Tony Sheng has a great primer on global mission which everyone needs to check out. It’s an outline of what he talks to his students about when they approach him with interest in going on a mission trip.

One of the things that struck me most as I looked over the resources he links to is this particular gem on the disparity of personnel to peoples. Where Workers Serve shows a map with workers per millions of people. It’s an eye-opener, even for someone like me, who served NAME, one of the most personnel-starved regions of the IMB. I knew we were woefully lacking in workers, but I had forgotten how bad it is. South Asia, however, is the lowest. That breaks my heart, since it is a place and people so dear to my heart.

Tony sums up the depth of the problem by saying,

A tiny fraction of the global Church’s resources are going to the
unreached. The going estimate is .5% – right, half of one percent. So
for every $100, fifty cents is going to support the unreached. Not just
budget and spending, but human capital as well. (emphasis mine)

Un.Believable.

And then there’s this:

Ninety-seven percent of the world’s trained youth workers live and work
in the United States, ministering to less than 3% of the world’s youth
population.

What are we doing, Church? What are we doing?

Go check the rest of it out, including the links. Print out the map of Where Workers Serve and pin it up somewhere you will see it every day.

And then do something.