Introduce You to Unreached People Groups (UPGs) and How to Sponsor UPG Adoptions
Did You Know: Nearly 60,000 people die every day around the world without hearing name of Jesus or having had any contact with any kind of Christian.
- What would it be like to live all your life and never have contact with a Christian?
- Try to visualize “what if it was me?”
- The global population is growing hundreds of thousands of people every day (over 1.5 million every week). Every one of these people has a personal right to hear the gospel and make a salvation choice!
Let’s define and review a few key terms:
- Nations (Ethne) – A group of people who may vary in size or geographic location but are the same ethnically, socially, culturally, and linguistically.
- People Group – A group of individuals who share a common history and heritage as well as ethnic, linguistic, and cultural traits.
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A People Group is:
- An ethnic group where the various members share a common culture, language, and self-identity.
- For strategic purposes, a people group is the largest group through which the gospel can flow without encountering significant barriers of understanding and acceptance.
- According to Joshua Project, there are approximately 17,300 unique people groups in the world today.
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- Reached People Groups – A people group is considered “reached” if it has a viable, indigenous, reproducing church movement in its midst. This includes strong churches pastored by indigenous leaders, in their own language, actively evangelizing their own people, and planting churches within their community/region.
- Unreached People Group (UPG) – People group within which there is no viable indigenous church that can disciple and reach its own people, no real access to hear about Jesus. They have never had the opportunity to make a choice to make Jesus their Lord and Savior!
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An Unreached People Group is:
- A people group is considered unreached when there is no indigenous community of Jesus followers able to engage them with the message of Jesus Christ.
- According to Joshua Project, there are 7,250 unreached people groups representing 3.4 billion people (over 42.5% of the world’s population!)
- Technically speaking, less than 2% of the population actively follows Jesus. Most missiologists consider 2% of the population becoming Christ followers as the “tipping point” at which the group can effectively spread the gospel throughout their community without outside assistance.
- Many unreached people groups are located in regions where speaking the name of Jesus is forbidden. Others lack the ability to access the Bible in their language. Others still wait for local believers to cross cultural divides. Simply put, unreached people groups have little or no access to the message of Jesus.
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Believers, Pastors, and church congregations must recognize there are UPGs everywhere. According to Joshua Project, there are UPGs located in virtually every country on earth, with few exceptions. Check out some examples:
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Examples from Joshua Project (https://joshuaproject.net/), Nov 2023:
- United States:
- People Groups: 323; Population – 216,195,000
- Unreached People Groups: 97 (18.6%); Population – 14,397,000 (4.2%)
- Largest Religion: Christianity (76.6%)
- Brazil:
- People Groups: 522; Population – 339,720,000
- Unreached People Groups: 49 (15.2%); Population – 123,000 (0.1%)
- Largest Religion: Christianity (90.2%)
- Kenya:
- People Groups: 110; Population – 54,881,000
- Unreached People Groups: 33 (30.0%); Population – 5,385,000 (9.8%)
- Largest Religion: Christianity (80.2%)
- Vietnam:
- India:
- Algeria:People Groups: 38; Population – 45,521,000
- Israel: People Groups: 48; Population – 9,076,000
- Iran:People Groups: 94; Population – 88,861,000
- Germany:People Groups: 94; Population – 83,102,000
- Unreached People Groups: 27 (28.7%); Population – 5,090,000 (6.1%)
- Largest Religion: Christianity (62.2%)
- Russia:People Groups: 182; Population – 143,594,000
- Unreached People Groups: 115 (63.2%); Population – 17,775,000 (12.4%)
- Largest Religion: Christianity (57.2%)
- China:
- People Groups: 545; Population – 1,408,222,000
- Unreached People Groups: 441 (80.9%); Population – 140,553,000 (10.0%)
- Largest Religion: Non-Religious – Communism (44.5%)
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Where do UPGs live?
Approximately 90-95% of unreached people live in a region called the 10/40 Window. This is a geographical region between 10 degrees north latitude and 40 degrees north latitude and extending from the far eastern edge of Japan to the far western edge of North Africa.
- In this regional window, the vast majority of the people and cultures are dominated by one of the following religions or government systems:
- Tribal/Folk Religionists (witch doctors, animists, etc.)
- Hindus
- Unreligious (socialists, communists, secular humanists, agnostics, and atheists)
- Muslims
- Buddhists
- This represents the majority, though not all, of the remaining final frontiers of Great Commission missions work for the Global Church.
- In this region live over 80 percent of the world’s “poorest of the poor” and 82 percent of those with the lowest quality of life.
- Unfortunately, this region is also where less than .05% of missions-designated funds are given to reach the unreached and only 2-5% of Christian workers minister among unreached people groups. This is a travesty!
What Is Sponsoring a UPG Adoption?
- A heart connection to an Unreached People Group marked by prayer and concern for their eternal destiny.
- A financial commitment to the UPG – a commitment to see native missionaries sent and new churches planted until they are multiplying on their own.
Why are ministries like RDIM, AIMS, Joshua Project, Oasis Ministries, and other like-minded ministries so passionate and focused on going to Unreached People Groups (UPGs)?
- In His final words on Earth, Jesus gave his followers the Great Commission, instructing us to: “Go and make disciples of all nations [ethne]” Matthew 28:19
- Jesus was not referring to our modern political nations, but the Greek translation, “panta ta ethne,” indicates people groups.
- In Matthew 24:14, he uses the same language, declaring: “This gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations [ethne], and then the end will come.” Jesus gave us the finish line for the church!
- The Global Church (including all born-again Believers) exists to get the message of Jesus to those who have no access because we are disciples of Jesus and want to fulfill the words of Christ.
- With the body of Christ working together, all 7,400+ Unreached People Groups can be reached with the gospel – making the Great Commission into the Great Completion.
- RDIM and AIMS are committed to sending local (indigenous) missionaries who already know the language, culture, and lifestyle of an unreached tribe to share God’s love and plant churches among them.
- When you sponsor a UPG Adoption, YOU will be personally involved in this Great Commission process! Praise God!
For more in-depth information, please contact AIMS