Displaying items by tag: unreached people groups

Java is not the largest island in Indonesia, but it has the largest population. Praise God that the Church on Java continues to grow. Nearly 50% of Chinese-descent Indonesians and 5% of Javanese are Christian. The many religions of Java historically tolerated each other. But this has changed. Persecution now comes in the form of laws that prevent Christians from building, which sometimes results in the destruction of churches and Christian property. Christians of many traditions now draw together for prayer, worship, and mutual support: and the love among them attracts many Muslims to Christ, despite the persecution. Christian love for the needy and most vulnerable people in society has a powerful effect. Pray for the unreached people groups, including the 34 million Sunda who profess Islam but have underlying animism and traditional beliefs. They are one of the largest unevangelised groups in the world.

Before Jesus ascended to heaven, he gave us the command to make disciples among all nations. Two thousand years later, there are still hundreds of unengaged, unreached people groups throughout the world. The South Asia project trains and supports pastors living closest to those unreached groups in South Asia - pastors who have committed to go and reach them with the Gospel. These indigenous pastors also receive small business training, so they will not become dependent on the North American church. In restricted countries, operating a small business is one way to open doors for the Gospel.

Opportunities for Christians to engage with unchurched people abound in Ukraine. More than a million people from 30+ unreached people groups call Ukraine home, and some parts of the country remain less than 1% evangelical. Ukraine grows more multicultural every day, as students and immigrants arrive looking for education and opportunity. The country is a fascinating mix of ancient and modern, urban and rural, scientific and intuitive. Lately, long-held passions for political freedom and stability characterise many modern Ukrainians. The evangelical church is developing a vision for reaching unfamiliar communities. SEND Ukraine is the answer to a decade-long vision to send missionaries to work in the harvest field. Believers who have been reached and discipled are now partnering with SEND Ukraine and local churches to share the gospel with the hundreds of unreached people groups which live in diaspora communities within the country.

A new milestone has been reached by Wycliffe Bible Translators as the Bible is translated into its 700th language. The acceleration that is happening in the work of Bible translation means it is impossible to state which translation was actually the 700th, as there were several launches of physical Bibles as well as several being made available online and via apps, all at about the same time. Every time the Bible is translated into another language, we know that people in that language group can fully access the complete picture of God’s story. Now 5.7 billion people who speak 700 languages have the Bible in the language that speaks to them best. That is a remarkable figure, which continues to grow.

Brazil has one of the largest Christian populations in the world; 91% say they are a ‘Christian’ of some form. The Kingdom of God has exploded in Brazil since 1960 as the nation has been saturated with truth in and through Jesus Christ. Jesus said (Luke 12:48), ‘To whom much is given, from them much is required’, and Brazil has certainly been given much from God. The Church has become a strong mission-sending organisation in one generation. Today, God desires it to go to a new level of seeing mission mobilisation emphasised in every local ministry so that every believer contributes to the fulfillment of the Great Commission. The Brazilian Church is known as a praying Church; pray for a massive prayer movement across the churches and denominations emphasising intercession for an explosion of church-planting, leading towards communal movements to Christ among all unreached people groups.

Most of Jordan's population have not heard a good gospel message. Ways of changing this include literature, media ministry, friendship evangelism, development programmes, home meetings and camps. Pray for a sensitive witness to Muslims and protection of converts amid persecution. Pray also that the growing number of Muslim-background believers have the legal right to convert from Islam. Palestinians are a majority in Jordan. Many are second- or third- generation residents after leaving their traditional homeland. Some integrate into Jordanian life; others suffer from disillusionment, bitterness, and frustration which only the Man of Calvary can heal. Due to the Gulf Wars a million Iraqis also fled to Jordan. Years later, nearly half of these are unable or unwilling to return home. Christian work among them produces a good response. Jordanian churches have effective and widespread ministry to these refugees but need to be granted permission to educate them.

1.5 billion people are still waiting for the Bible in a language that speaks to them best. Over 7,000 ethnic groups are still unreached without any knowledge of there even being a gospel. Pray for avenues and inroads into diverse cultures so that unreached people hear and read the gospel in a familiar language and culture. Pray for God’s anointing on anthropologists, researchers, and those with linguistic skills to analyse a language and devise an alphabet for the people they are studying. Pray for trained literacy workers assisting communities to read and write in their own language and for those making audio recordings or videos pointing people to Jesus. May accurately translated scriptures change lives and communities.

Global case counts of COVID-19 quietly clicked past 1 million 2^nd April afternoon on the Johns Hopkins tracking map, revealing the disease’s startling speed and reach since it emerged 4 months ago.  

The pandemic is afflicting countries unevenly as the US muffed its early response, while China acted with strong-armed efficiency, and many others are yet to be tested.

Global Highlights

The US: Though the novel coronavirus has emerged in all 50 states, the media focus has zeroed in on New York, which has more than 92,000 cases. That will likely change in the coming days as new hotspots emerge, according to Scientific American.

The American South is at special risk with high numbers of cases per capita. Albany, Georgia has 13 per 10,000 people, for example. And, as  Bloomberg News points out, the region already has some of the poorest health indicators in the country (4 of 5 states with highest diabetes rates) and a lack of health care access that includes shuttered rural hospitals. Of the 239 coronavirus deaths in New Orleans, “40% had diabetes, 25% were obese and 21% had heart problems,” Bloomberg reports.

Africa: WHO has announced that new COVID-19 cases are being reported in Africa at a dramatically accelerating pace as the number topped this week, according to The Citizen (Tanzania). Another worrying sign: Cases are beginning to emerge outside capitals and other large cities. The coronavirus has been detected across South Africa, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, and Senegal.

Also: Very few of the more than 300 clinical trials that are underway to seek a COVID-19 treatment are in Africa, Nature reports. The Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative is part of the new COVID-19 Clinical Research Coalition seeking to remedy this.

More: 

South Africa: Though the country has the most cases (1,462) on the continent, President Cyril Ramaphosa and Health Minister Zweli Mkhize are being lauded for leading an effective and efficient battle against COVID-19, according to the BBC. However, the response also has included rounding up 1,000 homeless men and forcing them into a sports stadium in Pretoria, CNN International reports.  

Ecuador: Officials in Guayaquil report more than 400 deaths in recent days as morgues have been overwhelmed and some bodies have been wrapped in plastic and left on street. UPI

Indonesia: The 170 COVID-19 deaths reported in recent weeks have surpassed nearly 2 decades of bird flu deaths. The Jakarta Post

North Korea: Assertions that the country is coronavirus-free has been viewed skeptically. The Guardian 

Reporting from Johns Hopkins University: https://www.globalhealthnow.org/2020-04/1-million

Further data on Europe and the world: https://www.ecdc.europa.eu/en/geographical-distribution-2019-ncov-cases

BBC news article about the 18 countries who don’t have Covid-19 at the time of writing: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-52120439

Pray: Lord God, the One who has Almighty power, we agree according to your promise in Matthew 18:18-20 that this virus will be stopped in its tracks. That the medical researchers will get a download from Heaven on how to quickly develop a vaccine to counteract COVID-19 and a cure for those who have become infected.

We also agree in prayer, asking that the Body of Christ worldwide will rise up in love and boldness, trusting in your blood to cover and protect us and throwing off fear, so that we can be available to serve, bless, and bear witness to those around us who are terrified and depressed at being infected.

Let us seize this unprecedented opportunity to make you known to those without hope in Christ!

Thank you for your promise that surely, you will be with us "always, even to the very end of the age”  so that we can carry on with the mission you have given us for our world (Matthew 28:20).

Join in Online Prayers:

World Prayer Centre, Birmingham, UK – Virtual House of Prayer
iHop Kansas Prayer Room
247 Prayer Coronavirus Prayer Room 

Praying for Unreached People Groups (UPGs) wholistically and in light of Covid-19 - Since 2018, The Extraordinary Prayer Task Force has focused on increasing prayer for UPGs through collaboration amongst leaders of church movements, mission movements & prayer movements. We meet on Zoom every two months, with our next global call April 20th from 9-11am US Central daylight time focused on praying wholistically for UPGs from the perspective of discipling nations. We will pray in light of Covid-19 outbreak, and also considering major spheres including healthcare, government, education, media and family as we pray for specific UPGs. If you're a leader of a prayer network and interested in joining the discussion, please contact David Sengupta (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.) for more information on how to connect to the April 20th call. Mention IPC.

Additional Prayer Resources for Coronavirus

A CHRISTIAN PERSPECTIVE ON COVID-19 By Dr Ruth Valerio and Gideon Heugh (Tear Fund)
A coronavirus prayer from Pete Greig
19 Things to Do in response to Coronavirus
Prophecy Today UK’s Responses to Coronavirus
PrayerCast Video and Prayer Briefing
Operation World's Covid-19 Prayers for the Nations and Prayer Calendar

We live in a historical time. Every single people group can be reached with God’s Word and kingdom within the next decade. Millions are still waiting to have access to the Gospel. What is Jesus calling us to do?

Well, there is one thing that we have seen God use over and over again to accomplish His eternal purposes: prayer. This upcoming Pentecost, God is uniting the international body of Christ to refocus on what matters. The unreached. Hundreds of like-minded ministries and thousands of churches are united under the Pray for ZERO banner so the unreached are no longer waiting.

Pray for Zero is an international prayer movement dedicated to the provision of God’s Word and kingdom among the remaining unreached, Bibleless peoples. There are currently over 2,000 people groups without access to any Scripture in their language. Through social media and regional prayer gatherings, we connect God’s people to the goal of seeing all remaining translation projects started within this next decade. 

You are invited to unite with millions of others to pray for the number of unreached people groups to be brought down to ZERO.  Each year we will gather to pray until we live in a world where every single person has access to the Word of God in their language and a local expression of the body of Christ. 

If we love those still waiting for a chance to hear of Christ through His Word, then we should do whatever we can to raise awareness so that others will join us in this effort. We encourage you to adopt a people group, pray for them frequently, and post pictures and videos on the International Day for the Unreached — June 9, 2019.

Take a stand. Do your part. Pray for Zero. Visit prayforzero.com.

“Always pray and never give up.” Luke 18b (NLT)

Solomon Lujan

Praise God for the initiative of the Asi people in forming the ‘Asi Bible Association,’ to oversee New Testament distribution. Pray for good decisions and the finances needed to distribute the Scriptures in written, audio and digital formats, including the Jesus film, DVDs, CDs, and hymn books. Pray that people of the Philippines will be eager to engage with the Scriptures available to them. Praise God also for the hundreds of followers of the Northern Thai Facebook group formed when the New Testament was dedicated in early 2018. Pray for the scripture engagement team as they put out an updated version of the phone app. There will be a meeting of churches in September to encourage support for translation of the Old Testament. Ask God to bring many to the meeting, and that funds will be found to pay the salary for a scripture engagement coordinator for another year.