Five Ways to Mobilize Your Church Members for Unreached People Groups

Over 6,000 unreached people groups exist in the world today. How do you motivate and mobilize the members of your church to participate in the global story of redemption among those unreached and least-reached people groups?

Let me suggest five ways:

1. Show them the grand story of Scripture. As Christopher J.H. Wright reminds us in his book The Mission of God, missions doesn’t exist because of the Bible. The Bible exists because of God’s mission. God has revealed His glorious, global story of grace through the pages of Scripture, and when we enter into that story, we can’t help but see that in the end all nations worship before the throne (Rev. 5), even those who have never heard Christ named among them (Rom. 15:21). If you want your church to grow in passion for unreached people groups, immerse them in the Bible, and show them God’s grand story.

2. Motivate them by grace, not guilt. It’s easy to fall into the trap of motivating people for missions by guilt. But guilt is paltry when compared to the grace of Christ. When we truly experience God’s grace and become passionate about His glory, we will want everyone to hear the good news! Show your people how undeserving they are, how gracious God is, and how glorious obeying His call can be.

3. Train them to pray. If there’s one thing I wish I had experienced more during my seminary and ministry training, it would be learning to pray from and alongside older, more experienced believers. Serving among unreached people groups requires dependence on God, and if we’re not praying, we’re not depending on God. If you want your church to be motivated and ready for ministry among unreached people groups, train them to pray. Let them see you pray. Pray alongside of them. Take them to pray with unbelievers.

4. Equip them to interact cross-culturally. God calls people from the city and the country and from all over to serve Him among unreached people groups. Giving your church members opportunities to interact with other cultures—even unreached peoples who have immigrated to your community—will prepare them to learn how to engage others, evaluate cultures, and examine their own.

5. Encourage them to pursue skills that will help them enter hard-to-reach places. Given that nearly half of unreached people groups in the world are Muslim-majority, it should not be surprising that most of these countries do not give out missionary visas. To enter countries where these unreached people groups live often requires job skills such as teaching, engineering, business entrepreneurship, medicine, and more. As your church members consider education and employment, encourage them to think about how their gifts and skills can fit into God’s global mission among unreached people groups.

*The author is an MTW missionary serving among Muslims. His name has been changed for security reasons.