Unreached People Groups (UPG’s)
GCA’s Vision: 5 Unreached People Groups Adopted for Ministry. Is God calling you into one of these harvest fields?
Afghans
Image of Afghan-American Church logo (missionaries cannot be shown for safety reasons)
Afghan-American Church Plant
The Afghan-American Church started in 2019 in Fremont in partnership with New Vision Church to reach the Afghani population in the Bay Area, across major cities in California and the US, and in Afghanistan through online outreach and discipleship.
Leaders: Mike & Hannah Z.
U People
Brother K & Polly with kids Phoebe & Paul
U People Project
This mission to the ‘U’ people group started in June of 2021 in San Jose in partnership with Southbay Community Church to reach this unreached people group in the Bay Area and across major cities in California.
Note: The “U” people are an unreached Islamic people group who frequently experience significant oppression by their own government in their native country. Many U people have immigrated to the Bay Area and GCA is privileged to partner with “Brother K” who works to share the hope of the Gospel to the U people here. Even in the United States U people can experience surveillance and negative feedback from their native government and community for engaging with Christians.
For this reason, GCA is only identifying Brother K and the U people by their pseudonyms. Join us in praying for the advance of the Gospel amongst the U people and other unreached peoples in the Bay Area.
Brother K’s email: kwong.yip@gcasbc.org
Hindi-Speaking Hindus from India
Praying for God to send workers
The latest figures from the US Census Bureau show that there are 42,000 Hindi speakers in Santa Clara County that are five years old and older. These numbers are just a little less for Alameda County, and these two counties top the list for Hindi-speaking counties in the entire United States. Many of the nearly 4 million Indians in the US are short term workers and students who will return to India in a few years, and those who stay, have ongoing relationships with those in their home country. Most are able to speak English, so English speakers of many backgrounds can reach out to them.
Nepalese
Praying for God to send workers
People from Nepal are a fairly recent immigrant group to the United States, most having emigrated after 2000. Many came as political refugees of Nepal’s long Civil War. Others fled after an earthquake with a magnitude of 8.1 shook the city of Kathmandu, killing almost 9,000 and leaving 3.5 million people homeless. Nepal is a multi-ethnic nation of 125 ethnic groups and 123 languages. It has the largest percent of Hindus in the world at 81.3%, and is 9% Buddhist, 4.4% Islam and just 1.4% Christian. However, Nepalese have been quite receptive to the gospel in recent years.
Punjabi-Speaking Sikhs
Praying for God to send workers.
In the Bay Area, over 13,000 Punjabi speakers 5 years old and above live in Alameda County and over 13,782 live in Santa Clara County. Punjabis were some of the first immigrants from South Asia to the United States, emigrating around 130 years ago. Sikhs (especially men) who wear turbans as part of their religious heritage are sometimes mistaken for Muslims or Arabs, but they are neither. Sikhism is a completely different world religion and is not related to Islam at all. Most people you see wearing turbans in California are Sikh. They assemble and worship in gurdwaras. Every gurdwara also has a Langar, a free community kitchen where people of all faiths are invited to share a meal together.