WHERE WE WORK

Christian mission’s organizations each have different areas of focus. Some are centered on humanitarian aid, such as delivering food to the hungry or providing medical care. Others mainly focus on taking the gospel to the lost and the broken. Of this second group, a handful, like Reach India, place emphasis on taking the gospel to unreached people groups.

For those living in a country where Christianity is a norm, the term may be unfamiliar. But understanding unreached people groups is key to Christian missions and for ultimately fulfilling the Great Commission. So what are unreached people groups, and why are they important to missions?

Defining Unreached

In the India, a person would not have to travel far to find a church, a bookstore with a Bible, or a person who can explain the basics of the gospel. That is not the case in other areas of the world.

In some places, there are entire populations of people who have never seen a church, a Bible, or even heard the name of Jesus. These are unreached people groups. 

An unreached people group, or UPG, is a society among which there is no established local community of believers. This small to nonexistent Church often also lacks the resources to evangelize their people group.

According to the Joshua Project, a people group is considered unreached based on the following criteria:

1. Less than 2% Evangelical Christian

2. Less than 5% Christian adherent (one who claims any form of the Christian religion)

Of the approximately 8 billion people on planet Earth, about 3.2 billion are considered unreached or least reached. More than 7,000 people groups are classified as unreached. That’s more than 40% of the world’s population.

Within the more than 7,000 UPGs, 3,050 are considered unengaged unreached people groups. An unengaged unreached people group, or UUPG, is a people group with “no known active church planting underway.” UUPGs have likely never been reached by a believer.

Though people have responded to the Great Commission by taking the gospel to those who did not know Jesus since the first century A.D., the focus of reaching UPGs is fairly recent in mission history. Reaching unreached people groups was popularized after the founding of the U.S. Center for World Mission in 1976. Ralph and Roberta Winter, founders of the U.S. Center for World Mission (now Frontier Ventures), advocated for a focus on unreached people groups in missions, leading some missionaries and entire missions agencies to concentrate on UPGs.

The Biblical Focus of Unreached

Reaching the unreached is not just a mission’s strategy identified in the 1970s; it is biblical.

God desires for anybody—whether Jew or Gentile, rich or poor, young or old—to call upon His name. That is why in the Great Commission, Jesus commands His followers to “make disciples of all nations (Matthew 28:19).” Jesus yearns for all nations to know and proclaim His name.

Many define the word “nation” as an area or country with a formalized government and boundaries. But in Matthew 28, “nations” was translated from the word ethane, which is commonly understood to mean people groups or ethnic groups. When Jesus gave the Great Commission, He was not only commanding that the gospel be preached in every country but to every people group in the world.

Where are the Unreached?

Of the 3.2 billion people who are considered unreached, the vast majority (3.1 billion) reside in the 10/40 Window, aptly named for its location between 10- and 40-degrees north latitude, stretching across northern and Saharan Africa, the Middle East, and southern Asia. The world’s largest UPGs live within this window.

The term 10/40 Window was coined by Luis Bush, CEO of Partners International, as he was looking for a way to describe “an area of the world with great poverty and low quality of life, combined with a lack of access to Christian resources and unreached unbelievers.”

The 10/40 Window consists of many developing nations and the majority of the world’s followers of Islam, Hinduism, and Buddhism.

Of the 3.2 billion people who are considered unreached, the vast majority (3.1 billion) reside in the 10/40 Window.

In 1998 Lakunaik started with an Evangelist, since then the Lord has blessed abundantly. As of today 1500, House Churches have been established. What began with only a handful of people grew to a total membership of over 12000 people. Praise the name of the Lord! Many of the churches have between 4-8 people, a few are in the 2-5 range, few are in the 2--3 range and one has over 150 attending regularly.

In 2007, God spoke to Lakunaik to work with East-West in the city of Suryapet, of the state of Telangana. Here a new centre was to be established that would train men and women to reach out to all states of India. Today Reach India has churches in 8 states of India and 1 union territories of India.

The Lord spoke to Lakunaik the leadership of the ministry again in 2010, and what was thought to be only a vision for Suryapet. Exists to mobilize the Body of Christ to evangelize the lost and equip local believers to multiply disciples and healthy churches among the unreached people and/or in restricted access communities.then the Lord would bless within its borders. Since then, affiliates have come up in the South India.