What is an unreached people group?

A people group is a group of individuals, families and clans who share a common language and ethnic identity. The most noticeable characteristic is language, but race, religion, heritage and even socioeconomic differences are also defining people-group factors.

More than 6 billion people inhabit the earth comprising 12,862 ethno linguistic people groups. Of the global population, nearly 3.4 billion people - 6,476 ethnolinguistic people groups - are unreached.

An unreached people group is one that contains less than two percent evangelical Christians. They are also identified as not having indigenous church movements with sufficient strength, resources and commitment to sustain and ensure the continuous multiplication of churches.

The International Mission Board identified just over 5,000 unreached people groups as "Last Frontier" people groups with little or no access to the gospel. The combined population of Last Frontier people groups totals nearly 1.5 billion.

Everyone in the world can be linked to some ethnolinguistic group or groups. Missions strategists are busy segmenting the regions of the world into people groups. If a people group segment is too large to be effectively reached with the gospel, it is further divided into homogenous population segments, such as the different dialects of the language.

For years, many missionaries focused their efforts on the country they lived in. As they began work in a country, they would learn and use the national language and focus their efforts on the dominant culture. In doing so, they were able to share the gospel with many. In time, however, it became apparent that use of the national language and the focus on the dominant culture left others virtually untouched because they spoke different languages and had different cultures.

Concentrating on people groups and homogenous population segments helps missionaries to focus on specific cultural distinctions that can affect the presentation of the gospel. When missionaries are aware of a people group's worldview, they can identify issues within that culture and then build ministry models that address those issues.

Jesus commanded his followers to make disciples of all the world's people groups. To take this command seriously, missionaries must know who these people are, where they are located, how many they are, what languages they speak, what religions they practice and - most importantly - the status of the gospel among them.