Global Christian Worldview

The majority in Asia, Africa, the Middle East and South America work daily for their food. Most don’t have a bed. Most don’t have more than two or three sets of clothes (at the most). Those with humanitarian concern or who are involved in social justice realize the enormous chasm between the lifestyle lived in the West and the lifestyle of the average person anywhere else. But as Christians our concern should go much deeper. The physical wellbeing of others ought to give us concern, but the spiritual depravity of much of the world ought to make us stand up and pay attention. There are more than a billion people who have never even heard the name of Jesus. Never.

In his book “Road to Reality,” K.P. Yohannan says a number of things that have caused me to stop reading and let the gravity of his statement sink in. One of them is this: “How can we be casual about the lost world when God considered it so important that His only solution was Calvary?” Most churches today support missions to one degree or another. Many of the largest ones even have a Pastor of Missions. But let me ask this question: For how many of us is world missions and world evangelization of great concern? To God, the opportunity for ALL to know and experience Him was so important He was willing to die. If it was so important to Him, why is it so low on our list of priorities?

One of the arguments many American Christians and even churches use to explain our lack of concern for world evangelization is the need to reach our own “backyard” before trying to go elsewhere with the Gospel. Certainly reaching the people in our own country and our own neighborhoods is important. No one would argue they need God any less than the person living in the remote jungles of Southeast Asia. But statistically, someone living in America has over 100 opportunities in their lifetime to hear the Gospel or at least a portion of it. When there are people in this world who never have one single opportunity to hear of Jesus, how can that be fair?

Sometimes I think that Christianity has so saturated our society that it has blinded us to many realities. Eighty percent of the world’s people have never owned a bible while Americans have an average of four in every household. There are still 4,000 of the world’s 6,500 languages without a single portion of the bible translated into their language. And yet, 85% of all bibles printed today are in English for the 9% of us who read English. It almost sounds like over-kill. A few people in this world who live in a “Christian” society continue to receive nearly all of the Gospel witness, teaching and resources.

It is true that God has blessed this country. And there is nothing wrong with living in blessing and abundance. But I believe blessing always requires responsibility. And I can’t help but think we have a responsibility to do our part in reaching this world for Christ. This doesn’t mean we all have to go to other parts of the world as missionaries. I would even argue that “our part” has less to do with going as missionaries than ever before. I believe the part God is asking us to play is more of a support role, sending resources and money to those places that need it in order to further the Gospel.

I guess the point I want to make in all of this is that we need to consider the way we live and ask whether it really is a Christ-like lifestyle. God may be asking different things of each of us individually, but we all ought to have a global Christian world-view. World missions and the effort to take the Gospel to people who have never heard ought to affect the way we all live here at home. Reaching the lost is a priority to God and it ought to be a priority to us as well.