Sometimes the question is asked, “Why prioritize unreached people who seem to be so difficult when there are so many other places we can go where we can win more souls for our dollars and efforts?” This is a valid question that needs to be addressed. Obviously, in our priority to reach the unreached we do not mean to imply that we should discontinue all efforts to reach the under-reached. There are, however, some very important reasons buttressing our placing priority on the unreached people groups of the world.

First, a specific effort to reach unreached peoples works toward the fulfillment of God’s covenant with Abraham: “…in you, all the families of the earth shall be blessed” (Gen. 12:3 ESV emphasis mine).
Secondly, in Psalm 2:8 the LORD invites His Messianic Son who would come 1,000 years later to “Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage, and the ends of the earth your possession” (ESV). As we win some from every people group to Christ, we participate in the fulfillment of this invitation and promise which later, we discover, was being fulfilled as the non-Jews became “the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints” (Ephesians 1:18), according to Paul the apostle to the Gentiles.
Are you concerned about food production and the rampant hunger of so many people? Reaching the unreached peoples with the Gospel is a significant part of the answer to this problem. “Let the peoples praise you, O God; Let all the peoples praise You. Then the earth shall yield her increase; God, our God, shall bless us. God shall bless us, And all the ends of the earth shall fear Him” (Psalm 67:5-7 NKJV). Injustice, greed, and ignorance are key culprits in worldwide hunger. “The fallow ground of the poor would yield much food, but it is swept away through injustice” (Prov. 13:23 ESV).
A fourth reason is that we should put feet to our prayers. God wants to use us in working out the answer to our prayer. How often we have prayed (and rightly so), “…Hallowed be Thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven” (Mat. 6:9,10). The more people hallow God’s name and surrender voluntarily to obey Christ, the more God’s kingdom comes and His will is done on earth. This is what every true believer longs and prays for. This is what every believer should actively work for—some from every people group hallowing God’s name and doing His will.
The fulfillment of Christ’s desire and prayer is another reason to prioritize the unreached. Jesus said longingly, “…I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also…So there will be one flock…” (Jn. 10:16 ESV). Again, with great passion He declared, “My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations [people groups]…But you have made it a den of robbers” (Mark. 11:17 ESV). When we “fence” in the Lord’s House for our own people by privilege, preference, or neglect of others, we are in danger of becoming a pious “den of robbers” by withholding the Gospel from other people groups.
Sixth, obedience to the Great Commandment to love God with all our being and to love our neighbor as ourselves (Mat. 22:29) requires sharing the Gospel with the unreached peoples. How can we say we love them when we withhold the Gospel from them? Some of the unreached peoples are our future brothers and sisters in the Lord who cannot be born into the family until someone loves them enough to share the Good News. Will we? What if no one had shared the Gospel with us and we were still on the road to hell?

Full surrender to Christ as the risen Lord must surely result in prioritizing the unreached peoples. When Jesus showed Himself to His disciples in Galilee before ascending into heaven, He boldly declared that “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations [ethne; people groups], baptizing… teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always…” (Mat.28:18-20 ESV). Can we say we truly surrender to Christ’s authority as the resurrected Lord of heaven and earth if we do not take seriously this His last command? Is there anything in our lifestyle and weekly schedule that indicates His priority is our priority? How can we confidently claim His presence if we do not accept His priority?
An eighth reason to prioritize the unreached peoples is the privilege to participate in hastening the return of Christ. Jesus prophesied: “And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations [ethne; people groups], and then the end will come” (Mat. 24:14 ESV, emphasis mine). Peter urged us to be a people “…waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God…” (II Peter 3:12 ESV). The more weary and vexed we become with things as they are, the more active we should be in hastening the return of the King by spreading His good news, especially among those people groups who have never heard.
And there is still more! Prioritizing the unreached peoples brings glory to God and increases the praise and reward to Christ for His suffering as the Lamb that was slain. Paul reveals that it is the inclusion of the Gentiles (the unreached peoples) in the people of God, the church, that God will use to reveal His manifold wisdom to the rulers and authorities in heavenly places for His glory throughout the ages to come (Eph. 3:8-10,21). Christ as the slain and glorified Lamb will receive a song of praise in heaven by those He ransomed from “…from every tribe and language and people and nation [ethnos; people group]… (Rev. 5:9; 7:9,10 ESV).

Ten solid reasons for prioritizing the unreached peoples of the world. I am sure there are more. However, love doesn’t need a lot of reasons…love for Christ and love for future brothers and sisters in the Lord is reason enough. If we were yet among the unreached and hadn’t heard of Christ, wouldn’t we hope someone would love us and put a priority on sharing Christ with us?
With so many needs and opportunities in the world and with so few workers and limited resources, why focus on unreached people groups who often seem resistant to efforts to win them to Christ?
Shouldn’t we prioritize peoples who are more open? This is a question seldom verbalized but which lingers in the back of our minds. Wouldn’t it be better to work where we can get “more bang for our bucks, more souls for our silver, and more disciples for our dollars”? We almost shudder to think of the question, yet it haunts us nevertheless.
Is there a case to be made, then, for prioritizing the unreached people groups? I think there is. But first, what is a people group? And what is an unreached people group?
According to missiologists, a people group is “….a significantly large grouping of individuals who perceive themselves to have a common affinity for one another because of their shared language, religion, ethnicity, residence, occupation, class or caste, situation, etc. or combinations of these.”
An unreached people group (UPG), then, is “a people group within which there is not an indigenous community of believing Christians able to evangelize this people group.” (Perspectives on the World Christian Movement, ed. by Winter and Hawthorne)
Missiologists classify UPGs as being less than 5% Christian and less than 2% evangelical. They are sometimes Bible-less peoples; they are always church-less peoples.
There is a Scripture that, I think, points to the importance of prioritizing unreached peoples: “Deliver those who are drawn toward death And hold back those stumbling to the slaughter. If you say, ‘Surely we did not know this,’ Does not He who keeps your soul, does He not know it? And will He not render to each man according to his deeds?” (Proverbs 24:11,12 NKJV)
Dare we hold back due to our love of comfort, family, and friends while others, having never heard of Christ, stumble in spiritual darkness toward death in hell forever?
Shall we remain silent because we fear the potential dangers of disease and enemies of the Gospel?
Can we plead ignorance in view of the wealth of information available today about unreached peoples? Can we honestly say, “We did not know about the spiritual needs of close to half of the world’s population in approximately 6,000 unreached people groups?
He who keeps your soul and mine, does He not know our “reasons”? What shall we say on the Judgment Day if in our businesses we have strategized to outsource work to other countries in order to turn a better profit, yet we have not worked as creatively to spread the Gospel in those countries?
How can we rejoice in the purchase of an inexpensive product, turn it over to see that it was made in China or Indonesia or Japan but fail to breathe a prayer for workers to go to the unreached people groups there? Can we honestly say, “Surely we did not know this”?
If we would drive by an accident along the highway and suddenly discover that a family member was involved, surely we would come to a screeching halt in order to rally around them. We would be motivated with urgency to action, to sacrifice, to courageously face any danger or discomfort in order to rescue them.

Why prioritize unreached people groups? They are our future brothers and sisters. “…how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach, except they be sent?…” (Romans 10:14,15)