7 Stats You Need to Know to Serve the King in 2015

While our world is complex, there are some simple truths about our world that bring clarity and focus to our thinking. Clarity could make the difference between being lost in the fog or finding a breakthrough in your ministry. Consider each of these seven statistics presented in the Missiographic and put them up against your current outreach efforts. What did you learn?

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<p><a href="https://missionexus.org/7-stats-you-need-to-know-to-serve-the-king-in-2015/"><strong>7 Stats You Need to Know to Serve the King in 2015</strong></a><br />While our world is complex, there are some simple truths about our world that bring clarity and focus to our thinking. Clarity could make the difference between being lost in the fog or finding a breakthrough in your ministry. Consider each of these seven statistics presented in the Missiographic and put them up against your current outreach efforts. What did you learn?</p>

Engaging through Prayer
Dear God, we want to see your Kingdom grow and prosper in this world you made. We know you are on a mission of redemption. Thank you for allowing us to be a part of your work. Give us eyes to see what is happening in the world as we live our daily lives. Give us obedient hearts to respond to the trends and directions of this world’s peoples so that we can appropriately share your love with them. And we pray that as we do, you would use the work of our hands as part of your plan to prepare their hearts and draw them to you. AMEN

Personal Reflection
These 7 stats are macro trends that are not only true at a global level, but are likely to be evident in your own life. For instance, how many non-believers are you personal friends with? Do you live in a place where you are part of the religious majority? Do you know an immigrant or are you one? Do you feel the strain of global economic inequality? Do you live in a city or do you know many who do? Do you have a college degree or know many seeking prosperity through education and knowledge? Think about these stats in light of your personal experience and then in light of the experience of those who God has called you to serve. If many of those you know would resonate with this basic narrative, how is God preparing their hearts? What role do you have in that process of them coming to Christ?

Engaging the Church
These 7 stats could change your church forever. How are you processing them as a congregation and adjusting accordingly? So many of our churches are filled with people who don’t know or invest time with non-believers. And many times this is because we are surrounded by people much like us most of the time. What can your church do to change that stat? Every time one of your congregants has lunch with a non-believer and builds a bond, that number gets closer to changing. Are you challenging them in that way? Are you raising the challenge to reach the diaspora in your community? Are you advocating for human dignity through work and appropriate pay? Are you engaging the cities you live in or that are nearby? Are you seeking to influence those who are desperate to learn and develop skills in order to provide livelihoods for themselves and their families? Take a mental drive around this wheel and ask God what things your church should be doing in response to these realities.

Organizational Application
Many of our ministries are focused on seeing that final stat be only a glimpse of what God really does by 2050. We all want to see many more than 36% consider themselves Christian. And the reality is that stats 1-6 are key to seeing that number grow through the working of the Holy Spirit. What is your organization doing to think creatively about these realities? Have you made the strategic and intentional connection between your ministry outputs and the outcome of seeing the Kingdom expand? So many times we focus on doing more work; assuming that will lead to better results. But activity does not necessarily breed impact. Spirit-led decision making based on an understanding of our world and the forces at work, lead to the right kinds of outcomes. Now we can’t control what that 7^th stat will look like in 2050, but we can be responding to the Spirit and doing things that the King can use as He brings about His Kingdom in 2015.