The Great Imbalance

My An Arkie's Faith column from the October 11, 2023, issue of The Polk County Pulse.

I recently received a phone call from Vicky Warren. A mutual friend gave her my phone number and told her we might have mutual interests. Vicky has a passion for missions, and I have a passion for writing about my experiences using spiritual principles. As we talked, she told me she was the CEO of a parachurch organization, MissionNext. MissionNext is a church mobilization organization that connects ministry leaders and missionaries to service opportunities in over 200 countries.

Vicky’s passion for missions was evident as we visited. Her particular passion is for the unreached areas of the world. She takes the gospel commission very seriously. “Go and make followers of all people in the world. Baptize them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Teach them to obey everything that I have taught you, and I will be with you always, even until the end of this age.” Matthew 28:19,20 (NCV) 

Vicky made me aware of some things that I had never realized before. A large portion of the world has no Christian presence at all. Twenty-nine percent of the world, just over one out of every four people on this planet, live in areas where they have never heard of Jesus. They have no chance of hearing the good news of Jesus Christ because they have no access to the gospel: no Bibles in their language and no churches or believers nearby who might tell them about Jesus.

Like most Christians, I thought we were doing a pretty good job of spreading the gospel. To be presented with evidence that shows we have so much room for improvement was disheartening. 

On the YouTube channel Radical, I watched a video titled The Great Imbalance. There, I learned that there are 7.75 billion people in our world, and over three million are unreached, meaning they have zero access to the gospel. Most will be born, live, and die without hearing about Jesus.

In its simplest terms, The Great Commission is the command of Jesus to reach “all of the world.” But we are not getting close to that goal. The video I watched broke down the numbers of what they called the great imbalance. Accomplishing any task requires determination, a plan, and resources. But here is where the imbalance comes into play.

Across the world, hundreds of millions of Bible-believing Christians want to fulfill the Great Commission. They donate hundreds and hundreds of billions of dollars to their churches. Last year, over forty billion dollars were allocated to missions. 400,000 Christian people are working as missionaries. It seems like Christians are doing their part to help fulfill the command of Jesus to make followers worldwide.

But on closer inspection of the statistics, we find a great imbalance. Of those billions of dollars given to missions, only a tiny portion, around one percent, is used for unreached people groups, and only three percent of missionaries take the gospel to unreached people worldwide. This is the great imbalance. Twenty-nine percent of the world, just over one out of every four people on this planet, live in areas where they have never heard of Jesus. And Christians use just one percent of their mission donations in these areas.

I’m reminded of the story of Jonah, where God gave him a message. “Get up and go to the great city of Nineveh. Announce my judgment against it because I have seen how wicked its people are.” Jonah 1:2 (NLT) But instead of following God’s command, “Jonah got up and went in the opposite direction to get away from the Lord. He went down to the port of Joppa, where he found a ship leaving for Tarshish. He bought a ticket and went on board, hoping to escape from the Lord by sailing to Tarshish.” Jonah 1:3 (NLT)

We know how Jonah tried to get out of doing what God had told him to do. But have we ever acted like Jonah? Jesus has told us to get up and go. Where are you going? Are you on the road to Nineveh or on a voyage to Tarshish? We have been given a message to spread worldwide but failed. We have passed judgment on many of the people groups of the world. We say, "They don't deserve the love of God; they don't deserve my time because they are no good.”

When we decide that certain people groups aren't worthy of our time, aren't worthy of the good news of salvation, we are boarding a boat for Tarshish. We don’t want to travel to Nineveh and give the good news because we are worried that God might save the people we don’t like.  That was a factor in Jonah’s decision to board the voyage to Tarshish.

In Revelation 7:9 (NASB), God reveals the grand finale of human history. When humanity’s struggle finally ends, God will fill His eternal Kingdom with “a great multitude which no one could count, from every nation and all tribes and peoples and tongues.” God is preparing for an uncountable multitude of worshippers from every nation, tribe, and language. We must not merely wait for this to happen. God asks for us to work with Him to bring it to pass. Jesus commands us to “go throughout the whole world and preach the gospel to all people.” Mark 16:15 (GNT)

How can you and I go into the world and preach the gospel “to every nation, tribe and people, no matter what language they speak?” Revelation 14:6 (NIRV) What can we do from a small town in Western Arkansas? God has a job for each one of us, and he provides the means for us to accomplish it.

Gentle Reader, what will you do when God asks you to get up and go? Do you take the Gospel Commission as a personal command? Are you looking forward to hearing, “Well done, good and faithful servant?” Matthew 25:23 (NKJV) Then we must “go throughout the whole world and preach the gospel to all people.” Mark 16:15 (GNT) Let’s help correct the great imbalance.