Even though Christ came to this world over two thousand years ago, enormous amounts of people groups are still considered unreached by the Gospel. This term means that both currently and historically they have never had a strong church in their among them, nor a Christian witness in the area. Thailand is a good example of this.
Though the country practices religious freedom, many parts of the country are without Christian influence. Buddhism is the main belief system in the country, leaving many with no opportunity to hear the Gospel. Not even once. This is reality for the people group known as the Southern Thai.
Located in southern Thailand just above the country of Malaysia, the region is squeezed between the Andaman Sea and the Gulf of Thailand. This people group, which has a population of about 5.9 million, differs from the other Thai mainly because of their unique language.
Tragically, the Southern Thai are mainly unreached with the Gospel. Only 0.5 percent claim Christianity; three out of four have never even heard of it. They have no access to the Bible, no Christian radio is in the area, nor Christian broadcasting. Like most Thai, their main religion is Buddhism, with 70 percent professing this belief. Interestingly, many of the rest are Muslim (approximately 1.5 million, or 25 percent).
Although there are several mission organizations attempting to reach the Southern Thai, the response has been low. With such religious confusion between the Buddhists and Muslims, it is understandable why these people have been hard towards the Gospel.
God is passionate about seeing this world brought to Himself. Even after two thousand years of Christianity, millions, such as the Southern Thai, are without the life-giving message of Christ. Though you may never be able to go personally and share the Gospel with them, you can pray for the work that is being done. Ask God to raise up labors to go to the harvest. Be willing to support mission work in unreached nations. Together, we can see this world won for Christ.
-Reagan Schrock, GOA blog manager
*Much of the data in this post was taken from Peoples of the Buddhist World by Paul Hattaway.
No comments:
Post a Comment