I was startled when I first read the figures, I couldn't believe them - surely they couldn't be true! That the Christian world in general spends £999 in every £1,000 on itself. That left only £1 in every £1,000 to reach out to the non-Christian world.
But worse was to come as I read further. While 90 pence in every £1,000 was spend on the non-Christian world that had already been evangelised in some way, only 10 pence in every £1,000 was spend in reaching the unevangelised world. Is it really possible that we invest so small a part of our Christian giving on the lost, those who are without Christ and without hope in this world?
These figures have been gleaned from the writings of Dr. David Barratt, the world's foremost Christian researcher, the editor of the monumental World Christian Encyclopaedia, who re-searched the church in Africa in the 1960s and 70s, but in the 80s and 90s has been providing valuable data on the world church and the status of global evangelism. With Patrick Johnstone and other researchers he has given us a much greater understanding of the size and shape of the remaining task of the global church as it reaches out to those who do not know Christ as Saviour and Lord.
