This past week, one of our newest volunteers (Thanks Jim!) brought to our attention this poster being distributed by Joshua Project: https://joshuaproject.net/assets/media/handouts/our-final-calling-poster.pdf. Could this poster be true – that “4 in 5 of those living in Frontier People Groups (FPGs – one fifth of all humanity) live in the few hundred largest FPGs. If this is all true, a lot of us better download and print that poster.
(Note: Frontier People Groups (FPGs) are described by JoshuaProject as Unreached People Groups with estimated Christian Adherents less than or equal to 0.1% and without clear evidence of a sufficient gospel movement adequate to impact the whole group. There are surprisingly a large number, about 4,984 Frontier People Groups with a total population of 2,007,461,000. One-fourth (25%) of the world lives in FPGs and have almost no chance of hearing about Jesus from someone in their own people group. About HALF the population of all FPGs live in just 35 groups, each ten million and over in population. Get the prayer guide for the original 31 largest frontier groups from this Joshua Project link.)
What do you think of this chart? Does it help you comprehend any additional factors about the unreached or unengaged people? What factors seem confusing to you? Just click “Comment” and “fess up.” Let us know what you think of this chart.
I am grateful for the work Joshua project and others are doing to keep the unreached front and center. There is one thing missing from the chart, it should include the word “hearing people groups” – where the chart to describe unreached Deaf people groups, then it could pretty much just be a map of the globe. By God’s grace, there is a fresh movement of the Spirit towards Deaf peoples. We are talking about it often with friends across the missions spectrum through the Finishing the Task family. A Dear Ministry Coalition has been formed by some of the top Deaf leaders in the U.S. and globally and that will go much more public soon. Feel free to reach out if reaching Deaf people groups is a part of your calling.
Joshua Project is glad to offer this poster, but want to give credit to Robby Butler, Becky Lewis and others who actually created it. Hats off to them!
Thank you Doug for featuring this. I’ve been wondering whether there is enough interest to warrant printing it at double size for walls: 2’x3′
I also created a silent Prezi walkthrough for those interested, to carry a person through all the bits of information in order, for those who might enjoy or want to share it: https://prezi.com/view/PIpoAf9FnaZRNjueZ2Qn
To be honest, I am sorry that such a chart, with such a high level of misinformation not only exists, but has been so freely distributed.
Salvation is through faith alone, by grace alone, through Christ alone. Since that is true, then, by their own definition, if “the smallest circle, (the 10%) is made up of evangelicals who believe that the gospel brings salvation through faith in Christ”, then 90% of the world’s population is going to hell. Doesn’t matter what the majority false religion is in a country or region, they are going to hell. There are no such things as “nominal Christians” or “other Christians.” Every single person who falls within that category, no matter how we name it, is just as lost as any other non-believer and they will all end up in hell right next to each other.
With that as a basis for discussion, I take issue to how Europe is described. First, there are very few countries in Europe where the actual number of believers is 10%. In fact, in Poland, where I serve, the number is more likely 0.3% which is half the number of known believers in Pakistan. Yes, half. Take that 0.3% number and compare it with Poland’s own statistics on religion. In their lifetime, most people living in Poland are more likely to meet a Jehovah Witness, or even a Muslim than they are an evangelical Christian. That is just Poland. Other European countries have similar statistics but they go unnoticed because they are inconveniently outside of a specific geographic window. We need to stop defining the unreached by their false gospel as if those who have been raised in the context of one false religion will end up anywhere different than those from another. There are only believers and non-believers in this world, and only believers will join Christ for eternity. Do we really want to say that we are willing to neglect bringing the gospel to those who will not hear it if we don’t just because they fit outside of the statistical set we are trying to create a focus on?
https://WWW.YOUTUBE.COM/WATCH?V=4NCLX8R6T9I