Moldova 2011 Memory Part 3...

An acquaintance who has been a missionary in Russia since 1994, shared a statistic today that is both convicting and heart breaking.  She sent an update of progress on the work she does in Russia this morning and included the following information.

"America is far from God!  How did it get this way?  One big reason is that many believers have not been laboring in the “harvest fields”!  Many are not being “salt and light” (living out the Gospel  values) and  have not been sharing the Gospel (explaining the Gospel truths), which is the responsibility and calling of every believer!  II Cor. 5: 15,19-20  The Apostle Paul gives clear instruction in Eph. 4: 10, 11 that those who have the gift of evangelism are to be equipping  the rest of the “Body of Christ” to do evangelism!

"When I was in Germany at our ReachGlobal Missions Conference in August,  I learned a terrible thing!

"In our evangelical churches in America, it takes an average of 165 believers to bring 1 person to repentance and faith in Jesus Christ!  I could not believe it!  I knew it was bad when I left America 16 years ago, because I had been on a National Board that did research... Back then the statistics showed that it took  approximately 100 people to lead one person to Christ.

"In contrast to that, the students who were trained in evangelism in... Kursk and who were committed to obeying God’s Word,  have been leading 1- 3 people to Christ a year! And don’t think it is easier there (in Russia) than here (in the United States)! You have no idea how much more difficult it is to share your faith there!!!!" 

 I share these comments with you because it underscores my own admission in my previous blog.  A relationship with Christ is the answer to all needs in this world.  Why are we - why am I - so reluctant to share this good news with those who don't know this truth?  Why are we reluctant to ask God to use us in his harvest field?  And why are western evangelicals spending so much of their money on their own church needs when there is such GREAT disparity around the world in giving/spending/going.  Just one statistic from World Mission Statistics shows that the following is true for American churches concerning how they allocate the use of their giving:

• 99.9% of Christian income on themselves
• 0.09% on the Evangelized Non-Christian World
• 0.01% on the Unevangelized World

I am grieved to read and contemplate these statistics. But I am also ready to be a person more committed to not being part of these statistics but instead to pray for the courage and focus to be more concerned about the lost world than these statistics indicate is the case in America.

And the story of my experience in Moldova this past August will continue in another post.