Believing God for Unreached People Groups

“The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.”

You don’t measure yourself by your success but by the unfinished task.

What we believe shapes our priorities and determines how we live.

We believe, as the founders of our Fellowship did, that our Lord commands us to proclaim His gospel and establish His church in all the world. We also believe, as our early leaders did, the Lord’s promise that His Spirit would empower us to accomplish that mission.

Recent statistics reveal that the worldwide Assemblies of God now numbers 65 million. We rejoice in the church growth that has taken place in the last 100 years. Yet we know, as former Assemblies of God World Missions Executive Director Loren Triplett said, “You don’t measure yourself by your success but by the unfinished task.”

More than 4 billion people have not yet had an adequate witness of our Lord’s saving message. The purpose of AGWM is “so all can hear.” We must pay any price to keep fulfilling that purpose.

I recently preached at a new church plant in Istanbul, Turkey. Among those in the small congregation were 22 Muslim visitors. As I was sharing the message of salvation, the Islamic call to prayer rang out over the city. Although the call to prayer sounded in our ears, the visitors remained seated, listening attentively. The contrast was almost overwhelming. The message of Christ drowned out the Islamic call to prayer.

Several years ago I shared Christ with a Buddhist from Mongolia, and he became a believer. Many Hindus heard the gospel and several came to faith when I preached in Mumbai, India. At the request of a new believer in another location, I participated in a renaming ceremony during which he took a Christian name. This brother wanted this new name so he could be a witness in his community. In Africa, I have preached to animists who forsook their beliefs to receive Christ. In Europe, I have often shared the gospel with people bound by secularism and a Christless Christianity.

Every day AGWM personnel around the world confront people trapped in Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, animism, spiritism, Christless Christianity, and secularism. However, almost 3 billion people who adhere to the three largest pagan religions — Islam, Hinduism, and Buddhism — live in places that are difficult to reach with the gospel. The descriptive term for those who are not easily accessible to the gospel is Unreached People Groups or UPGs. Read more