God at work today
“In our day the Holy Spirit is doing a most remarkable work. More people from non-Christian backgrounds are becoming Christians than ever before in history. Across the Middle East, North Africa, Central Asia, South and South-East Asia, as well as in countries such as China, the Gospel message is not only being spread but is producing a wonderful harvest of new believers.
The most effective workers in this harvest field are the Christians living and witnessing in their own countries. Though it may be dangerous, though most have nowhere to flee from violence or state persecution, their lives and words are drawing many to Christ.
Countries which have seen exceptional church growth in recent decades include Muslim countries like Indonesia, Algeria, and Iran. They also include Hindu-majority Nepal, where known Christians have increased from just 23 in 1959 to more than 760,000. In Mongolia, where Shamanism and Buddhism are the main religions, there may have been only 4 Christians in 1989, but now there are thought to be around 40,000. In communist China, where church growth is said to have “no parallels in history”, it is estimated that there are now a hundred million Christians. On a less dramatic scale, but surely no less significant from an eternal perspective, there are now national believer (i.e. not expatriates) in every country of North Africa and the Middle East, even if in many cases they must be secret believers.”
Source: From Barnabas Aid – The Magazine of Barnabas Fund – May/June 2008 p6
