From Our CEO

Dear Friends,

In this edition of Ethnos360 magazine, you’re going to read about unreached people groups in a part of the world you may find surprising — the Arctic.

My wife and I served with a people group in the Amazon rainforest for many years. It was hot, humid, buggy and isolated. But after reading about the challenges in the Arctic region, I think we had it pretty good by comparison.

Unreached people groups (UPGs) are found on every populated continent. Ethnos360 defines an unreached people group as a group of people who share the same language and culture and who lack adequate access to clear, culturally relevant teaching of the gospel in the language they know best and who do not have a mature, growing body of local believers. Today, there are roughly 6,000 such people groups around the world.

So, what’s keeping these groups unreached? Did you know that only three out of every 100 missionaries today go to an unreached people group? That means 97% of missionaries are serving people who already have a Bible in their language and established local churches they can attend. The financial picture is even more discouraging — less than 1% of all missions giving is directed toward reaching UPGs.

How can this be? How is it that we, as the body of Christ, are so disengaged from the very mission our Lord gave us?

Perhaps this is part of the reason: According to recent surveys, when asked about the Great Commission, only about 35% of Christians in North America know what it is. That means just one in three believers here is aware that Jesus commanded His disciples to go and make disciples of all nations. Unfortunately, awareness of the Great Commission is nearly the same in other regions of the world. And so, they wait …

Let’s rejoice, then, as we read about how God is reaching out to the Inuit of the Arctic region.

Yours in Christ,

Steve Sanford