What Are Frontier People Groups?
If people groups are distinct in their language, culture and ethnicity, then what are frontier people groups? Here is how the Joshua Project defines them[1]:
- an Unengaged People Group (UPG)
- with virtually no followers of Jesus and
- no known movements to Jesus
- still needing pioneer cross-cultural workers
Frontier people groups don’t know what prayer to God looks like, they’ve never heard the name of Jesus and they have the most barriers between them and the Good News. Joshua Project estimates that half of these groups (nearly 5,000 of them) are actually concentrated in just 35 groups.[2]
Pray 10/40 says this: “Frontier people groups are significant because there is very little church foundation within the people group for outside missionaries to build on, so FPGs still require pioneer cross-cultural missionaries. People groups that are more than 0.1% evangelical Christian have churches that outside workers can work with to help the gospel spread within that people group.”[3]
With all of these challenges, it might be easy to think there is little hope of taking the best news of the world to them. But Jesus would not have commanded us to make disciples of all nations if there were not a way to do so.
At GFA World, we train, equip and send national missionaries to some of the world’s most impoverished and difficult places. We are well aware of the challenges facing missionaries today. GFA seeks to remove as many barriers as possible between the missionary and the people to whom they are being sent. By training those with a heart for missions who already know the language and culture, the two biggest obstacles are out of the way. This is a very effective model.
You can help train up and send missionaries to the places where the Good News is most needed, where it has likely never been heard before. For just $30 each month, you can support a missionary and pray regularly for God’s calling on their life. You can choose a man, woman or family who is ready to be used by God.
You may not be able to go to these remote places yourself. Likely the language, geographical and cultural barriers are extensive for someone in the West. But God has servants right in those countries who want to go and invite people to receive the free gift of salvation only available through Jesus Christ. You can be the sender of the sent, the connection God always intended for the body of Christ.
Learn how GFA World is making disciples of all nations![1] “Frontier Unreached Peoples.” Joshua Project. Accessed July 30, 2023. https://joshuaproject.net/frontier.
[2] Ibid.
[3] “Frontier People Groups: The Ultimate Guide.” Pray 10/40. Accessed July 30, 2023. https://pray1040.com/the-ultimate-guide-to-frontier-people-groups/.