Gospel Need and Opportunity in South Asia

At a Glance:

Anonymous People Group in South Asia (PGA)

Population: 225 Million
% of Believers: Less than 1%
Dominant Religion: Islam

South Asian Spiritual Need

South Asians live in a land of great beauty and history. Their culture is complex and diverse because many cultures have blended into one unique and modern way of life. However, danger exists for any who would call themselves Christian.

In this region, which covers a vast geographical landscape, you will find 25 percent of the world’s unreached. South Asia is home to over 700 million Muslims who desperately need the gospel. Despite the immense need and opportunity, less than 5 percent of Christian missionaries labor in South Asia. The harvest is indeed plentiful in this region, but the laborers are so few.

Throughout South Asia, there is also a critical need for missionaries to share the gospel with Hindus as the number of unreached people groups in this part of the 10/40 Window is staggering. The International Mission Board estimates that almost 2,000 of the slightly more than 2,200 people groups in South Asia—representing far more than a billion individuals—are unreached. 

According to some estimates, there is, on average, only one Christian missionary for every 179,000 Hindu people in the world. This means that sending missionaries to Asia is absolutely vital to the overall mission of the church. Estimates show that more than 90% of the world’s Hindu people groups live in South Asia. The Muslim populations in this region are more traditional than in other parts of the world, strictly following orthodox Islam, whether Sunni or Shia. With only one Christian missionary for every 405,500 Muslims in the world and one for every 260,000 Buddhists, we are compelled to labor in South Asia until Christ is known among each of these established people groups.

A People Group in Need of Prayer

Within the broader context of the spiritual need in South Asia, there is a particular need and opportunity among the PGA. Even with some of the highest numbers of unevangelized individuals and people groups in any region of the world, the church is growing where it has sown the seeds. Though the PGA is unreached, the Lord is at work in a mighty way. When given the opportunity to hear and experience the truth, many Muslims in South Asia trust God through opposition, poverty, and other challenges to join the growing Spirit-led gospel movement that is transforming lives in this region. With a population of 225 million and over 98 percent of those individuals adhering to Islam, the need is immense, but so is the opportunity.

What Can You Do?

Prayer is the most powerful tool to reach the unreached, as we depend upon the Lord to regenerate the hearts of the lost and give hope to the hopeless. As we trust the Lord to work, we diligently seek to make use of the opportunities he has given us to preach the good news.

The unreached people groups in South Asia, specifically the PGA, need the gospel preached as God calls the nations to himself. By God’s grace, missions organizations like ABWE are investing in God’s harvest among this people group and other fields through their Open Initiative.

Watch more about the work being done among the PGA and in the broader area of South Asia.

Prayer Requests

• Pray for and support the Open Initiative South Asia project.
• Pray for the Spirit to work mightily among people groups who are adamantly opposed to Christian evangelism.
• Pray for the safety of missionaries and pastors who risk their lives for the sake of the gospel.
• Pray for the governments of these nations to remove or reduce restrictions for missions work.
• Pray for those lost and hopeless in the false teachings of Islam to find true hope and peace in Christ.
• Pray for more missionaries to go to South Asia for Christ.
• Pray for indigenous churches to thrive amid rampant persecution.

©2024 ABWE. Used with permission.