaf.

You might be asking, “If Deaf people are on the list, why not blind or mentally challenged people?”  Wiechertjes has an answer.

“Deafness is the one disability group that leads to a minority language group. The Deaf, by and large, do not read…sign language is their first language.”

This 30-second video helps explain why most Deaf people don’t know God.

It’s not enough to just hand Deaf people a Bible.  That’s why DOOR International takes a different approach.  They translate Scripture into sign languages and teach Deaf believers how to reach their neighbors for Christ.  Visit DOOR’s website to learn more about their ministry.

“Now is the time for the Deaf, in part because of technology and awareness, that we can bring translated Scripture and a church planting movement to as many sign languages as possible.”

It’s a big task – there are more than 350 sign languages worldwide.  However, the same factors advancing the Great Commission are helping Deaf reach Deaf for Christ.  Technology and global connectivity are eradicating barriers between Deaf people and the Gospel.

Click here to learn how you can help.