Who are the Unengaged-Unreached People Groups?

The answer to this question is critical as this campaign seeks to engage the remaining people groups who have never heard the name of Jesus Christ. Simply put, an Unreached Unengaged People Group is an ethnolinguistic people who have no Believers among them, no Bibles in their own language, and no Churches where they can grow spiritually and fellowship together.

This also means that there are no known workers serving these people groups to bring them gospel access. These people groups have the most critical need for someone to be the first to engage them with the gospel.

We identify each People Group based on their ethnolinguistic identity across countries, even though we recognize the importance of knowing where each unreached and unengaged people group is located.

It is important to highlight that there are more missiological and technical definitions for each category, starting from a People Group, an Unreached People Group, to a Frontier People Group. All of them are critical for decision-making and strategic planning.

For our advocacy purposes, the NO ACCESS Campaign believes that The Engage Network presented the most helpful information about the Unreached-Unengaged people groups on their website.

unengaged people sitting in an alley

Unreached Versus Unengaged Peoples

  • All unengaged peoples are unreached, but not the other way around.

  • Some unreached are engaged. They have a chance to hear. But the unengaged-unreached have no chance to hear.

  • The unengaged are a subset of the unreached.

Frontier Peoples Versus Unengaged Peoples

Frontier Peoples

"Frontier Peoples" describes how a people have responded to the gospel, describing how many in the group are adherents to Christianity. This designation describes a people group in which very few have come to faith.

Unengaged Peoples

"Unengaged Peoples" describes our work among the people. It describes the situation in which there is not yet a Christ-proclaiming, churches-nurturing witness in the people group.

Frontier Peoples

"Frontier Peoples" describes how a people have responded to the gospel, describing how many in the group are adherents to Christianity. This designation describes a people group in which very few have come to faith.

Unengaged Peoples

"Unengaged Peoples" describes our work among the people. It describes the situation in which there is not yet a Christ-proclaiming, churches-nurturing witness in the people group.