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Jordan Jones

Kiker-Period 8
September 17, 2012

Regression Project Report:


Number of Living Languages Spoken in a Country
Compared with the Number of Unreached People Groups in that
Country
:, ,, na sinumang naniniwala
sa kanya shall not perish but have eternal life. That is John 3:16 translated
into the languages of Hindi, Traditional Chinese, Filipino and, of course,
English. With around 6,900 known living languages spoken in the world, this
makes me wonder: is there a connection between the number of living
languages spoken in a country and the number of unreached people groups
in that country? Unreached people groups are made up of less than 2%
evangelical Christians. All across the world, there are almost 6,500
unreached people groups, some of which do not have a Bible translated into
their first language. How can people hear the Gospel of Jesus Christs love
and forgiveness when they do not have a Bible translated into their
language? I am sure there are other ways for these people groups to hear
the Gospel; however, because of the amount of languages spoken in the
world, I think that it would be harder for missionaries to reach the currently
unreached. I chose to study the connection between language and
unreached people groups because it is a topic that is related to me as a
Christian and that I care about. To research how many people do not know
Jesus is an eye opener for me; I cannot imagine being without a Bible in my
language, but some of those unreached people groups probably do not know
any different. That is something that needs to be changed! This analysis is

Jordan Jones
Kiker-Period 8
September 17, 2012

relevant for geographers, missionaries who proclaim the message of Jesus,


and any Christian who cares about those that do not know Jesus and is
interested in how unreached people groups relate to other aspects of our
world.

Languages Spoken in Relation to Unreached People Groups


Prediction Points
in Asian Countries
400

f(x) = - 0x^3 + 0.01x^2 - 0.23x + 23.2


350
R = (450,
0.8 approx.
490)

300
250

Number of Unreached People Groups in a Country


(200, approx.
171)

200
150
100
50
0

(150, approx.

500
0 1000

Number of Living Languages Spoken in a Country

The regression equation that models my data is y=-8E-06x3+0.0065x20.2306x+23.202. I chose to use a cubic function, because a cubic regression
was the best fit for my data with the highest r2 value. R2= 0.7988 describes a
2

Jordan Jones
Kiker-Period 8
September 17, 2012

rather accurate and primarily positive correlation between the two variables.
This tells me that there could be a relationship between the number of
languages spoken in a country and the number of unreached people groups.
The y intercept of this function, (0, 23.202), means that many countries with
less than 100 living languages spoken also have less than 100 unreached
people groups. The slope of this function shows me that, with the exception
of the outlier, Indonesia, the data points roughly follow the trend that a
higher number of living languages spoken equates to more unreached
people groups.
Indonesia, with only 176 unreached people groups and 722 languages,
could have so few unreached people groups in comparison to the number of
spoken living languages for many reasons. One reason may be the location
of two Indonesian provinces in the west half of the divided island of New
Guinea. The Indonesian provinces of western New Guinea are adjacent to
Papua New Guinea, a country with only 23 of their 837 people groups
considered unreached and many people groups consisting of greater than or
equal to 10% evangelical Christian. When looking at a map of Indonesian
people groups, many of them live on the western side of the island of New
Guinea and, like their adjacent counterpart, have many people groups
greater than or equal to 10% evangelical Christian. This shows us that the
island of New Guinea has evangelical Christian influence that could possibly
spread to the surrounding parts of Indonesia. The comparatively low number

Jordan Jones
Kiker-Period 8
September 17, 2012

of unreached people groups to languages could also be attributed to the


number of missionaries sent or called to work in Indonesia, the missionaries
ability to communicate with the people, access to a Bible translated into that
groups native language, and Gods grace to raise many evangelical
Christians from across people groups.
I think that my regression line goes up to approximately (510, 510)
and then begins a descent to (722, 176) because of the many other aspects,
besides language, that may influence the number of evangelical Christians in
a people group. Government control, area, population, prominence of a
religion other than Christianity, the number of missionaries working in that
country, how well known the people group and their religious state is, and
most of all, Gods grace and sovereign choice are all factors that can
influence the number of evangelical Christians in a people group. For
example, Indonesia with 722 languages only has 176 unreached people
groups, while China with 296 languages has 367 unreached people groups.
One prediction I have made is that if there are 200 living languages
spoken in a country, there will be about 171 unreached people groups. This
prediction appears to be reasonable. A possible country scenario for this
prediction would be a large country with a large population that has many
remote people groups and variations of first languages. A second prediction
is that if there are 450 living languages spoken in a country, there will be
about 490 unreached people groups. I think that this prediction is
4

Jordan Jones
Kiker-Period 8
September 17, 2012

unreasonable. The largest number of unreached people groups that I have


recorded in my data for Asian countries is 367, and 490 is significantly larger.
A third prediction is that if there are 150 living languages, there will be about
107 unreached people groups. Like the first prediction, I believe that this is
reasonable. One must continue to take into account, however, the many
variables that should be considered when thinking of why there are a certain
number of unreached people groups in a country.
A career that would use this type of analysis is a missionary. Even
though it is not mandatory for someone in the mission field, missionaries
might be interested in viewing this graph so that they might know more
about world connections between language and religion. They could use this
data to become familiar with the number of languages in relation to
unreached people groups that are present in the Asian country they are
working in. Missionaries are relevant in our society because they are people
that submit their lives to telling others the Gospel, even in the most remote
places of the world. They are ready to follow wherever God wants them to go
and to tell those living there the Gospel. They risk their lives and are
sometimes persecuted for their faith and devotion to Jesus, as well as for
proclaiming His message of forgiveness. Many go no matter what the cost to
do what God wants them to do, and that is to share the Gospel of Jesus with
everyone!

Jordan Jones
Kiker-Period 8
September 17, 2012

I have concluded from this data that there is a relationship between


the number of living languages spoken and the number of unreached people
groups in a country. However, there are many other factors that contribute to
the reason for the number of unreached people groups in a country. Some
factors are those that you can measure, like number of missionaries, and
there are others that you cannot measure, like Gods plan for these countries
and their people groups. I can do even more analysis and I might be able to
discover a logical relationship between other variables and unreached people
groups, but there is one variable that I could never put in a table or on a
graph and that is God. His grace and all-knowing understanding defies
human logic and He decides at what time He calls His followers. According to
my logic there is a relationship between languages and unreached people
groups, but I am confident that God can blow my logic out of the water.

Works Cited:

Jordan Jones
Kiker-Period 8
September 17, 2012

Burger, Edward B. Holt Algebra 2. U.S.: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 2007.
Holt Algebra 2 Texas. Holt McDougal. Web. 17 Sept. 2012.
<http://my.hrw.com/tabnav/controller.jsp?isbn=0030921872>.
"Datasets." Global Research- IMB. IMB, n.d. Web. Sept. 2012.
<http://public.imb.org/globalresearch/Pages/ResearchData.aspx>.
"FAST FACTS." World Atlas. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Sept. 2012.
<http://www.worldatlas.com/webimage/countrys/asia/indonesia/idfacts.htm>
.
Lewis, Paul M., Ed. "Statistical Summaries." Ethnologue: Languages of the
World. N.p., 2009. Web. Sept. 2012.
<http://www.ethnologue.com/ethno_docs/distribution.asp?by=country>.

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