Definitions
This page documents the terminology DOXA uses and why. Precise terms matter: our statistics, goals, and prayer tools all depend on definitions that must survive translation.
Each language edition of this page documents that language's terminology decisions — the term we chose, the alternatives we considered, what Joshua Project and PeopleGroups.org (IMB) use, and the reasoning.
People group
An ethnolinguistic group whose members perceive a common affinity based on language, culture, religion, and worldview — the largest group within which the gospel can spread without barriers of understanding or acceptance. The fundamental unit of everything DOXA counts. Used in the same sense by Joshua Project and PeopleGroups.org.
Unreached (UPG)
About 2 disciples or fewer per 100 people (≤ 2 %), lacking the capacity to establish indigenous churches without cross-cultural assistance. Joshua Project adds a ≤ 5 % Christian-adherent criterion; DOXA follows the IMB definition.
Unengaged
No known efforts focused on establishing self-sustaining churches — the four levels of effective engagement are absent (pioneer effort in residence; work in the local culture and heart language; long-term commitment; gospel sowing aimed at a church-planting movement). A technical term from the IMB ecosystem: it means no one is working among them, not that the people are indifferent.
Unengaged, unreached people group (UUPG)
The combined category — unreached and unengaged. The 2,085 peoples DOXA mobilizes prayer for. UUPG is the established international acronym; most language editions keep it, while some carry a reviewer-chosen local acronym (Spanish GENANC, Portuguese PNANE, German VUVG).
Under-engaged
About 1 disciple or fewer per 100 (≤ 1 %): work has begun but more church-planting teams are needed for fruitful engagement.
Frontier people group
About 1 disciple or fewer per 1,000 (≤ 0.1 %) with no confirmed, sustained movement to Jesus — the most unreached of the unreached. The term comes from Joshua Project.
Engagement
Sustained, resident, cross-cultural activity to share Christ and make disciples, aimed at self-sustaining churches, done in culturally appropriate and locally relevant ways. A precision term — "involvement" or "contact" is not engagement.
Church-planting movement (CPM)
A multiplication of indigenous churches planting churches: at least four streams of four spiritual generations totaling more than 1,000 persons.
Indigenous church
A church arising from within the people group, maturing in the five "selfs": self-propagating, self-governing, self-supporting, self-theologizing, self-missionizing.
Cross-cultural workers
Mission workers from a different culture serving among a people group. The "cross-cultural" qualifier is intentional — they do not come from within the group — and is preferred over plain "missionary" in some contexts.
Lord of the harvest
A biblical title for Jesus (Matthew 9:38), used in the call to pray that He would send workers to the unengaged. Each language edition aligns the phrase with its reference Bible translation.
Prayer prepares the way
The conviction that intercession creates the spiritual conditions for gospel breakthroughs before workers ever arrive — echoing "Prepare the way of the Lord." Each language edition keeps the biblical echo of its reference translation.
Heart language
A person's first language — the one they think and feel in. Gospel and discipleship work must happen in this language to be fully effective; it is distinct from an official or trade language.
Prayer points
The daily, people-group-specific prayer requests DOXA sends to intercessors — Scripture-centered and connected to the field, distinct from general devotional content.
Adopt (a people group)
A church-led, long-term commitment to pray, give, and send so that gospel access begins for a specific unengaged people group — missional sponsorship, not family-law adoption.
Our gift to Jesus
The framing of the whole effort: engaging every people by 2033 as the church's collective offering of worship — sacrificial, not transactional.
World Assemblies of God Fellowship (WAGF)
The global fellowship that founded and stewards DOXA. Language editions use the fellowship's established national name where one exists; the WAGF acronym is kept unless a reviewer has chosen a local one (Spanish FMAD).
Sending agencies
Organizations that recruit, train, support, and send missionaries. DOXA works with sending agencies (129 WAGF-affiliated as of 2026) but does not replace them.
Daily prayer (for a people group)
Committing to pray for a specific unengaged people group every day, using the daily prayer guide. The goal is 100+ daily intercessors for each people group. "Daily" is intentional — an every-day commitment, not regular or occasional prayer; it replaces the earlier framing of 144 intercessors covering 24 hours.
Every tribe, tongue, people, and nation
The Revelation 5:9 and 7:9 vision that motivates the mission. Each of the four nouns carries a distinct dimension of human diversity; language editions follow their reference Bible's wording.