Building a Bridge to the Himalayas - An Unlikely Connection to an Unreached People Group

When Saddleback’s friend, Kelly Walter, answered the call to pray for an unreached people group, he wondered how an ordinary guy from Missouri could have any effect on a secluded group of people in a remote part of the world. Little did he know that, just a year later, God would miraculously orchestrate a way for him to make contact with them.

The kingdom of God is so much bigger than Orange County or the United States. For many years, Pastor Rick has asked Saddleback Church and its network of churches worldwide to learn about, pray for, and seek to reach the world’s remaining Unengaged, Unreached People Groups.

The passion to reach these groups lies in the Great Commission—Jesus’ command to go and make disciples of every nation. Of the roughly 12,000 total people groups in the world, there are more than 3,000 of those that remain unreached and unengaged, with very little hope of life change through the message of Jesus. They are located in some of the most unreachable populations on the planet. An Unengaged, Unreached People Group is a group of people whose population consitsts of less than 2% of Christians and have no church planting strategy that would bring a local church to them.

When Kelly committed to pray for an Unengaged, Unreached People Group, he was assigned the Nar-Phuba people in Nepal—a tribe of 600 people with their own language and customs—living in a secluded valley in the Himalayas. The Nar-Phuba are primarily Buddhist without a single Christian person, church, or resource among their population. Incredibly difficult to get to and shut off from the rest of the world, this remote group is rated by monitoring organizations as “strenuous” in regards to difficulty of living there and rated as “high threat” to Americans who wish to travel to the region.

One day while coordinating Purpose Driven conferences in India, Kelly Skyped a missionary in the Philippines whose uncle ran a children’s home in Nepal. Through an amazing turn of events, Kelly was connected to someone who did spiritual surveys in remote areas and had been to Nar-Phuba twice. Kelly could not believe how God orchestrated this link of people who connected him closer and closer to this group he had come to love.

In less than a year’s time, Kelly saw his prayers being answered. He now has direct contact with the Nar-Phuba and intends to take the next step to move them toward becoming an engaged people group—one that will be full of hope and new life in Jesus.

To learn more about committing to pray for an Unengaged, Unreached People Group, email Pastor Jimmie with The PEACE Plan.