Your Next Overseas Mission Trip: LA
La La Land–home to Hollywood, tourists, and countless aspiring actors/waitresses. It also happens to be home to 17 of the most unreached people groups in North America. Notably, Los Angeles has the largest population of Iranians in North America–numbering well over 100,000 with substantial populations of Tehrani Persian Jews and Persian Muslims.
A Taste of the World in Los Angeles
Tehrani Persian Jews are #9 on our list. This means that there are few people who have come out of that group to follow Christ. It also means that there are very few ministries working to change that.
Persian Muslims, however, represent possibly the fastest growing church in the world. People from this group have been choosing to follow Jesus in astonishing numbers in the past few years. As a result, ministry engagement has grown. There are still many groups, though, that represent harder soil where ministry work is likely to get frustrating.
Some of those tougher groups come from the Arab world. The Arab population numbers about 58,000 with Arabs from Syria, Morocco, Palestine, Lebanon, and Egypt. A majority of the Arabs live in Anaheim. You can find “Little Arabia” there and some Christians working to engage that population.
Other notable groups include Turks, Afghans, and Bangladeshis. These are all groups with minimal ministry among them and few followers of Christ from their people.
A Strategic Location
Los Angeles is a place that is capable of influencing the entire world. Everyone watches Hollywood and knows the movie stars. In many ways, it is a place that informs, and even changes, our culture. Maybe we can pray that those same things would be true for these unreached people groups. Pray that the Persian populations would become such passionate followers of Jesus that they literally change the Persian world.
Pray over the diverse groups of Arab Muslims and the Arab Christians of Southern California. Ask that divisions between those groups would become bridges to following Christ together. And pray for more workers among these groups–people who speak Arabic and are passionate about seeing Jesus’ name proclaimed in Los Angeles and into Morocco, Egypt, and Palestine.
Los Angeles is also home to some of the biggest churches in North America. It’s the land of Bible colleges and seminaries. Pray over the people learning and being trained there. Pray that their eyes would be opened to the unreached within reach around them.
Ready to Take That Next Step?
Maybe you’re ready to get involved with the work in Los Angeles. We’d love to help you with that! Go do an internship. Become a long-term missionary. Or just commit to prayer for the missionaries and the unreached of LA. Either way, you have a chance to join in the proclamation of the Kingdom of God.
