700 Club Interviews Tim Hill
An interview with Tim Hill, director of Church of God World Missions, was recently aired on the 700 Club. He answered questions from interviewer Gordon Robertson about the church’s mission activities.
Hill stated that the focus of World Missions is on unreached peoples. Unreached people can be defined as a group of people who speak a common language and share a common culture. They think of themselves as “us” and they do not have among them enough Christians to evangelize the group, typically less than 2 percent, if any. Demographers have identified almost 17,000 distinct people groups around the globe, and nearly 7,000 of these groups are considered “unreached.” This is approximately 2.8 billion people. The church’s missions task is far from done. Among the best resources for getting involved with unreached peoples are the Joshua Project, Adopt-a-People Foundation, and Advancing Native Missions.
Missions has become less Western-oriented and much more Southern-oriented. In years past, most missionaries came from Europe and North America. Now the movement is toward more missionaries being sent from Latin America, Asia, and Africa. If trends continue, South Korea will soon be sending more missionaries than the United States. The trend of missions is investing more of its funds in leadership development. In any area where growth is happening and the church is maturing, it is the result of a strong, well-prepared leader.
Due to the global economy, Hill says world missions is now different with much belt-tightening. Because of global financial situations, less income is available to mission-sending agencies. In the West, there are now more short-term missions. There is a shift to reach those in the “4/14 Window,” which are children from ages 4 to14. Hill says this is a pervasive demographic that is mushrooming in growth.
Trends in the Christian Church and Christian Missions
Here are trends that Hill is seeing. Most of the statistics are from Pew Research Center, Barna Research, and the Joshua Project. The rate of overall global population growth is 1.2 percent a year. In terms of religion:
Buddhism is growing at 1.3 percent
Hinduism is growing at 1.2 percent
Islam is growing at 1.9 percent
Christianity is growing at 1.2 percent
Evangelical Christianity is growing at 2.6 percent
The world’s population is slightly over 7 billion. Of that number, approximately one-third are Christians. In 1960, 3 percent of the world was comprised of evangelical Christians; by 2012, that percentage had grown to 8 percent. Evangelicals are growing in a healthy manner at 2.6 percent.
The downside of these figures is that 85 percent of Hindus, Buddhists, Muslims, and tribal peoples do not know one single Christian. That number mounts up to 41 percent of the world, or 2.8 billion, who have not heard the gospel of Christ, and who will not hear unless an outsider goes to them.
State of Christianity in the United States
Here is some data compiled about Christianity in the United States:
1.A great majority of Christians are biblically and theologically illiterate; they profess to be believers, but they know little of the faith they claim.
2.Christians are more ingrown and private, and they are not interested in outreach. This is a dramatic change from past years.
3.Many Christians, especially “Millennials” (those born between 1981 and 2002), are more interested in social justice and social service than earlier generations.
4.Christians have been negatively affected by the secular movement toward “tolerance,” until many do not have strong standards of belief and behavior, i.e., they believe people have a right to do what they want to do, without outside restrictions.
5.There does not seem to be visible influence on the world by the teachings and practices of Christian churches.
Church of God Missions Update
In the last six months, Hill has been to 12 nations, and the last country he visited was India. He is preparing to go to Cambodia where the church is building a city near Phnom Penh with a water system, housing, etc.
Hill says Church of God churches are establishing congregations around the world every six hours. Their work efforts are strong, complete with establishing Bible schools. The Church of God has congregations in 177 countries and territories with almost 6 million members. Although they have many missionaries, the leaders in most countries are nationals. In Indonesia, the Church of God is twice the numerical size of the church in the United States. Several churches have thousands of members, one with more than 100,000. In Guatemala, total adult membership exceeds the membership of the total members in the six largest states of the United States. In Bolivia, where the Church of God had only 42 churches in 2010, it has started 30 new churches and is still planting churches there.
To view the 8 minute interview, click on the following link: http://www.cbn.com/tv/2168062378001
© 2013 Church of God World Missions
