MIF 6:4 (July-Aug 1974)
Editorial
According to recent Gallup polls, American youth are “exceptionally religious” when compared with the youth of eleven other countries. Only 12% of the American youth had “no interest” in religion, as compared with 32% of the English, 41% of the Swedish, and 74% of the Japanese. Of American college educated youth 88% indicated interest, about the same as those less educated.
Global population has reached 3.8 billion and is expected to double within 35 years. Leading countries are Mainland China (800 million), India (600 million), Russia (250 million), and the U.S. (210 million).
The Gospel ship Logos has reached 10 million people with the gospel since its launching three years ago by Operation Mobilization. When the ship recently called at the Maldive Islands in the Indian Ocean, 750 people eagerly received copies of the Living New Testament. This is the first time the gospel has been taken to these islands. On Good Friday 200,000 Korean Christians witnessed to a million non-Christian friends. Each prayed for five people beforehand, and then contacted them personally with specially-prepared literature. Their goal was 100,000 new Christians on that day. Christ the Only Way evangelism program in the Philippine Islands has established 10,000 home Bible studies and 6,700 Christian fellowship groups in the last year.
These statistics, taken from Church Around the World, are cause for much thanksgiving, even if the thought of reaching the world’s expanding population with the gospel staggers us. The important thing is that we shine where we are and avail ourselves of every God-given opportunity. We are grateful for today’s unprecedented efforts of mass evangelism, yet there is no substitute for “one to one” evangelism (i.e. one Christian witnessing to one who is not a Christian). In other words, the key and crying need in reaching souls for Christ is for all true believers to involve themselves in personal evangelism. When did you last contact someone for Christ?