THE GREAT COMMISSION: IS THE CHURCH NOT LOOSING OUT?

As I reflect on the current state of the global harvest, the passage that comes to mind is 1 Samuel 17:1-12:
4 A champion named Goliath, who was from Gath, came out of the Philistine camp. He was over nine feet tall. 5 He had a bronze helmet on his head and wore a coat of scale armor of bronze weighing five thousand shekels; 6 on his legs he wore bronze greaves, and a bronze javelin was slung on his back. 7 His spear shaft was like a weaver's rod, and its iron point weighed six hundred shekels. His shield bearer went ahead of him.
8 Goliath stood and shouted to the ranks of Israel, "Why do you come out and line up for battle? Am I not a Philistine, and are you not the servants of Saul? Choose a man and have him come down to me. 9 If he is able to fight and kill me, we will become your subjects; but if I overcome him and kill him, you will become our subjects and serve us." 10 Then the Philistine said, "This day I defy the ranks of Israel! Give me a man and let us fight each other." 11 On hearing the Philistine's words, Saul and all the Israelites were dismayed and terrified.

History is seemingly repeating itself. The church is in a critical state. Goliath is out. His size is staggering. He is openly challenging the church. He is not only halting the advance of God’s kingdom but determined to reverse the progress made thus far .The Philistines are jubilating. They think they are winning. I hear Goliath say to the church: "This day I defy the ranks of Israel! Give me a man and let us fight each other." May their victory not last! God is looking for the Davids of our time. God is looking for men and women who will put a check on the advancement of the Kingdom of darkness and enthrone the Lordship of Jesus in all the nations that Jesus died for.

For those that understand the time, they will agree with me that this is the state of today’s church. I am not a pessimistic person but if we must win the battle of world evangelization, we must rightly evaluate the strength of the enemy. This is not time for celebration. It is a time for sober reflection.

Mission Researchers today revealed that the world population is growing very fast. It is estimated at 6,696,813,000. Out of this number the total unreached population is 2,742,282,000. This implies that we still have 40.9% of Unreached Population. They also said we have 16,351 as total People Groups in today’s word out of which 6,640 are Unreached People. The current Unreached People Percentage is put at 40.6 % . For me, this statistics is very staggering. I expected better progress than this – Over 2000 years after the church was commissioned.

Without being sentimental, we can see on the other hand that Islam is growing very fast. Dale Garside and Richard L. Steiner in their book, Muslim Evangelism for Church Growth revealed that Islam rate of growth is 2.94% per year. In 1900, Muslims made up 12% of the total population. Today, they are well over 20%.
Unfortunately, if the church does not produce men like David to confront the Goliath call Islam, the world will soon be swept away by Islam. A recent mail from Missions Network News (MNN) sent to revealed yet another staggering projection. The MNN said a birth rate of 2.11 is required for a culture to perpetuate. Today it is an average of 1.9. European Union is now 1.38, Canada is 1.6, USA is 2.11 but the Muslims is said to be 8.1. The MNN projects that in the next 40years, France will be Islamic Republic. By 2050, Germany will become Islamic Republic and in 30 years time, USA will produce 50million Muslims.

Coming back to our home country, Nigeria, the situation is not better. There is no doubt that we have a few mega churches in some cities but God’s mandate for us is to disciple the nations. Our evaluation of the church must be on that basis. Out of 300 people groups surveyed, 178 are Unreached People. 34 of these 178 are 100% unreached. 76 are adherents of ATR, 172 Islam and 70 classified top priorities. Again, why so many unreached people after over 2000years of Jesus having paid the price on Calvary? Why is Islam having an upper hand? 172 people groups for Islam alone is not a fun and remember 34 of them are 100% unreached. Again, I can hear Goliath say: "This day I defy the ranks of Israel! Give me a man and let us fight each other."

Someone once try to find an answer to why we are to complete the task? He said:
Not because it is our duty, though it is.
Not because it will bring eternal life to many, though it will.
Not because it will improve the living conditions of the poor, though it will.
Not because it will improve stability in the world’s institutions, though it will.
Not because it will improve environmental stewardship, though it will.
Not because we will be rewarded, though we will.

We should disciple the nations because Jesus is worthy to receive their honor, glory and praise.

“After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude, which no one could count, from every nation and tribe and people and tongue, standing before the throne and before the Lamb.” Rev. 7:9

“Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise!” Rev. 5:12


Where are the Davids of our time?
The emergence of David silenced Goliath. HE came up as at the time that even Saul was already terrified. We need en like David who will volunteer to unseat the devil from he territories where he had held humanity bound. We have a promise. The Lord promised to build His church with the assurance that the gate of hell will no prevail against it. What He need now is the vessel through which He will express Himself.

The devil may seem to be winning now but Christ has the final joker. We have seen it happen over and over in history that when an empire reach his peak, He prove to them that He is God Almighty. Egypt got to the peak of it. No body could ever predict that the Israelites could come out of her grip. When God raised Moses, He brought deliverance to them. Till today, the Egyptians have not recovered from it. Where is the Moses of our generation? Where are the Davids of our days?

We need God now more than ever
Looking at the staggering volume of the unfinished task, it is apparent that no human effort can accomplish the desired result of Great Commission soon. We need divine intervention. We need God! Can we cry to Him more than ever to give us the nations for an inheritance? God has to raise the workforce.