What is ‘Christian Missions’?
Pt. 3, “What Does ‘Unreached’ Mean?”
by John Ambrose
The History of the Word “Unreached”
After Protestants regained a view of converting “the heathen” in foreign lands 250 years after the birth of the Reformation, William Carey began a movement of the West (mostly Europe, then North America) sending missionaries to the furthest reaches of the globe to obey the Great Commission.
After 150 years, in the mid-twentieth century, we began to think the task was done until a man named Cameron Townsend changed the game. The goal was no longer to get Jesus to be glorified in every country (which was occasionally determined by political whims), but to see Him worshipped by every language. Thus, he founded Wycliffe Bible Translators.
While (mostly) Evangelical Christians continue(d) to focus on languages, Ralph Winter changed the game again in the 1970’s by convincing the Church that we ought to be focused on seeing a church planted in every unreached people group.
Therefore, in this article we focus on the question, “What does ‘unreached’ mean?” and “Why is this the important thrust of modern Evangelical missions?”
Some Scary Statistics
In part one of this series, I included the statistic that for every $100,000 Christians make, only $1.70 goes to reaching the unreached. Said another way, Americans spend more money every year on Halloween costumes... for their pets... than is used towards the unreached (thetravelingteam.org/stats).
Here’s the scariest one for me: In 2021, 5.8% ($52 billion) of all money used for Christian causes was given to missions, in general. That number is $7 billion less than how much money was designated for Christian causes yet embezzled! Nonetheless, of that meager amount, still only 1.7% is allocated for work amongst unreached people groups.
Additionally, only 1 out of every 209,086 Christians go to unreached peoples as missionaries (which is 2.7% of the 435,000 missionaries sent yearly – that’s a big number but small percentage; ibid.).
With these number nightmares, there can be only two conclusions. Either work amidst the “unreached” is fringe and unimportant or it is simply ignored by the arm of Christendom.
An Explanation
Here’s what the term “unreached” means – without access to the gospel.
There are two basic ways to define this. Either that people group has less than 2% Evangelical Christians, or (my preferred definition) it lacks any significant church or church planting movement.
Worse yet, here are the implications of being in an unreached people group:
Think of how many churches are within one hour, by car, of where you are reading these words. Heck, reduce that to fifteen minutes. Chances are, you cannot recall the total. Think of how many people you have contact with who could tell you at least one fact about Jesus.
A person in an unreached people group has access to none of that. This means that they could never stumble upon a person who could clearly share the love and sacrifice of Jesus in their language or in a culturally logical way to them. They can’t ever wander into a church and be saved by a gospel presentation. They can only die, having never heard of Jesus. I struggle to not cry while writing these words.
Do you want to know why Ralph Winter pioneered a mindset that continues to this day (“a church for every unreached people group”)? Because of the weight of all of those souls absent the message of Jesus.
You Are Called to the Unreached
If you read my previous articles, you may have noticed how one-sided my arguments are. Essentially, they are this – you are probably being called to reach an unreached people group.
I need to clear the air, though. If you do not do this, you are not a lesser Christian. Plenty of Christians prayed for my wife and I and sent us out with their blessing and their money! We need people to stay and make money and pray and do ministry where they live right now, so that they can send missionaries and support them in their work of reaching the unreached.
I am, however, saying that every Christian ought to be concerned for those who die without ever getting a chance to hear about Jesus. Every Christian should be involved in getting the gospel to the lost (and, I would argue, the unreached). I am also saying that I think the mindset of the majority of Western Christians has been influenced by a demand for comfort and possessions to the detriment of gospel proclamation. I think that in an ideal world, half of all Christians would leave their places of comfort to take the gospel to another place (because statistically it is 50% - “should I stay or should I go?”). And I think that our primary focus should be doing the hard task of reaching the unreached, of which there are an estimated 7,414 different ethno-linguistic people groups (joshuaproject.net/people_groups/statistics).
I used the first part of this series to answer, “what is a missionary”. The reason that I didn’t stop there is so that I could argue... nay, plead... that worldwide Christians begin to see missions to plant churches among unreached people groups as the primary goal of missions. Any other category of “mission” can be celebrated, as long as the first burden falls in favor of those who haven’t had a chance yet to receive or reject the way of Jesus.
As in part two, let me conclude with the heart of Jesus:
“The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore, pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.” (Luke 10:2)
Here is the missionary calling – if we are commanded to pray for laborers because there are so few of them, it is not just possible that you are “called” to personally minister to the unreached, it is statistically likely; it should be assumed until proven otherwise (the local church and its leaders are the primary way in which God has designated that people be approved, trained, and sent). And for those who do not physically go, they send their representatives with prayers, gifts, and blessings.
You are called to minister to the unreached... or you do not really believe Jesus’ teaching on Heaven and Hell, joy and punishment, Life and death.