I suppose people from every generation feel this way at some point, but sometimes it feels like the world is changing faster than the church can keep up.

This last week somebody sent me a link to a video that showed a disturbing trend in the birth rates in many nations around the world. The basic idea is that pretty much all countries in Europe including Russia have birth rates (meaning the number of births per family) that are so low, like 1.3 children per family, it is statistically impossible to maintain their population. Yet added to that is that immigrants in these nations who are Muslim are having 8 children per family. The result will be that most of Europe will have Muslims as their majority in the next 20 to 30 years.

So how are we as followers of Jesus to think about this? Is Christianity losing? Should we circle our wagons and just ride the storm out until Jesus returns?

The answer must be a resounding NO!

In reality, from a human perspective, the odds have always been against Christ followers. Think about the early church, they boldly went into a hostile word with the message of hope and they changed the world. In most countries throughout history Christians has always been the underdog.

Remember, the victor has already been determined. Jesus can’t lose, its not possible. Remember what Paul says in Philipians, there will be a day “that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

So let me challenge you that now is the time for you to be bolder than ever before. Now is the time to venture into dark places like Mali and China and Jordan, or maybe your neighborhood, and share the good news. Now is the time to sacrifice our time, our talents, and our treasures. Now is the time to stop huddling inside our four walls and reach out to a world that needs Jesus Christ.

So yes, the world is changing fast, but Jesus never changes. The message of hope brought to a dying world is the same today as it was 2000 years ago, and the world needs it just as much today as it did then.

One of the ministries in Mali that has really grabbed my attention is Bethel Seminary. Bethel is a Christian & Missionary Alliance Seminary that is used by the Malian church to train new Pastors. Simple enough, right?

Well, not so simple. This seminary has huge potential, but today it is not producing enough Pastors and the Pastors that are graduating are not trained as well as they need to be. In fact, the Malian leader of the seminary said to me, “The lack of training of church Pastors is a plague on the Alliance national church in Mali.”

What grabbed my attention though, what really got me excited, is the huge potential there is at Bethel.

We take for granted here in the States that our churches will have Pastors who are well educated at schools with the highest standards of education. We take for granted that our Pastors have access to the best libraries, the best study materials, and access to all the latest websites that offer impactful sermon illustrations and the best sermon ideas.

Yet in Mali, as in much of the world, this is not the case. Bethel is currently producing about 5 Pastors per year but the need by the Malian church is for a minimum of 20 Pastors per year.

Bethel Seminary is situation on a large compound that provides housing for teachers, housing for students and their families, a radio station, classrooms, and a rather nice library. However, the library only has about 25% of the books and study materials that their students need. Below is a picture of the library, and what you are seeing is all the books in the library! Just three book shelves that are not even 50% full.

What really excites me though is that the students there really love the Lord and have a huge passion to learn. What really excites me is that the potential to have Bethel be a seminary that is graduating at least 20 Pastors per year is very reachable.

What excites me is that a church like Christ Community has the potential to assist the Malian church in turning Bethel Seminary into the premier Seminary in all of Mali. A Seminary that attracts the best students and produces Godly, well-educated Pastors who are effective at reaching their country for Christ.

The Alliance church in Mali is growing by leaps and bounds. Today we have over 1,000 churches but just 600 Pastors. The Alliance is the largest Protestant denomination in Mali with over 70,000 members. I feel like now its time for the Alliance to have the best Seminary in the entire country.

From March 20 through March 27, a team of 5 people from CCC spent an amazing week on a short term evangelistic mission trip in Apopa, El Salvador. The team ministered with Lance Grush, who grew up at CCC and is now a missionary working in public schools and pastoring a small church.

Here is their story, written by their team leader, Billy Huber.

As I look back now at our experience, my primary sentiment is gratitude: gratitude to God for giving us the opportunity to be used by Him to touch so many lives with His love and grace, and gratitude to His people who gathered behind each one of us five and supported us financially and with prayers and encouragement.

Throughout the entire process, from gathering the team, to training, to getting our passports (one of ours didn’t arrive until a few days before we left) to guiding our ministry opportunities and giving us physical strength, we saw God at work over and over and over again. What a team He put together! What an experience He blessed us with! What an awesome God we serve!

We teamed up with members of Good News Church in Apopa, where Lance Grush is the pastor, we took our evangelistic program to 6 different Jr. Highs and High Schools. We started each program by presenting a 10 minute wordless drama in the Jr. High and High School assemblies after which we broke into 2 or 3 groups and went from class to class giving presentations which included: using games and tricks to warm things up and then sharing testimonies, the Gospel message and then leading in a prayer of salvation and gathering a list of names of those who had chosen to follow Christ.

The last two ministry days we also participated in the “follow-up” ministry. We had the freedom to go from room to room in the schools. Using the lists of names we had gathered on previous days, we pulled those who had chosen to follow Christ out of their classes, meeting with them in groups of 10 to 20, encouraging them to grow in their new relationship with Christ and inviting them to a special youth service/party scheduled for Saturday afternoon at Good News Church.

We may never know the impact of this trip for eternity but we do know that the number of names we gathered on the first two days was close to 200. We also know that at least 12 of those kids showed up on Saturday afternoon youth service at Good News Church in Apopa.

To God be all the glory, praise and honor, now and forever, AMEN!