Global Resources

 

We know from Scripture that the purpose of God is to bring people from all nations to know, enjoy, and exalt him (Matthew 24:14, 28:18-20, 1 John 2:1-2, Revelation 7:9). We also know that God wants his people to be vessels of care for those who are suffering (Deuteronomy 15:11, Isaiah 58:10, Matthew 25:31-46, 1 John 3:17-18). The church is God’s chosen instrument through which he proclaims his glory and graciousness to all nations and peoples (Genesis 12:1-3, Deuteronomy 4:5-8, Psalm 67:1-7, Luke 24:45-49), but many of us are not even aware of the severe extent to which sin is tearing apart our world or how we can partner with God in his redemptive work. 

This resource page exists to expose a few often-overlooked areas in which God’s redeeming grace is in desperate need and to guide our thinking, prayer, and acting as his agents.

Global Realities

 
 

  • A person is considered to be multidimensionally poor if they experience deprivation in at least three to four of these categories: nutrition, child mortality, years of schooling, school attendance, cooking fuel, sanitation, drinking water, electricity, housing, and assets (The 2019 Multidimensional Poverty Index). Approximately 1.3 billion people, 22% of the global population, live in multidimensional poverty.

  • UNICEF defines an orphan as “a child under 18 years of age who has lost one or both parents to any cause of death.” This definition broadens the more common idea that an orphan has lost both parents. In light of this, our thinking about orphan care can expand to not only consider how to get children into new families but how to help empower and equip single-parent homes in communities around the world. At least 150 million children around the world have been orphaned. 

  • According to WHO, people have access to safely managed drinking water services when “drinking water from an improved water source...is located on premises, available when needed, and free from fecal and priority chemical contamination.” Somewhere around 2.2 billion people, 28% of the global population, around the world travel at least 30 minutes to get clean drinking water or drink from unprotected or untreated water sources. 

  • A “people group” typically refers to an ethnolinguistic group that shares common language, cultural practices, and religion. Around 3 billion people, a staggering 40% of the entire world, reside within people groups who have been “unreached” with the gospel. “Unreached” peoples come from people groups that have less than a 2% evangelical Christian population. There is a high likelihood that people in these groups have never met a Christian and don’t have access to a church or a translation of the Bible in their language. They will most likely be born, live their entire lives, and then die without ever hearing the truth about Jesus. 

  • People groups that have significantly more than a 2% evangelical Christian population or a majority Christian population are considered to be “reached” with the gospel. This does not, by any means, imply that everyone in those people groups are a believer, but it means that they have had ample opportunities and access to hear about Jesus. Our lost neighbors here in America are not considered “unreached” because they have access to the gospel -- namely through us, you and me, their neighbors.

Resources