Astonishing Facts

Jesus said, “And this Gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations (ethne), and then the end will come” (Matt. 24:14). (The Greek ethne means peoples, tribes rather than countries.)

On our planet there are now over 6.7 billion people in some 24,000 nations, languages, peoples. A conservative study finds there are now 16,000 of these peoples who have in their midst those who have embraced the Gospel, resulting in strong churches led by national leaders with a serious commitment to finish evangelizing the rest of their people. 4 billion people live in these areas. Of that number there are at least 800 million confirmed Christians. In addition there are another 1.37 billion who call themselves Christians because they come from a Christian culture. Then there are 1.8 billion others who live where there is a strong Christian witness.

Gathering all the evidence possible, an intensive study reveals that in 100 AD, there was one active Christian believer in every 360 people. By 1,000 AD there was one Christian to every 270 people. By 1500, there was one Christian to every 87 people. Today there is one Christian to each 7.3 people.

A most astonishing, but glorious, study reveals the following:

    By 1980, 6% of the world’s population was Christian

    By 1989, 9% was Christian

    By 1997, 11% was Christian

    By 2010, 12% will be Christian – Bible believing.

In Rev. 7:9, the Apostle John writes: “I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb.”

There are still 8,000 unreached people groups. But God’s Word assures us that these, too, will hear the Gospel and there will come from them believers. How are they to be reached? Just like all those who are now believers – somebody has to go to them with the Word. If among the 800 million believers the average church size is 100 members, it would only take one new missionary from every 250 churches in order to send out the additional 32,000 that are needed to reach all these peoples. Southern Baptists could provide 1,000 of these if only one missionary were called from each 40 churches. And it would only take another $600,000,000 from all Christians worldwide to provide the needed funding.

The possibility of reaching all these remaining unreached people in the 21^st century is real. The job is clearer than ever. We have the resources. Worldwide, believers give $17 billion annually to missions; about 5.5% of all Christian giving.

The great need now is prayer. If even 5% of all Christians dedicated themselves in earnest prayer to the goal of reaching the rest of the world for Christ, it could be – would be – done.

[Reprinted from the December 2009 issue of The Watchman. For a free subscription: Owens Ministries, Inc., P.O. Box 2066, Gastonia, NC 28053.]