According to the US Center for World Mission (www.uscwm.org/the-call/the-unreached) "unreached people groups are those whose populations (which can range from hundreds of people to millions of people) contain only a very small percentage of people who follow Christ (2% or less). Typically, this small percentage is not sufficient to build and sustain a movement to(ward) Christ internally. Those who are part of an unreached people group have little-to-no opportunity to hear a clear presentation of the gospel -- one that is culturally intelligible to them. In this case, the gospel must be presented and lived out by people from outside their people group."
7,000 people groups - mostly living in the 10/40 window (northern Africa, Middle East, and spanning east throughout southern Asia). 82% of these peoples are the poorest in the world; 84% have the lowest quality of living in the world. Most are dominated by Islam, Buddhism, and Hinduism. In them is the least amount of investment by global followers of Jesus. Hundreds of thousands, millions, will likely not hear the gospel in their lifetimes.
ROMANS 1 and 2, and THE UNREACHED
In Romans 1:19-20, Paul explains that any human being can see from his/her environment that Someone he/she doesn't see exists and is the Creator/Fashioner of all there is. Any human being (who has sufficient, normal thinking capabilities) can perceive through what has been made that there is an Eternally Powerful and Divine Being whom they can't see. There is "intelligent design" in the created order, and it points to an awesome, uncreated, unseen God.
Many, knowing this, reject what they know and exchange this basic theological truth for anthropological lies; that is, choosing instead to worship the creation and craft images of worship that resemble human or animal figures.
In Romans 2, Paul continues. He explains that peoples who don't have a written copy of the Law of God (O.T. Torah) show that they have a (moral) law written on their hearts (C.S. Lewis called it "the Law of Human Nature"), an undeniable code of right (what should be done) and wrong (thoughts and actions which violate that code). By this code, men feel a sense of guilt and condemnation in their hearts.
The remedy for our unrighteousness (rejecting truth about God shown in nature, rejecting a righteous standard from God written in Law and in Conscience) is Jesus Christ, the perfect God who became Man and died to satisfy God's wrath against all unrighteousness of men.
The problem? Many of people caught in the sins of Romans 1 and Romans 2 never hear of Christ, an die without having an opportunity to understand the gospel and believe. They remain "unreached" while still condemned in their sin.
So...what does God do with them? If they were never tossed the life-ring, does God blame them for drowning in their sin?
IS THE ETERNAL, DIVINE GOD FAIR WITH ALL PEOPLE...AND EVERY PERSON?
It doesn't strike us as "fair" that God would fail to "toss the life-ring" to the unreached? Can't an all-powerful God -- who claims to love all people -- get that done? It appears that sometimes He doesn't. So what are we to think, or say, about this?
It is impossible for any one of us, or all of us together, to know accurately what God does with each human being who lives; that is, whether or not God has given each person a sufficient enough opportunity to know, and then respond to the truth. But here is what we do know, and have seen.
First, "the Judge of all the Earth" will do what is right with people under condemnation (Genesis 18:25). This is the conclusion Abraham came to as he and God were conversing on whether to "scorch-earth" Sodom and Gomorrah. God was willing NOT to do this if even a few people who worshipped Him could be found in the city limits. This means a couple of things, of course. (1) God had already planted a witness about himself within reach of the people of those cities. (2) God had already been patient. (3) God was willing to continue to be patient. The point - Biblical stories like this reassure us that when people are wiped out by God, it is not a sudden or rash act on his part. God waits longer than any of us would wait to execute His righteous judgment. When it falls, it is the right time and it is the right expression of His wrath.
Second, there are examples in Scripture of people who responded rightly to the truth that God revealed to them. When this occurred, God responded by getting more truth to them (e.g., Cornelius, Acts 10) so that their faith in Christ could occur. Some have argued -- to be sure from "silence" but nonetheless with weight - that God does this more than we can see or know about. How interesting that when Abram showed up in Palestine around 2100 BC, with a new faith in the true God, that he met a High Priest of the Most High in the land (i.e., Melchizedek) who was already ministering the things of God there! The point - God is perfectly capable of getting truth to people who respond rightly to the light they have. Missions initiatives will sometimes find this to be true when they come upon a new group.
Third, Scripture reminds us that there is no injustice or unfairness or partiality with God. His holy and righteous character will not permit Him to do anything but that which is fair and equitable with the peoples of the world, and the persons in the human family. We can simply say, with confidence, that God will "do what is right" in his role as the "Judge of all the earth.
OUR MARCHING ORDERS
Jesus said, "Go preach the good news to all creation, I will be with you in this." Rather than worrying about whether or not God will be fair with "those who have never heard," better that we become more passionate about being His ambassadors in our world (2 Corinthians 5:15-21). Whom have you begged, this week or in this past month, to be reconciled to God?
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