Saturday, August 28, 2010

Has America been passed over in the Great Commission?

There are actually less American missionaries on the field now then there were 30 years ago.  Is it the economy and people giving less which in turn causes fewer people to be deployed?  Is it that Americans are too comfortable and not willing to sacrifice and go overseas because of our gods of comfort and security?  Have we decided that it is cheaper and more efficient to accomplish the task by "outsourcing" the remaining task to the third world and global south?  Has the huge growth in the short-term missions sector encouraged us to go for a week or month at a time rather than committing to certain areas until the work is done?  Maybe technology is allowing us to share good news in previously closed countries while Google translates for us making it not necessary for us to actually have to move to the Muslim world and learn Arabic to make disciples?

There remain over 6600 entire people groups that are still considered unreached with the Gospel.  What do you think the U.S. role is in this whole endeavor?  Has our time as pioneers passed and now we need to focus more on our role as givers and equippers of others to finish the task?  Or is it time for a fresh new missionary movement to rise up and thousands of new laborers deployed to the hardest to reach final frontiers?  I'd love to hear your thoughts and comments.