I have been thinking about the contents of this post for several months. With all of the needs in the world, where should we begin our disciplemaking activities? Asking and responding to this question is a matter of Spirit-guided, Kingdom stewardship. Over the years, evangelicals have considered this question and developed lists to assist our strategic endeavors.
Two of the most important lists are: 1) unreached people groups; and 2) unengaged-unreached people groups. One unreached people group listing contains approximately 6800 groups. The unengaged-unreached list is estimated to be at 3000 groups with an evangelical presence of less than 2% and having no evangelical church planting strategy underway. Of course, the world is a big place. And with 7 billion people, these excellent, yet fallible, lists provide a starting point as we fast and pray for the Spirit’s guidance for how to allocate Kingdom resources.
Regardless of one’s eschatological perspective, what is agreed upon is that all of the peoples of this world will be represented in heaven. John made this clear when he wrote:
After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb” (Rev 7:9-10, ESV)!
It is out of this future reality that we presently labor for the day when the unengaged-unreached (and unreached) will come to faith in Jesus. Today, we know who and where those 3,000 are found. However, I am not convinced that the number is that large. I think it is much, much smaller. And I think we need to ask another question about lostness.
Follow my thoughts here. We live in the moment and rarely consider history when it comes to the mission of God and contemporary missionary strategy. We read of the unreached and unengaged-unreached and assume that believers have never existed among those who presently do not have any known believers.
We look at the present and do not question the past. We limit the Spirit’s work to the moment–our moment.
For example, there are 17 people groups making up the country of Yemen. All of them are considered unreached people groups. And 15 of those 17 are considered unengaged-unreached. But we forget that there was a time in history when Yemen was considered a “Christian” kingdom.
We read of peoples from across the world with no known believers.
We read Revelation 7:9-10.
We conclude that someone from among those peoples is coming out of the kingdom of darkness; so we begin our labors with them. However, while we are correct that those peoples will be represented in heaven, we do not know that the harvest came in 300 years ago.
Last fall, I ran my thoughts past a missiologist-friend who knows these global and historical realities much better than I do. His immediate estimate was only about 400 of the unengaged-unreached peoples in the world have never had a single known believer among them.
Thorough research needs to be conducted. This would be a challenging task. We have the means to get a much better understanding of the historical realities of today’s unreached peoples. Such research would have numerous limitations, but the difference between 3000 and 400 is a major gap. And closing this gap would be a major step in making disciples of all nations and practicing wise Kingdom stewardship.
The gospel is to be taken to everyone, including reached people groups. However, biblical missiology involves a stewardship of Spirit-guided strategy. We labor as wise Kingdom citizens knowing that all peoples will be represented around the throne. And if we can know that certain peoples (as best we can tell) have never had a known believer among them, then they should be on the Church’s highest priority list.
We need to start asking, “Among the peoples of the world, who has never had a known believer?”
Wise Kingdom citizens know the Word, know the times, and know God’s work across history.
A very warm hi from south Africa
My wife and I would like to know who and where are these tribes, who can we contact, for we are planning to go to these tribes to give them the gospel and also to complete the task.
Please can somebody help is this regards
Many many Blessings
Andre and Daphne
My response – http://justinlong.org/2016/05/only-400-people-groups-or-2-9-billion-people-to-go/
Consider looking at the unengaged lists at peoplegroups.org and joshuaproject.net. No one–to my knowledge–has attempted to produce the list that I desire in this blog post.
“We need to start asking, “Among the peoples of the world, who has never had a known believer?”
So you are suggesting that because of an historical presence of Christianity at some time across the past 2,000, such a presence (using your Yemeni example) indicates a group has been reached?
I’m sorry J.D. but I respectfully disagree. I don’t think that’s the question we need to start asking or missiologically the position we should be taking. In fact, brother, I think such a position easily leads us into defeatism – “we don’t have to bother with that group because they were reached 400 years ago.” I am trying to find a way to justify your apparent position Biblically from the Great Commission, the Mission of God, and his inbreaking Kingdom and I just cannot see how that is the basis from which to conclude the completed mission of God for “all peoples.”
To suggest that position, suggests that we can forget the hard places of the world like Yemen, much of the Middle East and Central Asia, because all of those people groups will already be represented around the throne and counted among the multitudes. But I don’t see how that can be the case when we consider Habakkuk 2:14 and the “knowledge” of God’s glory filling the earth. I don’t see how that can be the case when we consider the parables of the Kingdom expansion Jesus taught.
One thing I am challenged on in the picture of Revelation of a New Heaven and New Earth is why the nations remain in need of healing after the consummation. In Revelation 22 we see a restored Eden and in verse 2, we read: “And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations.” Eden’s restored leaves a missional task for the nations, it would seem. I think what this indicates is that in fact the knowledge of God’s glory will go to every nation, tribe and tongue – in the present and future age as the developing story of God’s still unfolding mission for panta ta ethne. Yes, this challenges some eschatological presuppositions.
I disagree with the regressive question of “who has never had a known believer.” Our task is to the “make disciples of all nations” and is not complete based on a prior history of a church presence at some point in history. I think the better question would be “what did Jesus mean by the whole world”? We need a more robust missiology and Biblical theology in the Church today, not one that looks back at some past to consider the task finished by our Christian ancestors.
No, I am not saying that. You are reading too much into this post. I am saying that if we know that 400 groups have never had a believer, then we should give priority to them, without neglecting the making of disciples of all nations, baptizing, and teaching obedience.
Thanks for the challenging and kind response, Justin. However, I think you have read too much into what I wrote.
I’ve thought about this same issue over the last few years while working with the USCWM. People group lists were created mainly for mobilization purposes, specifically in our present generation. Though they are not perfect, they do help us determine the answer to the question, “Who are the peoples that are “hidden” from our present efforts of mission?”
But beyond this, it is provocative to think about Rev 5:9 and 7:9 along with the fulfillment of Matt 24:14. The minimum requirements of these verses is a Gospel “testimony” to all ethnos and people from every tongue, tribe, and nation being represented around the throne. Some have said that focusing too much on this kind of thinking could lead to believing that God is simply looking for “specimens” from each and every nation, and when he has his “collection” is completed, then Jesus can come back.
This has led to the motivation for supporting cross cultural missions that goes something like this, “I support reaching the unreached because the sooner we get it done, the sooner we can go home!” As we all know, there are much more theologically robust reasons for joining God in his global mission.
All this being said, I do think it is interesting to think about some ethnic groups presently classified as “unreached and unengaged” actually having been reached in some previous era of the Christian movement as compared to those who have never had any witness of the Gospel in any era of history.
Thanks for sharing, John.
J.D. This article does make us think more holistically and is a victorious encouragement. I have thought for some time about the babies who die in these unengaged and unreached people groups. I believe scripture tells us they will be around the throne, thus a presence of every ethnic group in the world. Yet the victorious praises going up and a kingdom presence of disciples for others to view in every group at all ages in time seems to be the most and greatest glory to our God! Amen!
I do believe we Americans as well as many others have gone to the easy places which have already been evangelized and we MUST focus on those with out a culturally appropriate gospel lived out among them. We must seek to evangelize in ways that it becomes indigenous as quickly as possible because an outsider is unaware of too many things.
Thank you, Larry, for sharing. You have given us some good things to think about in light of the presence of all peoples around the throne.
JD I’m sure you have probably read The Lost History of Christianity by Philip Jenkins. It contains some thought provoking history that could fuel some of your thinking in this post. It has made me think. http://www.amazon.com/Lost-History-Christianity-Thousand-Year-Asia/dp/0061472816
Thanks, John, for sharing.
Love this.
Thank you, Daniel.
This reply really helps me understand the purpose of your original post. On a first reading, I too felt your blog post was excessively literal, or legalistic in interpretation. It sounds more reasonable in this light. Yes, it would help if we had such a list that you refer to… Sounds like someone could do this as their doctoral research. Yet such information could easily be misinterpreted to the point of thinking, if we reach them, our task is done. Not so. I believe every generation has the task of bringing the whole gospel to the whole world. Every person that lives should have the opportunity to hear the gospel in a cultural relevant way. That said, to have a people group where there has never been a single believer, is a terrible tragedy.
Wise words, Derek. Thank you for sharing.
I read a criticism to this post which is what led me here. The criticism included this comment: “But the fact is, we have a limited number of workers, and the strategies for deployment and multiplication that we choose determines which individuals hear the Gospel and which do not.”
I have been a full-time m*ss*onary in a specific, closed part of Asia for the past 8 years. There is something in my heart that rails at all of this. We :should: be going where there are un-reached people. Let those Americans working normal, typical jobs reach other Americans. Send other M’s, not to the nations and peoples where there are other ch+rches and b+ble studies and TV ev*ngelists, but to the unreached places where there are those who have never heard the name of Jesus and don’t know of his offer for freedom, acceptance, and honor.
But most importantly… SEND. GO. The fact that there are a limited number of workers is the thing that enrages my heart. The majority of us never go. We stay comfortable in our homes. We earn money. We spend money. We reserve the life-saving news of the G+spel for our ch+rch communities and go to bed safe in the knowledge that we are going to heaven someday. Enough! Send your young men and your young women and your very self to the field, so that all the world may know of Him, so that all may be saved, so that our King and Savior may have the desire of his heart, the ones for whom he suffered the cross.
Your life is not your own. You were bought a price. Live in a way that glorifies our Father, to win for the lamb the reward of his suffering.
I appreciate your passion, Ashley. Thank you for commenting. And thank you for your Kingdom labors in Asia. Keep up the great work!
Thanks for these insights
Andrew Diprose
M.A. (ICS)
* Cross cultural witness in Rome, Italy and surrounding areas. *
I would love to get a the list your friend came up with.
This list has not been made public yet, Jen. I hope it will be soon.
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