As followers of Christ, we are called to participate in the Great Commission—the mandate given by Jesus to “go and make disciples of all nations” (Matthew 28:19). This commission echoes throughout Scripture.

From the beginning, God’s heart has been set on redeeming people from every tribe, tongue, and nation. In Genesis 12:3, God promised Abraham that through him, “all peoples on earth will be blessed.” This promise was reiterated to the patriarchs and prophets, culminating in the coming of Christ, who declared, “This gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come” (Matthew 24:14).

The book of Revelation paints a glorious picture of the fulfillment of this promise, with a multitude from every nation, tribe, people, and language standing before the throne of God, worshiping Him (Revelation 7:9). This vision serves as a powerful reminder that God’s redemptive plan encompasses the entire human race. It is our privilege and responsibility to participate in this grand mission.

When we read “all nations” in places like Matthew 24:14 or Matthew 28:19, we read the word “nation” as a country. However, the original word in the Greek is “ethne,” which can be translated as “people group.” When we read those texts with this in mind, the question becomes, “What people groups have not been reached?” These are called unreached people groups.

An unreached people group (UPG) is a distinct ethnic or cultural group in which less than 2% of the population is Evangelical Christian, and there is no indigenous community of believing Christians capable of evangelizing the rest of the group. These groups are often isolated from the influence of the gospel, either geographically, culturally, or linguistically.

UPGs are not defined by political boundaries or national borders; instead, they are identified by their unique cultural and linguistic characteristics. Many of these groups have little or no access to the gospel.

According to the Joshua Project, an organization dedicated to tracking and engaging UPGs, there are currently over 7,000 unreached people groups in the world, comprising approximately 3.2 billion individuals. This staggering number represents nearly 42% of the global population with little or no access to the life-changing message of the gospel. These are not merely numbers; they represent precious souls created in the image of God, yet living in spiritual darkness without access to the hope and salvation found in Christ.

For many of us, we know several churches within our area. For those in unreached places, it is highly unlikely they’ve interacted with a follower of Jesus, let alone heard the gospel. Romans 10:14-15 says:

“How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!”

As the body of Christ, we have a sacred responsibility to respond to the Great Commission and take the gospel to the ends of the earth. Reaching UPGs is not the burden of a few dedicated missionaries or organizations; it is a calling that every believer must embrace with passion and urgency.

The impact of reaching an unreached people group extends far beyond the individual souls that come to know Christ. When the gospel takes root in a community, it has the potential to transform entire cultures and societies.

Furthermore, as new believers are discipled and equipped, they become agents of transformation within their own communities. They can contextualize the gospel message in a way that resonates with their cultural context, breaking down barriers and facilitating the spread of the good news far better than an outsider.

The global Church has a vital role to play in this endeavor. Through prayer, financial support, and sending missionaries, we can partner with indigenous believers and organizations to reach the unreached. It is a collective effort that requires the mobilization of resources, talents, and a deep commitment to the Great Commission.

As we consider the urgency of reaching the unreached, let us be reminded of Jesus’ words: “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest” (Matthew 9:37-38, ESV). May we be a people who answer that call, driven by a love for God and a desire to see all nations come to know the saving grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.

The post UPGs: What it Means and Why it Matters first appeared on Pray For Indonesia.

Did you know that every year in March the island of Bali has a day of silence? Hari Raya Nyepi is a Balinese holiday that occurs on the New Year of the Bali Hindu calendar. For one day a year, activity is restricted or stopped throughout the entire island. Lights are turned off or dimmed, the airport closes, the ferry stops, and no one is allowed to be on the beaches or streets, even tourists. Usually tourists are allowed to move throughout their hotel but not allowed to leave the property. Many Balinese fast or take the day for self-reflection. 

A few days before Nyepi, rituals called Melasti take place at temples across the island. These rituals typically occur at or near the beach and cleanse certain objects that are spiritually significant for the temple. The month before Nyepi starts, each area works diligently to create giant statues, often of demons, called Ogoh-Ogoh and parade them through the streets. The statues are later burned as a way to cleanse the island of evil spirits. The day after Nyepi, the Balinese people visit family and friends and ask for forgiveness for any sins from the prior year. 

“How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!” Romans 10:14-15

Ways to pray for the Balinese people:

• Pray that the Balinese would realize their need for a Savior to forgive sins and that rituals can never remove sins
• That they would experience the power of Jesus Christ over evil spirits
• Pray that Balinese Christians would have opportunities to share the Good News of Jesus with their communities

The post Nyepi – Bali Day of Silence first appeared on Pray For Indonesia.

The Jawa Mancanegari people are an unreached people group in East Java. They number over 21,000,000 with only about 1% identifying as Christian. This group of Javanese is referred to as those “outside the kingdom,” meaning the Javanese outside the past kingdom of Yogyakarta. Historically, the Jawa Mancanegari have made a living through rice farming, as well as corn and sugarcane crops. However, urbanization of the island of Java has led to less agricultural areas and more businesses and factories.

Mixed Religions

Though the majority of the Jawa Mancanegari people identify as Muslims, their religion tends to be a mix of Islam, Hinduism, sacrificing animals for Eid al Adha, and other animistic beliefs. Many follow the traditions of Islam, praying five times a day, fasting during Ramadan, and avoiding pork and alcohol, among others. Though they hear the Qur’an and call to prayer in Arabic, most don’t understand what they are hearing. They learn from the local mosque leader’s teaching.

Aspects of other religions are frequently present as well. Many villages hold wayang puppet shows at celebrations which tell stories depicting certain Hindu gods. Some villages will regularly sacrifice a cow as a way to cleanse the village. Often, people will turn to a shaman/witch doctor if they or a loved one are sick instead of going to a traditional doctor or clinic.

Baby Celebrations

One cultural tradition, called Tedak Siten, is a major milestone in the life of a new baby. Up until the child is seven months old, the baby is not allowed to touch the ground. When they turn seven months, a large celebration is held with many steps.

First, they are set on seven plates of rice of different colors which symbolizes the various stages of the child’s life. Then, they are helped to climb a ladder, which symbolizes walking through life courageously. The child is then set in a chicken cage with various items such as money, books, jewelry, and rice and everyone watches to see which item the child moves toward. The item they choose symbolizes what the future holds for that child. If they choose money, they will be rich. If they choose books, they will be scholarly. 

“And he said to them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.” Luke 10:2

How to pray for the Jawa Mancanegari people:

• Pray for more workers among this people group – 21,000,000 means lots of people are needed
• For local believers to share boldly with their communities
• Pray for Jesus to appear in dreams and visions to the Jawa Mancanegari people
• For church planting and disciple making movements to start and spread throughout this group

The post Pray for the Jawa Mancanegari People first appeared on Pray For Indonesia.

The Bajau people are a small, sea-dwelling people found in Eastern parts of Indonesia and other nearby countries. Because they constantly move around and live in their boats, called lepa-lepas, they are often referred to as “Sea Gypsies”. There are a few groups of Bajau in different areas that have settled into stilted over-water houses.

The Bajau make a living selling fish and other sea creatures which they catch through free-diving. In fact, they are considered the best free-divers in the world, able to hold their breath underwater for up to ten minutes. When they dive, they typically use wooden goggles and wooden spear guns, both hand made. In fact, the creation of the aquatic people in Avatar: The Way of Water was partially influenced by the Bajau lifestyle. 

Bajau are considered a frontier people group, meaning no known effort is being made to reach them. They are 99.9% Muslim, and because of their lifestyle, they rarely have formal education. This means they are generally illiterate and need audio versions of the Bible. A few portions of the Bible have been translated into the Bajau language, but a lot of translation work is still left. Another challenge with reaching the Bajau is that they frequently relocate with the changing tides and seasons. This makes initial contact and follow-up extremely difficult.

“To open their eyes, so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in [Jesus].” Acts 26:18

How to Pray for the Bajau People:

• Pray for access to medical care. Many Bajau experience decompression sickness (“the bends”) as they try to free-dive for longer periods of time and resurface quickly.
• For contact to be made with the Bajau people.
• Pray for translation work in the Bajau language.
• Pray that Jesus would appear in dreams and visions, revealing Himself as the true Savior.

The post The Bajau People – Sea Gypsies first appeared on Pray For Indonesia.

“At the same time, pray also for us, that God may open to us a door for the word, to declare the mystery of Christ” Colossians 4:3

The Banjar people of Indonesia live primarily on the island of Borneo, though some live in Malaysia as well. They are almost entirely Muslim and considered an unengaged, unreached people group. Prior to the entry of Islam into their region in the 1500s, they were part of a Hindu kingdom and many animistic aspects still remain in the culture. The Banjar people primarily work in agriculture, with much of their daily activities revolving around local rivers. They are also known for their unique batik fabric, known as Sasirangan. 

According to Joshua Project, work has begun recently to translate the Bible into the Banjar language, starting with the book of Luke and other Bible stories in 2020. Also in that year, over 300 people signed up to pray for the Banjar people. People started noticing spiritual changes among this UPG. A missions agency then came to this area to train believers in church planting principles. There is now an app that the Banjarese can download to read scripture in there language. However, there is still a long way to go to get the whole Bible in the hands of each Banjarese individual.

Pray for:

• The physical needs of the Banjar people to be met
• Progress to continue quickly with Bible translation work
• Believers in nearby areas to boldly share with the Banjar people
• Open doors for workers to enter the Banjar communities

Thank you for praying for the Banjar people! We are expectant that God will continue to move among this unreached people group. We continue to pray that many will get the hear the Good News of our Savior and place their faith in Him.

The post Pray for the Banjar People first appeared on Pray For Indonesia.

While visiting him, they played an audio version of Genesis 1 for Arif. As he listened to the creation story, he became emotional, grabbing his prayer beads and repeating some of the words he heard in the story. Clearly, the Holy Spirit was moving in Arif’s heart. Ed and Sandy hope to return soon to give Arif a little speaker with more Bible stories and one day study the scriptures with him.

Please pray for: 

• Arif’s sight to be miraculously restored – doctors have done all they can to help
• An opportunity to study the scriptures with Arif and those around him
• That Arif would put his faith in Jesus
• Progress among this unreached people group

The post Blind Man Hears Creation Story first appeared on Pray For Indonesia.

The Minangkabau people are traditionally a matriarchal society with multiple relatives living in one large house, called Rumah Gadang. Each family in the house would be descended from one female ancestor. As a matriarchal society, property is passed down through the mother to successive generations instead of the father. However, as society has modernized over the years, the culture is slowly shifting away from this to pass down through the father.

Marriage is usually orchestrated by the parents of two individuals when they have reached the ages of 13, 14, or 15. Divorce often quickly follows, and later on successive marriages. It is not uncommon for an individual to have had several marriage partners by the time they are a legal adult.

Ways to Pray for the Minangkabau People

• Please pray that the Minangkabau people would find new ways to provide for their families as cities around them continue to modernize and farming becomes less popular.
• Pray for open doors for workers to enter the Minangkabau communities and share the Good News.
• That any Minangkabau believers would be emboldened to share with their communities and protected from harm and persecution.
• Pray that Jesus would appear in dreams and visions to the Minangkabau people and the Holy Spirit would begin to soften hearts toward the gospel.

The post The Minangkabau People of Western Sumatra first appeared on Pray For Indonesia.

When most people hear the word “Java” they immediately think of coffee. This is because a lot of coffee comes from the island of Java in Indonesia.

Java is one of the largest islands in Indonesia (out of 17,000!). Even though it is roughly the size of Tennessee, 56% of the the population of Indonesia lives on Java. That’s about 152 million people! Think about half the population of America living in Tennessee!

There are many people groups living on the island of Java but the largest are the Javanese and the Sundanese. The Sundanese are the largest unreached people group in Indonesia.

What if Java was covered with prayer by saints all over the world? If there was a movement of God on this island, most of Indonesia would be exposed to the gospel!

Join us in praying for the island of Java today.

Pray for Javanese believers

The Javanese are the largest people group in Indonesia. They are predominately Muslim, but are considered reached because there are around 9.44% evangelicals. Most of the Javanese Christians live in the large cities. Pray for these brothers and sisters in Christ to abide in Jesus and grow in their faith. Pray they would have boldness to share the hope they have in Christ with their families, friends, coworkers and neighbors. Lord, we want to see more harvesters sent out from the Javanese people to reach other UPGs in Indonesia!

Pray for the Sundanese

Sunda is the largest UPG in Indonesia with around 38 million people located in West Java. Only 0.05% are evangelicals with the majority being Muslim. The Sundanese are known for their kindness and believe that having the Sundanese character is the best path of life.

Pray for:

• The Sundanese to walk in the Light, confess their sins, and be cleansed from all unrighteousness by the blood of Jesus (1 John 1:7-9)
• Boldness for the Sundanese believers and church planters to proclaim the gospel and disciple others
• Perseverance and strength for Sundanese who are being persecuted for their faith in Jesus

Pray for Jakarta and Surabaya

Jakarta is the largest city (and capital) in Indonesia located in West Java. Surabaya is not as known but it is the second largest city located in East Java. There are around 3 million people in Surabaya. Pray for unity among churches in these large cities. Ask God to help believers understand the Great Commission and be bold in sharing the gospel with those who don’t know Christ in these cities.

Pray for those from other islands living in Java

Many people from all over Indonesia come to Java to find work. Most of them live in the large cities of Jakarta and Surabaya. There are Indonesians from many of the 240 unreached people groups coming to this island. Pray for these Indonesians to have an opportunity to hear the gospel in Java. Pray that God would connect them to Christians who would disciple them and teach them how to have a relationship with Jesus. Ask God to send these believers back to their people groups to lead many of their people to Him.

The post How to Pray for Java first appeared on Pray For Indonesia.

However, one day I got to hear the story of a man who was born and raised in Kazakhstan and was a Muslim background believer. One day when he was walking the streets he heard a man speaking about Jesus. He had never heard this name before and was interested in learning more about who Jesus was. As he learned more about who Jesus was he eventually became a believer. When he finished sharing his story I felt God speak to me and tell me that He is the One True God and that if I were to tell people about Him, they would believe in God and stop worshiping their false idols.

God Opened My Heart to the Nations

That was when God completely changed my life. He opened my eyes to the world, my heart to the nations, and gave me a vision of telling others about Jesus who wouldn’t have the opportunity to hear otherwise. God forever changed my heart and as I learned more, I began to explore ways to go to the unreached so that they would have an opportunity to hear about Jesus.

As I worked to finish my degree, my heart continued to grow in desire to move overseas to tell others about the One True God. I didn’t know when I would go, what that would look like, or where it would be, so after I graduated I taught 3rd grade for two years.

As much as I loved teaching, I still felt God calling me to drop everything and go to the nations, and I couldn’t ignore Him. However, this was a very difficult decision for me to make. Ultimately, what led me to leave teaching was Jesus. Jesus had a career in carpentry, but He left his career to do full time ministry when he was older. Knowing this, I thought to myself that if the example that Jesus gave was to leave His career to do ministry, I should be willing to do the same.

Being Led to Indonesia

With that, I knew that I wanted to go in a way that was worthy of the Gospel, so while I was teaching, I also was a part of a missions training program. Through this program is where I learned about Indonesia and how it’s the fourth most populous nation and the largest Muslim country. While Indonesia is a spiritually dark place, they are very spiritually open to hearing and learning more about Jesus. There are millions of people here who are hungry to hear about Jesus.

With the millions of unreached people in Indonesia, I realized that the harvest was plentiful but the workers were few. There are 275 million people here who still worship false gods and need to hear about Jesus. I knew there was a great need there and wanted Indonesians to be represented around the throne of God in heaven one day (Revelation 7:9-10). That’s why I chose to move to Indonesia and be a worker among the lost. I went because God showed me the need of these people and not because I felt a specific calling there. Ultimately, I feel called by God to live a life honoring Him and sharing about Him wherever I live and whoever I am among. In this season of life it’s been living in Indonesia.

~M.

The post Letters from Laborers: God Forever Changed My Heart first appeared on Pray For Indonesia.

Guilt From Murder

When Ronnie was younger, he went to another island in Indonesia, about 3 days boat ride to the west. He wanted to find a new opportunity there. He found a job as a security guy in a palm oil tree plantation in the deep woods. Ronnie worked there for several years. The environment where he worked at was very tough. He had to face people with harsh character and also people who tried to steal the crops.

In one of his working shifts, he got into a fight with someone who tried to rob him in the woods. He killed the guy. Though he was trying to defend himself, this situation had really traumatized him and made him feel guilty. Knowing that the gang of the person he killed was looking for him, he went back to the island where he was from and hoped to be able to start a new life.

Years had gone by. While he was able to find another new job and get married, he was still haunted by the fact that he had killed someone. He lived with his trauma and guilt and tried do good and practice religious rituals but he never felt peace.

A Christian Shares about Hope

In late 2019, while Ronnie was resting on the side of the road, he was visited by a Christian. This Christian person was a local taxi driver who was also a ministry worker doing outreach. The two later introduced themselves. This started a new friendship for Ronnie and this Christian. Few follow up meetings later, Ronnie shared the spiritual burden and the guilt that had been bothering him for years.

This new Christian friend then shared the truth about redemption in Christ. He told Ronnie that because of sin we will never be able to “made right” again before God unless we accept Christ and believe in Him as our God and Savior. Through His sacrifice on the cross, He has made us clean. The truth that Ronnie had just heard gave him a new hope. On that same day he gave his life to Jesus. He was forgiven of all his sin and found freedom in Christ.

Since that day, Ronnie has slowly felt better and experienced peace that he had never felt before. He was baptized in the river near his house, and also shared this good news to his wife. She also became a new believer!

Becoming a Fisher of Men

Now Ronnie has just celebrated his third Christmas as a follower of Christ. He has become a fisher of men, and actively partners with a group of Christian field workers in the area to bring Gospel to the lost. The area where Ronnie lives has less than 1% Christian with a population of 2.3 million people. The majority population in this area have come from another island where it is known to be a hard people group to reach and the mission has been engaged for almost 180 years with very minimal fruit.

Pray for Ronnie to continue to grow in his love for Jesus and be used by God to reach many Muslims in this area. Pray for the gospel to spread forth among this people of 2.3 million!

“Yet God, in his grace, freely makes us right in his sight. He did this through Christ Jesus when he freed us from the penalty for our sins. For God presented Jesus as the sacrifice for sin. People are made right with God when they believe that Jesus sacrificed his life, shedding his blood. This sacrifice shows that God was being fair when he held back and did not punish those who sinned in times past, for he was looking ahead and including them in what he would do in this present time. God did this to demonstrate his righteousness, for he himself is fair and just, and he makes sinners right in his sight when they believe in Jesus.” Romans 3:24-26

The post Muslim Man Burdened with Guilt Finds Freedom in Christ first appeared on Pray For Indonesia.