David Livermore challenges us to picture the typical Christian and asks, “What do you see?”
Then he lets us in on it.
“The vast number of Christians [in the world] are young, nonwhite, poor, theologically conservative, and female.” *
Would it surprise you to know, “The western church is no longer the trendsetter and center of Christianity…?”*
Would it surprise you to know, “The largest Christian communities today are NOT in the U.S. Bible Belt but in Africa and Latin America – and that none of the fifty largest churches in the world are found in North America?”*
Spending time at a Bible College in Jembo, Africa, we learned that the dedicated students there spend their holidays and time between semesters - doing ministry. A district superintendent we met has a great number of churches over a vast area he serves – mainly on foot. We saw home-made instruments and heard a lot of worship singing that was ‘a cappella’. A banner we read in a Pilgrim Wesleyan Church in Livingstone that has grown from some 200 to 600 in two years has a banner hanging in the sanctuary that dares to read, “Bringing Thousands into God’s Kingdom” with the motto: “Arise & Be Involved” – Matthew 28:1
Selah.
* From Serving with Eyes Wide Open by David Livermore, pages 31-33.
For more information on Global Partners – to support missionaries or perhaps - become one. See http://www.wesleyan.org/gp/
Photo: Student at BibleCollege’s Married Housing © 2010 Gary VanRiper
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