We have undergone an amazing transition in the tide of world missions. More than likely you did not hear about this amazing shift. You certainly did not receive an "official announcement" when it happened. The Day the tide shifted, we did not celebrate and praise God, nor did we weep in repentance on our knees in our churches either. Which should we have done?
Is it good news, or bad news? You tell me!
The day the majority of the worlds Missions Force shifted from "Us" to "Them".
There is good news and bad news to be found. 2/3rds world churches, our mission field churches, now send over 50% of the missionaries into the world. European & North American missionaries are now the minority on the mission field. This is astoundingly exciting, for this proves that the last 100 years of sent missionaries has had a tremendously positive effect. Those first young believers have matured and risen up with a passion for the lost world.
Yet we can't help but stand here in a daze wondering what this means for us, as church attendance declines.
3rd World Churches send missionaries
"The Christian "center of gravity" is no longer the comfortable West, whose Christian confidence has been steadily leavened by the subliminal agnosticism that almost always accompanies prosperity (Rev. 3:14-20). The vitality that marks the most dynamically missionary churches is today most readily observed in the great continents of
So "The Shifting Tide of World Missions" is it good news or bad news for us?
What does it mean? Does, this change our role now? What will "their" role be toward the minority us? What will our role be "to the world" in the future until Jesus comes? It's good news. However, does this mean the west is done? I don't think so!
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