By Randy Alcorn

February 17, 2011

1. There are 28 million people in slavery worldwide; many are children and victims of human trafficking. 400,000 children are in slavery in Haiti. [“Finding Slavery in My Own Backyard”, by David Batstone. “Missions Frontiers”, September-October 2007 29:5, p.12]
2. There are 3.2 million untrained or undertrained pastors throughout the world. Pray for missionary mentors and trainers to assist these needy pastors [www.topic.us].
3. There are 100 million Christians living in persecution throughout the world [www.persecution.com].
4. There are 145 million orphans worldwide. If one missionary (or one church) took responsibility for 1,000 orphans, there would, therefore, be a need for 145,000 missionaries (or individual churches) [www.viva.org; www.compassion.com; www.actioncic.org].
5. There are 160 million street children, especially in Africa, Asia, Europe, and Latin America. Thousands of missionaries and Christian workers are needed to take the Gospel and compassionate care to these needy children [www.actioninternational.org; www.actioncic.org].
6. There are 200 million people worldwide on the move (referred to as the Diaspora) in search of employment and a better education, because of persecution and natural disasters, and so forth. Many are open to kindness and hospitality which opens the door for the Gospel [www.fin-online.org].
7. There are three billion people worldwide with no nearby Christian or church to share the Gospel with them. They can only be reached by someone (a missionary) going to them with the Gospel. If one missionary went to 5,000 of these, there would be the need for 600,000 additional missionaries [www.actioninternational.org].

Doug is the Founder and International Director Emeritus of Action International Ministries (ACTION), a global mission agency committed to sending multi-national missionaries who treasure Jesus Christ and minister His Gospel in word and deed, primarily to the poor. Learn more at www.actionintl.org.

Photo by Amy Humphries on Unsplash