We Are Gaining

In 1900 there were fewer than 10 million Protestants in sub-Saharan Africa. By the year 2000 there will be over 400 million—a growth rate 500 percent faster than thepopulation growth. In 1900 there were only about 50,000 Protestants in Latin America.By the year 2000 there will be over 100 million—a growth rate 20,000 percent faster thanthe population growth. Just over one hundred years ago there were no Christian churchesin Korea. Today there are 6,000 churches in the city of Seoul alone. More Muslims havebecome Christians in Indonesia, Bangladesh, Iran, and East Africa in the last ten yearsthan in the last ten centuries. Christianity is the most extensive and universal religion inhistory. There are churches in every country in the world.

The task remaining is great. But we are gaining steadily. The goal is to reach every people group with the gospel and plant the church among them. Several thousand groupsremain to be reached. But the number is shrinking steadily, and the number of Christiansavailable to complete the job is growing. The great new reality in missions today is theemergence of non-Western missionaries and agencies. There are over 30,000 personneland by the end of the century that number will be over 100,000 at the present rate ofadvance. Not only that, but also, lands once thought to be utterly inaccessible haveopened, as it were, overnight under the sovereign hand of God. And as if that were notenough, God is reversing missions and bringing many of the unreached peoples to ourown Western cities. In Toronto, Canada, live an estimated 67,000 Chinese Buddhists,297,000 Indo-Pakistanis, 88,000 Portuguese, and 109,000 Japanese.

The point is this: there is great cause for hope today. Controversies notwithstanding—or perhaps through the very controversies themselves—Christ will build His church. Allthe families of the earth will be blessed. The nations may rage and the kingdoms totter,but God utters His voice and the earth melts. The victory will not come without suffering.Perhaps this is what will bind us together mostsweetly in the end. May the Lord give usmore light and more love as we hope in Him.

From the chapter CHARITY, CLARITY, AND HOPE:THE CONTROVERSY AND THE CAUSE OF CHRIST
by John Piper and Wayne Grudem From their book RECOVERING BIBLICAL MANHOOD AND WOMANHOOD

Kisses From Katie

I'm planning on buying the book, and will review it here later.

Long But Interesting

John Piper interviews David Platt (writer of Radical):



From Desiring God.