There is a quiet danger in growing comfortable. The church can settle into its routines, its buildings, and its familiar faces, and forget that beyond every wall there is a world still waiting. The truth about the world is not pleasant, but it is necessary. We cannot reach what we refuse to see.

The World Has Been Evangelized Before

Scripture tells us that the gospel once went to the whole known world. Paul wrote that the gospel

“was preached unto every creature which is under heaven”

and had come to the Colossians just as it had “in all the world” (Colossians 1:5-6, 23). The early church accomplished what looks impossible to us today, and they did it without printing presses, automobiles, or the internet. Paul also reminded the Corinthians that some did not believe even when the truth was set before them (I Corinthians 15:34). The lesson is simple. The task has been done before, which means it can be done again.

The Church Still Has the Power

The church has not lost a single resource that the early believers carried. The same Spirit, the same gospel, and the same commission remain in force. If anything, the modern church has more tools, more wealth, and more access than any previous generation. God told Habakkuk that He would work a work in the days of the prophet that men would not believe even if it were told them (Habakkuk 1:5). Paul quoted that very passage as a warning to those who despised the gospel (Acts 13:40-41). God is not finished. He wants to do it again, and He is looking for a generation willing to be used.

A Breakdown of the Need

Numbers can feel cold, but they tell a story. Behind every figure below stands a person made in the image of God, someone Christ died for, someone who may never hear unless someone goes.

• There are over 8.3 billion people in the world today, and the number continues to climb. The world adds roughly 69 million people every year, the equivalent of an entire new United Kingdom appearing on the map annually.
• Roughly one third of the world claims some form of Christianity. That sounds encouraging until the next statistic is considered.
• A much smaller percentage is truly born again. Many who claim the name of Christ have never experienced the new birth. Roman Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy, and many nominal Protestant traditions are counted among “Christian” statistics, yet large numbers within those groups do not know Christ personally. A sober estimate of those who are truly saved may run closer to three to five percent of the world’s population.
• Only about four percent of the world lives in the United States, yet the great majority of Christian resources, workers, and funding remain concentrated here. Pastors rightly grieve over the spiritual condition of America, but the rest of the world is in far worse condition and has far less reaching it.
• Around twenty-seven percent of the world still has little or no meaningful access to the gospel. Nearly two billion people fall into this category, the majority of them living in the region missionaries call the 10/40 Window. Radio, satellite, and digital media remain among the most underused tools for reaching these people.
• There are 31,557,600 seconds in a year. China alone has approximately 1.41 billion people. To spend just one second with every person in China would take nearly forty-five years, working without stopping, and only if the population froze in place with no births and no deaths during that entire time.
• Now extend that to one hour per person. Reaching everyone in China at one hour each, day and night without rest, would take more than 161,000 years. That is over 2,300 lifetimes of 70 years each, spent laboring around the clock with no breaks.
• If the church saw three thousand people saved every single day, the size of the Pentecost crowd in Acts 2, it would still take well over 1,200 years of daily Pentecosts to reach the people of China alone, even if the population never grew another person.
• India has already become the most populous country on earth, having passed China in recent years, and its population continues to grow while China's begins to decline. China and India together represent more than a third of all humanity. Double that figure, and it is still only two countries.
• There are approximately 195 recognized sovereign nations in the world today, though estimates vary depending on how dependencies and territories are counted. Each one carries its own languages, cultures, and barriers to the gospel.

The Way Forward

No human strategy can close a gap this large by addition alone. The math simply does not work if every believer tries to reach the lost one person at a time over an entire lifetime. The task seems impossible, and in human terms it is. But there is a way through it, and Jesus showed it to us. He invested in a handful of men and multiplied Himself through them. Discipleship and the raising up of leaders is the only strategy that multiplies fast enough to keep pace with a growing world. One trained leader who trains others can reach what one lone laborer never could.

Overcoming Our Prejudice Against Media

Many in the church remain suspicious of media, broadcasting, and digital platforms, often for understandable reasons born from past misuse. But if the church is to reach the masses, it must go where the masses already are, and it must move quickly. Radio, television, and now the internet and social media have already proven their reach. Other movements within Christianity have used these tools effectively to spread their message across the globe. The gospel deserves no less of an effort. The harvest is great, the time is short, and the tools are within reach.

Audience of One