Sept. 15 | The Gospel in Modern Times
Acts 19:20, “In this way the word of the Lord spread widely and grew in power.”
Never before has the gospel spread faster and more effectively across the world than right now.
Like in the book of Acts, the gospel net is spreading wide and growing by the power of God. Just in the last few years we have witnessed the fastest growing segment of Christianity, Pentecostalism, growing in ways only past generations could have dreams about!
“Currently, every month 15,000 in India are baptized as new believers in Jesus Christ. In China, there are now about 80,000,000 evangelical believers - growing at a rate five times that of the general population. In 1900, Korea had no Protestant Church; it was deemed ‘impossible to penetrate.’ Today, six new churches open every day in South Korea, and it is site of nine of the world’s largest churches - some with more than 800,000 members. Today Korea is 30% Christian with 7,000 churches in Seoul alone. Millions of Buddhists have come to Christ.
Of over 400 million Latin Americans, more than 50 million have become evangelical Christians. By the end of this decade, a majority of the people in Brazil, Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador will be evangelical believers. Chile, Costa Rica and Bolivia are about 40% Bible-believing evangelicals.
In Africa the church is on fire. It’s the first continent to become majority Christian (over 50%) in a single century. Over 25,000 new believers per day mark the growth of the Church. More Muslims in Iran have come to Christ since 1980 than in the previous 1,000 years combined. Before Khomeini’s revolution in 1979 there were about 2,000 Iranian believers. After years of intensified persecution, there are now more than 15,000.
In October 1993, the Philippines was solemnly consecrated to Jesus Christ in a massive rally around the Quirino Grandstand in Luneta Park in Manila - a rally attended by a million believers. Singapore’s churches are now the most evangelistically active in the world, with one missionary sent out per 1,000 Christians.” (Source: One World Missions). The amazing part of all these stats is that the vast majority of the evangelicals are Spirit-filled, tongue talking disciples operating in the power of God!
Sadly, at the same time of this explosive growth around the world, the United States is at an all-time low regarding those who are truly born-again. Though roughly 40% of Americans claim to be born again, only around 7% actually can be verified. Research shows that the overwhelming majority of Americans do not believe Jesus is the only way to salvation and that the Bible is the sole infallible rule for faith and morals. Just in one decade (2000-2010) it was estimated that 2.6 million people left Christianity in the U.S.! For America to see growth and awakening like the rest of the world, we must preach the gospel with the power of the Holy Spirit!
Reflection
Action
- Ask the Lord to baptize you with the Holy Spirit and power to preach the gospel like the disciples around the world (Acts 1:8).
- Pray for the gospel of Jesus to continue to flourish by the power of God all over the world.
- Pray for America to see revival!