Pray for Unengaged

Everyone on earth who does not know Christ is equally lost – but not everyone has equal access to the Good News of God’s saving love through Jesus Christ!

A “people group” is a numerically significant group of men, women and children who share an ethnic and cultural identity, usually speaking a common language and practicing the same religion. It is “the largest group through which the gospel can flow without encountering significant barriers of understanding and acceptance” (peoplegroups.org).

An “Unreached People Group” (UPG) is a group of people among whom evangelical Christians make up less than 2% of the population. People living among UPGs will likely go their whole lives without ever knowing a follower of Jesus. The “unreached” are sometimes also called “the least reached.”

“Unengaged UPGs” (UUPGs) have no one committed to evangelizing and planting churches in their midst. They don’t have the Gospel, and no one is trying to share it.

“Frontier UPGs” have fewer than 0.1% Christians in their midst.

In “Unevangelized UPGs” the people live in situations where they have access to the Gospel – there are churches and Christians in their midst – but for whatever reason, Christians are not sharing the Good News.

According to the latest statistics available, there are roughly 125 million Muslims in unengaged UPGs. They are in more than 1000 distinct UPGs, with 27 of those groups each having over one million people. Another 170+ UUPGs have more than 100,000 Muslims each. The countries with the most Muslim UUPGs over 10,000 population are, in order: Sudan, India, Indonesia, Chad, Algeria, Libya, France, Saudi Arabia, Iran, and Afghanistan.

The greatest challenges to engaging these Muslim UUPGs include spiritual warfare, the church’s waning energy to make disciples of all nations, the unique calling and requirements for pioneering ministry, language barriers (can the Gospel be understood?) and cultural barriers (can the Gospel be accepted?). While many mission agencies focus their personnel and resources on the unreached, more of both are needed to engage the remaining unengaged!