Have you ever visited other regions of the country where people of your ethnicity and who spoke English  lived? There were probably some differences in accent, customs, world view, etc. They somehow did not feel like 'your people' nor did they accept you completely until you acquired some of their customs and local dialect.

Another area that defines your people group is your caste or social class, in some countries your profession or some other defining characteristic of your social group.

Lastly, what is your religion? For many people, religion is one of the primary ways they identify themselves with a group.

So a People Group is defined by language, ethnicity, region, social group and religion. See if you can define yourself in these terms and don't be surprised if the definition is not perfect; it is intended to be helpful in classifying people all over the world.

Exercise: How many people groups do you know of in our city? Are Koreans in our city the same as in Korea? Are North and South Koreans the same people group? How about Koreans in Japan?



Unreached and Reached People Groups

An unreached people group is one among which there is no indigenous community of believing Christians with adequate numbers and resources to evangelize their own people. They lack a church that has the numbers and strength to reach their own people. This is the situation for over 2.2 billion people in the world today.

A reached people group is one among which there is a viable local church capable of preaching the gospel to their own. Notice that this is different from stating that everyone is a Christian or 'saved'.

Material taken from That Everyone May Hear Copyright 1983 and Caleb Project's "Start 1" Discovering God's Global Purpose.





An excellent link to learn more about the 10/40 Window is the  AD 2000 and Beyond Movement (Missions to unreached peoples)    www.ad2000.org which has information on  the Joshua Project and the Adopt-a-People Clearing house program. Also specific info on peoples of the 10/40 Window. Another site is the Christian Information Network which offers additional resources, books, pamphlets, etc. they are at www.christian-info.com