95% of the world’s population lives outside of the United States. Although the U.S. is one of the most (if not the most) powerful and influential nations globally, we only make up about 5% of all the people on planet earth!
When I was in Ethiopia recently, I posed the following question to several high school and college age students: What is your greatest dream?
Without hesitation, their unanimous answer was, “to live in the United States and get a college education.”
Most of those living in the Majority World would love to live where we call home. We are a privileged people. And to whom much is given, much is required. (Luke 12:48)
“You have never looked into the eyes of another human being who isn’t valuable to God.”
One practical action we can all take to help make a difference among those living in the Majority World (i.e. primarily Asia, Africa, Latin America) is to pray for our brothers and sisters in Christ who live in those regions.
The best resource I’ve found for guiding us in prayer for the global church (the 95%) has been Operation World by Patrick Johnstone.
Justin Taylor (of The Gospel Coalition) writes about what he considers to be “one of the most remarkable Christian publications of the 20th century”:
For decades, Operation World has been the world’s leading resource for people who want to impact the nations for Christ through prayer. Its twofold purpose has been to inform for prayer and to mobilize for mission. Now the research team of Operation World offers this abridged version of the 7th edition called Pray for the World as an accessible resource to facilitate prayer for the nations. The Operation World researchers asked Christian leaders in every country, “How should the body of Christ throughout the world be praying for your country?” Their responses provide the prayer points in this book, with specific ways your prayers can aid the global church. When you hear a country mentioned in the news, you can use Pray for the World to pray for it in light of what God is doing there. Each entry includes:
- Timely challenges for prayer and specific on-the-ground reports of answers to prayer
- Population and people group statistics
- Charts and maps of demographic trends
- Updates on church growth, with a focus on evangelicals
- Explanations of major currents in economics, politics and society
Hear God’s call to global mission.
And watch the world change.
