The Missions Wave
I am about to go to our Session meeting. For you Non-Presbyterians, the Session is the governing board of our church. One of the items on our agenda is our benevolence budget. 10% of our budget is for benevolences. A lot of that goes to agencies like MTW (Mission to the World), MNA (Mission to North America), another significant amount goes to church planting in Central Florida. Then, about $40,000 is divided among individual international missionaries.
This started me thinking about missions. Our church is a bit weird in that we probably are home to more missionaries per capita than any church around, but we do not have a large missions budget. I did not anticipate either when I started the church. I didn't think we would have that many missionaries and I thought we would have a large missions budget.
I saw this graph on MTW's website. Sometime in the '70's, the number of Christians in the area of the world where we were sending our missionaries actually surpassed the number of Christians in the western world. I think this is both sad and exciting. It is sad in that we are witnessing the decline of Christianity in the west. Europe has been a post-Christian continent for quite a while. Despite our abundance of churches, missionaries, church growth movements, etc.., America is becoming (already is?) a post Christian nation. That is the sad part.
The exciting thing is, all of those years of sending missionaries to Asia, Africa, and Latin America has born some tremendous fruit. I imagine that David Livingston, William Carey, and Hudson Taylor are all giving each other high fives in heaven (except, they don't have hands because their bodies are still awaiting the resurrection. So, they can't high five each other. But that is the subject for a different post).
That gives me great hope. Our missionaries, Robert and Lisa Stewart are in Japan. Less than 2% of the people in Japan are Christians. But that was true of most of Africa, Asia, and Latin America not that long ago. Who knows, if Jesus tarries, maybe in 100 years or so, Japan could be sending missionaries to Orlando. Better yet, maybe Jesus won't tarry because the work of preaching the gospel to the nations will be completed by then.
This started me thinking about missions. Our church is a bit weird in that we probably are home to more missionaries per capita than any church around, but we do not have a large missions budget. I did not anticipate either when I started the church. I didn't think we would have that many missionaries and I thought we would have a large missions budget.
I saw this graph on MTW's website. Sometime in the '70's, the number of Christians in the area of the world where we were sending our missionaries actually surpassed the number of Christians in the western world. I think this is both sad and exciting. It is sad in that we are witnessing the decline of Christianity in the west. Europe has been a post-Christian continent for quite a while. Despite our abundance of churches, missionaries, church growth movements, etc.., America is becoming (already is?) a post Christian nation. That is the sad part.
The exciting thing is, all of those years of sending missionaries to Asia, Africa, and Latin America has born some tremendous fruit. I imagine that David Livingston, William Carey, and Hudson Taylor are all giving each other high fives in heaven (except, they don't have hands because their bodies are still awaiting the resurrection. So, they can't high five each other. But that is the subject for a different post).
That gives me great hope. Our missionaries, Robert and Lisa Stewart are in Japan. Less than 2% of the people in Japan are Christians. But that was true of most of Africa, Asia, and Latin America not that long ago. Who knows, if Jesus tarries, maybe in 100 years or so, Japan could be sending missionaries to Orlando. Better yet, maybe Jesus won't tarry because the work of preaching the gospel to the nations will be completed by then.
Labels: Ministry
posted by Mark Bates | 6:23 PM
3 Comments:
I'm going to have this mental image of David Livingston, William Carey, and Hudson Taylor (looking like Anakin Skywalker, Obi Won Kenobi, and Yoda at the end of Return of the Jedi) trying to high five each other and passing right through the glowing outline of their "hands". Swish! Hilarious!
Great post Mark. It's definitely interesting looking at a chart like that. You hear the trends, but to see a visual of it is something else.
I'm also glad to see you blogging, you're such a good communicator that your posts are a real joy to read.
Russ,
I consider it an honor to have so many missionaries at UPC. I am jealous of the work you in which you all are involved. I would love to hear and see more of the work that our UPC families are involved in around the world.
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