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Unreached Peoples and Places

Define, Identify, and Strategize How to Reach the Unreached

Curated from lectures by David Platt
In partnership with Radical
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Course Introduction

About the Course

This course is designed to introduce Christians to the need of the unreached peoples and places around the world and to encourage believers to act and pray with boldness to see these people be reached for Christ. The main course videos will take around 40 minutes to complete, and additional explanatory videos are provided throughout for those who would like to continue investigating each topic.

About Dr. David Platt

David Platt serves as pastor at McLean Bible Church in Washington, D.C. He is the founder and president of Radical.

Books by David Platt include RadicalRadical TogetherFollow Me, and Counter Culture, as well as the following volumes in the Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary series: Exalting Jesus in MatthewExalting Jesus in JamesExalting Jesus in 1 & 2 Timothy and Titus, and Exalting Jesus in Galatians.

David Platt received his Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. Along with his wife and four children, he lives in the Washington D.C. metro area.

Defining the Unreached

When discussing the urgent need for Christians to take the gospel to the nations, we often hear the term unreached. But what does that term mean?

In this video, David Platt explains what it means for a people group to be classified as unreached.



Reflection Questions
  1. Respond to the following statement: “We shouldn’t be so concerned with the unreached, because there are lost people all around us.”
  2. Define the term unreached.
  3. List areas or countries you know of where large numbers of unreached people groups exist.

Identifying Unreached People and Places

After establishing a definition for the term unreached, we must then ask how many people groups and places fit this definition. For the sake of Christ’s mission, it is important to be able to identify where the greatest spiritual needs are.

In this video, David Platt helps us think through how to identify unreached peoples and places.



Reflection Questions
  1. What are the problems with the 2% threshold in terms of classifying the unreached?
  2. Why is it helpful to think of the unreached in terms of both peoples and places?
  3. We can easily become callous to large numbers and statistics. What are some practical ways we can remind ourselves that these are people created in God’s image, and that eternity is at stake?

A Strategy for Taking the Gospel to the Unreached

Now that we have learned a bit more about unreached peoples and places, how should we think about evangelizing and planting churches among them?

In this video, David Platt looks at Scripture to see how we should strategize for the sake of taking the gospel where Christ has not been named.



Reflection Questions
  1. Why is the contextualization of the gospel so vital when it comes to the unreached?
  2. What is the church planting strategy we see in the New Testament?
  3. Why must missionaries intentionally bridge ethnic barriers?

The Driving Ambition for Reaching the Unreached

There are multiplied millions who have little or no access to the gospel. When we understand the gravity of this devastating reality, we should be compelled to ask, How should I respond?

In this video, David Platt exhorts Christians to pray, give, go, and send workers until the day Christ returns.



Reflection Questions
  1. What makes the task of reaching the unreached so urgent?
  2. What should be our driving ambition as we go to the unreached?
  3. Getting the gospel to unreached people groups can be difficult and dangerous. Why is this mission worth giving our resources and, if necessary, our lives to?

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