The Institute of Tribal Studies (ITS) was originally founded by Don Richardson in the late 1980's and was located at the U.S. Center for World Mission in Pasadena, California.

David Sitton became Director of the ITS in 1992 when he lived in Pasadena.  The Sittons relocated their ministry base to South Texas in 1994, and Don Richardson encouraged them to bring the ITS files with them at that time.

The Institute of Tribal Studies is primarily tribal research and data.  The Institute has files on every country in the world.  Our goal is to gather accurate information on unreached tribes, and then formulate the data into PEOPLE PROFILES.  These people profiles will then be used by prospective tribal missionaries as they seek direction for where to target their evangelistic and church planting ministries.  Our desire is to help direct new missionaries to tribes who are most in need of the gospel and to avoid over exposure in places where the gospel has already gained a foot hold.

What Is An Unreached Tribe?

All unreached tribes are not equally unreached.  We use a one-to-ten scale to determine what extent a tribe is still unreached.  A one or two on the scale denotes a tribe which has never heard the name of Jesus Christ.  Unbelievably, there are still places where the name of Christ has never been voiced.  A three or four on the scale represents a tribe where there has been some evangelistic activity and possibly a few believers are scattered throughout the tribe.  Five or six indicates that a small church has been established and is functioning with national leadership, perhaps still under the oversight of the church planter.  Seven on the scale depicts a tribe with a strong fellowship of believers operating under national leadership.  However, tribes are still considered unreached until they are significant enough in number and maturity to complete the task of evangelizing their own people without external assistance.  A tribe ceases to be considered "unreached" when it becomes fully functional without foreign support or oversight.          

The source of our information is primarily from on-the-field missionaries.  If you are a tribal missionary who can assist us with reliable data about still unreached tribes, your help would be greatly appreciated.

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