unreached: the zaza-dimli of turkey

while nathan and i have been in san fran, we have seen a lot of different people. its always amazing to me how many people can come together in one place. even more apparent than the skin colors and languages we hear is the variety of food available. greek. chinese. thai. irish. mexican. italian. etc. we are surrounded by the world. we can't help but talk about how incredible it is that people from all over the world come together here in the US.

all of this made me excited to blog about the unreached people group this week. i know i have missed a few weeks, but to me, this is one blog topic that i like to take quite seriously.

today, i ask you to join me in praying for the zaza-dimli people of turkey. the joshua project has identified them as one of the top 10 people groups needing to be reached. a people group that is a type of kurdish people, the zaza-dimli have their own dialect as well as their own "sect" of islam. shocking to me was the fact that, although they number over 1.1 million, the government of turkey doesn't recognize them, and will not assist in meeting their basic needs. additionally, there are literally no believers among them. there is no copy of the bible in their language. and while they have been identified as in need of missionaries, there seem to be none present.

would you join me today in asking our Father to reveal himself to these people? pray for believers to be willing to go, to learn the language and translate the bible so that these zaza-dimli might be able to read and know our great God. pray also for a mindset shift within the government, that He would help meet the physical needs of these people through the government of Turkey. pray the God would raise up a generation of these kurds that would worship Him as the one True God.

unreached: the algerians

i know i have missed the last few weeks, but i wanted to join together today to pray for the arabic-speaking algerians. they are one of the absolute least reached people groups, and need much prayer for workers to come. located in north africa, the algerians live- of course- in algeria. they are mostly sunni muslims, although there is a strong presence of a berber muslim fusion religion. the algerians number somewhere close to 24,912,000, with only .23% of those professing to be believers. while there has been some missionary activity in the last two years, the majority of the people are still without a knowledge of the one true Savior.

how can we pray for these people?

pray that God would awaken a desire in people to go here.

pray that God would give missionaries new ideas on how to share the gospel with the algerians.

pray for churches to be planted among the berber algerians, and for muslim algerians to be open to hearing about the gospel.

father, be with the algerians now. God would you please stir up courageous people to proclaim your gospel among these people? they are so many- why are there so few believers? lord, please bless those that are already working among them- give them creativity and wisdom as how to share you with those who need you most.

unreached: the japanese

would you believe that the largest unreached people group in the world is the japanese? i was pretty shocked as i was reading through some of the research. in japan, there are over 122,413,000 japanese, and only 1.2% claim to follow christ. wow! according to thejoshuaproject, the japanese are one of the most homogeneous people groups in the world. they are successful, live in family clusters like us in the states, and follow other religions such as shintoism and buddhism. yet most of them don't know christ. with a population size so large, it can be hard to reach out to many of them. yet with the devastation of the earthquake & tsunami, and with the abundance of business people traveling in and out of the country of japan, God has opened great doors for His gospel to be proclaimed.

join me in praying that God would continue to send laborers to this massive people group. they need to know the truth of the love of God!

Father, would you please being to soften the hearts of the japanese, and reveal yourself to them? would you raise up godly business people who, as they go and do business, would make disciples among the japanese and share your love with them? the number of the japenese is almost too high to understand, but God you created each of them in your image and have a plan for them. please remind us that you have a future for them as much as you do for us, and keep them on our hearts and minds this week. amen.

unreached: the arapaho in the usa

todays people group emphasis is in our own backyard. would you believe that there are unreached people groups here in our own country? it's true.
the arapahoe people group contain around 7000 people, only 2% of whom know christ. speaking english, they have the bible in their own message, yet they haven't heard. how can that be?
spend some time tonight praying that God would send someone to this people group. how can it be that someone that speaks our language and lives in our country doesnt know the God of exceeding joy?

father, we pray that you, lord of the harvest, would send laborers among the arapahoe people. god, they do not follow or know you, and yet they are our neighbors. teach us how to love our neighbors by praying and going. move among the arapahoe people and draw them unto yourself. 

unreached: the bedouin levantine in lebanon

alrighty ladies & gents, it's tuesday, and time to kick off this brand new feature!

to kick it off, i have selected a people group from one of my favorite countries- lebanon. i'll post later sometime about my experience in lebanon, but today i want to talk about the bedoiun levantine people who reside there currently.

the bedouin people live throughout lebanon, having migrated into the country from egypt by way of israel. these folks speak both arabic and eastern egyptian bedawi. there are approximately 46,000 bedouin calling lebanon home, and of these, less than 5% are known believers. in fact, the most of them consider themselves to be sunni muslims. the bedouins typically spend their lives as either nomads or farmers, both living mainly in desert areas.

while there is an arabic translation of the bible, there is no translation (that i could find) in bedawi. additionally, it can be hard to reach these people, since they live as nomads without the presence of many western conveniences like cell phones, the internet, or even a home address.

so what can we do? pray!

pray that the Lord of the harvest would send laborers to these people

pray that God would protect, encourage, and guide the few believers among these people, and that His light would shine through them

pray for someone(s) to be willing to translate the bible for them, or maybe even be willing to make a recording on an mp3 player to spread the love & message of christ among them, in their language

god, we ask that even now, you would raise up believers to send to lebanon. even if it is us, we ask you to reveal, convict, and lead people to minister to the bedouin in lebanon. prepare their hearts, and begin to draw them to yourself. you are the Father to the fatherless, and have prepared an eternal home for even the homeless. Lord, we do ask that you be with the believers that are sleeping even now among the bedouin. thank you for how your Word never returns void, and even these few have devoted their lives to serving you! give them strength, fill them with your love, and use them from within to reach this people group. please keep the bedouin on our hearts and minds this week, that we might pray for the harvest on the other side of the world.

as always, all the info & pictures in this special feature comes from the joshua project, unless noted elsewhere