Red Letter Church carries a burden for the unreached and unevangelized of the world.

The area roughly between 10 degrees longitude and 40 degrees longitude remains the earth’s most untouched place with the Gospel. Over eighty percent of the world’s unreached live here. Jesus Christ proclaimed that his gospel would be preached to every ethno-group on the planet and then the end will come. Some believe Christ will return before this happens, and some believe he won’t return until this happens. Regardless, the command still stands that his people, who are called by his name, should be the vessels pouring forth continually this gospel to “all ethno-groups”.

The following is a list of the earth’s spiritually-darkest places: those with a Christian population of 2% or less (most are less than 1%) and little or no evangelism. Many of these places have hostile climates, but when you think about it, so does America. The curious thing to note is that none of these least-reached countries have as high a murder rate as America does which ranks 24th on the list of murders per capita. Be safe, go on missions!

Taking the Gospel to the nations is about bringing glory to God in Jesus. It’s about revealing the splendor of the King and creating worship where worship has not existed. To give your life to such service, I think, has no comparable reward. The church of this hour needs to rise up and take hold of the torch and carry it forth, for this is God’s will (Isaiah 62). The way to these unreached nations has long been a crooked one, not yet made straight for the Gospel but at at the same time the opportunity exists for all of us to be involved in all of these places.
Consider the following population growth of the world.

* 1804 – 1 billion
* 1927 – 2 billion
* 1960 – 3 billion
* 1974 – 4 billion
* 1987 – 5 billion
* 1999 – 6 billion

The time you live in is very significant. The growth of the world’s population is staggering. The darkness is thicker than ever because of this. And increased conflict and clashing between peoples is making it harder than ever before to fulfill the Great Commission. The way for the gospel seems to get rougher and rougher.
But hope is not lost, in fact hope is never lost. God is able. Doors are always open, and all we need to do is be willing to listen and willing to obey. Of the 6 billion people living on earth today, 1.6 billion remain unreached. The Bible says that God desires that all men be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth. Something to ask yourself: “What are God’s desires to me? Are my own desires more important?” Then you can ask: “Am I willing to put aside my own desires, seek his, and trust him for the rest?” How are you involving yourself with these 2 billion unevangelized people?

Children of the 10/40 Window
Of the 1.6 billion unreached people, do you know how many are children? Around 40 percent. The children are an important key to the spread of the Gospel. 90% of the worlds poorest live in the window. That means most of these unreached children live in poverty. We know what the Word teaches us to judge the cause of the poor, the orphans, the widows, and that this is how we come to know God. So why is less than 2% of mission giving going to the 10/40 window? Why is the gospel still mere drops in the bucket that exists in this part of the world? Why are we asleep? May the Lord in his great mercies faithfully wound us, for faithful are the wounds of a friend!
These are the earth’s spiritually-darkest places: those with a Christian population of 2% or less (most are less than 1%) and little or no evangelism. Many of these places have hostile climates, but when you think about it, so does America. The curious thing to note is that none of these least-reached countries have as high a murder rate as America does which ranks 24th on the list of murders per capita. Be safe, go on missions!

Below is a list of the most unreached places on earth. Percentages are estimates and serve only to give us an idea of present need. The United States may be spiritually needy, but on the scale of gospel presence, it is far from needy. Statistics come from sources such Operation World, The Economist, Worldmap.org, and Population Reference Bureau.

United States (for comparison)
Christians: 70%
Population: 301 million
Population under age 15: 21%
People Groups: 297, “A nation of immigrants with the greatest ethnic-origin diversity of any nation in history.” – Operation World
TVs per capita: 740

Afghanistan
Christian: 0.02%
Population: 31 million
Population under age 15: 45%
People groups: 81
TVs per capita: 3
“Afghanistan is one of the least reached countries of the world. There are 48,000 mosques, but not a single church building. Pray for the 70 unreached peoples of this land.” – Operation World

Algeria
Christian: 0.3%
Population: 33 million
Population under age 15: 31%
People groups: 43
TVs per capita: 95
“Over a 160 years of tearful sowing by a tenacious succession of missionaries is only now bearing fruit. North Africans have long and bitter memories of “Christian” conquests, colonialism and atrocities.” -Operation World

Bangladesh
Christian: 0.7%
Population: 144 million
Population under age 15: 35%
People groups: 371
TVs per capita: 5
Much poverty, corruption in the government, heavily Islamic as Islam was declared the state religion in 1988.

Bhutan
Christian: 0.5%
Population: 1.5 million
Population under age 15: 40%
People groups: 26
TVs per capita: 5
“Bhutan is one of the world’s least evangelized nations. The strongly isolationist policies of the government furthur reinforce the hold of Tantric Buddhism with much that is demonic and occultic.” -Operation World

Bosnia
Christian: few
Population: 4 million
Population under age 15: 18%
People Groups: 19
Mostly Orthodox and some Catholicism. “Only a very small percentage of the population has ever been clearly presented with the claims of Christ and the need for personal repentance and faith.” -Operation World

China – Guangxi Province
Christian: 1.5%
Population: 48 million
Population under age 15: 22%
People Groups: 54
TVs per capita: 306 (all of China)

China – Guangdong Province
Christian: 1.5%
Population: 73 million
People Groups: 16

China – Yunnan Province
Christian: 5%,
Population: 42 million
People Groups: 250 people groups less than 1%, 205 of those are 0% with no witness. Yunnan is a very ethnically diverse province of China.

China – Hubei Province
Christian: 1.3%
Population: 61 million
People Groups: 16

China – Sichuan Province
Christian: 1.4%
Population: 88 million
People Groups:

Darfur, Sudan
Christian: 0% (The entire country is 23%, mostly in the south)
Population: 30 million
Population under age 15: 44%
People Groups: 245
TVs per capita: 59
“Darfur Province in the west which was Christian a millennium ago is now one of the least evangelized areas on earth. There are no known believers among the indigenous people…” -Operation World
As of 2006, Sudan has been voted the most dangerous place for children (from prb.org).

India
Christian: 2.4% (Many provinces under 1%)
Population: 1.0 billion
Population under age 15: 36%
People Groups: around 4,635!
TVs per capita: 58

Indonesia
Christian: Sumatra 10% “largest unevangelized island on earth” – Operation World
Bali – 0.9%, Lombok and Sumbawa – 0.2%
Population under age 15: 30%
TVs per capita: 56

Laos
Christian: 1.8%
Population: 5.9 million
Population under age 15: 40%
TVs per capita: 8

Libya
Christian: 3%
Population: 5.7 million
Population under age 15: 35%
TVs per capita: 126

Mali
Christian: 1.9%
Population: 13.5 million
Population under age 15: 47%
TVs per capita: 4

Maldives
Christian: 0.01%
Population: 294,000
Population under age 15: 36%

Mauritania
Christian: 0.2%
Population: 3 million
Population under age 15: 43%
TVs per capita: 31

Mongolia
Christian: 0.7%
Population: 2.6 million
Population under age 15: 31%
TVs per capita: 60

Morocco
Christian: 0.1%
Population: 30.7 million
Population under age 15: 30%
TVs per capita: 94

Niger
Christian: 0.4%
Population: 13.9 million
Population under age 15: 48%
TVs per capita: 10

Oman
Christian: 2.5%
Population: 2.4 million
Population under age 15: 33%
TVs per capita: 532

Somalia
Christian: 0.05%
Population: 8.5 million
Population under age 15: 45%
TVs per capita: 15

Tajikistan
Christian: 1.4%
Population: 6.8 million
Population under age 15: 40%
TVs per capita: 114

Tibet
Christian: 0.2%
Population: 2.5 million
People Groups: 36
TVs per capita: few

Tunisia
Christian: 0.2%
Population: 10 million
Population under age 15: 27%
TVs per capita: 91

Turkey
Christian: 0.3%
Population: 72.9 million
Population under age 15: 29%
TVs per capita: 300

Turkmenistan
Christian: 2.6%
Population: 5.2 million
Population under age 15: 32%
TVs per capita: 165

Uzbekistan
Christian: 1.28%
Population: 26.4 million
Population under age 15: 35%
TVs per capita: 238

Western Sahara
Christian: 0%
Population: 341,000
Population under age 15: 34%
TVs per capita: few

Yemen
Christian: 0.05%
Population: 20.7 million
Population under age 15: 46%
TVs per capita: 22

Others to note:

Saudi Arabia
Christian: 4.5%
Population: 24.5 million
Population under age 15: 37%

United Arab Emirates
Christian: 9.3%
Population: 4.6 million
Population under age 15: 25%