How Seed Company Identifies and Reaches Unengaged People Groups
We long to see all people gain access to all Scripture – from Genesis to Revelation. We rejoice that approximately 800 people groups have the complete Bible in their language, and almost 3,500 more have the New Testament or at least portions of God’s Word. Yet nearly 540 people groups, out of the world’s 7,300-plus, are still waiting for Bible translation work to begin.
So how does Seed Company identify and engage groups who have not yet received a single verse of Scripture?
First, What is an “unengaged” people group?
The term can mean different things depending on who you ask. To a church planter or missionary, it means a people group has not yet been reached by the gospel. To a linguist or translator, it can mean something narrower: that no Bible translation work has ever been done in that language. Another general definition could be: groups where less than 10 percent of the community identify as Christian.
When Groups Aren’t Asking for Scripture
Most of Seed Company’s projects begin because a community initiates an ask for Scripture in their own language. But that dynamic shifts significantly when it comes to unengaged people groups. The majority of unengaged groups live within Muslim, Hindu, or Buddhist contexts, and these communities are not asking for the Bible, or for anything identifiably “Christian.” That difference drastically changes how this work unfolds, compared to regions like sub-Saharan Africa or Papua New Guinea, where requests for translation often come directly from local communities and churches.
So if these groups aren’t the ones initiating contact, how does engagement happen?
Partnerships Are Key
First and foremost, this work depends on prayer and God’s leading. From there, Seed Company relies on relationships with field partners like Bible translation organizations, mission and church-planting organizations, and local and underground churches already present in these regions.
Translation organizations are often embedded within societies that include language communities still waiting for a New Testament or Bible portions. Seed Company engages these languages in one of two ways: by proactively asking translation organizations which languages they could begin working in if given the resources, or by receiving and responding to requests from organizations that have already identified a need.
Mission and church-planting organizations also play vital role. Because many Seed Company staff – including several field program managers – come from church-planting or missionary backgrounds themselves, they often have direct relationships with missionaries serving in closed or sensitive countries. These missionaries typically have unengaged people groups in their region on their radar, even when a translation organization doesn’t yet have the capacity to take on new language projects.
From Identification to Action
Once a language and people group are identified, these same partnerships and input from local communities help Seed Company shape what comes next: determining which Scripture resources are most needed, choosing the translation format that will serve the people best, and developing a strategy for how that Scripture will ultimately reach the community it’s intended for.
Every new language engaged is like a new door, an open pathway for a people group to encounter God’s Word for the first time. It’s a slow, relationship-driven process, built on prayer, partnership, and the faithful presence of people already serving on the ground. But for the approximately 540 people groups still waiting, it’s a door worth every effort to open.
