from September 4, 2011 prayer update

I recently received a very disturbing email from a missions organization. In it they were announcing a major shift in their strategy and resource deployment related to the U.S. becoming the third largest missions field in the world, with over 100 million unreached people.

I bristled at what was being communicated by an organization that should have known better. I was concerned by:
1) their apparent confusion of the concepts of lost people with unreached peoples,
2) their apparent ignorance of the basic facts regarding the status of Christianity in their own country, and
3) their apparent misunderstanding of the purpose of missions.

The U.S. Center for World Mission has been a champion for the concept of unreached peoples for more than 30 years. Through resources like the “Perspectives on the World Christian Movement” class, Mission Frontiers magazine, and Global Prayer Digest, they have educated and promoted the cause of the unreached.

Growing out of this has been a simple model embraced by missiologists regarding the world of 6.8 billion people we live in today. At a very simplistic level, the world can be thought of in three broad categories:
• world A (unreached – less than 2% evangelical Christian) – 27% of the world’s people (1.8 billion)
• world B (underreached – 2% to 5% evangelical Christian) – 40% of the world’s people (2.7 billion)
• world C (reached – more than 5% evangelical Christian) – 33% of the world’s people (2.3 billion)

World A, the unreached, those with little or no access to the gospel should be the primary (although not exclusive) focus of the mission efforts of local churches and mission sending organizations concerned with completing the task Jesus gave His Church in the Great Commission. Joshua Project has some excellent information about unreached peoples. There are 6900 UPG (unreached people groups) containing the 1.8 billion world A people. Nearly 10% (600+) of these UPG are UUPG (unengaged, unreached people groups) of 50,000+ souls. Engaging these UUPG should be given very high priority by those serious about completing the task. These are people groups with absolutely no access to the gospel.

The 2010 edition of Operation World indicates that there are currently 92 million evangelical Christians (29% of the population) among the 317 million people currently living in the US. That means there are 3 genuine followers of Jesus for every 10 people. This is one of the highest national ratios in the world. Even in traditional “unchurched” areas of the country like New England, the Mid-Atlantic states, the Pacific coast, and in other “unchurched” cities like Denver and my home of Austin, the percentage of evangelical Christians is between 10-15% (solidly in world C). 1 genuine follower of Jesus for every 10 people. That is excellent access to the gospel.

This also means there are 225 million lost people in the US (not 100 million). The US does have the third largest number of lost people in the world (behind China and India), but please realize that we are also the world’s third largest country (behind China and India). Even if the percentage of evangelical Christians in the US doubled to 60% of the population, we would still have the fourth largest number of lost people in the world (simply because of the size of our country). But almost none of these people are unreached. With the exception of a few native American groups in New Mexico, Arizona, and Alaska, and a few groups of recent immigrants in major metro areas across the country, all Americans live as part of reached people groups with easy access to the gospel. Does this mean we should become complacent and stop sharing the gospel where we work, live, and play? Absolutely not. But the US is far from being a mission field.

Evangelism and missions are both components of the Great Commission. Although closely related, they are not the same. Even though the terms are sadly used interchangeably by many churches and a few missions organizations. There is need in the US (and in other world C contexts) for evangelism. Bold, incarnational, culturally relevant demonstration and proclamation of the gospel among the 225 million who do not yet know Christ. I heartily support and commend those churches and para-church organizations that take this challenge seriously. However, missions is a different animal in two important ways. First, missions is always cross-cultural (reaching out with the gospel to those who are different than we are, often significantly different). Second, missions is predominately about providing access to the gospel and a culturally relevant church for those with little or no access to the gospel (world A).

The difference in vocabulary and perspective represented by these reflections and the missions organization that sent me the disturbing email is far more than an academic disagreement. It represents a battle raging in the US Church today. How we look at these issues determines how the Church of Jesus Christ chooses to prioritize its limited financial and manpower resources in its efforts to bring closure to the Great Commission.