1. While the church slept, Satan, The Great Diverter, worked diligently:

a) He got us inordinately interested in ourselves.

b) He distorted our goals for our children.

c) He got pastors too busy with today’s problems.

d) He got Christian colleges to broaden their scope and thereby dilute their emphasis.

2. It doesn’t make the newspaper, but churches and mission stations are closing every day,

and new ones are not taking their place.

3. Fewer young people answer the call to ministry and little is done.

4. Lifetime ministry: any ministry of the Word that demands a person subject his or her goals and plans to the eternal purpose of God and submit himself or herself to God’s call to service as a life and livelihood.

a) This is a calling from God.

b) It is a calling for full-time Christian service.

c) It lasts a lifetime.

5. Today’s lesson is to help us see the reality of how we are really doing.

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1. There are well over 80,000 Protestant missionaries in the world today.

2. There are 395 agencies engaged in sending out full-time workers, an

increase of 371 in 1985.

3. In 1988, Christians contributed $1.7 billion of their incomes to finance

the overseas missionary enterprise.

• Yes, these efforts are paying off.

• Of the world’s 5.1 billion people, 33% claim allegiance to Christianity.

1. A new millennium, 2000 A.D., is fast approaching.

2. We must be compelled to, as Oswald Chambers said, give our utmost

for His highest.

3. The last generation had its chance, but this generation is ours....

....and we have only one chance to reach it.

4. We are reminded of David’s Scriptural tribute in Acts 13:36...

fell on sleep, and was laid unto his fathers, and saw corruption:

a) Like David we are called to serve our generation.

b) There will be no acceptable excuses for failure from God.

*******

1. Africa:

2. East Asian Christians:

a) In 1980: 16 million

b) In 1989: 75 million

3. South Asian Christians:

a) In 1980: 107 million

b) In 1989: 134 million

...wonderful growth!

1. Population growth is exceeding Christian growth.

2. When we analyze what is being done, we must not compare with what

happened years in the past, but rather what the reality of what must

be done.

#1. Losing in the battle for personnel.

a) Can anyone honestly say that there are too many missionaries

in the world?

b) If the study groups are right, it takes 15 years to learn the language and culture of the field, sow the seed faithfully, and grow a vibrant church among a group of 5,000 people.

At that rate, it would take 600,000 more missionaries to complete the task of world evangelism.

#2. Losing in the battle of insufficient converts to Christ.

a) Of course, this ripples out to fewer missionaries to answer the

call to go into missions.

b) Examples:

1) In 1989, Japan’s population of 123 million, less than 1%

are Christians.

2) In Turkey’s population of 55 million, there are less than

100 Christians.

c) There are still 5,390 unreached languages in the world, languages

with no Bible.

#3. Losing in the battle of church planting.

a) If we are going to reach 6 billion unsaved people on this planet,

b) Of all the people involved in missions today, did you know that

only 28% of the missionaries are directly involved in church

planting.

c) Donald McGavran stated that 80% of all foreign missionary

activity involves social work.

As important as social work is, it is not more important than

the battle we face in people spending eternity in Hell.

#4. Losing in the battle of statistics.

a) When we talk about world-wide missions, we must remember

that Bible-believing groups are only are part of the

entire missions outreach statistics.

For example, Catholics and cults are often group into

missionary statistics.

#5. Losing in the battle of the established church.

a) Many "Christians" are Christian in name-only. This is a person

that belongs to a church, but has little contact with it. That

such people are actually saved is questionable.

b) Great Britain and Europe are infested with nominalism.

1) In Britain’s church attendance continues to decline, at

the rate of 2% each year.

The Church of England reports to have 30 million

baptized members, but reports less than 2 million

active members.

2) Half of England’s Methodist churches have less than

25 in attendance on a typical Sunday.

#6. Losing in the battle against "Christians" leaving the faith.

a) Many are becoming agnostics, atheists, or adherents of non-

Christian religions.

b) In the 1990 Gallup poll when asking Americans to indicate their

religious preference the category "None" jumped from

c) Many young blacks are being converted to Islam, one of the

fastest growing religions in America today.

We face a battle on every hand today.

*******

#2. America ranks 16th per capita in the list of countries sending missionaries overseas.

† We are behind: Ireland, Belgium, Spain, Netherlands Portugal, Italy, Canada, France, Switzerland, New Zealand, Norway, (West) Germany, Australia and Sweden.

#3. More than 90% of the missionaries sent out by the 15 nations ahead of the U.S. were Roman Catholic!

*******

#1. The American church is not as strong as it should be.

Some may see the Christian TV ministries, radio programs, resorts, camps,

and conferences and mistakenly conclude America’s churches are strong.

Look at all the Christian colleges, seminaries, and book stores.

#2. The Christian population in America has declined.

a) In the early 1900’s it was estimated that two out of every three Americans were born-gain, Bible-believing Christians.

b) One source estimated that there are 30 million hard-core pagans in America who are anti-Christian.

c) We have 169 million unchurched people.

d) While we still have freedom of worship most things "Christian" in nature

are either outlawed, downplayed, or scorned.

#3. False religions are more diligent than we Christians.

The cabby responded, "The 4:00 P.M. service usually has about 1,500 worshippers. The 4:00 A.M. service is not as well attended, only around 900."

#4. Of the 70 million Protestants in the U.S., over 42 million belong to the National Council of Churches and would not be considered fundamental or evangelical.

Can you imagine getting 900 Baptists together for a 4:00 A.M.

prayer service every morning???

America is not over-churched. When you have 169 million people

unchurched and unaffiliated, you are not over-churched...in fact,

what you have is a vast mission field.

In 1900, 66% of the American population belonged to Bible- believing, soul-winning churches. They all professed faith in Christ as Savior. Yet it is predicted by the year 2000 there will only be 33% of the American population who belong to church.

1. The truth is we are not getting the job done and we need more help.

2. Satan is continuing to win battles and many, many souls are being lost...more with every passing day.