International (MNN) — For Christians in developed nations, it’s hard to imagine life without Gospel access. Believers have Scripture literally at their fingertips thanks to smartphone apps and widespread WiFi access. There are more than 400 versions of the Bible available in English.
At the same time, millions of people are utterly unaware of Christ and His Good News.
“Maybe the word ‘unreached’ is getting to the point that people are very vague as to what it means,” Marv Newell from Missio Nexus says, noting a commonly-used term in missions circles.
Many Christian organizations involved in “frontline” missions refer to certain populations as Unreached People Groups or UPGs. Usually, when fewer than two percent of a population is Christian and there’s no Scripture available in the people group’s language, it fits into the “unreached” category.
Three reasons why people groups remain unreached.
Changing the way organizations talk about UPGs makes it easier for believers everywhere to help reach them. Simply put, a significant portion of the people made in God’s image have no way to know Him, Newell says.
“One-third of humanity does not have access to a clear presentation of the Gospel.”
Missio Nexus is part of the Alliance for the Unreached, a coalition of ministries determined to make the Gospel accessible to all. Learn more here.
(Graphic courtesy of the Alliance for the Unreached)
“A third of us; a third of humanity does not have access to the Gospel, and we want to do something about that,” Newell says.
Make the Gospel accessible to all
The Alliance for the Unreached develops resources and raises awareness to support work among the unreached. More than 40 organizations have joined so far, each with a unique calling and ministry focus.
“When each of them has the same goal in mind, it’s not too hard to get them to rally around the cause,” Newell says, referring to Alliance members.
“If we pull our resources together, hopefully we’ll be able to do some [new] outreaches into these areas.”
Learn how you can help here, and don’t forget to “save the date!” The International Day for the Unreached is May 23, 2021. More about that here.
“This isn’t just for missions organizations. The individual [believer], and even a church as a group, can be involved and can do something about it,” Newell says.
“We need to get the Gospel to the last one-third of humanity that has no access.”
Header image courtesy Christar via Alliance for the Unreached. The vision of Christar is to cultivate Christ-honoring transformation in communities where He is yet to be worshiped.
