"On Mission"

  • Derek Staples
  • | Dec 1, 2008
  • | Series: Monday Morning Manna

 

"On Mission"

“How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed?  And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard?  And how are they to hear without someone preaching?  And how are they to preach unless they are sent?  As it is written, "How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!"  
(Romans 10: 14-15, ESV)
 
 
Today begins our Week of Prayer for the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering, with this year’s theme: “Go Tell the Story of Jesus.”  I hope you will take the time to peruse the provided “Fast Facts” sheet that shows how our International Mission Board is leading us to fulfill The Great Commission.  
 
Our mission study this Wednesday night at 6:00 PM will feature an interview with a missionary couple from Venezuela, Paul and Robin Tinley.  Mary Stinson will share with us about their work there, and we will have the opportunity to hear about their work in Venezuela.    
 
We will also have with us two Colombian students, Cristina Vallego and Andres Camacho, who will share with us at 5:00 PM in some South American cuisine, prepared by Wendy, our hostess.  They will be dressed in native attire and will give a brief presentation on the contrasts between Colombia (their home country) and its neighbor on the eastern side, Venezuela (the focus country of our study).   We will discover that there are many indigenous groups in the region that have never heard the story of Jesus.  
 
Let me share some incredible mission statistics:
 

Fast Facts

International Mission Board vital stats

• 5,541 missionaries (as of 11/11/08)

• 25,497 new churches*

• 609,968 baptisms*

• 567,413 new believers in discipleship*

Status of World Evangelization

• 11,573 people groups worldwide; 6.6 billion people

• 6,508 unreached* people groups; 3.8 billion people

• 5,903 Last Frontier** people groups; 1.6 billion people

*Less than 2 percent evangelical

**Less than 2 percent evangelical, no active church planting

Lottie Moon past and present

• 2008 goal: $170 million

• 2007 receipts: $150,409,653.86

• $3 billion given since offering’s inception

• $3,315 collected in 1888 for first offering, enough to send 3 women to China

South America regional focus

• 10 countries; 378.7 million people

• 699 total people groups

• 87 people groups among whom IMB personnel work

• 411 unreached (less than 2 percent evangelical) people groups

• 200 unreached people groups with no evangelical presence*

• 79 percent Roman Catholic**

• 6 percent evangelical

• 3 percent traditional ethnic/spiritist

• 12 percent nonreligious

*No missionaries working with these groups and no known believers or churches among them

**Many of these Catholics practice syncretism – a mixture of religions such as Catholicism and animism – or do not attend church at all.

How much does it cost to support a missionary?

• $41,258.77 a year

• $3,438.23 a month

• $793.44 a week

• $113.04 a day

• $4.71 an hour

• $.08 a minute

Reported July 2008. Support includes housing, food, children’s education, medical expenses, retirement and more.

IMB budgeted income: 
Lottie Moon Christmas Offering - about 50 percent 
Cooperative Program - 33 percent
World Hunger and General Relief - 6 percent
Field-generated funds, investment returns and other income - 11 percent
Total IMB expenditures 2007 - $300.4 million
• Overseas missions - $256.0 million
     • Missionary support - $214.1 million
     • Field work - $41.9 million
• Stateside - $44.4 million
Percentage of the LMCO used for missionaries and their ministries: 100%
 
I hope that you will listen attentively, pray hard, and give sacrificially to the mission investment that God had laid before us.
 
 
   
Supporting Our Missionaries,
 
 
Dr. Derek