My wife and I went to a 3-day conference this past week. It was hosted by the International Mission Board in Holt, MI. “Impact Your World” was part inspiration, part pep-rally, part guilt trip, part instruction, and overall very challenging.
Here are some highlights . . .
• We were reminded that The Great Commission is given to every Christ-follower, not just the “professional” missionaries.
• The instruction of Scripture is to reach all “people groups.” Of the 11,700 “people groups” in the world, 6,734 are “unreached” (less than 2% of the “people group” are born-again followers of Christ). Of those 6,734 groups who are “unreached,” 3,800 are “unengaged” (no church planting movement exists) and 2,650 have no known evangelical Christian.
• Seventy-five percent of unreached peoples cannot read or write.
• Fifty-two percent of the world is now under the age of 30.
• From 1780 to 1924, 35 million legal immigrants came to the USA from Europe. This happened over 144 years. Since the “loosening” of immigration laws in 1970, 35 million have come from around the world. This has happened in just 40 years.
• Seventy percent of Americas 100 largest cities have a majority of “ethnic” people.
• Every “ethnic” on my street, in my city, in my county, in my country, and in my world is my responsibility according to Matthew 28:18-20.
• Only USA, Canada, and Australia are growing in population . . . and it’s by immigration.
• Based on 2000 census data, only 6.5% of Washtenaw County are part of an evangelical church.
Jesus gave the command almost 2,000 years ago. He has not changed His mind. The task seems daunting, but if every born-again believer shared the gospel with nine different people, the task would be finished.
“Only USA, Canada, and Australia are growing in population . . . and it’s by immigration.” I think you must mean that these are the only three English-speaking countries that are growing in population, since surely many non-English speaking countries like India are growing. Is my presumption correct?
Keep the blogs coming! (Victor)
Okay, Victor . . . I’m working on clarifying this with Jim Slack at the International Mission Board. I did double-check my notes, and I quoted my notes correctly. My best guess, until I get confirmation from Dr. Slack,, is that he was saying the population rate (not the actual population) was shrinking in all countries except the USA, Canada, and Australia. In the context of the conference I was at, that seems to make sense. These three countries are growing because they are accepting legal refugees from so many countries. I read an article today on Baptist Press that said Houston’s population is now 25% foreign born, and 30 years ago that percentage was negligible.