They say nobody goes as a long-term missionary any more.
They say everybody chooses short-term trips, short-term commitments, short-term promises.
They say nobody stays with the same thing forever, whether it’s marriages or careers or ministries.
What they say is not true.
The annual divorce rate in America is declining: presently 3.4 per 1,000, while the new marriage rate is 6.8 per 1,000. Most people are choosing to remain married. In 2001 Barna estimated just a third of those ever married had ever been divorced.
The number of long-term workers sent from the United States has remained constant at about 33,000, give or take a few hundred, for the past decade—and the number of mid-term workers has fluctuated right around 7,000.
In the past three years, the number of workers has actually increased by about 5,000 (IBMR, January 2011).
Don’t assume people won’t rise to the challenge of commitment. Perhaps all they are looking for is the right spouse.
(Like our Thought Starters? You can buy the book: Thirty Starts for Missions: The May 2011 Compilation. $0.99 on Kindle.)
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