What is a Frontier People Group?

You will encounter the phrase “Frontier People Group” throughout this guide. Here is what it means — and why it matters.

A people group is a distinct community of men and women who share a common language, culture, and identity. The world contains thousands of them — from the Wolof of Senegal to the Hui of China, from the Brahmin communities of India to the Najdi Arabs of Saudi Arabia. Each one is precious to God, and each one deserves the opportunity to hear the Gospel.

A Frontier People Group is one where fewer than 1 in 1,000 people — less than 0.1% — follow Jesus Christ, and where there is no established, growing Christian community capable of sharing the Gospel with the rest of that group without outside help. In practical terms, this means that the vast majority of people within that group will live their entire lives without ever encountering a follower of Jesus, reading a Bible in their own language, or hearing the good news in a way that makes sense within their culture and world.

Today, around one quarter of all humanity — approximately 1.9 billion people — lives within Frontier People Groups. These are not small, obscure communities. They include some of the world’s largest ethnic populations, many of them Muslim, Hindu, or Buddhist by background, and many living in the great cities that this guide focuses on.

The term does not imply that these people are hostile or unreachable. It simply means they are, as yet, unreached — and that without intentional, Spirit-filled prayer and mission, the Gospel is unlikely to reach them naturally.

This is precisely why we pray.

Each day’s Frontier People Group Focus section names one specific community and invites you to intercede for them by name — trusting the God who declared:
“Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage.” (Psalm 2:8)

For further information visit:

• www.joshuaproject.net/frontier
• www.globalfrontiermissions.org