How much do we care for the lost? (Bulldog for September)

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.
But, I can hear you saying: 'I give a lot more than that to my church and to Christian charities'. May I ask you to personally check on your own giving, e.g:
(1) How much do you give specifically to help those who have never heard the gospel in their own language from a missionary or a national Christian in that same country or through a radio broadcast? The need to penetrate the barriers erected by the 'god of this world' which prevent people from hearing the good news of Jesus in a language they can understand, is urgent.
(2) How much do you specifically give to make it possible to translate the Word of God into a language that has no portion of the Bible or no gospel recording that can help people hear the good news for the first time?
Until you actually begin to ask questions like these, it is very easy to think you are doing enough when you give to Christian work that is already very well supported. Of course, it is right and proper to give to the support of your home church, and to local and national Christian charities as well as to those missions that work with churches in different parts of the world. But I want to challenge you today to begin to invest some of your personal giving in work that is specifically seeking to reach the unreached. There are still thousands of distinct ethnic groups that have no indigenous church among them. Hundreds of languages still have no single gospel portion in their own language. Unless you target your giving to such needs, many will remain untouched.

Local church giving

Then ask your church leaders how much of your local church's giving is being spent in reaching the unreached. Examine your missionary budget to see whether a sizeable proportion is being given to pioneer evangelism, to church-planting in areas of the world where, as yet, the church is non-existent, or is so small that it hasn't the resources or numbers to reach out to its own people.
I had to re-evaluate my own giving. I set new priorities for myself. I suggest you may need to do the same. 'The least that Christians can do is to ensure that the resources which are under their direct control . . . get properly shared with all who still live in areas of the world that are unevangelised' (David Barratt).
How much do you care for the lost? Do you care enough to begin to invest significantly in Christian work that specifically seeks to reach them?

How much do we care for the lost? (Bulldog for September)

Christian giving on reaching people who have never heard the gospel

Local church giving

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