We hear about the “unreached” in so many nations but what about the “unreached” in America? A group is considered “unreached” if that group of people has less than a 2% evangelical population. So how does America fair?

The Largest American “People Groups”

First of all lets talk about the top three people groups by population in America. According to the Joshua Project, the top three “American” people groups are…

American, US – 189,702,000

African-American  – 40,374,000

Americans US Spanish Speaking – 23,838,000

I believe that Americans US is meaning Americans of European descent. I believe that Spanish speaking Americans means not all Hispanics but those whose primary language is Spanish as seen in the graphic below.

(Click above image to enlarge and see full image on mobile.)

Out of these three populations… populations that have been in the Americas for several centuries, we see that those populations are Christian anywhere from between 80-85%. Evangelical population is at around 20-35%. I would believe it is lower for Spanish speaking Americans due to the influence of Catholicism.

The percent evangelical amongst these three large groups is VERY much higher than 2% as we can see. So, none of the three largest people groups in America would be close to the threshold of being “unreached” according to missiologists (people who study missions).

Unreached People Groups in America?

Yet, are there actual unreached people in America? In fact, YES! It may not be who you think though.

Many of these people come from more recent immigrant populations. These are communities who have strong culture and traditions yet come from an array of closed countries, closed cultures, and/or difficult to reach environments. They find themselves through different circumstances in America though. 

As you can see in the diagram below there is a MYRIAD of unreached people groups in America. Maybe they look different, eat different foods, or speak a different language. In fact, there are a whopping 97 unreached people groups that have come from all over the world to America.

(Click to above image to enlarge and see full image on mobile. To see the full list go to: https://joshuaproject.net/countries/US)

Notice the column inside the orange rectangle in the diagram above. The colored dot inside shows how reached these people are with Gospel. See below what different colors mean.

(Click above image to enlarge and see full image on mobile.)

It takes getting out of ones comfort zone to go to another nation. To reach these unreached people groups in America, it will also take leaving comfort zones. There is a harvest of the unreached in America but just like it takes focus, openness and intentional engagement to reach the unreached overseas, it takes those same qualities to reach unreached people groups in local communities in America or other parts of the Western world.

If you are in America and have any of these groups in your community, why not reach out to them, share the love of Christ and invite them into your lives? You never know how in even a small way God can use you to reach the unreached in your backyard.