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Region · Middle East
Levant
The land where the church was born, today marked by wars and the departure of Christians, where small churches welcome refugees of all religions.
6 countries
98 peoples
0.4% evangelicals
The 6 flags of the region. Tap one to open the country.
Gospel reach among the 98 peoples
73Unreached · 74.5% of peoples
25reached peoples
0.4%evangelicals (weighted average)
- 68.4% Unreached (67)
- 6.1% Minimally reached (6)
- 15.3% Superficially reached (15)
- 8.2% Partially reached (8)
- 2% Significantly reached (2)
Largest unreached peoples:
Syrian Arab 17.2M
Palestinian Arab 10M
Israeli Jews 4.7M
The Bible in the languages of the region
131languages spoken
69With complete Bible
62Without complete Bible
- 52.7% With complete Bible (69)
- 47.3% Only portions of the Bible (62)
Source: Joshua Project and Progress.Bible. Estimates, may vary. Compiled from the data of each country in this region.
What it is
The Levant is the strip of land on the eastern Mediterranean coast comprising Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Israel, Palestine and Cyprus. It is the territory where Abraham’s faith was born, where Jesus walked, taught and died, and where the Christian church took its first steps in Antioch and Jerusalem. Few regions in the world carry such direct biblical significance.
Today this spiritual cradle is also one of the planet’s most fractured territories. Civil war, occupation, mass displacement and longstanding religious tensions exist side by side. Syria is still rebuilding after thirteen years of conflict. Lebanon faces economic and institutional collapse. Israel and Palestine remain caught in one of the longest conflicts in recent history.
The Christian presence, once numerous throughout the region, has shrunk sharply in recent decades through emigration, war and social pressure. Meanwhile, the region has an extremely high proportion of peoples still without access to the gospel: of the Levant’s 98 ethnic groups, 73 remain unreached, many without a single local church in their language and culture.
Bible access reflects the same situation: of the 131 languages spoken in the region, 62 still have no Scripture translation. Praying for the Levant means praying for the land where the gospel was born, asking that it may flourish again where it has become scarcest.
Context and characteristics
Cradle of faith
The land of Abraham, the prophets, Jesus and the early church in Jerusalem and Antioch.
Overlapping conflicts
Civil war in Syria, institutional collapse in Lebanon and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict shape daily life in the region.
Declining Christian presence
Historic Christian communities, some rooted in the church's earliest centuries, are shrinking through emigration and war.
Mosaic of unreached peoples
Kurds, Druze, Bedouins and other groups live side by side, most without close contact with the gospel.
Unreached peoples of this region 73 in total
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What to pray for
Intercession
For peace in a region marked by overlapping wars, from Syria to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
For the historic Christian communities of the Levant, that they may endure and be renewed.
For the region's still-unreached peoples, such as Kurds, Druze and Bedouins.
For translators and for the languages of the Levant that still have no word of Scripture.
For Syrian, Lebanese and Palestinian refugees scattered across other countries, and for the gospel that can reach them away from their homeland.
For reconciliation among peoples with deep, longstanding wounds.