One of the convictions we share as a pastoral staff team serving The Church at Brook Hills is the need to integrate the worlds of domestic and international. Believing it to be biblical, we try to operate from a missiology that blurs the lines between home and abroad, domestic and foreign, while recognizing the need for healthy contextualization and strategic prioritization. We don’t have everything figured out, but we are prayerfully moving forward to glorify God by making disciples of all nations.
While the greatest need remains outside of the United States, we look around and see the nations are not just over there but also over here. And since they are over here, we need to understand who is living among us.
I recently posted a list of several people groups in the United States that represented the largest (100,000+ pop.) unengaged-unreached people groups living elsewhere in the world (see that post for a definition of unengaged-unreached).
In this post, I want to share with you the list of all of the representatives of the world’s unengaged-unreached peoples living in the United States. To my knowledge, this is the first time such a list has been collected and made public.
What you will find on this list is 106 unreached people groups living in the United States who are representatives of unengaged-unreached peoples living in other countries. One column lists the 106 peoples and the other column lists the countries where the peoples are considered unengaged-unreached. The data found in this pdf is based on the April 2013, Global Status of Evangelical Christianity reports from Global Research of the International Mission Board.
Global Research’s work is among the best in the world. At the time of this post, according to their estimates, the world contains 3041 unengaged-unreached people groups. This number excludes peoples living in the United States and Canada. However, a separate recent report does contain an estimated 546 unreached peoples living in these two countries. Therefore, to obtain an estimate of the number of unengaged-unreached peoples who have representatives living in the United States, one has to cross-check the 3041 with the 546. While we doubled-checked our work, it is possible there are some oversights, omissions, etc. If you notice any limitations, please let me know.
As far as we can tell, there are 106 people groups living in the United States that remain unengaged-unreached somewhere in the world. This is a matter of great significance. There is much potential for engaging the unengaged-unreached over there by reaching their unreached representatives over here. The transnational nature of social networks that God in His sovereignty has allowed to develop can carry the truth of the gospel as much as it can carry a simple conversation, money wired to a village, or a visit from a family member in the States. The Church in the West must recognize that the movement of the nations is part of the Divine Maestro’s orchestration. And with such movement comes a Kingdom stewardship.
The nations are among us. We do not recognize the global reality or our Kingdom responsibility derived from Acts 17:26-27. Such peoples are the strangers next door.
We hope and pray that the Lord may use this list to advance His glory among the nations.
May the strangers next door be strangers no more!
PDF of 106 Representatives of Unengaged-Unreached Peoples in the U.S.
(Much appreciation goes to my administrative assistant, Phyliss Wright, for making the cross-checks of two massive spreadsheets.)
(Image credit: Microsoft Office)
I look forward to reaching the nations in America. I pray that my eyes are opened to see the harvest all around me. The Lord bless you.
I am trying to find the unreached in san Antono texas. Where can I find that research
You will probably have to do the research for yourself. I am not aware of matters related to San Antonio. Ask around there. Maybe someone has something already. Government sites will help with nationalities. Board of education will provide information on languages spoken. Unfortunately, we do not have very good research on the peoples in North America.
Thanks, Glenn.
JD & Pyllis, encouraging work! Refugee resettlement orgs know firsthand about newcomers. Call ‘um. Spend a couple of hours in the lobby of your DMV or County Health Office, you will observe what peoples are newly here. Focus on same-gender relationships. Kids, soccer and food are safe for starters!
One way to meet people groups is to attend citizenship presentations after these people attend courses learning about our country. We should attend the classes with them, I think!
Thanks much appreciated.