The term unreached people group (UPG) is widely used by missiologists and mission organizations to denote people groups who have not yet heard the Gospel. The ANM family takes this term seriously, since our vision is derived from Jesus’ own statement in Matthew chapter 24, “And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come” (vs. 14).
In our mission we understand this term in two ways: one is based on the Matthew 24 phrase “till all hear,” which means all people groups, and the second one is based on Acts 1:8 “…you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth…” which includes all geographical locations, including unreached ones.
To better understand the term ‘unreached people group’, we will first understand the term ‘people group.’ Anthropologists and sociologists define this term in diverse ways, but they all agree that a people group shares a common identity, such as a language, religion, or ethnicity.
For the assessment of Unreached People Group (UPG) in missions, we can analyze a people group by looking at their nature, which could belong to the following categories.
- Scattered people group: if a people group migrated and scattered around the world keeping individualistic conscience, they are called scattered people groups.
- Merged people group: if a people group migrated, scattered, and merged with other people groups, they are called merged people groups. They are more adaptive in their nature.
- Closed people group: if a people group is closed within a geographical area and they keep distinctive identity, they are called closed people groups. They are politically, culturally, religiously, and economically closed in their approach. They keep their collective identity.
- Scattered and ostracized people group: this type of people group lives in a country where a unique social structure exists. The social structure alienates a group of people from society through either religious teachings, which are justified through mythologies, or alienate them from developmental paths by keeping them emotionally, mentally, physically and socially segregated in different ways.
ANM mainly focuses on closed people groups, and scattered and ostracized people groups.
Many of the UPGs are culturally or politically closed. Breaking the cultural and political barriers is the initial challenge and then working with the cultural and political mindset of the community.
One of the best examples of these paradigms in the Scripture is from Jesus’ conversation with a Samaritan woman. Initially, Jesus broke the cultural barrier by asking for drinking water from her. Secondly, he broke the religious conception about spirituality and worship, and thirdly, on an individual level, he exercised his spiritual gifts to discern her at the same time to reveal Himself.
The second category of UPGs, a scattered and ostracized people group, needs varied approaches. One of the examples of this category is the Mushera or Musahar people group of South Asia. It is believed that their name is derived from the Hindi words ‘masu’, which means ‘flesh’ and ‘annera’ means ‘seeker’. They were called as Mushera means ‘rat-taker’, ‘rat eater’. Geographically they are scattered in different places (India, Nepal and Bangladesh).
They are called Mahadalits (lowest among lowest) in many literatures. According to the caste system in Indian society, they belong to the lowest caste and are supposed to serve the other castes. Lowest caste groups also treat Musahar as the lowest among them.
They live in shame and humiliation.They are scattered in different places due to various reasons. The majority of them do not own land, so they predominantly live and work for landlords.
147 years ago, one of the British administrators narrated about them in his official record (Lockwood (1878) the Collector of Munger District, Bihar):
“The Mushirs or Mousers as they are called, are found in every village of Monghyr and are half-starved even in times of plenty. They seldom see coins, but receive their scant wages in coarse grain, which they flavour with rats, mice and snails and jungle roots whilst living in hovels, which an English pig would consider a poor accommodation. One would imagine that such persons would find difficulty in getting wives, but the contrary is the case, for bachelors and spinsters are unknown. Directly they arrive at the age of puberty, they present themselves at the landlord’s house and having signed a deed binding themselves to remain in bondage for the term of their natural lives, receive a few shillings in return, with which to entertain their friends at a marriage feast and to set up a house.”
Crooke (1896), another British administrator, recorded a depreciatory myth, “When God created the first man of each caste, he gave each person a horse to ride on, and a tool to work with. Everyone, but the Musahar, took his tool and mounted his horse. The Musahar however, began to dig a pair of holes in the belly of his horse in order to keep his foot as he rode. When God saw his folly, he cursed that his descendants should live on rats dug out from the earth. When God had finished eating, the Musahar began to lick his leaf platter. Seeing this, God said, ‘these are low people. They shall always lick the platter’.”
The above narration clearly explains their situation 147 years ago and presently their illiteracy is above 80%. It shows their exclusion from the educational system and resources. They work as labourers in other fields and they do not bargain for salary. Majority of them do not know how many hours they work, how much salary they get, whenever they have some need they approach the landlord. He may provide something and they owe it to him. The landlord used their strength and service for his prosperity and will make sure that Musahar generation will serve him and his family.
Since their plight is justified through mythical stories and proverbs, they never raise questions against the landlord. The proverbs and myths gave legitimacy and sanctity to the dominant discourse and acted as a medium for the reproduction of upper-caste superiority and Musahar inferiority.
These proverbs and myths were so effective that the Musahars seem to have internalized them and often refer to themselves through these dominant interpretations. Today, the Musahars refer to themselves by the terms that the upper castes use to degrade them. Some Musahar parents call their children achut (Untouchable), suvar ke bachche (descendants of pigs), nich (degraded) and so forth. Some even name their children Dukhan, (the sorrowful), Sukhali (the dried), Marnichiya (the dead-like), Bhudhu (the stupid), Phenki or Pheku (the thrown away), or Sadali (the rotten). The Musahars seem to transfer their experience of a ‘systematic negation of their personhood’ to the generations after them, resulting in the creation of a collective ‘colonized personality’
What we see is a UPG who face systematic ostracization from society. When we approach a scattered and ostracized people group like the Musahar, we need to prepare the broken ground: prepare their broken mindset, and heal their shame, fear, and anxiety.
I have read an article about the Musahar community that “Musahar’s community practices a pattern to relieve their pain. When they cannot bear the pain anymore, they get up to cry late at night or use any unholy hour of the night to speak out. This cry is well accepted among the community since all have the freedom to express their sorrows and anxiety.”
ANM and partners, along with our donors, know that only the Gospel has the power to heal the broken mind; we have the truth over their internalized myth. The truth will reiterate to the community that ‘you are God’s image.’ The truth will set them free, and the truth will be declared to them through affirming their identity.
We acknowledge their identity through involvement in the healing process. By educating them that they are equal to other human beings and they can think, read, understand, and make their own decisions, we acknowledge their identity.
Our partners who work on the frontline focus on healing them by connecting with the community through children. They reach out to the children with educational tools, food, and clothes. We are reminded of the words of Jesus in the Gospel of Matthew 25:31-40:
“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’
“Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you as a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’
“The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine [such as the Musahar Community], you did for me.”
What an amazing opportunity to serve Christ through clothing, educating and caring for the broken Mushar community.
Continue to pray for the frontline missionaries as they have challenges from the higher caste in the society since education will challenge the status quo. The government accuses the missionaries of converting people from the dominant religion, thus missionaries are seen as a threat to their society as well. May the community see the love of Jesus Christ through our life and actions!
If you want to support the Musahar children and community, please commit to $10 of monthly food support. Monthly commitments ensure that these underprivileged, malnourished children receive the sustenance they need to grow healthy and focus during their studies.
