Reach the unreached!
Some 1.3 billion Indians, 218 million Pakistanis and 117 million Indonesians never have heard the gospel.
GlobalRize is looking for friends and volunteers to share the gospel with unreached nations worldwide!
Thanks to our friends and volunteers, GlobalRize can tell more people the gospel in their own language, so that the least reached groups can also hear the glad tidings of the Lord Jesus.
Bring the gospel to the unreached.
Reach the unreached!
Some 1.3 billion Indians, 218 million Pakistanis and 117 million Indonesians never have heard the gospel.
GlobalRize is looking for friends and volunteers to share the gospel with unreached nations worldwide!
Thanks to our friends and volunteers, GlobalRize can tell more people the gospel in their own language, so that the least reached groups can also hear the glad tidings of the Lord Jesus.
Bring the gospel to the unreached.
Top 21 unreached nations
Top 21 unreached nations
(Mouse over a country for more information.)
Around 1.3 billion Indians have probably never heard the Gospel of the Lord Jesus, because they are part of an ethnic group with less than 5% Christians. GlobalRize wants to tell these people the gospel. The missionary organization welcomed 5,956 new Bible students in 2020.
#1. India
GlobalRize: 1.3 billion Indians need the Gospel
Around 1.3 billion Indians have probably never heard the Gospel of the Lord Jesus, because they are part of an ethnic group with less than 5% Christians. Hinduism is the most important religion in many Indian states where there is an anti-proselytizing law. Radical Hindu nationalists accuse Christians and Muslims of wanting the wholesale conversion of masses of Hindus. Christians are attacked, excluded and rejected by radical Muslims and Hindus, especially in the countryside. Thus, the police in the state of Karnataka prohibited a Christian group to come together, because they were thought to have been fraudulently converted. Yet, not everyone sees that in a purely negative light. According to Jan Dirk van Nifterik, director of the Help Persecuted Christians Foundation, the increasing persecution in India can be interpreted positively because it is precisely the growth of the church that provokes this resistance.
Caste System
In India, Christians are classified as being in the lowest ranks and social positions in the caste system. Bible student David stands firm at work under a cruel, sadistic boss through prayer, reciting Bible verses, and fasting. He writes, ‘Before I step into his office, I say Bible texts and prayers, in order to handle the situation.’
His experience in his neighborhood is better. ‘We sang praise songs and prayed to God’, he writes. ‘Our neighbors, Hindus, asked us if we would pray for a sick family member. We prayed for him and said that he would soon be sitting on his bike. And that happened.’
GlobalRize wants to tell the Gospel to unreached Indians, for example in the regional language Tamil, which is spoken by 60 million people; in Marathi, which is spoken by 72 million people; and in Nepalese, which 17 million Indians speak. The mission is already active in Hindi, that 422 million Indians speak; in Urdu, spoken by 51 million people; in Telugu with 74 million speakers. Punjabi is a spoken language that is used by 129 million Indians and Pakistanis.
House churches
Eighty percent of the 1,380,004,385 Indians are Hindu. There are about 66 million Christians. They have a need for evangelists and mission workers who can be trained at seminaries, Bible schools, and training centers for native workers. Church members are also trained in evangelism, as house churches play an important and effective role in this.
GlobalRize welcomes Indian Bible students
GobalRize wants to share the Gospel with people who have not yet heard it, such as the 1.3 billion Indians who probably don’t know the Gospel. The mission organization has 576,000 followers from India on social media. Out of those, 52,000 ‘Like’ messages or share them or reply to the page administrator. In 2020, GlobalRize was able to welcome 5,956 Indians to the Bible Course.
At the end of 2020, GlobalRize focused on inviting new Bible students especially from northern India where Hindus and Muslims live. In sixteen days, we had 815 new registrations from this region for the Bible courses. 85 of these received a mentor for their course after completing the first lesson.
#2. Pakistan
Huma, from Pakistan, is thankful for the work of GlobalRize
‘God used me last Christmas to share His Word.’
In Pakistan, there are about three million Christians out of a population of almost 221 million people, of whom 96 percent are Muslim. Almost 218 million Pakistanis have probably never heard the Gospel because they belong to a people group with fewer than 5% Christians. Pakistani minorities have been subject to frequent discrimination since the government’s policy of Islamization. That applies to Christians as well, although they are allowed to hold church services as long as they don’t bother anyone else.
Second-class citizens
Christians are treated as second-class citizens, have fewer educational opportunities, get only lower paying jobs or are jobless, such as 25-yearold Huma’s father who is a Christian. She writes with thankfulness, ‘God used me last Christmas to Share His Word.’
Blasphemy law
Whoever slanders Mohammed in this Asian country, receives the death penalty and whoever sullies the Koran, deserves, according to the blasphemy laws, life-term imprisonment. Extremists misuse the law to falsely accuse innocents, Christian and Muslim, and intimidate people who must uphold the law. Minorities are often persecuted and feel intimidated when violence is used against them. Officially, Christians are allowed to share the Gospel freely with their unreached countrymen, but they often do not dare to, out of mistrust of Muslims and fear of acts of revenge. On top of that, Muslims who turn to Christ are treated especially badly, because their family and neighbors cannot accept it.
Sharia
The fundamental Islam of the Taliban that has divided the country, has led to an increase in violence against religious minorities such as Christians, Hindus, Ahmadiyyas, and Shiite Muslims. Millions of Pakistanis live in poverty. The violence has cost thousands of lives and disrupted the lives of millions. It caused the abandonment of villages, and empty schools. In the meantime, children are instructed in the Koran and Islam in religious schools (20,000 in Pakistan). Women receive hardly any schooling, little freedom or rights, and are often victims of household violence. Social structures and traditional views make it difficult for Pakistani women to tell others the Gospel.
Bible course in Urdu
The most widely spoken language in Pakistan is Punjabi; the official national languages are English and Urdu, which are taught in school and used by the media. It is also spoken by the Muslim population in India, and by 65 million emigrated Pakistanis worldwide, as in Bangladesh, Saudi Arabia and the UK. It is the second language of 40 million people. People is Pakistan also use Sindhi, Pashto, Balochi, Kashmiri, Seraiki, Kurdistan, and Farsi. GlobalRize facilitates WhatsApp groups in Urdu and spreads the Gospel via Facebook pages in Urdu and Punjabi, languages which are also spoken in India. There are 322,000 Pakistani followers on social media. Every month 13,000 enter into a conversation with the administrators of the page, or Like or Share the posts. Last year 215 Pakistanis followed a GlobalRize online Bible course.
Keep on doing your work
Huma came into contact with GlobalRize in April 2017 through the BiblWord page, which also spreads the Gospel via the internet. She was unhappy and that made her want to learn more about Jesus Christ and His love, grace and forgiveness. ‘In Pakistan, we have many Christian pastors and leaders, but no one could tell me more about Jesus’, she writes.
Huma thanks God and GlobalRize because she has the feeling that God is working through the social media pages of this mission organization and through the people who do their work with a praying heart. She writes, ‘God bless you. Keep on doing your work for the Lord so that He can save more souls through your work.’
The Key
Huma writes to her mentor that she sent dozens of messages to Christians and to Christian Internet pages. ‘I was like a hungry little child looking for food.’ Huma received a message from GlobalRize and a mentor led her through the Bible course that she followed. ‘I want to serve God and glorify Him in life and death’, she testifies. Huma is now following the FGA Bible School, which was set up in 1967 by the Swedish missionary Sjoberg. She also runs the You Tube channel M k golum, Christ’s servant, where she talks about Christian books in Urdu. Huma wants to be a servant of God. According to her, the key to following Christ is obedience to Him, which we experience by giving ourselves over to the Holy Spirit, so that He can fill us and transform us into Christ’s likeness.
# 3. Indonesia
170 million Indonesians hardly have access to the gospel
Out of the 274 million Indonesians, 170 million have probably never heard the Good News of the Lord Jesus, because they belong to an ethnic people group with less than 5% Christians. These unreached people speak one of the more than 700 living languages such as Javanese, Sundanese, Madurese, Malay, Minangkabau, Buginese, Biak, Iban and Onin that are found in Indonesia. This number also includes the smaller indigenous languages found on Kalimantan and Papua (formerly called Irian Jaya) which contributes to the difficulty of spreading the Gospel. Only seven percent of the total population speaks the official language, Bahasa Indonesian.
Giving up
The main religion in Indonesia is Islam. Officially, the 33 million Indonesian Christians are allowed freedom of religion. Yet they are regularly discriminated and feel curtailed in their daily lives by radical Muslims on a local level, who carry out Islamic law with violence.
Permits for church buildings are, after long procedures, regularly denied and growing churches can be easily closed. Hindus and Muslims who become Christians, sometimes have to give up on their faith because of the pressure from family members and neighbors.
The Gospel preached by the way of life
‘Indonesia has six religions and believers love each other as members from one family’, writes Moses from Indonesian Papua, one of the 1.4 million followers of the Facebook page from GlobalRize. He feels that Indonesian Christians can go to church and that it is only on the Island of Java that they have to deal with restrictions regarding participation. ‘Christians proclaim the Word of God through the way they live’, says Moses. He has never heard of corrupt Christian leaders in Indonesia. The Papuan even believes that Muslims trust Christians more than Muslims among themselves
Moses learned a lot from the Indonesian BiblWord page (the Facebook page from GlobalRize, red.), that he came across on the internet and where 53,000 Indonesians react monthly. Twenty-eight Indonesians followed an online Bible course from GlobalRize in 2020. Moses thinks that there are more possibilities to reach his countrymen with the Gospel. ‘We can reach unreached Indonesians by offering friendship, education, or an English or music course.’
#4. Bangladesh
GlobalRize brings the Gospel to Bengalis in Bengali.
Bangladesh has almost 165 million citizens, of whom 85 percent are Sunni Muslim. Only 887,000 Bengalis are Christians, mainly descendants of Portuguese merchants. Their don’t have an easy life.
Muslim converts
In this Asian country, there are many Christian aid workers and missionaries, but they are not allowed to convert Bengalis to Christianity. Muslim converts suffer much at the hands of extreme Muslim groups. Bangladesh still has 162 million people who probably never have heard the Good News of Jesus Christ, because they belong to an ethnic group with fewer than five percent Christians.
GlobalRize brings the Gospel to Bengalis in Bengali, the country’s official language. Some non-Bengal Muslims speak Urdu, which is one of the languages in which GlobalRize is active. The mission organization has 339,000 Bengali followers on social media. Of these, about 6,000 react by liking, sharing or commenting on posts to the administrators of the page. In 2020, 1687 Bengalis followed a GlobalRize Bible course.
#5. China
Estimated 147 Million Chinese have not been reached with the Gospel
Out of a population of 1,439,323,77, there are 132 million Christians who live in atheistic China, that’s more than half the number of Christians in the USA (256 million). Since 2018, religious affairs fall directly under the Communist party, which is exerting power over churches more and more.
Believing in secret
President Xi Jinping wants to enforce his communist vision on all of the Chinese, on Christians and on other minorities; and so state and house churches are strictly monitored. Church leaders and members are sometimes arrested and churches destroyed.
Christians who used to be Muslim or Buddhist often believe in secret. It is difficult for them because family members and neighbors do everything possible to get them to denounce their Christian faith. In this Asian country, there are probably 147 million people who have not had any contact with the Gospel because they belong to an ethnic group with fewer that five percent Christians; a large amount of people that translates into a small percentage in relation to the total population of 1.4 billion.
The Great Firewall of China
China has different official languages such as standard Mandarin and standard Cantonese. Next to those are recognized languages such as English (in Hong Kong) and Portuguese (in Macau). Other important languages are Tibetan in Tibet, Uygur in Xinjiang and Mongolian in Mongolia. In the borderlands, people also speak Kazakh, Tajik, Kyrgyz, or Korean. GlobalRize has hardly any entry to China due to the ‘Great Chinese Firewall’, by which the Chinese government censures websites. The organization wants to reach people in China with the Good News of Jesus Christ more often, through a safe connection.
#6. Japan
‘In Japan, there are hardly any Christians left’
Japan is the largest country with unreached people that is open to missionaries. Reverend Koichi Mino from the Reformed Church is sounding the alarm about the decrease in the number of Japanese Christians who faithfully attend weekly services. He tells that the Japanese have freedom of religion: 89 million are Buddhist, 190,000 are Muslim and just one percent of the population is Christian.
Help needed
According to Reverend Mino, only 350,000 out of the 1.9 million Japanese Christians are active church members and that number is shrinking with 0.2 percent every year. ‘The churches in Japan need help with their missions work’, he sighs. ‘Many Japanese pastors came to belief during the 1970’s through Campus Crusade for Christ, but are now either retired or will be soon. At the same time, there are few families with children who are members of our churches, which are quickly aging. It would be wonderful if a missionary would come to do church planting.’
Returning Japanese usable
‘In the Netherlands, you see the declining numbers of believers, but in Japan there are hardly any believers at all’, says Reverend Takayuki Ashida. ‘We are asking for prayer for Japan and for help in the form of pastors and evangelists.’ These missionaries would be needed for the long term, since it takes time to learn the language and culture. Also Japanese who are returning to their country after becoming believers elsewhere would be of great use for spreading the Gospel to the almost 124 million least reached Japanese out of a population of 126 million who all speak Japanese.
Seisho no Kotoba
GlobalRize administers the facebook page ‘Seisho no Kotoba’, the Japanese BiblWord. The missions organization works in Japan in cooperation with the mission organization Pacific Broadcasting Corporation, which spreads the Gospel in Japan via radio, TV and internet. Every month around 2,000 Japanese react to the social media posts from GlobalRize. The organization has 6,800 followers on social media. Ten Japanese followed the online Bible course in 2020.
#7. Iran
Iranian youth are open to the Gospel
Christians who belong to the Armenian-Apostolic Church and the Assyrian Church, Zorastrians and Jewish Iranians are, according to Article 13 of the Iranian Constitution, the only recognized religious minorities in Iran. There are five seats in Parliament that are reserved for these groups. These four ethnic minorities may not hold services in Farsi, nor may they let new members in ‘from outside’. To abide by the law, Jewish services are held in Hebrew, Arminian and Assyrian in their own languages, and Zorastrian services are in an old dialect of Farsi. There is no official way to hold services by other religious minorities.
Muslim converts
Christians who are caught evangelizing can be arrested and churches that shared the Gospel with Muslims are closed down, because Muslims are not allowed to change their faith. Muslim converts fear for their lives.
Christians who belong to churches who are not recognized by the Iranian government, may not confess their faith openly. They hold church services, around 800, secretly in private homes. The scientific research group, Gamaan, estimates that one and a half percent of the population calls themselves Christians, which comes to 1.27 million. They speak the official language of Iran, Persian, otherwise known as Farsi. GlobalRize does work through this language as well as Kurdish and Turkish, which are also spoken in Iran.
Underground Church
The Iranian government is responsible for the persecution of Christians, whom they consider to be a western threat to Islamic Iran. The Iranian population are usually less antagonistic toward Christians from the traditional churches, which consist of about 117,700 believers.
The youth of Iran are the most open to the Gospel and a large portion of the underground church is made of this younger generation. About four million of the 84,512,561 Iranians live outside of the country; mostly in Canada, the USA, Western Europe, Turkey and the Gulf States. Many of them visit Iran frequently and support their former countrymen, of whom almost 83 million probably have never heard the Good News about Jesus Christ, because they belong to an ethnic group with less than five percent Christians. GlobalRize wants to tell Iranians the Gospel in a different way than usual, because at this time there is no connection in Iran. GlobalRize does reach Iranians who live outside of Iran.
#8. Turkey
Around 83 million Turks have probably never heard the Gospel
Around 83 million of the 84 million Turks probably have never heard the Good News of Jesus Christ because they belong to an ethnic group where there are less than five percent Christians. Almost 97 of the residents of Turkey are Muslim, and the land is home to only 173,000 Christians, who are mainly ethnically Turks and Kurds. During his missionary journeys, Paul brought the Gospel to Turkey. This Southwest Asian country was a custodian of Christianity and the portal to Europe through which the Gospel came, but is now a champion of Islam. The number of Turkish Christians has fallen during the last century from 22 percent to 0.21 percent of the population.
Believing in secret
The religious nationalism in the society puts a lot of pressure on Christians. Christians experience opposition from their family and friends, society and the government (for example, making it difficult to obtain building permits for a church building). Christians with a Muslim background often have to keep their faith a secret, because their conversion would violate the family honor and their Turkish identity.
Tanri’nin Sözleri
GlobalRize want to bring the Gospel to Turks and Kurds by offering Facebook pages in Turkish and Kurdish; pages such as the Turkish Facebook page ‘Tanri’nin Sözleri’ and the website Ankaraincil.org, which means Ankara Bible. The social media pages from GlobalRize have 43,000 followers, out of whom 500 react to posts by liking, sharing or commenting to the administrator of the page.
Turkish is the official language of not only Turkey, but also Cyprus and a few places in North Macedonia. Turkish is also spoken as a minority language in the Balkans and Caucasus, and by immigrants in Europe. There are also descendants of Turkish emigrants to the Middle East in countries such as Iraq and Syria, who speak Turkish dialects.
‘I believe that Jesus is my Savior’
The Turkish Hazel followed the Bible course from GlobalRize, as one of the eight students. ‘You made me feel at ease during the Bible course,’ she wrote to her mentor. ‘I looked forward to our conversations and was happy as you checked my work which made me want to keep doing the course.’ Hazel tells that she learned a lot about the life of Jesus Christ: how He lived and died for us. ‘I believe that Jesus is my Savior because the Bible course showed me that Jesus gave His life as a sacrifice for me. I will recommend the course to my friends, because it is a good way to learn more out of the Bible.’
#9. Nigeria
64 million Nigerians have hardly any access to the Gospel
The West African country Nigeria counts 92 million Christians, who mainly live in the southern region. That is why the country is sixth on the list of countries with the most Christians, but at the same time, it is also the land that has the 4th largest Muslim population in the world (106 million), who mainly live in the north. Christians and Muslims alike suffer under the growing violence from the terrorist group Boko Haram, militant Fulani shepherds, and the West African IS sister organization, ISWAP.
GlobalRize welcomes Nigerian Bible course participants
Nigeria takes its place as ninth on the list of countries with the largest populations, 64 million out of a total population of 206 million, who have probably never heard the Gospel because they belong to an ethnic group with less than five percent Christian presence. There are over 500 different languages spoken in Nigeria, for example Hausa, Igbo, Yoruba; as well as English, the official language. GlobalRize wants to share the Gospel with Nigerians through the internet and has 303,000 followers on social media, of whom 16,000 like or share a post, or chat with the administrator of the Facebook page each month. In 2020, 8488 Nigerians started an online Bible course from GlobalRize.
North
At the end of the year GlobaRize focused on inviting people for the Bible course from the north where mostly Muslims live. In 16 days, the organization received 319 registrations from this unreached region. After completing the first lesson, 59 people were given a mentor to lead them through the course.
Answer to prayer
‘I’ve never regretted that I followed the Bible course from GlobalRize. It was an answer to prayer’, tells Debora (without an ‘h’) from Nigeria to her mentor, who she appreciates for her fear of the Lord. Another Deborah (with an ‘h’) wrote to her mentor, ‘I wanted to know more about God, and He provided that on the internet platform from GlobalRize. God bless you.’
Valuable
Gift is also happy with the Bible course that she can recommend to her friends. ‘This Bible course was valuable to me. I’ve learned a lot from it,’ she wrote. ‘More and more, I have come to see the value of God’s Word and my faith in Jesus has grown.’ She sees now that we need our Creator in order to function, just as a wheel cannot move without a motor. Gift used to tell lies in order to solve matters, until she came to the realization that God considers lying to be a sin. ‘I have been touched by the Holy Spirit and notice that I am now telling the truth. My life has changed a lot in the last year due to that.’
Personal guidance
‘I thought that I would get automatic answers from a robot when I sent in answers for the Bible course,’ wrote Deborah. She was surprised by the personal guidance from a mentor, who she really liked. ‘I am thankful to God that I did the course and that someone led me through it!’
Hopelessly seeking
Deborah wants to hold fast to what she learned, and sees that God used the internet course to teach her and bring consistency to bring her closer to Him, whatever happens. ‘The Bible course reminds me that Jesus died for us on the cross,’ she said. ‘I was hopelessly searching for God and calling to Him in my prayers because I wanted to live closer to Him. I know now that God allows suffering, and that it will surely happen in the life of a Christian.’
#10. Thailand
Almost 60 million Thai have little chance of hearing the Gospel
Thailand, the Land of Smiles, was invariably a stable island in an turbulent region, but since the political trouble in 2006, it has also been hit with problems. In the south, the Muslim minority rose up against discrimination, and thousands died.
Prakhampee
The kingdom also has tension with neighboring countries Cambodia and Myanmar. Because of persecution there, over a million people escaped to Thailand. The Asian country has a population of almost 70 million people. Out of them, 60 million people have probably never heard the Gospel because they belong to an ethnic group with less than five percent Christians.
GlobalRize administers the Thai BiblWord Facebook page Prakhampee, takes care of a Thai website with articles, and publishes Bible stories on YouTube via BibleProject Thai. The missions organization has 144,000 Thai followers on social media. Six thousand followers chatted with the administrators of the pages, or liked posts or shared them. Thirteen Thai followed an online Bible course from GolbalRize.
Invitation to the Bible course
A Thai Christian left an invitation to GlobalRize’s online Bible course at an internet café. Heun found the invitation and tried the first lesson out of curiosity. He was pleasantly surprised when he received a reply to his lesson within a day, from someone from his own village. Heun followed the whole course, joined a local church, and within a couple of months he was helping with the children’s club from the church.
#11. Myanmar
Myanmarese Maw Min prints online Bible course for Sunday School children
Up until recently Myanmar’s military regime tried, under pressure from Buddhist monks, to destroy Christianity. Buddhism is the national religion and no one is allowed to deviate from that. The Buddhist population rejects Christianity and Buddhists who convert to Christianity are attacked. At this time, there is a crisis in the country due to a coup. One of GlobalRize’s Bible course participants, a young lady, asked her mentor to pray for Myanmar.
Military actions against minorities
In the Asian land that has about 54 million residents, churches may not be registered and military action against Christian minorities are getting a lot of publicity. Not many Christians live in the states Kachin, Kayin and Shan. Despite persecution, poverty, and isolation, the young church is growing with about 4.3 million Christians. The Gospel is spreading to the 45 million unreached. There are around 30 million ethnic Burmese who speak the Burmese language. It is also used as second language by minorities in Myanmar such as Chinese, Indian Burmese, Karan, Mon and Shan.
Printed online Bible course
GlobalRize offers the Gospel to Burmese speakers via the Burmese Facebook page Kyanzadhamma. 5,000 Burmese follow the mission organization’s social media. Of these, 1,000 enter a conversation with the administrator or like or share the posts.
Maw Min follows the online Bible course from GlobalRize. She wrote her mentor with enthusiasm that she prints out the Bible lessons and the reactions from her mentor so that she can take them to the Sunday School to teach the children. Maw Min, ‘It helps us to understand the Bible better.’
#12. Algeria
GlobalRize offers courses about the Gospel to Algerians
In the North African Islamic country Algeria, there are 129,000 Christians out of a population of almost 44 million. 97 percent of Algerians are Muslim. Most Christians are converted Muslims who are treated with hostility, and especially in the countryside, they are put under pressure by family and neighbors to deny Christ and turn back to Islam.
Heavy punishment
Algerian Christians may not meet together for Bible study, and do not talk much about their faith, because that can be interpreted as evangelizing or blasphemy, both of which carry heavy punishments. Despite the opposition, the church in Algeria is growing.
Resentment toward Arab Islam
Almost a quarter of the Algerian people are from Berber peoples who live as enemies to the Arab Algerians. As a reaction against the Arab dominance of language and culture, they want to return to their own cultural roots. Berbers were originally Christians, and thousands from the Kabylen tribe have converted back to Christianity, although sometimes that choice comes more from resentment toward Arab Islam.
‘The Life of Jesus’
Algerian Christians bring unity among Arabians, Berbers, and foreigners, who in Algeria mainly speak Arabic and Berber. Around 43 million Algerians have probably never heard the Good News of Jesus Christ because they belong to an ethnic group with less than five percent Christians. GlobalRize is bringing the Gospel through the internet.
The missions organization offers courses such as ‘The Life of Jesus’ that is especially suitable for people in the Arab world. 3,700 Algerians follow the social media pages from GlobalRize. People who react to posts are in the tens. Eleven Algerians followed the Bible course from the missions organization in 2020.
#13. Iraq
Almost 40 million Iraqis have probably never heard the Gospel yet
Iraqi Christians mainly live in the Kurdish region in North Iraq, where ISIS has been beaten, but where the ideology still lives under the mostly Muslim population. Of the 40 million Iraqis, 96 percent are Muslim and radical Islam is winning in influence. Muslims may not convert to Christianity in Iraq. Converts are threatened, exiled, or assaulted by their family or neighbors.
Arabic and Kurd
‘I was raised in a Christian village in North Iraq, where we were pretty safe,’ tells Yousif. He likes to read the Bible and came in touch through Facebook with GlobalRize, which shares the Gospel in Arabic and in Kurdish, languages which are spoken in Iraq. ‘There are churches in Iraq and we can go to them, but it was difficult for us as Christians to live in Baghdad, because we never knew if we would be kidnapped or killed. We could not speak freely about our faith, only to our best friends, and we could not tell our own ideas to Muslims.’
Not ever heard the Gospel
After the mass exodus out of Iraq because of the war with ISIS, there are still 202,000 Christians in the country. Out of those, most belong to the Chaldean Church which has ties to the Catholic Church. Others are part of the Assyrian Church of the East, the Syrian Orthodox Church, the Armenian Apostolic Church and protestant denominations. Whoever evangelizes in Iraq, is in danger. Still, that does not hold Iraqi Christians back from sharing the Gospel with Arabic and Kurdish Muslims. The number of (extremist) Arab and Kurdish Muslims who are touched by the Christian message of peace, love and hope is increasing, but does not yet exceed the number of Christians who emigrated because of the war with IS. 39,245,000 of the 40 million Iraqis have not yet heard the Good News of Jesus Christ, because they belong to an ethnic group with less than five percent Christians.
Chat
Through the internet, GlobalRize brings the Gospel to Iraq, mainly through her partner, Home for Kurds. The organization has 152,000 Iraqi followers on social media, from these, 13,000 chat with the administrators of the page or like or share posts monthly. Four Iraqis followed a Bible course from GlobalRize in 2020.
#14. Afghanistan
Ten Thousand Afghans hear the Gospel via the Farsi Facebook page
Afghanistan, the land where the Taliban is in control, is one of the countries where the least amount of people is reached with the Gospel. Most Afghans, 38,723,000 of the 38,928,346, have probably never heard of the Lord Jesus Christ because they belong to a population with less that five percent Christians. The Asian country consists of 99,8 percent Muslims and officially does not recognize Christians, except among the foreign soldiers stationed there.
Hidden faith
Afghanistan has 48,000 mosques, but not one single church. Christians hold their faith hidden and only come together in the deepest secrecy. Muslims who become Christians are a disgrace to their family. The family will use any means to turn their family member back to Islam. If an Afghan, off-line or online, shows interest in the Christian faith, he can be arrested, locked up and tortured.
Pashtuns
More than 40 percent of the population belongs to the Pashtuns, the largest Muslim tribal society, on the border of Afghanistan and Pakistan. It is difficult to find any Christians that live among the 46 million Pashtuns, which are divided among thirty tribes. However, Pashtuns who live in exile show interest in Christianity.
Afghans reached through the Iranian Facebook page
Ali administers the GlobalRize Facebook page in Farsi, which is mainly spoken in Iran. Monthly there are bout 5,000 reactions to posts on the page. The page, that has 59,000 followers, actually reaches hardly any Iranians since Facebook is cut off from Iran. ‘I notice that it is mostly Afghans who visit this Facebook page,’ tells Ali full of enthusiasm. ‘Afghans speak Dari, which is very similar to Farsi.’ Ali is disappointed that GlobalRize cannot reach people in Iran at the moment, but is thankful that tens of thousands of Afghans hear the Good News of Jesus Christ.
#15. Morocco
37 million Moroccan Muslims have little chance of hearing the Gospel
Morocco is known for its stability and relative openness. The North African country, with 99.6 percent Muslims, officially has freedom of religion, but the 30,000 Moroccan Christians are limited in their freedom of movement. Sunni Islam is the state religion. Whoever brings a Muslim to another faith, can expect to be imprisoned.
House churches
The Catholic, Orthodox, and Protestant churches that are in Morocco are only accessible by foreigners, not Moroccans. Yet the number of Moroccans Christians is growing. They mostly keep their faith hidden, because their family and community do not accept that they would turn their backs on Islam. They secretly visit house churches.
208 Moroccans followed on-line Bible courses last year
GlobalRize works in Morocco mainly through a local partner. The missions organization has 2,800 followers on social media, and of those, dozens react every month to posts about the Good News of Jesus Christ. Last year, 208 Moroccans followed GlobalRize’s online Bible courses.
Imam receives a Bible
In a North African Muslim country, a missions team put Bible courses online (with support from GlobalRize) because of the Covid-19 restrictions. The team began praying regularly that God would make Himself known to influential people in the cities. Not much later, someone signed up for the GlobalRize course ‘The Life of Jesus’, especially for people in the Arabic world. The participant finished off his course at a quick pace, as well as the course ‘Forgiveness’, and asked his mentor questions that indicated his interest. It turned out that the course participant was an imam, who reverently received a Bible. Since then, twenty people have been baptized in that city. It is a great encouragement that God is working in the heart of this Muslim leader and in the hearts of his fellow citizens.
#16. Ethiopia
GlobalRize is ready to proclaim the Gospel in Ethiopia
Christianity came to Ethiopia as early as the fourth century after Christ, mainly in the north. Christianity (Ethiopian Orthodox), is still among the most important religions, but also, Islam. The population in the south began to hear the Gospel in 1928, when Emperor Haile Selassie welcomed missionaries, churches were planted, and evangelists were trained to reach other tribes with the Gospel.
Radical Islam grows
Around 65 million Ethiopians are Christians, and the number of protestant churches is growing. They have to register their churches officially, while the Ethiopian Orthodox churches do not need to do so. Ethiopian Christians are experiencing more problems. ‘I do not experience persecution in Ethiopia, but in my community, I am looked down upon for being a Christian,’ wrote our Bible course participant Tigist, who just as 589 others followed GlobalRize’s online Bible course in 2020.
Radical Islam is growing, also in Ethiopia: poor Ethiopians receive free help if they become Muslims, while Muslims who convert to Christianity are put under pressure by their family and community. ‘I can withstand my situation by prayer and with help from the Holy Spirit,’ tells Tigist. ‘Prayer changes me and my situation. And God has promised that He is always with me.’
Amharic
There are about 90 different languages spoken in Ethiopia. In February 2020, the Ethiopian government recognized Afar, Afaan Oromo, English, Tigrinya, and Somali as official languages. Before that, only Amharic was recognized, which is spoken by almost 30 percent of the population. The largest language in Ethiopia is Afaan Oromo which is spoken by at least one out of three Ethiopians.
48,000 followers on social media
Out of 115 million Ethiopians, 33 million people have probably not heard the Gospel of Jesus Christ because they belong to a people group with less than five percent Christians. At this time, GlobalRize has 48,000 followers on social media, of these, 2,000 react to posts either through the chat or to like or share posts.
Facebook, Fiber, Imo, Instagram, Messenger, Telegram, WhatsApp
GlobalRize spreads the Gospel in more languages and is beginning to use Amharic. Ephrem is assigned as the team leader for Amharic and in that function, he will offer chat possibilities in Amharic, start a BiblWord page and when the time comes, introduce mentors who can guide participants through the Amharic Bible course.
The language team leader wants to encourage Christians, so he sends Bible texts to hundreds of acquaintances. And that amount is quickly growing. Every morning at 5 a.m., Ephrem sends an encouraging Bible text into the world. ‘I send them through Messenger to 500 people, via WhatsApp to 300 interested people, to 5,000 followers on Facebook, 100 through Telegram, 169 on Instagram, 100 via Imo and 80 via Fiber.’
#17. Uzbekistan
About 32 million least-reached Uzbeks, tired from struggle and poverty
There about 349,000 Christians in Uzbekistan, hardly one percent of the population, spread over the whole country. They come together in small house churches. Christians must adhere to the strict rules of the government, which regularly disturbs gatherings, seizes Bible study materials and arrests church members. Family members and neighbors apply strong pressure to get ex-Muslims to return to Islam, sometimes with violence.
Unemployed youth
The Russian Orthodox Church can exist in relative rest in this former member of the Soviet Union, even though 85 percent of the more than 33 million Uzbeks are Muslim. Islam is a large part of the Uzbek cultural identity. In the rural areas occult practices are also used.
In the Central Asian country, there is a struggle between the post-Soviet regime and Islamic movements which attract many youths, despite the tough approach of the government. The Uzbek people are tired of this struggle, the poverty and corruption, and the absence of advancement.
Uzbek language
About 32 million Uzbeks have probably never heard the Gospel of Jesus Christ because they belong to a people group with less than five percent Christians. More than 21 million Uzbeks and other Central Asians speak Uzbek, an East Turkish language, the official language of Uzbekistan. Via the internet, GlobalRize spreads the Gospel in Uzbek, mainly through her partner People International. The missions organization has 8,000 Uzbek followers on social media, of whom a few hundred chat with the administrators, or they like or share posts. In 2020, 217 Uzbeks signed up for GlobalRize’s online Bible course, forty were assigned a mentor, and five completed the course.
#18. Saudi Arabia
Christian worship songs resound in Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia is the birthplace of Islam, which spread out from Mecca over the whole world. The laws in this strict Islamic country are based on the Sharia and all Saudis are required to convert to Islam. Around 90 percent of the nearly 35 million residents are strict Muslims who pray five times a day facing Mecca and they must at least once in their life make the pilgrimage to Mecca, which attracts more than 2 million Muslims per year.
Respecting Ramadan
It is estimated that there are around 1,419,000 Christians who live in Saudi Arabia, mainly migrants. In Saudi Arabia they may not go to a church since the government does not allow church buildings to be built. Christians must respect Ramadan and may not openly celebrate the Christian holidays, but they are allowed to meet in small groups.
Saudis are not allowed to leave Islam and can receive the death penalty if they become Christians. It is virtually impossible for them to become a Christian, and certainly not openly. Yet the number of Saudi Christians is growing thanks to coming in contact with Christianity through radio, TV or internet.
Unreached Saudis
Saudis can follow a course about the Bible or about the Christian faith where they are personally guided by a mentor via GlobalRize. 103 Saudis did that in 2020. The missions organization spreads the Gospel via the internet in Arabic and in English, which is spoken by most Saudis. Also, migrant workers in Saudi Arabia are welcome by GlobalRize, such as Harriet from Uganda. She tells that her faith has been strengthened by the contact with BiblWord and that the volunteers from GlobalRize have helped her to stay a Christian. At the same time, she is somber about the possibility of proclaiming the Gospel among unreached Saudis. ‘We have to take into account the three w’s if we want to bring the Good News about Jesus Christ to the Saudis,’ she says. ‘Who, Where, When. Saudis live in a Muslim land and worship Allah devotedly.’
A great multitude
‘As a Filipino, do I belong to the people of God?’ asked Sue of her mentor while chatting. Sue is a migrant working in Saudi Arabia and is guided through the GlobalRize Bible course by a Dutch mentor. They were studying Revelation 7, where a great multitude from every nation, tribe, people and language is standing before the throne. While Sue cannot see her daughters and cannot go to church for eighteen months, she writes to her mentor that, nevertheless, she is happy because of following the course. ‘I had doubts, but now I am proud to say that I am a child of God.’
Sue carefully tries to share her good news with the Saudi family for whom she works, although that is dangerous. She lets them hear worship songs and prays that their hearts would open up to the Lord Jesus who is praised in the songs. She also tells other Filipino workers what she has learned in the Bible course. In this way, the Gospel is shared via the online course, even in Saudi Arabia.
Never heard
The kingdom has 31,640,000 people who have probably never heard the Good News of Jesus Christ because they belong to a people group with less than five percent Christians. GlobalRize has 44,000 followers on social media, of whom 7,000 chat with the organization or like or share posts on a monthly basis.
#19. Yemen
It is a disgrace when a Yemenite Muslim becomes a Christian
The Republic of Yemen, on the Arabian Peninsula, south of Saudi Arabia, is the poorest of Arab countries, and one of the poorest in the world. The populations suffers under the weight of tribal warfare, over-population, unemployment, corruption (the reason that health care, education and the economy do not improve), lack of water (more than half of the water supply is spent on the crops of the stimulant khat), separatism, extremism, and drug abuse that is disastrous for the society. Yemen has been caught in a civil war since 2015 and suffers from a humanitarian crisis.
Violent hold of radical Muslims
Christianity once had a presence in Yemen, but that changed when Muslims took over the country in the seventh century. Now the country of 30 million people is 99.7 percent Muslim and radical Islam holds them in a violent grip. Only 0.3 percent of Yemenis are either Christian, Jewish, Hindu or atheist.
It is not only forbidden to become a Christian in Yemen, it is also a disgrace. The country has about 6,000 Christians, who often live under great pressure from their families – especially if it concerns people who were born Muslim- and are weighed down by the Sharia law that is enforced by the government.
Unreached Yemenites
Practically no one in Yemen has heard the Good News of Jesus Christ, because they belong to ethnic groups with less than five percent Christians. The country has almost 30 million unreached people, who mainly speak Arabic. GlobalRize spreads the Gospel in Arabic via the internet and offers courses about the Bible and the Christian faith, that include a personal mentor to guide them. The organization has more than 100 Yemeni followers on social media, of whom a couple chat with the administrator or like or share posts each month. In 2020, two Yemenis followed the online Bible course from GlobalRize.
#20. Nepal
GlobalRize offers Bible courses to Nepalis
Almost 400,000 Christians live in Nepal, out of a population of 29 million people. From the rest, 81.3 percent are Hindu, 9 percent Buddhist, and 4.4 percent Muslim. Hinduism is the most important religion in this poor country. Radical Hindus, supported from neighboring India, would like to have the country officially declared a Hindu state. 26 million Nepalis have probably never heard the Good News of Jesus Christ, because they belong to a people group with less than five percent Christians.
Nepalese Bible course
GlobalRize spreads the Gospel via internet in Nepalese, which is sproken by almost 12 million Nepalis and one million Indians. The missions organization offers courses about Christianity, such as BiblBasics, which provides the participant with a mentor to guide them through the course. There are also online articles about the faith that are available in Nepalese.
In 2020, 198 Nepalis followed the online Bible course from GlobalRize. The missions organization has 158,000 followers on social media, of whom about 3,000 react to posts by chatting or liking or sharing posts.
Forbidden to change religions
Since 2017, it has become forbidden to change religions in Nepal. Nevertheless, the church is growing. ‘I knew nothing about Jesus, but now I know Him and His Word’, writes Sansa, who comes from an unchristian background. Most Nepali Christians have a Hindu background. They are, just as Christians with a Buddhist or animist background, put under pressure by family, neighbors and the authorities because they have given up the belief of their forefathers.
#21. North Korea
Atheistic North Korea has 25 million unreached people
At one time, the skyline of Pyongyang was dotted with churches. Around the year 1900, there were many people in Northeastern China, where there were 40 percent Christians. They traveled to Pyongyang, which was known as ‘the Jerusalem of the East’. Sometimes someone still sings from the old church hymnbook.
Christianity as a threat to the State
Nowadays, there are about 400,000 Christians out of a population of almost 26 million people, of which nearly 65 percent are non-religious. About 25 million North Koreans have had little to no chance of hearing the Gospel in this atheistic land, because they belong to a people with less than five percent Christians. Their devotion belongs to the honor of dictator Kim Jong Un. At most, they may have contact with aid workers and organizations that offer development projects. Their love and care mean a lot to many of the North Koreans who come in contact with them.
Closed off from the World Wide Web
The government perceives Christianity to be a danger to the State, yet the number of Christians is growing. According to research among 1231 North Koreans, 16 people had read de Bible before 2000, less than one percent of the population. That number has now risen to 559 people. GlobalRize, which shares the Gospel via the internet, is not (yet) active in North Korea since the country is closed off from the World Wide Web.
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E-mail: [email protected]
Phone number: +31 (0)525 795 002
