AMERICA - THE BIGGEST MISSION FIELD IN THE WORLD

MAJOR US CITIES REMAIN UNCHURCHED- NEW BARNA SURVEY

San Francisco - Farthest away from God

If you wondered why Christians in the west and especially in the so-called most Christian nation in the world - the United States, could care less about the persecution of Christian in the Middle East, Africa and Asia, look no further than the proof provided by George Barna. The great Christian researcher just released his survey of the least churched cities in America and while there is no surprise there, the sheer size of the populations of these cities, give lie to the historic title of the greatest Christian nation in history. In fact, what this survey proves, is the United States is the largest, wealthiest and ungodliest mission field in the world. (The largest Christian nation is actually the underground church in China which has over 300 millions Christians!)

That is the bad news. The good news is the Christian remnant in America, which hovers around 30 million, has stayed true to the Word of God, Biblical principles, the Sovereignty of God in the affairs of men and the "true Truth". That number- 25 to 30 million - seems like a lot but in a country of over 316 million people, is actually theologically correct when the qualifying views of these believers are boiled down to the nitty gritty. 

A real Christian has the following beliefs as his/her core and never wavers from it: the Sovereignty of God; the Inerrancy of Scripture from Genesis 1 to Revelation 22; the birth, life, death, Resurrection and Return of Christ; His Virgin Birth; the Diety of Christ; The Holy Trinity (Father, Son, Holy Spirit);  the Total Depravity of man; the Perseverance of the Saints and Lordship of Jesus Christ as the only narrow way to Heaven. Anything else is an anathema. Good works and all that are a natural flow of the authority and calling of the believer and true child of God. Because God has told us to never neglect the fellowship of the saints, and the meeting of the assembly, church is important. It's secondary functions - the Parachurch - is supremely important as well as most of the outreach work, missions and discipleship ministries are done through the Parachurch organizations. (This will be discussed in Part 2 of this article).

So without further ado, and knowing the foundational truth of what a true Christian and authentic church-goes SHOULD be, here are the least churched cities of the United States of America:

THE FULLARTICLE ON UNCHURCHED CITIES CAN BE READ HERE AT THE BARNA WEBSITE:

LEAST UNCHURCHED CITIES IN THE U.S.:
1. San Francisco/Oakland/San Jose, Ca.  (61% unchurched)
2. Burlington/Plattsbuirgh, Vermont (55%)
3. Boston, Ma/Manchester N.H. (53%)
4. Portland/Auburn, Maine (52%)
5. Chico/Redding, Ca. (52%)
6. Las Vegas, Nevada (51%)
7. Seattle and Tacoma, Wa. (50%)
8. Albany and upstate New York (50%)
9. Phoenix, Prescott, Arizona (49%)
10. New York City (48%)
11. West Palm Beach etc, Florida (48%)
12. Tuscon/Sierra Vista, Arizona
13.  Portland, Oregon

14.  Los Angeles, Ca.

15.  Philadelphia, Pa.

16.  Hartford/New Haven, Connecticut

17.  Flint, Michigan

18.  Denver, Colorado

19.  Sacramento/Stockton/Modesto

20.  Providence, Rhode Island

Baltimore is ranked number 67 with only 1/3 of this population listed as unchurched. Judging from the riots and spiritual condition of that city, it's absolutely obvious church attendance does not equal transformation.

Go to www.barna.org for more on this and other relevant (to Christianity) surveys.

THIRTY ONE DAYS OF PRAYER AND THE WORD:JANUARY 1-31, 2015 THEME: "ABIDE"

DAY TWELVE:

VERSE:

As for you, the anointing which you received from Him abides in you, and you have no need for anyone to teach you; but as His anointing teaches you about all things, and is true and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you abide in Him....(1 John 2:27)

PRAYER:

Most gracious, kind merciful Heavenly Father, Who gives all things to all all people, we thank You for the special "chrisma" (gift of anointing) You have given Your anointed and those upon whom You have placed a special calling to reach, teach, preach and outreach to a lost and dying world. These are those who are truly called by Your Name, those who have been reborn and brought into the Kingdom of Your Son.

Because You have given us Your Spirit, we cannot be deceived by the god of this world and even if distracted, we shall soon learn the errors of our ways. There are some things which bible colleges, Sunday School teachers and preachers cannot teach and that is how to listen to You, how to respond to You and how to obey the promptings and directions which Your Holy Spirit, Who is our true friend in the Faith imparts and inputes into us. He infuses more oil and blessing daily from our first calling on our lives and the Truth can only be found in Him.

So most compassionate, gracious and long-suffering God, we lift up on this special day of recognition of Your anointing on the lives of your true followers, those who take this Word across the globe. We lift up Your missionaries who abide and rest more on You for their moment by moment nourishment, guidance, protection and direction than the rest of us. Lord, not only are Your true missionaries, i.e., those whom You have actually sent out to dangerous and seemingly unproductive lands, not only are they solely dependent on You, but sometimes they lose courage in the face of evil persecution as seen with Your servants the Burnhams when Martin was killed by islamic guerrillas in the Philippines in 2002. Lord as the flesh told Gracia, his dear wife to see revenge, Your Grace and Your Love encouraged her to show love, mercy and compassion. Because of that, she "learned to fly again" and won many more souls to Christ, a testimony for us not to give up and even in the pain and suffering in her own family, to see the bigger picture of the Love You have, which put Christ on the Cross.

Father, we also pray for those of us who are missionaries in our own "Jerusalem"- namely outside our own front doors. May we never tire of the hard work that it is to reach on and teach and care for the lost when their hearts are so hard and they literally hate You, while professing to love and know You at Christmas and Easter time. Father, we pray for those of us that we persevere, never give in, never give up and in fact live up to the standards and the call with which You have have called. We do this because Your Call is True, Your Word is True, Your Love is True and Your Promises are Yes and Amen....and we believe it, because of Jesus Christ, our soon coming Lord and Savior, in His Name, amen.