The 533 Challenge

How do you engage a youth movement with unreached peoples?

The creative thinkers at Encompass World Partners came up with a great idea called the 533 Challenge. At a recent Momentum Youth Conference, a wall of 533 prayer cards was displayed showing the faces of the least-reached peoples in the world - 533 people groups who have little or no opportunity to hear the gospel.

To direct prayer toward these peoples, Encompass asked students to take part in the "533 Challenge" – a challenge to pray daily for the least-reached over the next 30 days. Students "adopted" a specific unreached people group by removing one photo from the wall.

After committing to a specific people group and signing a prayer pledge card, students participating in the 533 Challenge were then photographed and replacement cards with the students’ faces were printed on the spot.

The student photos were then placed over the empty spaces on the wall where the unreached people card had been. An Encompass staff member then prayed for each student and gave them a prayer journal to take home along with their adopted people prayer card.

Eventually the entire wall of, what was originally unreached peoples faces, was covered with the faces of students committed to pray for the unreached. Great idea Encompass World Partners!