by Jon Konnerup
Our world’s population reached 7 billion around October 31, 2011. It is believed that due to the high birth rates in the Asian Pacific and the Saharan region of Africa, baby number 7 billion was most likely born into poverty in one of these areas. It took only 11 years for the population to increase by another 1 billion people. Today, China is the most populated country in the world with 1.3 billion. However, estimates predict that India will be the most heavily populated country within 20 years. By then it will struggle to accommodate a projected 1.6 billion people in an area about one-third the size of China.
Asia, by far the largest populated region with more than 4 billion people, likely will increase to 5.3 billion by 2050. Africa’s population is also projected to double to 2 billion by 2050.
Approximately one in every five people on earth is between the ages of 15 and 23. Eight in ten of them live in Africa and Asia. Sub-Saharan Africa has the world’s youngest population while at the same time lacking the necessary resources to live day by day. These young people will most likely continue the current trend of moving from rural areas to cities in search of the basics: education, shelter, food, and employment.
When the world considers these population figures, they are concerned about hunger, fuel shortages, pollution, and disease. Africa, South Asia, and other fast-growing regions will continue to struggle to provide the basics of food, water, and other necessities for their increasing populations. Experts refer to this as global “resource inequality.” Governments, development agencies, NGOs, economists, and business leaders continually argue about how to balance the world’s resources.
In contrast, when Christians look at these numbers and situations, we should be concerned about “spiritual inequality” — that is, the opportunity for everyone to hear a clear presentation of the gospel of Jesus Christ, which is readily available to most people in the West but virtually non-existent for billions in other places.
Of the more than 11,600 distinct people groups in the world identified by mission research organizations, nearly 6,800 remain unreached. That means less than two percent of the population in each of those people groups are believers of Jesus Christ. Furthermore, 1,015 of these people groups not only are unreached, they are unengaged, meaning no church or mission organization is actively seeking to evangelize and plant churches among them.
We must focus on sending missionaries, witnessing, planting churches, and grasping the enormity of God’s harvest. We must share the gospel with these 7 billion people. The BBFI currently has 876 missionaries working around the world to reach them. Is this enough laborers? Are we doing all we can to reach the masses? Would you pray with me that 2012 would bring more fruit through the efforts of our churches and missionaries than ever seen before?