Why Should We Pray for the Unreached?

 

Rewriting the Story 

The Urgency of Prayer for the Unreached and Displaced

Philipose Vaidyar 

മലയാളത്തിൽ വായിക്കാൻ   ഇവിടെ ക്ലിക്ക് ചെയ്യുക

Nineteen years ago, I sat down to write my first blog post. The world was a different place then, yet the spiritual mandate remains unchanged. As I revisit these words today, the heartbeat of the mission—reaching every people group—is more rhythmic and urgent than ever. We are living in an era of unprecedented human movement. When we talk about "people groups" today, we aren't just talking about distant tribes in remote jungles; we are talking about the displaced, the refugees, and the global diaspora living among us.

The following lines are a reflection on where we started and where we must go.

1. Why Should We Pray for People Groups?

When I first wrote this, the world population was estimated at roughly 6.3 billion. Today, in 2026, we have surpassed 8.2 billion souls. Within this vast sea of humanity, missiologists identify over 17,000 distinct ethne (people groups). Of these, approximately 7,400 are still considered "unreached," representing over 3.57 billion people who have little to no access to the Gospel.

The Great Commission of our Lord Jesus Christ is not a general suggestion to "evangelize the world" in a vague sense. It is a specific command to panta ta ethne—to make disciples of every ethnic group. Each of these groups possesses a unique "heart language" and a distinct cultural identity. For the Gospel to be truly "good news," it must be communicated in understandable terms that resonate with their specific worldview.

Jesus’ strategy for the harvest was strikingly clear: He did not tell us to build bigger buildings first; He told us to pray. He asked us to petition the Lord of the Harvest to send out laborers. We pray because:

• The Vision of Revelation: In Revelation 7:9, the Apostle John provides us with the "end game." He saw a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, tribe, people, and tongue, standing before the Lamb. If this is God’s guaranteed future, it must be our current priority.
• The Barrier of Language: While linguistic approaches have pioneered many missions, the "people group" focus reminds us that even within one language, cultural barriers can prevent the Gospel from spreading. We pray that the Spirit of God will bridge these cultural divides.
• The Reality of the Displaced: Today, more than 117 million people are forcibly displaced worldwide due to war, persecution, and conflict. These are not just statistics; they are "people groups on the move." God is shaking the nations, and as people are displaced from their ancestral lands, they often become more open to the Gospel. We must pray for these "uprooted" souls.

2. Is Prayer Mobilization More Important Than the Proclamation?

This is often debated, but it is a false dichotomy. Proclamation without prayer is a human effort prone to burnout; prayer without proclamation is a spiritual exercise that lacks obedience. However, there is a sense in which prayer is the "heavy artillery" that prepares the ground for the infantry.

When we pray, God prepares the people, changes their situations, and sends His people to them. I previously shared the story of Jill Johnstone and the country of Albania. In the early 90s, Albania was a bastion of atheism, closed off from the world. Yet, children in prayer clubs—armed with nothing but faith and information—prayed for the walls to come down. And they did. This wasn't a political shift; it was a spiritual breakthrough birthed in the "war room" of intercession.

In my own journey, I have seen the tangible, long-term power of mobilization tools. Back in 2000, I was invited by a Bible Translation organization that was conducting a linguistic survey. I had the privilege of producing a mobilization video on that specific people group. At the time, I wondered if such a small effort would truly make an impact.

Many years later, I received two incredible testimonies from that single video:

• One individual told me that watching that video challenged them so deeply that they ended up moving to those very hills to work on a Bible translation project.
• Another person was so moved by the plight and the potential of those people that they established and now run a CBSE-level affiliated school for the children on those hills.

This confirms that when we provide the Church with a "frame of reference" through media and profiles, the Holy Spirit uses it to call laborers. One video, produced decades ago, resulted in both the Word of God being translated and the next generation being educated. This is why we must collect information, look for appealing points of contact, and share the "needy" state of the unreached. Whether it is a slide presentation that motivates a Lions Club to host a medical camp or a video that launches a school, mobilization is the spark that ignites long-term transformation.

3. How Effectively Do We Pray for the Unreached?

In the nearly two decades since I first published this, the amount of information available to us has exploded. In the past, we relied on the India Missions Association (IMA) profiles of Dalits and mega-people groups, or the classic thick volumes of Operation World. Today, we have the Joshua Project app, real-time video updates from frontline missionaries, and interactive maps of the 10/40 Window.

Yet, a haunting question remains: Has our increase in information led to an increase in intercession?

We have the tools, but do we have the heart? How many of our church members could name even one unreached people group? How many of our fellowship groups dedicate time to pray specifically for the various communities in our country and around the world?

If we are to pray effectively, we must move beyond generalities. Specific prayers get specific answers.

• In the Home: We must start with our children. If they grow up hearing us pray for the "nations" by name at the dinner table, they will catch a vision for a global God.
• In the Church: Our Sunday Schools and VBS should not just be about personal moral stories, but about the "Macedonian Call." We need to show them the faces of the unreached.
• As Role Models: Those of us who hold this burden must be "information brokers" for the Kingdom, passing on specific prayer points to our circles of influence.

The New Frontier: The Lost and the Displaced

As we look toward the future, we must recognize that the "unreached" are no longer just "over there." Because of global migration, members of unreached people groups are now our neighbors, our delivery drivers, and our coworkers.

The "displaced" are often in a state of "liminality"—a threshold where their old worldviews have been shaken. This is a fertile ground for the Gospel. When we pray for the displaced, we are praying for:

1. Healing from Trauma: That the "God of all comfort" would meet them in their grief.
2. The Removal of Veils: That the spiritual blindness often found in closed cultures would be lifted in the freedom of their new environment.
3. The Church’s Awakening: That we would see refugees and migrants not as a political burden, but as a "God-sent" opportunity to fulfill the Great Commission.

Conclusion

Prayers mobilized for the unreached can rewrite the history of entire nations. When we pray, we are participating in the heavenly council. We are asking the Creator of the universe to intervene in the hearts of billions.

Let us commit to using the vast resources at our disposal—not for curiosity, but for a crusade of intercession. Let us talk about the unreached whenever and wherever we can—in formal meetings, informal chats, and family gatherings—until the vision is caught by everyone we know.

Their stories are not yet finished. Through our prayers, we can ensure that the final chapter of their story includes the name of Jesus. Let us start today, at home.

മലയാളത്തിൽ വായിക്കാൻ ഇവിടെ ക്ലിക്ക് ചെയ്യുക

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I keep my original post here just for reference, not for you to read....

Why should we pray for people groups? Is prayer mobilization more important than the proclamation of the gospel? How effectively do we pray, and how much of the wide range of information available about the unreached people do we use for prayer? The following lines are an attempt to answer these questions. 

1. Why should we pray for people groups? 

There are more than 16,000 people groups in the world. All of them put together, the total population of the world as estimated is 6,351,063,509. The great commission of Lord Jesus Christ is to reach them all. Each of these people groups needs to have an opportunity to listen to the gospel in their own language and in understandable terms. Their culture and practices are distinct, but they need to experience salvation by following Jesus Christ and becoming His disciples. Jesus has asked us to pray for the harvest. He asked us to pray to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers for the harvest, to the ends of the world. Therefore, we need to pray for the unreached people groups. An earlier approach to reaching the unreached was linguistic. Many missions were pioneered in different languages of the world. The great commission of the Lord Jesus is to make disciples of all nations (ethnic groups). This vision of God about people groups was given to the apostle John as recorded in the book of Revelation: "After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could number, of all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, with palm branches in their hands ..." Revelation 7:9 (NKJV) All these people groups need to listen to the gospel and become children of God. Therefore, the gospel needs to be communicated to all the people groups of the world and we need to pray for each of them that the Lord will send the right kind of workers and the Spirit of God will prepare the hearts of the people.

 2. Is prayer mobilization more important than the proclamation of the gospel? 

The Lord may lead us to share the gospel with anyone at any time, even when we are not prepared. We may be specially guided by the Spirit of God as He guided Apostle Philip to the Ethiopian. But we need to be prepared to be used by the Spirit of God. We need to look around, collect information, and look for the right and appealing points of contact or frames of reference that will help us communicate and the people understand the message. When we pray, God prepares the people, changes their situations and sends His people to them, even those who pray. Jill Johnstone, who compiled the children's edition of Patrick Johnstone's Operation World, shares her experience in her book. She writes, "I started writing this book with the country of Albania. The children in our "You Can Change the World" prayer club were sad because the Albanians were not allowed to worship God, pray to him, or have any books about him. They prayed hard for a change in Albania, and soon the men who ruled Albania were removed from power. Now, people there are free to believe in Jesus. The children's prayers, and those of other Christians around the world, changed Albania, so I had to rewrite that chapter. Will your prayers help change other countries, too?" (Jill Johnstone, You Can Change the World, OM, UK, 1994, p.6) I was personally challenged by this; praying for unreached people and preparing and helping people prepare mobilization tools have become my vision since then. Christians, prospective missionaries, and young people are challenged to go into unreached places or cultures after hearing or seeing about the needy. There are 52 people groups on the Western Ghat (the southern hill ranges of the country bordering Kerala from Tamil Nadu and Karnataka states) alone, and many in the plains of that region do not know of them or know that there are that many of them. One of my first slide presentations about a hill people group motivated a local Lions Club to arrange a medical camp among them. I have seen positive responses made by people after reading or watching printed / video profiles about unreached people groups. People profiles are very important in mobilizing prayer for the unreached. 

  3. How effectively do we pray for the unreached people? 

There is more information available today in different formats for those of us who want to pray. IMA has published about 400 profiles of Dalits and mega-people groups. Several mission agencies across the world have similar publications. Several websites have online profiles of unreached people around the world. The prayer tool Operation World by Patrick Johnstone has been available in books and/or card form since 1974 and is found in many Christian homes. But do we use all these available resources for praying? How do we use them, and where do we use them? How many of our church or fellowship group members know about these unreached people groups? Do our children or people in the circle of our influence pray for the unreached people? Those of us who have this burden and information must disseminate it to our own people. Let praying for the unreached people become part of our Christian life. In our personal quiet time, family, group, and church prayers, we need to discuss and pray about these. Let us talk about the unreached whenever and wherever we can, in formal, informal, and family meetings until our friends and children catch this vision. Specific prayers offered in faith will have specific answers from the Lord. We need to collect, compile, and pass on specific information about the unreached and set role models in praying for them. Our Sunday Schools, Vacation Bible Schools, children's clubs, and churches will pray for the people groups of the nation/world if only we start doing it at home, at least from today. 

Prayers mobilized for the unreached can rewrite the story of people, and when we pray, their lives will never be the same. 

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(First published in Indian Missions, India Missions Association)

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Philipose Vaidyar has been a missionary, a teacher of Communications in a seminary under the Senate of Serampore, a freelance mission journalist, and an alternative media producer and consultant. This article was published in Indian Missions while he was the Coordinator for Research and Communications at the India Missions Association (IMA). His stories about a dozen people groups are published at https://sites.google.com/view/focusonpeople   Philipose continues to assist missions in India by researching and writing about the most needy and neglected people groups and minority languages.