URBAN MISSIONS
September 2016
The world is not what it used to be.
50 years ago, 2 out of 3 people on earth lived in rural areas. The need for rural and tribal missions was vast. And it still is.
But there is an ever-growing need to reach the urban unreached.
In 2007, the world’s population crossed the line of being more than 50% urban. And the cities of the world will only continue to grow. By 2050 over 70% of the people on earth will live in cities. And most of the world’s largest cities are extremely unreached with the gospel. Less than 2% of the 40 million people living in Tokyo are Christian. Less than 1% of Delhi’s 25 million residents profess Christ as Savior, and the city has 615 unreached people groups without access to the gospel. That is more than 1/7 of the world’s unreached people groups in just 1 city! Other Indian mega-cities like Ahmedabad and Kolkata also have millions of people, hundreds of unreached people groups, and less than 1% professing Christians.
The numbers are overwhelming.
But think about urban missions on a more personal level. Imagine what life would be like for a poor girl living in a garbage dump on a pile of trash in Delhi. No one has ever spoken one loving word to her, let alone shared the gospel. Imagine being enslaved with your family to make bricks all day under the threat of murder or being abducted from your family and forced into prostitution. Imagine being a rich businessman who has everything he thought he could ever want, but who still can’t shake the ever-growing sting of loneliness and depression. He knows there is something critical missing from is life, but he has no clue what it is. And he doesn’t even know anyone who could share Christ with him because there aren’t enough Christians in his city.
Imagine being part of the solution.
Seriously, take a few moments to dream about what revival in an unreached megacity would look like. Imagine God completely transforming a city filled with paganism, atheism, slavery, poverty, lust, pride, and hate into a city where people love each other, worship God, and even go out from the city to reach the unreached villages nearby. Is that something you want to be a part of?
This is the Metro Effect, and this is our prayer.