I understand about unreached people groups a bit, I was in one of them a long time ago. My family, though living only two hours away by boat from the city of Belém, northern Brazil, did not have access to a lot of things — schools, hospitals, electricity, to name just a few. But most importantly, we had no access to the gospel until an American missionary by the name of Bill Burk docked his little speed boat by the long and skinny tree trunk improvised as a peer in front of my dad’s hut on the Amazon and introduced him to the Lord.
That event triggered a series of life events and community transformations that are still going on almost six decades later. Bill went home to be with Christ last year but his legacy lives on. My father is 88 now and he is still preaching.
But inasmuch as I rejoice in my own story of being found by Christ, the fact remains that after two millennia there are still close to two billion unreached people groups in the world. What’s more, of the roughly 6,000 languages in the world, there are still about 1,800 that don’t have even one word of Scriptures translated into them.
As you can see then, the task is still huge and there seem to be only a few churches that are willing to talk about this. As Jesus said, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few.”
We are talking about this topic in our church this Sunday, as we tackle the subject of “Serving the Unreached People Groups.” A good portion of our teaching time will be an impassioned plea via video by David Platt. You will not want to miss it.
You will also be encouraged to educate yourself by going to the following websites:
The Joshua Project is by far the most comprehensive and up to date site on reaching unreached people groups. Their interactive maps and graphs are great for family devotions and small groups.
JAARS is an affiliate of Wycliffe Bible Translators. They put Bible materials in audio format so people who are not literate.
Seed is also a Wycliffe affiliate focusing on putting the Bible in the languages that still lack a translation.
I highly recommend these ministries for your prayer and financial support. I am also interested to talk to anyone who might be sensing a calling from God to go to an unreached people group somewhere in the world. You may become the next Bill Burk. Generations will be saved. God will be glorified!
Pastor Ivanildo C. Trindade
Lead Pastor, Grace Church, Lititz, PA
pastor ivanildo 