Lausanne World Pulse – PEOPLES OF THE WORLD – A Focus on Central and South America: Ninety-nine Least-Reached People Groups Remain

Overview
“God, gold and glory” was the rallying cry of the Spaniards who went to the new world. God was the motivator for many Jesuit missionaries, and that put them in conflict with those who came to take the gold and enslave those who needed God. The original inhabitants were decimated by European conquests and diseases in the sixteenth and nineteenth centuries. In 1900, almost the entire Spanish-speaking population was considered Catholic; since then, however, changes have been dramatic—from narrow traditionalism with strong opposition to Protestant activity to freedom of religion and a rapid growth of evangelicals. Spiritism has grown rapidly in influence in many countries. The divinely ordered convergence in Latin America of greater freedom of religion, more open and accountable democracy and a series of military, natural and economic disasters which loosened the hold of traditional structures enabled many to come to Christ.

Today there has been a rapid growth and maturation of missions vision which has sparked numerous initiatives to the unreached. Among the twenty-one countries in Central and South America, ninety-nine least-reached peoples remain, from the 50.9% of the population of Guyana in five least-reached groups to the 15.4% of Brazil’s population in forty-six different people groups to the more than 600,000 Jews in Argentina, their remaining least-reached people.

Prayer Points

  • Cooperation, not competition. Request that God removes competition and imparts a sense of cooperation in every believer. Reflect on 1 Corinthians 3:8-9: “The man who plants and the man who waters have one purpose, and each will be rewarded according to his own labor. For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, God’s building.”
  • Releasing new leaders. Ask God that every new believer would exercise the gifts he has given him or her to encourage other believers and to share the gospel with others who have not yet heard. Reflect on Ephesians 4:16: “From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.”
  • The Word in their own language. Request that God speed the Word to every least-reached people in their own language so they can grow. Reflect on Psalm 119:105: “Your word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.”
  • Disciple-makers. Pray that every new believer immediately shares with those around him or her the hope in Jesus. Reflect on Proverbs 11:30: “The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life, and he who wins souls is wise.”
  • Kings, leaders and all those in authority. Pray for God to place righteous leaders in power who rule justly and that God gives favor to believers trying to minister. Pray these believers may live quiet lives in all godliness and see his kingdom coming on earth.

Links

  • Resources to pray, to mobilize prayer and do outreach.
  • Discover Central and South America’s ninety-nine least-reached peoples.
  • Pray for the peoples of the Central and South America region.
  • Obtain daily prayer guides for peoples of this region.