I remember, as a college student, thinking there were no worlds left to conquer.
Richard E. Byrd had explored Antarctica, Hillary and Tenzing had climbed Mt. Everest, man had walked on the moon. There was nothing left to do that had not already been done.
Some people feel the same way about mission.
- All the world has been reached and explored, they say.
- Whatever is left to do, the local believers can handle anyway.
- The day of the missionary is gone.
- There is plenty of work to to do at home.
- There is absolutely no need to cross cultural boundaries to do mission.
But That’s Wrong — Dead Wrong!
There are plenty of worlds to conquer, we just don’t see them!
Today the Church is faced with many challenges in getting the Good News to the whole world. Some of these challenges are in the world outside the church, and some of them inside the church.
Let’s start by looking at the state of evangelism among the more than 13,000 unique people-groups in the world.
The immensity of the remaining task will quickly become clear.
The Non-Christian World
There are about four billion non-Christians today who have not been evangelized successfully. Nearly one third of the 13,000 people-groups in the world are yet to be evangelized.
These are staggering numbers.
This means nearly one-third of the world’s “nations, kindreds, tribes and peoples” have not been effectively evangelized!
About three billion people believe in and practice non-Christian religions. Nearly one billion today are considered “non-religious.”
And many of these people could be reached with the gospel only if someone from a different culture makes the effort to reach out to them.
Only a minority of non-Christians live near enough to Christians to be influenced by them.
The Urban World
Since 2008, over 50 percent of the world’s people live in cities.
The remaining population is rural, heavily dependent on the cities.
In the past, most megacities (five million or more) were in the western world and had an underlying Christian worldview.
Today, most of them are in the eastern world and are not simply non-Christian, but often anti-Christian.
These cities are and “Everest” challenge for Christian believers.
The Hurting World
Tremendous physical needs challenge us:
- Nearly one half of the world’s population lives on less than $2.50 per day
- About 35 million people have HIV; one to two million die each year from AIDS, including 200,000 children
- Up to 150 million live as street children
- There are 42,000 new orphans every day, many from HIV deaths
- Over two million children die every year of vaccine preventable disease
- 500,000 children die each year from diarrhea
- Six thousand die daily from drinking dirty water
The Least Evangelized World
Nearly two thirds (63%) of the world’s population lives in the area known as the “10/40 Window,” yet less than eight percent of them are Christians.
This part of our globe contains the area from 10 to 40 degrees north of the equator. It spans the area from North Africa through the Middle East and Central Asia to include the Asian subcontinent and most of the Far East.
It is home to most of the world’s Muslims, Hindus, and Buddhists. This is the least evangelized area of the world.
Look at some statistics in the 10/40 Window:
- 72% of the people groups which are less than 2% Christian
- 95% of the world’s least evangelized people groups (Groups where 90% have not heard the gospel!)
- 85% of the world’s poorest people
- 34 Muslim countries, 7 Buddhists nations, 2 Hindu countries
- Fewer than 11% of all Christian missionaries work here
What Does It Mean to Be Faithful to the Great Commission?
These challenges must be met by Christians if we are to be faithful to the command Jesus gave in the Great Commission.
Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.
Matthew 28:19 – 20
Your Turn
Which of the challenges mentioned above appeals most to you and why?
Share your thoughts in the comments below.
2 comments
Almost all challenges equally appeal to me in the same way. But since I have been asked to prioritize I would say: The Least Evangelized World appeals the most to me the same way as the Non-Christian world. How I pray that God opens ways for them to be quickly reached by us. And my reason is it is very painful to know that souls are perishing and dying for a lack of the knowledge of God, while many of us would love to reach out to them but really don’t know how.
Now a question: “How can I be useful in having them reached?”
If it were not for God the Holy Sprit working in the hearts and minds of every human without our own cooperation – I would have lost heart seeing throngs of people migrating to urban areas where it is even relatively difficult to embrace the Gospel. But thanks be to God the ultimate missionary – nevertheless we are still called to be His ‘co-workers’ in the salvation of fellow humans. God has purposefully reserved this work for fallen humans to be assisted of course by His ministering angels. For me the urgency of working the Cites has become more pressing not only because the top 5 cities in the world are in the 10/40 windows – but because cites have now the largest concentration of the post-Christians as well as the unreached and non-Christians all at once. Whilst it remains important for us to reach out to the unreached indigenous peoples in far flung areas – there need for a gradual focus and shift of resources towards Urban Mission needs to start now. Cities will soon or have matched the rural areas in terms of numbers of the most vulnerable and the poor people in the world. The Urgency of Urban Mission is certainly upon us – let’s not wait for God to ask ‘Whom shall I send’ but for each one whom God has touched say – ‘I will Go’.