Taking the gospel where it is not….

Almost every missionary has heard the question: Why are you going THERE when there are so many lost people right HERE? The answer is that we need to go where the gospel is not and where the workers are few.

I live in a city of about 18000 which is in a county with a population of slightly over 40000. Within my religious heritage, there are two major congregations in the city with a combined membership of 400-500 members. Thus, there are 400-500 missionaries in this city and 40-50 unsaved persons per missionary. Pretty good odds! In the county, there are five other smaller congregations in outlying areas. While there may be a need to motivate the workers in this place, there is no lack of workers available.

Last weekend, I spoke at a Latin American Leadership workshop attended by two brothers from Chile. Chile has a population of 17,000,000 with only 34 congregations scattered throughout the nation. The congregations tend to be small by U.S. standards, yet each congregation has a target group of about 500,000 souls, approximately 10,000 per church member. There is a great need in Chile.

Honduras is a country of 7,500,000 (7.5 million). While the church has grown marvelously in the last 30 years, there are only 250-300 congregations, most very small. The average membership per congregation is about 40, thus there are 10000-12000 members in Honduras. On average, each congregation has a target group of about 30000 souls and the ratio of members to non-members is 1 to 750.

Costa Rica is a nation of 4,500,000 with perhaps 2000 members of churches of Christ (a generous estimate). The ratio of members to non-members is 1 to 2000.

Consider the comparisons: 1/40; 1/10000; 1/750; 1/2000. Let us not continue the selfish mumbo-jumbo about how we need to take care of our own town. God has provided sufficient resources, missionary workers, and opportunities for us to do whatever we want to do in our own town. Such is often only an excuse to look inward and take care of ourselves and our own desires and needs. Let us not spend too much time worrying about “strengthening the base” by spending the money internally on ourselves. In my experience, there is little that can do more to strengthen the base than to get involved in something that is bigger than we are and is beyond our visible resources.

Every heart where Jesus reigns is a missionary; every heart where Jesus does not reign is a mission field! Let us wake up and recognize our responsibilities and roles. The fields are still white unto the harvest, and the workers are still few in major areas of our world that are relatively untouched by the gospel! Let us be diligent to take the gospel where it is not!