As Alabama Baptists prepare to teach the International Mission Study and promote the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering they will find two options for their churches.
The national Woman’s Missionary Union (WMU) and the International Mission Board (IMB) both provide studies each year.
WMU’s study features Mexico, while IMB’s study focuses on South Asia and India.
The IMB chose the longtime Muslim and Hindu region this year because South Asia contains a greater concentration of people unreached by the gospel and unengaged by the church than any other region of the world.
Fewer people know of Christ on the Indian subcontinent than anywhere else on the globe.
South Asia has 390 million Muslims, more than any other region of the world, including the Middle East.
It is also home to 800 million Hindus, the IMB states.
Highlighting South Asia and India is vital because one of every six people in the world lives in India, according to the IMB.
There are six cities in South Asia with populations of more than 10 million.
“What we’re up against right now is just the size and scope and dimension of the work,” a worker said.
Christian workers in South Asia share Christ through their lives and work in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, the Maldives, Bhutan and Nepal.
“Muslims, Hindus and the Chinese are the three major blocks of unreached people,” a worker in the region said.
Building on Mexico’s inclusion as one country among many in the IMB prayer guides for this year’s Week of Prayer for International Missions (Nov. 28–Dec. 5), the WMU focuses on Mexico — winning the lost to Christ and inspiring Christians to pray, learn and go.
WMU officials said they chose Mexico for its International Missions Study because the need, which is vast, is often overlooked because Mexico is so close to home.
In spite of its proximity to the United States where Christianity is widely known, a six-state area of Mexico, known as the Heart of Darkness, is a place where few people know Christ.
“Missionaries who work there say there might be three Christians among 1,000 people,” said Joanne Parker, editor of adult missions studies with WMU and editor of WMU’s Missions Mosaic magazine.
Although the study addresses the Heart of Darkness it espouses a broad view of the people of Mexico and their needs, she noted.
It examines social and economic issues affecting the country and the mission of Baptists there.
It even has a section where church volunteers from America can go to find out what and where the missionaries’ needs are in Mexico.
“It is a key component to learning what the needs in Mexico are,” Parker said.
One of the study’s goals is to inspire Baptists to learn about missions and volunteer not just in Mexico but in other places as well.
“It’s not just a story on Mexico,” Parker said. “It can cause the whole church to be more missions minded in other parts of the world and in their communities.”
Parker said they chose to publish the study in a tabloid so it would be more accessible and affordable to everyone in Baptist churches.
The tabloid is for adults or youth, but separate leaders’ guides are available for teachers of adults and youth.
Children and preschool versions are published in a different format.
Share with others: