how many countries have not heard the gospel how many countries have not heard the gospel

3. dominant religions in many of these countries, and Christianity is often viewed with suspicion or A recent study by the Center for the Study of Global Christianity sought to determine the level of contact between Christians and non-Christians. And yes, I think I can explain it, and I hope I can not only explain it, but explain it in a way that intensifies your commitment to reach the nations rather than dampening that commitment. Some of the Arabic Bibles are on their way to Dakar Senegal, some to Nigeria and Malawi/Mozambique, some to Uganda and Kenya, where there are new converts who can speak and read Arabic. There is no way to know how long it will be; we can only know that it will be! as indeed in the whole world it is bearing fruit and increasing.. Fellowship is an irreplaceable means of grace in the Christian life and offers us two priceless joys: receiving Gods grace through the helping words of others and giving his grace to others through our own. These missionaries know the local languages, understand their culture, and cant be deported. For example, Nigeria is one nation but has 540 different ethnic groups. OpenDoors has a great page of info on Christian persecution in Columbia. Pastor John, hello! U.S. State Department reports on And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age (Matt 28:18-20). including India and China. We start the week with a missions question, and its this: Did the apostle Paul say the gospel had already reached the ends of the world in his own lifetime? This makes it more imperative than ever to partner with our God to reach the lost. Finally, it is worth noting that in many larger countries, especially, experiences vary based on specific location. -- Galatians 6:9, Here are five things you can start doing today. It baffles me why translations give it that meaning, a temporal meaning, which has been proclaimed. Thats translating two Greek words, the proclaimed tou krychthentos. -- Dale Butler, Nazarene Bible College Creative Access areas. It is a way to refer to a group of countries and people who are in the least reached region of the world. across northern Africa and into southern Asia. and passion." There is a chain of events which must occur in order. The past three month I went to Myansalii village. Our hope laid up in heaven includes forgiveness of sins, a dwelling in the kingdom of Christ, and an inheritance in light. They are so strong but the personal talking was very affective with him. Its so well known in some circles that the idea that the bible is illegal in 52 countries is fairly well known. Heres the question. We did explain that in the post. 87% of all Hindus, Muslims and Buddhists have limited, if any, contact with a Christian. But these texts have dampened that urgency in me some. We cant ship 20 tons of bibles and Sunday school workbooks to Beijing, for example, because it would never get past port authorities. lives within the 10/40 Window. (Barrett and Johnson 2001, 656) The Church has roughly 3,000 times the financial resources and 9,000 times the manpower needed to finish the Great Commission. Tunisia Turkey Turkmenistan . All of our resources exist to guide you toward everlasting joy in Jesus Christ. GCP is committed to being as transparent and open with our finances as possible. You can find all the episodes on LifeAudio.com. are today unreached and unevangelized. No, but does that mean God is not fair? Well, bless you, Kevin, for the sense of urgency that you feel. The 10/40 Window countries are not the only ones in the world with sinners The Voice of the Martyrs map categorizes countries where bibles are (1) difficult/dangerous to obtain, (2) illegal or highly restricted, and (3) strictly illegal and only available through covert smuggling. Pray about where God would have you get involved. Luke 12:47-48 says, The servant who knows the masters will and does not get ready or does not do what the master wants will be beaten with many blows. Whatever commands He gave them, they are to give the new believers. Thats all its translating: the proclaimed., It is a straightforward aorist passive participle in agreement with the word gospel. By putting them on the same list youre harming yourself and your testimony thats a LIE. Using that lens, here are the sovereign states in the 10/40 The One sometimes hears the comment "Certainly most everyone has heard of Jesus by now. across 134 countries, Good news: Researcher David Barrett says the country which has After describing numerous advances of the Gospel, Operation World states "The sobering fact is that, even with all this activity, probably 24-27% of the worlds population have not had the good news presented to them in a way they could appreciate and meaningfully respond to." Operation World presents data suggesting that after peaking in the mid-1990s the growth rate of both Christianity in general and Evangelicals (an approximation of true Christ-followers) has slowed significantly. During his time on earth, Jesus said, And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all nations, and then the end will come. Matthew 24:14. Over 90% of all missionaries work among already reached peoples. million, Forming a smaller -- though important -- unreached group are the 17 million Jews scattered three groups they call World A, World B and World C. These "worlds" are not geographic areas but rather segments of the world's population. Now that weve reviewed the timeless truths that God can reach people anytime, anywhere, we can answer the question of what happens to people who never hear the gospel. Ephesians 2 tells us that we are saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. Through the working of the Holy Spirit, Christianity has become the largest religion in the world. Data is not as precise as it appears. However, these countries consider the national religion Christianity. Unfortunately, almost 9 out of 10 of the people living in the 10/40 Window today The solution is that the translation which has been proclaimed, is not at all the most natural translation. I think they understood that meant they were to go into all parts of the nations around them, knowing that not every single person everywhere on earth would have a chance to hear the gospel in their lifetimes. Can you explain what Paul means here? How will you be a part of the work? Add to these the work of missionaries and Bible tracts that have been distributed worldwide, so on the surface at least, it appears that all nations have been reached. But this does not get us off the hook. Jordan Be a part of it find a place of historic significance in declaring "His glory among the nations! Bush asked believers to draw an imaginary rectangle on the globe going from 10 degrees His thoughts are higher than our thoughts. Individuals in these groups may have very limited, if any, access to the Gospel. Well, . . Outside and within the 10/40 window there . outright hostility. For Isaiah says, "Lord, who has believed our message?" 17Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ. Paul further explains in Romans 1:18-21 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. Paul is emphasizing the fact that the gospel embraced by this little group of people in this little town of Colossae is the very gospel that is proclaimed in all creation under heaven. Data from the International Mission Board (IMB) of the Southern Baptist Convention, the largest denominational mission board in the world, suggests that there are possibly over 3,000 ethnic people groups that are not only unreached, but also completely unengaged meaning there is no known active on-site church planting effort underway and few, if any, know believers. That means over 40% of the worlds people groups have no indigenous community of believing Christians able to evangelize the rest of their people group. ways to avoid becoming a missionary The equator is the "0" latitude line with all of the other latitude lines labeled in Heres a technical definition of the unreached: Unreached peoples and places are those among whom Jesus is largely unknown and the church is relatively insufficient to make Jesus known in its broader population without outside help. Clickhereto learn more. Its a big job, but its the very best use of our resources. The statistics of the numbers of non-Christians can be staggering [ fate of the unevangelized ], "I will praise you among the nations, O Lord" -- Psalm 18:49. I hope you had an edifying weekend. In addition 60% of the worlds population is considered oral learners meaning their preferred learning mode is oral, not written. For those that are either illiterate or oral learners, newspapers, books, printed matter, internet text, even a physical Bible will have minimal impact. All people are accountable to God whether or not they have "heard about Him." The Bible tells us that God has clearly revealed Himself in nature ( Romans 1:20) and in the hearts of people ( Ecclesiastes 3:11 ). THUMB -- an acronym to remember the unreached peoples The world population is increasing, including the population among unreached peoples and places. Here are just a couple of the testimonies weve received from distributors in some of the 52 restricted countries listed above. (Operation World p. 10) That translates to very close to two billion individuals, one in four individuals, without any knowledge of the Savior! With just 10% For since the creation of the world Gods invisible qualities his eternal power and divine nature have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse (Romans 1:20) and the requirements of the law are written on their hearts (Romans 2:15). The ultimate purpose of God is to bring people from all nations to enjoy and exalt Him in all of His glory. The only way to hear the gospel is to be told the gospel. Together we can change that! In other words, out of every $100 in the western church, only 10 cents goes to native missionaries working in unreached people groups. We know there are many people groups that have not yet heard the Gospel, and there are many believers and missionaries all over the world working hard and dedicating their lives to . This makes a dramatic difference when considering the scope of the Great Commission. degrees latitude north of the equator with Africa and Southern Europe forming the western end I am from Iran and I can tell you that you are dead wrong by putting Iran under covert operations only. 40% of the churchs entire global foreign mission resources are being deployed to just 10 oversaturated countries. There was a man named Theing and originally his religion was Buddhist. He uses all his resources to find the lost. Will they miss out on spending eternity with Jesus? Sadly, the 10/40 Window is also home to 8 out of 10 of the poorest of the earth's poor. In the parable of the Lost Sheep the shepherd leaves the 99 and seeks out the one. Do you have a missions call? Deuteronomy 4:29 proclaims, But if from there you seek the LORD your God, you will find him if you look for him with all your heart and with all your soul. This passage teaches an important principle, everyone who truly seeks God will find Him because God makes Himself known in all of His creation. . The story that touch him so much and turned him to God was the lost coin from the book of Luke. Now that we know God is the Master Commissioner of saving souls, we can trust He will orchestrate, equip, and empower those to share His message with those whove never heard the gospel. political instability, and the influence of other religions. Ultimately, though, the list is not ours, so we cannot change it. The common definition of an "unreached people group" is an ethnic and cultural group in which 2% or less of the population professes a form of Christianity that would loosely be called "evangelical.". Radical exists to equip Christians to be on mission. Missions statistics:21st century world This is an important aspect of the ministry of Global Commission Partners. Now there is 1 unreached people group for every 1000 congregations. Korea (North and South) Kuwait With the article the in front of the participle, it is not an adverbial participle telling when. We are within range of penetrating every people group on the planet with the light of the gospel with more momentum than ever before in history. 8 Spiritual Disciplines and How to Master Each. Portugal Qatar Together Theres nothing temporal about it. In 1800, those who had never heard the Gospel were almost 75% of the globe's population. actually existed. Smith, Nazarene Bible College student, "Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if They may have limited access to the Scriptures in trade or major languages, but no access in their heart language. This is Gods mission: One day, people from every tribe and tongue will worship Christ in eternity, and He will receive all glory and honor for it (Revelation 7:9-11). You may have heard of the phrase the 10/40 window but unsure as to what it means. And there is more than one command here. When a person desires to understand who created the world and the qualities within it, Gods divinity is revealed because its written on their hearts. their faith. That doesnt mean all people in these nations have heard the gospel, but the gospel has now gone into all nations when you think about the reach that radio has had, as well as satellites, the Internet (where available), or other wireless devices. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. We recommend against using %Christian Adherent and %Evangelical to calculate absolute numbers. The fact is that the Western Church, which has more than enough resources to evangelize these people groups, has grown preoccupied with local work and has refused to place a priority in reaching these unreached people groups. Your riches have rotted and your garments are moth-eaten. [ Unreached People Group (UPG) ] or [ Least Reached People Group ] : an identifiable group of people distinguished by a distinct culture, language, or social class who lack a community of Christians able to evangelize the rest of the people group without outside help. Unfortunately, the presence of a Christian building does not always correlate with that kind of freedom, but we hope and pray that it does in Iran! 39, No. The term unreached does not just mean that people are lost. evangelism. Out of over 7 billion people in the world, 2.3 billion, or 30.9%, adhere to the Christian faith. From Kenya We implore you on Christ's behalf: Be reconciled to God' (2 Corinthians 5:20).Those who have heard the gospel and still reject God's offer of forgiveness are in grave danger: 'If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left, but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of . Pray for the work, learn how to collect material for us to ship, and/or donate toward the shipping costs. It is alsonot about which countries do or do not have physical church buildings or the presence of Christian communities. Although this is a great milestone, there is an even greater challenge that our faith is facing. It is also not about which countries do or do not have physical church buildings or the presence of Christian communities. God did this so that they would seek Him and perhaps reach out for Him and find Him, though He is not far from any one of us. Although there are countries where the Bible might be illegal, most of the countries listed are rather hard to get not illegal. the areas once ruled by the ancient Babylonian and Persian empires as well as much of Asia The Gospel of Jesus Christ has gone all over the world but has not been accepted all over the world. (Winter et al., 3) Why then are there still more than 4,000 unreached people groups? Illegal may not be strictly true, but it might as well be in most of these places. Pointing to that imaginary oblong "window," Bush pleaded with the Men and women who have not heard the gospel are not sentenced to hell because they have never heard of Jesus. Someone is considered a missionary (for the sake of these statistics) if they have moved somewhere else for the spread of the gospel. We hear stories from our own distributors in India that suggest this is true. And it is estimated that 1.6 billion people have never heard the Gospel -- not even one time. We copied their color coding in our text list. earth with the good news of Jesus Christ. ", Nigeria: a collection of over 540 distinct people groups each needing a church planting movement in their midst, Center for the Study of Global Christianity, All 50 of these people groups have less than 2% Christ-followers. So they are without excuse., To dive deeper into this question, lets take a look at the book of Acts. Gentile or it can mean a collection of individuals with a common identity. That doesnt really matter though because all of us have no excuse, wherever we live (Rom 1:18-21). Why? Therefore, it is a great gospel. It is a great injustice to think that 2,000 years after Jesus gave the Great Commission that many people groups have no witness in their midst. Some estimates suggest that up to 70% of the unreached peoples of the world are oral-preferenced communicators. Teach Us to Pray with Christina Patterson, California - Do Not Sell My Personal Information. We can also help spread the gospel by using our social media accounts, sending a text, or supporting organizations whose sole mission is to spread the gospel. The only two things . Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things. If God is loving and good, how will He resolve the destiny of so many people who will never get a chance to be introduced to Christ? (Baxter 2007, 12). "Ethne" can simply mean any non-Jew i.e. Gospel on the Move Colossians 1:5-6 says, referring to "the hope laid up for you in heaven," "Of this you have heard before in the word of the truth, the gospel, which has come to you, as indeed in the whole world it is bearing fruit and increasing as it also does among you, since the day you heard it and understood the grace of God in truth." We, as believers who are already a part of Gods family have a responsibility to share the gospel with those God puts in our path. We collect new and used bibles and other Christian literature from all over the country, and ship it overseas. (Ralph Winter p. 536) Current data suggests there are about 17,400 distinct people groups when country boundaries are considered. The following two maps show the difference between a political country and the ethnic people groups in that country: The definition used by mission strategist for people group is "a significantly large grouping of individuals who perceive themselves to have a common affinity for one another because of their shared language, religion, ethnicity, residence, occupation, class or caste, situation, etc., or combinations of these." In fact, only 1% of all Christian giving is going toward evangelizing unreached people groups. Javascript is disabled in your web browser. According to the Joshua Project, 2.82 billion people live inside the 10/40 Window, and 82 percent of the world's poorest of the poor reside within the 10/40 Window. grace. Syria Taiwan He would be fair to cast us all into hell. If we are going to obey the Great Commission, the Great Imbalance needs to be rectified. When you believe the gospel, you believe in the God of the universe who has no serious rivals. the "Mission briefing" series published in Engage, a monthly For example, internet penetration is limited in rural parts of Asia and Africa. Testimonies from our distributors in India are here https://lovepackages.org/category/testimonials/india/, Yes. None of us have any excuse. We can only warn those who are perishing without Christ to come to Him in faith and put their trust in Him. GCP believes that the biggest problem in missions today is that the majority of the western churchs resources are being spent on evangelizing places that have already been evangelized, while almost no resources are going to the least reached places. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age, For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. Any sinner who fails to act on how God has revealed Himself to themwhether through creation or through their conscience as mentioned previously when we unpacked scriptures from Romanswill deserve the just punishment for rejecting God. We can find ways to share Jesus at our jobs, at schools, in the carpool line, or through friendships. Every hour, over 1,600 people decide to follow Jesus Christ. people groups, "This gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all Were on a mission to change that. Estimates suggest that approximately 7,400 people groups are still considered unreached. cultural sub-groupings, 550 million unreached Hindus in 1660 cultural sub-groups, 148 million unreached Chinese in 445 groups, 275 million unreached Buddhists in 900 groups, 2550 unreached tribal groups (which are mainly animistic) with a total population of 140 Jesus came and said to them, All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. remain outside the reach of current evangelistic efforts. (The Traveling Team), Source for People Groups infographic:Winter et al., 3, Source for Money and Missions Pie Chart:International Bulletin of Missionary Research, Vol. Bhutan Burkina Faso Third, we must do justice to Jesus's declaration, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life. What Should I Know Before Becoming a Missionary in the Middle the Great Commission will be complete when disciples have been made and churches have been multiplied among every people group, How to Overcome the Fear of Sharing the Gospel, George Verwers Legacy Challenges Us to Live on Mission. Few people in the world today have never heard of Jesus. There are so many needs in the world today where the Gospel has not been preached, or is not even allowed. Despite Christ's command to evangelize, 67% of all humans from AD 30 to the present day have never even heard the name of Jesus Christ. Paul says its because his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. Those who deny the obvious existence of God are only suppressing this knowledge, which means in the Greek, they are holding down by force this knowledge; therefore, they really are without excuse.. Most it seems will reject faith in Christ. For statistical agreement, numbers and percentages used here are based on the Ethnologue number. Jesus tells us when the end of the age will come in Matthew 24:14 where He says, And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come. Has that happened? When Christianity first began, it was a small crowd following Jesus who traveled throughout Galilee performing miracles and sharing the Good News. The complexity of the world around us teaches us there is a God. You will see a 360 view of one of those Armenian churches. (Burma) Nepal Niger Oman it is not banned in the Philippines nor in Mindanaowe have churches and missionaries in Mindanao. |. In several 10/40 Window countries, Christians suffer physical persecution and even death for Another factor to consider here is native missionaries. World Christian Trends, pg 656Todd Johnson, Global Atlas of Christianity, pg 296Bob Finley, Reformation in Foreign Missions, pg. terms of "degrees north" and "degrees south." But we are assured in Scripture that God will be worshipped by "a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language." The point is that this gospel that you have believed, you Colossians, in your little out-of-the-way town of Colossae, is a triumphant, global gospel laying claim on every single person and people group in the whole world, wherever it goes. They do update it every year, though, so hopefully we will see Iran removed from the list soon! Havent most nations now been penetrated by the gospel? Today the percentage of those who have not heard is about 28%; a major move forward. Dont think youve embraced a little thing thats number one. two thousand years ago. Tiny countries like India and China have populations that are so immersed in the gospel, and the Bible, that many have heard it over 1,000 times, and have rejected it as much.