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. The trend of life today: urbanization as the most powerful characteristic of modern times

1. Harvie Conn, “Urban Mission.” Toward the 21st Century in Christian Mission . (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1993). “As we move into the twenty-first century the needs will grow . . . Our globe will have 433 mega-cities with over 1 million people in each. Our urban population will increase by 1.6 million people per week. Poverty in our urban areas will continue to expand, producing a “planet of urban slums.” To meet those needs, new churches must be planted on a radically accelerated scale. The day of church planting for the world’s cities has yet to dawn. The invisible, unreached peoples of the world’s cities must be found–the poor, the industrial workers, the government employees, the new ethnic and tribal groups settling in urban areas. If we are to reach the world of the twenty-first century, we must reach its cities.”

2. David B. Barrett. “Annual Statistical Table on Global Missions: 1999.” International Bulletin of Missionary Research . Vol. 23, No. 1, Jan. 1999.

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a. By the year 2025, the urban poor will number over 3 billion people and comprise over one-third of the world’s population. Over two billion of that number will be concentrated in urban slums.

b. World wide today, non-Christian urban dwellers are increasing at a rate of 136,000 people per day. A figure that is projected to rise to 360,000 per day by 2025.

c. In 1900 we had about 100 million poor people in the world. One century later that number had grown to 1.92 billion poor, and by 2025 there will be over 3 billion poor people in the world.