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Notable Numbers |
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Did you know...?
19,000 Africans are serving as
foreign missionaries on other continents.
4.5 million women are serving in
full-time Christian ministry around the world.
Only 31 percent of the world's 6.6
billion people call themselves, "Christian."
There are 37,000 denominations
worldwide.
2,238 of the world's 6,912 languages
have at least a portion of Scripture translated.
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Prayer Revival |
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"Missions work has been least fruitful
when the church has prayed the least. The evangelization of
the world in this generation depends on a revival of prayer"
(Robert E. Speer).
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WORLD EVANGELISM MINUTE
"electronic
epistle"
June 2008
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Greetings!
Roland Allen said, "The church that does not have a vision
to conquer the world soon dies."
Such a church has forgotten that it is to be living under
a mandate. "To live under a mandate is to be entrusted
with a task of lasting significance. Mandates are not
commands. By direct commands, we assign small errands or
daily chores.
A mandate, on the other hand, releases authority and
responsibility to pursue matters of historical
importance. God has entrusted to Christ, and with Him, to
the Church, a mandate to fulfill His purpose for all of
history" (World Impacting Churches by James Eby).
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 "JEWISH
MESSIAH FEIGNS DISINTEREST IN HEALING GENTILE WOMAN'S
DAUGHTER." This could very well have been the headlines
of a local newspaper in the coasts of Tyre and Sidon
during the first century.
Jesus had just given His disciples a lesson concerning the
actual causes of uncleanness (Matthew 15:1-20). Jesus
then took His disciples to the coasts of Tyre and Sidon -
a Gentile region - for a TEST! He was approached by a
Gentile woman requesting healing for her demon-possessed
daughter. Jesus completely ignored the woman (He was
watching for His disciples' reaction). They failed their
test when they asked Jesus to send her away.
Instead of sending her away and ignoring her further,
Jesus said, "I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the
house of Israel" (Matthew 15:24). We can almost see the
disciples quietly exclaim, "Yes!" But after more dialogue
with this Gentile woman (who demonstrates great faith and
fervent prayer), Jesus says, "Be it unto thee even as thou
wilt." My how persuasive this woman must have been (and a
Gentile "dog" at that)!
In Matthew 15, Jesus was presenting a satirical revision
of the Abrahamic Covenant in order to test the disciples'
receptivity to the bottom line of the covenant. Jesus
ignored the woman; then told her that He only helps Jews;
then He called her a dog. The disciples asked
the Lord to send her away. But they were supposed to say,
"Hey! Aren't we supposed to bless all peoples?!" In
other words, they failed the test.
The scene opens with Jesus ignoring her; but it ends with
her receiving her request. What happened? I believe
Jesus wanted to help this Gentile woman all along as He
had helped other Gentiles (the tenth leper, the centurion,
etc.). I think He merely set the disciples up for a test
to see if they had learned the lesson about what makes
someone unclean (they didn't). Jesus demonstrated His
true intentions by providing healing to this woman's
daughter because He is a Messiah for all peoples.
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Window Work
 "The
sheer number of people living in the [10-40] Window area is
daunting. Of the 6 billion people in the world in 2000, I
reckon that 1.2-1.4 billion have never had the chance to
hear the gospel, and over 95 percent of these individuals
reside in the Window area" (p. 215).
"Nagaland and Mizoram States in NE India are possibly the
most evangelical states in the world, but the vast Ganges
plains of North India contain the greatest concentration of
unevangelized people in the world. For instance, the number
of people in Uttar Pradesh in North India is about
180,000,000 and the Christian percentage is 0.1%" (p. 223).
The above excerts are taken from the book, The Church is
Bigger than You Think (by Patrick Johnstone).
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