State of Evangelism in the World Today
At the end of his earthly ministry, our Lord Jesus Christ gave explicit instruction to his disciples concerning the continuation of the work which he began on Earth. This instruction is clearly stated in The Gospel of Matthew 28:18-20
“And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, all power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen.”
More than 2000 years after this instruction was given, it still remains to be fulfilled.
According to the Joshua Project, the population of the world stands at 7.05 billion out of which 2.9 billion (41.2%) is unreached. The percentage population of the unreached is highest in Central Asia (97.1%), followed by South Asia (95.5%), Middle East/North Africa (67.4%), Southeast Asia (50.9%) and West/Central Africa (31.3%). The greatest number of unreached people falls within what is famously described in Christian circles as the 10/40 window. This phrase was coined by Luis Bush, a Christian missionary strategist in 1990 to describe the countries that fall within Latitude 10 degrees north and Latitude 40 degrees north. Majority of the followers of Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism and the non-religious block live within the 10/40 window and the governments in these countries are either informally against any form of evangelism or there are specific laws that prohibit any attempt at evangelism. The population of the countries that fall within the 10/40 window totals 4.64 billion which is more than 60 % of the world’s population. And of the 4.64 Billion, 2.82 billion (60.7%) remains unreached.
These figures are daunting but more so when we take into consideration the hostility by either the governing authorities or the general population against the preaching of the Gospel of Christ.
Europe and North America are increasingly becoming post Christian societies. Their inheritance of humanistic Greek thought and philosophy and secularism has produced a population that is materialistic, humanistic, hedonistic and secular. Every attempt is being made to remove Christianity from the public sphere in favor of a secular society which claims to be irreligious or embraces a plurality of ways of salvation as opposed to the Christian view of Jesus Christ as the only way to salvation. It is therefore becoming increasingly hostile to the Gospel of Christ which teaches that all men are sinners and the only way to salvation is by believing and accepting the atoning death of Jesus Christ and his resurrection.
Africa remains open to the gospel but has problems of its own. The Northern part of Africa falls within the 10/40 described above and remains hostile to the Gospel in many ways. Of the remaining part of Africa, the terrain is unfavorable because of lack of accessible roads to many places; regional wars and the presence of rebels in certain parts render these regions impassable and poverty which hampers the efforts of those who are determined to take the Gospel to these places. Ironically, the combination of these factors increases the logistics concerning evangelism. Against these difficulties, Reinhard Bonnke’s Crusade and Healing Jesus Campaign by Evangelist Dag Heward-Mills are doing a tremendous evangelistic work in Africa
Wherever we live, it is our Christian duty and collective responsibility to help evangelize the entire world through what we do locally and to give financial support to others who are carrying out this all important command of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
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