As hard as I try, I just can’t get my head around it.
It’s one thing to know the statistics. But something very different to actually imagine it.
I’m talking about never actually having heard the name of Jesus.
More than mind-boggling, it’s heartbreaking. But true. There are roughly three billion men, women, and children in the 10/40 Window who know absolutely nothing about Jesus Christ.
But thankfully there’s good news. And you’re part of it.
Because your partnership is helping to equip spiritually hungry new believers in the 10/40 Window to share their faith with others. Using tried and true materials that CRI has developed over 60 years.
Please understand. Equipping these brothers and sisters is critical because these are countries either totally closed or severely restricted when it comes to foreigners sharing the gospel.
In short, we’re helping to multiply indigenous missionaries. And at a fraction of the cost of supporting a missionary from the U.S.
How? Through videos produced here in the states and distributed strategically throughout Asia. We’re answering questions that have been asked and answered on the Bible Answer Man broadcast for decades. And these are the same questions understandably being asked by new believers in Asia.
In doing so, we’re following five “Going Global” guiding principles:
The Spirit of God leads — We aim to be where God is working now, not where the Spirit is not moving.
Leaders outweigh followers — Just like gravity, influence flows downward. Yet due to often severe economic conditions, many of these leaders and pastors have no Bible college or seminary training. Our teaching thus aims to avoid the perennial truth that “My people perish for lack of knowledge” (Hosea 4:6).
The center outweighs the periphery — Influence also flows outward from key centers of influence, not inward from the margins of society.
Networks outweigh individuals and institutions — Our mission partners have an extensive network of thousands of churches and multiple outreaches (leprosy work, medical, community development, and local missionaries, to name a few) that provides massive reach for the distribution of these equipping materials.
Go where the hunger is — Rather than trying to persuade the satiated that they really are hungry (a tough sell!), we’re focusing on those who are starving to know more about their often newfound faith.
While a second key Going Global initiative entails the global reach of the vast materials on our website, our focus now is on seizing the synergy of the five guiding principles above.
You may recall that in earlier communications about CRI’s “Going Global” initiative, I’ve referred to these believers as ‘tumbleweed Christians.’ Lacking sufficiently deep roots to ground them in a genuinely biblical faith, they are often blown about by the heretical promises of prosperity preachers or the aberrant teachings of predatory cults.
That’s why I’ve been given the opportunity to provide training for these leaders at every level of the church. Training in sound doctrine and effective biblical apologetics.
And to equip them through a series of teaching tools I’ve done and will be doing to systematically equip millions of believers in thousands of churches!
You’re reading that right.
That’s why this is an extraordinary opportunity to equip literally millions of fellow believers in Asia right now.
You see, a vast distribution network exists through partner churches we’re working with, but we need to sustain the flow of discipling materials and resources to keep these pipelines replenished. What’s needed urgently now is to continue adapting CRI materials to equip the burgeoning numbers of new believers in the 10/40 Window and Global South.
Due to economic conditions, thousands of these first-generation Christian leaders in these countries have no Bible college or seminary training, and responding to their often urgent questions requires only that we provide them with the answers we’ve been providing for decades through CRI.
Can I count on you to help multiply and equip these homegrown missionaries?
The truth be told, your partnership has made it possible for CRI to touch and transform countless hearts and minds at home and abroad. And I’m endlessly grateful for the difference you have made and continue to make in so many lives.
Together, we now have the opportunity, as we continue our “Going Global” initiative, to equip multitudes of believers in Asia and around the world who urgently need the teaching and discipling that you and I can provide.
While very generous gifts will be needed from our ministry partners to sustain these outreaches and bring them to full fruition, every gift matters in making these efforts possible.
May God bless you richly for the tremendous multiplication of fruit your gift today can make possible in so many lives worldwide!
…because Truth Matters, Life Matters More,
President
P.S. I recently returned from a primary source research trip respecting one of the most insidious cults (both theologically and sociologically) we have encountered in the history of CRI — a cult that is quite literally tearing families apart worldwide. What was most heartbreaking for me personally was to realize once again that this and similar cults represent the unpaid bills of the church. In other words, they proliferate in part by seducing church members ungrounded in “the faith once for all delivered to the saints” ( Jude 3). Your support is thus directly impacting people and places you will fully recognize only from the perspective of eternity.