The Great Commission for All Nations and Evangelization Statistics

(Excerpt from GAP - FTT, Global Alliance for Pioneer - Finish the Task)

For Jesus’ Great Commission to be fulfilled, the gospel must be preached to every person in every nation, tribe, people, and language on earth, and churches must be established among each group. Though much progress has been made since Jesus gave this task 2,000 years ago, the reason we have not yet fully spread the gospel everywhere (Romans 15:19–21) is evident. Today, the top priority for the global Church remains reaching those who are still almost entirely unevangelized - those who have never heard the good news of the Lord - and making disciples to plant churches among them (Matthew 28:18–20).

Note on Terminology: The terms “unreached people,” “least reached people,” or “unengaged unreached people” vary slightly depending on the missions research institution. Hence, presenting uniform statistical data is challenging. However, one indisputable fact is that all these groups are profoundly deprived of access to the gospel.

Unreached People Group(UPG): Currently, there are about 17,000 people groups within the world’s population of approximately 7.8 billion people. Among them, Unreached People Groups(UPGs) are defined as groups where the evangelical presence is less than 2%. Because the evangelical presence is under 2%, the likelihood that the gospel can spread and churches can be planted internally within that group is extremely low. External assistance is needed.

There are about 7,400 such UPGs worldwide. (Note: Numbers vary slightly depending on how one defines a people group or “unreached,” and these figures are based on Joshua Project statistics.)

Unengaged Unreached People Group(UUPG): UUPG is a group with near 0% evangelization - no known believers, no workers or missionaries, no churches, and no scripture translated into their language. Currently, there are about 100 such UUPGs worldwide. Two decades ago, there were around 3,400 UUPGs. Thanks to the FTT(Finish the Task) movement, this number has now been reduced to about 100.

The International Mission Board(IMB) applies a slightly stricter standard for classifying UUPGs. According to IMB, approximately 3,000 UUPGs remain, encompassing around 270 million people. However, FTT removes a group from the UUPG list once the gospel has been introduced - that is, if at least one or two local workers or a single local church exists. After that, they continue monitoring. Thus, out of the IMB’s 3,000 UUPGs, apart from about 100, the remaining ~2,800 are included in FTT’s Under-engaged Unreached People Groups (UUPGs) list.

Most Unreached People Groups(MUPG): MUPGs(Most Unreached People Groups) are those with less than 0.1% evangelization. Currently, there are about 5,000 such MUPGs across roughly 130 countries, totaling approximately 1.9 billion people. Although the gospel has barely reached them, most souls remain shrouded in darkness. The Joshua Project also refers to these groups as Frontier Peoples.

Even though almost all Unengaged Unreached People Groups(UUPGs) are now considered “engaged,” the Church still must engage MUPGs. For a UUPG to be considered engaged merely means the work has just begun.

These 5,000 MUPGs constitute the top priority for the global Church. The global Church must unite to disciple these groups first, raise local workers among them, and plant churches. Although these groups are no longer “unengaged,” they remain “most unreached” and thus still require focused and strategic mission efforts.