Global Mission: The Challenges

1
Global MissionThe Challenges
2
Global Population
1900 1.6billion Mid-2003 6.3billion By 2025
7.8billion
3
Matthew 2819
4
Despite Christs command to evangelise.
About 4billion people!
5
91 of all Christian outreach/evangelism targets
those countries where at least 60 of their
population would be classed as Christian
6
Challenges to Global Mission?
7
5 Challenges to Global Mission

• Globalisation
• Islam
• Pluralism
• AIDS
• Finance

8
Globalisation
Mission in the past The WEST to The REST!
Mission today Everywhere to Everywhere!
9
Globalisation

• 116 million evangelicals in Africa 4 times
  the number in North America
• 20,000 a day becoming Christians in Africa
• 55 million evangelicals in Latin America
• 10,000 a day becoming Christians in Latin
  America

10

• no longer do we consider Geneva, Rome, Athens,
  Paris, London, New York, as the big church
  centres of the world but Kinshasa, Buenos Aires,
  Addis Ababa, and Manila. (Kenyan
  theologian John Mbiti)

11

• Contrary to myth, the typical Christian is not a
  white fat cat in the United States or western
  Europe, but rather a poor person, often
  unimaginably poor by Western standards.
  Jenkins, 216

• The average Christian today is not a middle
  class, white male in Wheaton USA, but a poor,
  African or Latin American, woman.

12
Think about it!
The country with the fastest Christian expansion
ever is ..
.now at 10,000 new converts every day!!!
13
Islam
Estimates of the total number of Muslims range
from 0.7 to 1.2 billion worldwide and about 5.5
million in the U.S.  About 21 of all people on
earth follow Islam. The religion is currently in
a period of rapid growth.
Christianity - currently the largest religion in
the world - is followed by about 33 of all
people -- a percentage that has remained stable
for decades. But today Christianity too is
growing.
14
Islam
(Projected) Religious Balance of Power in 2050
Overwhelmingly Muslim Pakistan,
Bangladesh, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Iran,
Yemen Mainly Muslim, with significant Christian
minorities Indonesia, Egypt,
Sudan Overwhelmingly Christian
United States, Brazil, Mexico, Russia Mainly
Christian with significant Muslim minorities
Philippines, DR Congo, Germany, Uganda Christians
and Muslims Neither predominate
Nigeria, Ethiopia, Tanzania Others, w/neither
predominate
India, China, Vietnam, Thailand,
Japan
Tsunami disaster!!
15
(No Transcript)
16
Pluralism
John 146Jesus told him, I am the way, the
truth, and the life. No one can come to the
Father except through me. John 316 For God so
loved the world that he gave his only Son, so
that everyone who believes in him will not perish
but have eternal life.
Almost no longer politically correct even in
the UK
All roads lead to God Islam, Hinduism,
Buddhism
17
AIDS
The AIDS epidemic claimed an estimated 3.1
million lives in one year (2002), and an
estimated 5 million people acquired the human
virus (HIV) in that year - bringing to 42 million
the estimated number of people globally living
with the virus.
18
AIDS
UN Report warns of HIV catastrophe

• A young person is infected with HIV every 14
  seconds.
• Around 6,000 people between the ages of 15 and
  24 catch the disease every day.
• Half of all new infections are now in people
  under the age of 25 and most of these are young
  women living in the developing world.
• More than 13 million children under the age of
  15 have lost one or both parents to Aids.

19
(No Transcript)
20
FINANCE
One in four or 238 million live in extreme
poverty, surviving on less than .60p a day.
21
The Rich/Poor Gap
.the rich/poor gap is the greatest economic
issue that we're facing. How can Western
missionaries be prepared to go to places . when
the lifestyle adjustment is so severe? Can a
generation raised on cappuccino coffee costing
around 1.50 per cup be effective in a world
where the majority has no access to clean
drinking water? Can Westerners who routinely
spend 4 to 5 to go see a movie live effectively
alongside the one billion abjectly poor people
living on less than .60p per day? It is
reckoned that 43 of the world will never make a
telephone call. Can a generation accustomed to
personal mobile phones and dedicated Internet
lines take the leap?
22
The Rich/Poor Gap
23
Whos up for the challenge? !!
Esther Kennedy
André Bradley
24
World Mission

• The most important, urgent,
• exciting, fulfilling and
• challenging task
• in the world!

Short Term Long Term GAP Year Church Team Medical
Elective Bible College Elective Young
people Older People!