We received these testimonies from inside a closed country in Asia. God recently opened doors for our indigenous leaders to begin working in this area, and we’ve been so encouraged by the fruit coming from their ministry. They’ve asked us to refrain from mentioning this country’s name in any written communication. Preaching openly about Jesus is grounds for harsh punishment.

T and S are neighbors. After the Taliban seized control, the situation in their village rapidly worsened. Six months ago, T’s husband went to a bigger city to find work and never returned home. Her neighbor, S, is a widow. As women living under the Taliban’s control, they are not allowed to work or leave their homes. If they do, they could face severe punishment. 

The Afar Nation, spanning across NE Ethiopia, is made up of 2,155,000 men, women, and children - over ninety-nine percent adhering strictly to the Islamic religion. Although a very beautiful people, they are known to be exceptionally resistant to the gospel. Mission initiatives through the decades have proven to be difficult, but God is stirring young hearts and preparing laborers for the harvest field. We believe that now is the time! 

The Burmese Nation is the largest people group in Myanmar, over thirty-one million individuals. Buddhism overshadows the Burmese society so strongly that only one third of one percent of this people group are estimated to be following Jesus. Anyone who decides to follow Him is doing so at the risk of their very own life. 

Many new believers are coming out of the Pashtun Nation, Pakistan’s largest people group and Afghanistan’s second largest. With well over 39 million Pashtun spanning across Southern and Central Asia, less than 0.01% have decided to follow Jesus. These new brothers and sisters in Christ are making waves and will drastically affect this statistic! 

“God is doing mighty things through the Treasure Bibles. Churches have been started through the Treasure Bibles. God has blessed our partnership in the Gospel that many communities are beginning to hear the Gospel for the very first time.” —Philippines Indigenous Leader

Greetings from Ethiopia! Just last month we received an update from our Indigenous Leader following a Treasure distribution near the border of Kenya. This outreach happened among an Ethiopian people group that predominantly resides in the southern desert regions of the country. As semi-nomadic pastoralists, they often struggle with the adverse effects of drought, famine, and inter-tribal conflicts.

Greg Kelley, Unknown Nations CEO, recently returned home from a trip to Pakistan. We’ve heard incredible updates of how God is moving amid the heart breaking situations where our indigenous leaders are serving. They visited places of extreme persecution and darkness, without hope or access to the Good News - but God is on the move.

An underground team member in our indigenous missionary network was distributing audio Bibles in a dangerous location when two robbers stopped him on a motorbike. Both of these robbers had weapons which they pointed at the missionary and ordered him to hand over his phone, cash, and watch or they would shoot him.

Islamic extremists in Chad discovered one of our Treasure audio Bibles and have urgently alerted their Muslim community by circulating a strong video warning on WhatsApp (a popular global messaging app). Their message? “Start opposing this Christian thing!”

Our Kenyan leader sent one of his indigenous missionaries to a village along the Ugandan border with Karamojong Treasures. This missionary preached and identified an elderly grandmother to entrust with one of the Treasures. He understood the high regard and position that she held in this particular village.

In 2017, the world experienced one of the most egregious assaults upon a single people group that very few know about. Can you imagine one ethnic group being targeted by another with such hatred that children were ripped from the arms of parents and thrown into the flames of burning huts?

The Somali people are known to be more than 99% Muslim. Their population represents over 25 million individuals spread across 24 different countries, primarily concentrated in Somalia and the Horn of Africa at large.

I recently returned home from Bangladesh. This country is located on the Eastern side of India on the Bay of Bengal and is home to the largest unreached people group in the world, the Bengali Shaikh. The Shaikh number 132 million people and are 0.00% Christian.

Since our inception in December 1994, God has powerfully used numerous circumstances and relationships to grow our ministry. Our massive vision, to reach the hundreds of millions of people without access to the gospel, has required every one of these divine interactions. To complete this task, all of us will need to find our role and actively participate!

This past monsoon season has devastated the country of Pakistan. One of the people groups who were affected was the Marwari people. They are considered a frontier people group with virtually no followers of Christ and no known movements to introduce these people to Jesus.

We have been working in Indonesia for more than 10 years, declaring the Good News of Jesus Christ among the hundreds of islands that hold the highest population of Muslims anywhere in the world.

Sometimes we know God is working by the fruit - the testimonies and baptisms of those who come to know Jesus for the first time. Other times, we know God is working when we see the response to the Treasure (audio Bible) from those who feel threatened by it. 

The Philippines is home to over 7,000 islands off the coast of Vietnam. Our partner is very well connected and has reported working with roughly 100 key leaders in different tribal groups throughout the country. Through our Treasure Ministry, he distributes Treasure and Messenger audio Bibles as well as micro SD cards among the island nations. In his latest update, we see the full circle affect of audio Bibles being sown in a tribal community without previous access to the gospel message.

I love our staff at Unknown Nations and know you’d enjoy sitting in on our weekly meetings every Wednesday morning to experience it for yourself. There are about 15 of us when we can all attend. Some join from their remote locations across the country as we share testimonies, pray and discuss future vision together!