Unreached People Groups


The Persecuted and the Unreached

4 Nations Where the Church is Persecuted, 12 Unreached People Groups, 1 Gospel


In shadowed corners of the world, whispers of faith rise from the persecuted church. Christians in these places face unimaginable hardship and are sustained only by their faith in Jesus. Environments of persecution are some of the most difficult places to reach with the gospel.

This year, we will pray for the persecuted church in four different nations and for 12 of the unreached people groups in those nations who have yet to hear the good news of Jesus.

Pray for God to prepare hearts to hear and receive the gospel and for believers to obey His call to go to them, even in the face of risk.



Spring 2024 | Praying for India


In recent years, there has been a significant increase in Hindutva. This ideology believes only Hindus are true Indians and that Christians, Muslims, and other religious minorities have ‘foreign’ roots and must be expelled. Hindu extremists seem able to attack others with impunity, even using extreme violence in some parts of the country. Increasing numbers of states are implementing anti-conversion laws, supposedly to stop Hindus from being forcibly converted to other religions. Still, they are often used as an excuse to harass and intimidate Christians who are just doing things like distributing aid or having private church meetings. Christians increasingly experience social exclusion in their communities, discrimination in the workplace, and false accusations and rumors spread about them. The Christians most at risk are those who have come to faith from a Hindu background. In some parts of India, many face constant pressure to return to Hinduism, social exclusion, discrimination at work, physical assaults, and are sometimes even killed. Church leaders are particularly vulnerable, too; being a pastor is one of the riskiest vocations in the country today. Hindu extremists target them, their wives, and their children with violent attacks to sow fear in the wider Christian community (Information quoted from OpenDoors.org).

How You Can Pray for Them
  • Pray for a change of narrative around Indian identity that accepts minority faiths.
  • Pray for protection over church leaders and their families.
  • Pray that converts’ genuine faith would have a powerful effect on their families and neighbors.
  • Pray for workers to be raised up to share the gospel and the light of Jesus in this spiritually dark country.
  • Pray that the power and truth of the gospel would burst forth in this country where Satan’s power and lies are widespread.

(Prayers taken/adapted from OpenDoors.org)


April | Brahmin–34.56 million people | 99.09% Hinduism, Unknown Evangelical

Brahmins are par excellence, including teaching and preaching. According to JoshuaProject.net, “They have also excelled as educators and politicians. Modern Brahmin parents aspire for their sons to become computer programmers and engineers. Brahmins are generally among the well-to-do in India and place a high value on education. (Thus, an inordinate percentage of Brahmins are among the Hindus who have migrated to the West.) Probably most still perform daily worship rituals, but the growing forces of secularization and globalization in India are strongest among the Brahmins.

“Most modern Brahmins do not espouse a doctrine of their superiority by birth above other peoples, and many are now secularists. However, most Brahmins [still] respect the ancient (and many not-so-ancient) traditions of their forefathers. Today, some Brahmins work to synthesize modern science and Hindu beliefs and practices.” Many Brahmin are still devotees to the gods and goddesses of Hinduism.

The Brahmin have a completed Bible in their language and other Christian resources.

(Information taken from JoshuaProject.net)

How You Can Pray for Them
  • Pray for the light of the gospel to bring the knowledge of Christ to the Brahmin and to India.
  • Pray for strength, boldness, and wisdom for believers in India to make disciples of the Brahmins.
  • Pray that the true God will reveal Himself to this community and use Brahmins to preach and teach about Jesus Christ to the other castes.
  • Pray that God would show the Brahmin their need for a Savior; pray that the Holy Spirit would work among them, leading them to Jesus.
(Prayers taken/adapted from JoshuaProject.net)

May | Chamar–54.3 million people | 98.25% Hinduism, 1.21% Evangelical

Working with dead matter is considered lowly in traditional Hinduism, which means the Chamar—whose main occupation is manufacturing shoes and chappals from finished leather—hold extremely low status. Chamars are among the largest of these low-class communities in the Hindu world, which means they are considered undesirable and unworthy of any sort of consideration or provision by their society. As a result, frequent joblessness, lack of education, and lifelong poverty are common among the Chamar. Daily wage labor and petty business are among the jobs they can hold, along with the agricultural work, animal husbandry, and various economic activities that Chamar women work in.

JoshuaProject.net reports, “There is a slightly higher degree of responsiveness to the gospel among the Chamars than among other low-class communities. There is a church planting movement underway among Chamars in several districts across India, but they are far from unreached [sic]. It will take many workers to get the gospel to all Chamar communities throughout India…

“The Chamar belong to the Shiva and Bhagavat sects. Their deities include Bahiroba, Janai, Kandova of Jejori, and Bhawani of Tuljapur. Chamars recite mythological tales and sing songs from the religious epics.”

(Information taken from JoshuaProject.net)

How You Can Pray for Them

  • Pray for Christian workers to go to the Chamar people, working to share the gospel and show the love of a God who cares for people that are needy and unseen by society.
  • Pray for the Chamar people to break through the caste barrier and be accepted by other communities.
  • Pray that these Chamar believers will be strengthened and emboldened to be salt and light to other low-caste communities throughout India, even in the face of persecution.
  • Pray that church planting will multiply across all Chamar communities and into other caste communities.
  • Pray for the Holy Spirit to bring hope and light through Jesus Christ to the bleak community of the Chamar.

(Prayers taken/adapted from JoshuaProject.net)


June | Mahratta–31.3 million people | 98.53% Hindu, Unknown % Evangelical

“The Mahratta are proud Kshatriya people from Maharashtra, mainly speaking Marathi. They are located across Marathwada while some are found along borders with Karnataka,” reports JoshuaProject.net. This people group mostly belongs to the upper echelons of rural society and has provided 80% of its chief ministers since 1961. “Mainly ‘kunbi’ (farmer) by class, almost all rural Maratha families own land and raise farm crops which are usually large enough to support both cash crops and food crops. They are liberal compared to other Indian groups. Arranged marriage is not strictly enforced, and a boy can marry a girl of his choice if she is a Brahmin or a Maratha. But because they consider themselves upper caste, they usually look down upon people they consider as their inferiors. They fiercely defend their culture, language, and history.”

“They usually worship Shiva as their family god and consider Shivaji as their leader.”

They have the complete Bible in their language as well as other Bible resources.

(Information taken from JoshuaProject.net)

How You Can Pray for Them

  • Pray that the Scriptures would be read and heard in Marathi homes and that it would capture their hearts and help them desire to study and share Scripture with others.
  • Pray for believing families to be sent to Marathi communities to show them the love of Jesus.
  • Pray that the Mahratta would be humbled and awed by a God who came to earth to serve and die for them. Pray that this would stir them to serve others, including the lower castes.
  • Pray that the Holy Spirit would open their hearts to receive Jesus; pray that He would reveal a Savior who did all the work for them and the gift of the gospel that is received only through faith.
(Prayers taken and/or adapted from JoshuaProject.net)

Want to learn more about unreached people groups?

Learn More

Did you know you can engage an unreached people group here?

Contact Us