Foundations for Christian Mission, Student Workbook, SW04

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F O U N D A T I O N S F O R C H R I S T I A N M I S S I O N

B. City populations today resemble the same traits as the crowds which Christ observed as he went through the cities and villages of his time. The city populations of today are as Jesus viewed them, distracted and distressed, as those without a shepherd. Matt. 9.36-37 - When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. [37] Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; [38] therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.”

1. In the northern hemisphere, the urban poor live predominantly within inner cities. In the southern hemisphere, they cluster mainly around the cities.

2. Most of those in the northern hemisphere would be classified as relatively poor, whereas almost all in the southern hemisphere are absolutely poor.

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3. Despite many differences in the groupings of the poor, the Brandt Report and research by UNA and the WHO clearly indicate that urban poor worldwide have in common: feelings of powerlessness, persistent sense of insignificance, frustration, and despair, fearfulness of the future, low health expectation, inadequate housing, unemployment or underemployment, insufficient money, poor provision for education, a higher rate of crime, and political turmoil. 4. There are large, long-established reservoirs of the poor in the inner cities of Europe and North America; floods of work-seeking rural dwellers pouring into the cities of Latin America, Asia, and Africa; increasing streams of refugees from natural disaster and political repression.