Lausanne World Pulse – Themed Articles – Immigration and North America: Who in the World Is My Neighbor Anyway?
By J. D. Payne
March 2009
Of all the countries, by far the United States leads the world as a host country, receiving thirty-eight million immigrants in 2005 alone (approximately thirteen percent of the population). Although Canada did not receive nearly that many people, its immigrant population for the same year comprised almost nineteen percent of its overall population.1 Such global movements of people to North America provide an outstanding opportunity for local churches to experience the advancement of the kingdom among many unreached people groups.
Unfortunately, we do not know many of the characteristics of the people the Lord has brought to this continent. The following are some significant challenges that interfere with both our understanding of and our desire to reach our neighbors.
The Macro Perspective
Recognizing high evangelical percentages, missiologists identity most of the thirty-six countries and territories representing North America (see Table 1) as “reached.”2
Table 1. Countries and Territories of North America
| Anguilla | Guatemala |
| Antigua and Barbuda | Haiti |
| Aruba (Netherlands) | Honduras |
| Bahamas | Jamaica |
| Barbados | Martinique (France) |
| Belize | Mexico |
| Bermuda | Montserrat (U.K.) |
| British Virgin Islands | Netherlands Antilles |
| Canada | Nicaragua |
| Cayman Islands (U.K.) | Panama |
| Costa Rica | Puerto Rico |
| Cuba | Saint Kitts and Nevis |
| Dominica | Saint Lucia |
| Dominican Republic | Saint Vincent and Grenadines |
| El Salvador | Trinidad and Tobago |
| Greenland (Denmark) | Turks and Caicos Islands (U.K.) |
| Grenada | United States of America |
| Guadeloupe (France) | U.S. Virgin Islands |
The problem with such reporting is that we receive the macro-level statistics of various nation-states, thus not truly representing panta ta ethne (all the peoples) residing in those countries or territories.
For example, Joshua Project notes that some of the highest priority Unreached People Groups (UPGs) are residing in North America (see Table 2).
Table 2. Joshua Project’s Highest Need People Groups Living in North America3
| Name | Need Ranking | Location | Est. Population |
| Arab, Najdi Bedouin | 92 | United States | 5,500 |
| Tay, Tai Tho | 91 | United States | 600 |
| Arab, Saudi-Najdi | 91 | United States | 5,500 |
| Arab, Ta’izz-Adeni | 90 | United States | 4,900 |
| Berber, Arabized | 85 | United States | 23,000 |
| Parsee | 85 | Canada | 26,000 |
| Parsee | 85 | United States | 76,000 |