the world next door

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T he conductor steps to the podium and lifts his baton. With every eye on

their leader, the musicians raise their instruments. At his cue, the strings begin a lilting melody, bolstered by the woodwinds and brass. The audi-ence listens with rapt attention as the beautiful tones of the symphony fill the concert hall. The enjoyment of all is only heightened by the expectation that a famous tenor will soon add his rich voice to the glorious music.

As the moment arrives, the orchestra hushes and the conductor signals for the soloist to begin. But instead of rich music, a strident silence fills the hall. As the conductor glances toward the place where the tenor should stand, he drops

his baton in dismay. The soloist’s posi-tion is empty.

Someone terribly important is missing.

This woeful picture is God’s real-ity every day. When we

pray, sing, or tell of His love,

our praises delight the Master Conduc-

tor’s heart. To add to His

great orchestra, He recruits, transforms, and trains people from every tribe and nation. Their worship, ascending from all over the globe, blends into a sym-phony of incomparable beauty.

God hears each person and every language. He takes in the lovely strains of a Spanish solo while at the same time soaking up a powerful choir sing-ing in Swahili. At the same moment, however, He also hears stark silence marring the beauty of His masterpiece: the silence of hundreds of languages in which no one is praying or praising Him. Why the silence? Honest souls among these people are longing for light. Yet, no one is praising God in these tongues because not one of them has even heard His name.

But the concert is not over. And God is counting on you to help bring these missing members to the grand perfor-mance. You can start by asking, “Who’s missing in the chair next to me?” And you can pray, “Lord, give me Your heart for the unreached people who have moved next door to me from around the world.”

That’s right: They are next to you! Even if you’ve never left your small town in America, God has placed someone in your influence who has never heard of the Song of the Lamb. That person may be an immigrant, a foreign exchange student, a business traveler, or a tourist.

The Grand Performance

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Perhaps there is a Jewish family living nearby, or a Muslim, Hindu, or Bud-dhist student in your school. Maybe you have a friend who is dabbling in a spiritualistic religion, or who simply has no faith at all. Imagine God’s sorrow and disappointment if the one next to you never joins His choir!

God has said, “I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth” (Psalm 46:10). And He wants you to join Him in drawing unreached peoples to Him-self. “Oh, that the earnest prayer of faith may arise everywhere, ‘Give me souls buried now in the rubbish of error, or I die! Bring them to the knowledge of the truth as it is in Jesus.’ We must carry the burden of souls upon our hearts” (This Day with God, page 171).

This series will introduce you to the world next door, and will teach you how to pray for the mission fields in your own country. Through prayer, you can partner with God to fulfill His promise: “Nations shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your dawn” (Isaiah 60:3, NRSV).

Soon, we will join that “great multi-tude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues . . . before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands.” We will sing together “with a loud voice,

saying, Salvation to our God which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb” (Revelation 7:9, 10). And the Great Conductor will be satisfied.

Now is the time to invite the missing singers to the grand performance.

Next week: “Multiplying Opportunities”

Adapted from Praying for the World Next Door, © 2014 ASAP Ministries. Used by permission. For information and training on how to share Christ across cultures, visit ReachtheWorldNextDoor.com.New Revised Standard Version Bible, © 1989 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

,Read Psalm 67. God desires to bless you so that through you He can make His better way known on Earth!

,Pray for God’s mercy and blessings in your own life. ,Pray that He will use you to share His healing salvation among all nations. ,Pray for people from all nations to fear and praise God one day soon!

Prayer Assignment

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Imagine that your family is very, very poor. You live in a shack where it’s even difficult to maintain proper

hygiene. Your brothers and sisters are skinny, and you work for hours every day after school to help support your family. Wouldn’t you like to move to a nation where even the poorest have more money, food, and conveniences than most of the people in your home-land?

Now imagine you’re a highly edu-cated college graduate who worked hard to earn your degree in your home

country. You graduated with honors,

but you’ll have better working condi-tions and higher wages if you move to another country, where your skills are in demand. Wouldn’t you be tempted to emigrate?

Two legal immigrants enter the United States every minute. That is more than a million a year! One in every four children in the U.S. has at least one parent who is an immigrant. One in five Canadians is foreign-born. As citizens from developing nations seek better lives in prosperous nations, the Western world is rapidly changing.

You probably know there are lots of immigrants in San Francisco, New York, and Toronto. But did you know that in the last decade the fastest growth in immigrant population was in Tennessee, South Carolina, Alabama, Wyoming, and Arkansas? In our mobile world, people from everywhere are now moving to everywhere.

Since the first white settlers moved to America, the United States and Canada have been melting pots, bring-ing together people from many diverse nations. In fact, in 1890, fully 15% of Americans were immigrants, most of them from Europe. Then, in the 1920s, new laws restricted immigration, and the global economic climate discour-

Multiplying Opportunities


aged foreigners from moving to the U.S. In 1970, immigrants made up only about 5% of the U.S. population. Since then, however, immigration has risen rapidly. Today, 13% of U.S. residents moved here from abroad. That’s almost 40.8 million in number! This time, they’re coming not just from Europe, but from all over the globe.

What is going on? Is there some great purpose behind all of this?

Absolutely! With the flood of immigrants in her day, Ellen White wrote, “We should be able to see in the multiplying opportunities to reach many foreigners in America a divinely appointed means of rapidly extending the third angel’s message into all the nations of earth. God in His providence has brought men to our very doors and thrust them, as it were, into our arms, that they might learn the truth, and be qualified to do a work we could not do in getting the light before men of other tongues” (Evangelism, page 570). With the recent rise in immigrations, God is multiplying our opportunities again!

Do you ignore immigrants and wish they would go away, or do you see each new face as an opportunity to reach the world? Remember, God loves every person as if there were not another

individual on Earth. Migration is part of His strategy to bring unreached people groups in contact with Chris-tians. We can be tools in God’s hands by praying and caring for the immi-grants next door.

Next week: “Every Tongue”

Adapted from Praying for the World Next Door, © 2014 ASAP Ministries. Used by permission. For information and training on how to share Christ across cultures, visit ReachtheWorldNextDoor.com.

Prayer Assignment ,Read Acts 2:1–11. Before Pentecost, the disciples prayed earnestly, and the

Holy Spirit fell. He then reached the world through the foreigners dwelling in Jeru-salem.

,Pray that you will love people of other cultures as God does. ,Pray for immigrants—the rich and the poor, the legal and the undocu-

mented. They each have challenges, and they each need to know more of God’s love. ,Pray that you will be warmhearted to the strangers around you. ,Pray for the final outpouring of the Holy Spirit that will move through us to

the immigrants and to the ends of the earth.

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Have you ever wanted to learn another language? Do you dream of being able to speak

to people of other cultures, or translate Christian literature into languages few Christians speak? If so, this could be a God-given dream! Pick any language you want to learn—and it doesn’t have to be Spanish or French. About 150 languages are spoken by children in America’s schools. Imagine being able to communicate with young people who have few friends who can speak their native tongue!

Even if you spend your whole life in America, knowing another language can help you share your faith. Did you know that one in five Americans speaks another language besides English at home? What’s more, about half of these

people say they cannot speak English well. One third of all U.S. students speak a language other than English. This linguistic diversity is an amazing opportunity to share the gospel with every tribe and tongue!

Large numbers of people speak vari-ous languages in the United States:

• 2.5 million Chinese*• 1.5 million Tagalog• 1.3 million French • 1.2 million Vietnamese• 1.1 million German • 1 million Korean• 850,000 Russian• 800,000 Italian • 760,000 Arabic • 680,000 Portuguese• 640,000 Polish • 630,000 Creole• 530,000 Hindi • 460,000 Japanese

Other significant language groups that have between 100,000 and 400,000 speakers within the United States include Armenian, Cambodian, Greek, Gujarati, Hebrew, Hmong, Lao, Navajo, Persian, Serbo-Croatian, Thai, Urdu, and Yiddish. There are many smaller groups, as well.

every Tongue


English literature, Bible studies, and television programs are not enough to reach our multi-lingual neighbors! If you have ever tried reading something spiritual in a foreign language, you know it can be difficult—even if you can speak it fairly well. People need to hear spiritual truths in their own languages.

Long ago, we were counseled to provide people with the truth in their own languages. “The truth is to be translated into many lan-guages, that all nations may enjoy its pure, life-giving influence. This work calls for the exercise of all the talents that God has entrusted to our keeping—the pen, the press, the voice, the purse, and the sancti-fied affections of the soul” (Evangelism, pages 570, 571).

God’s last day messengers will preach the everlasting gospel “to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people” (Revelation 14:6). Will you pray that it can happen soon—and will you help make it a reality?

Next week: “Strangers Among Us”

* This number includes Mandarin, Cantonese, and other Chinese languages, which the U.S. Census tallied as a unit instead of separately.Adapted from Praying for the World Next Door, © 2014 ASAP Ministries. Used by permission. For information and training on how to share Christ across cultures, visit ReachtheWorldNextDoor.com. For pamphlets, Bible studies, videos, and audio resources in many languages, visit MyLan-guageMyLife.com.

,Read Acts 4:24–31. When the early church prayed for boldness, the world shook with the power of the Holy Ghost!

,Pray for publishing houses and literature ministries to publish books, Bible studies, and witnessing materials in many more languages.

,Pray for God to raise up effective Christian writers in the various languages. ,Pray for courage and boldness for yourself to share literature with friends

and strangers. ,Pray for God to show you a language to learn so that you can share with

people in their own language.

Prayer Assignment

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What is it like to flee while soldiers burn your house and kill

your family? How does it feel to wait for years in a refugee camp, wonder-ing what your children’s future will be? What goes through the mind of a single Somali mother who arrives in Minnesota in the dead of winter, speak-ing no English and needing to find a job within three months? If you were a refugee, you would know firsthand how to answer such questions.

In 2013, the United States wel-comed 69,930 refugees. The year before, Canada received 23,056. Where are they coming from? In recent years, the majority of those fleeing to the United States have come from Iraq, Burma,* and Bhutan. Many more came from Somalia, Cuba, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. In all of these countries, it is very difficult to share the gospel. In fact, many refugees come from the hot spots of religious persecu-tion. It is very difficult to enter these countries, especially to share Jesus—so God has providentially brought people from these nations to us!

Do you think you’re too busy to be concerned with the lives of refugees? Consider God’s words: “The stranger that dwelleth with you shall be unto you as one born among you, and thou shalt love him as thyself ” (Leviticus 19:34).

Did you know that hundreds of thousands of Iranians live in Los Ange-les? Would you like to meet thousands from Somalia in cold Minnesota? Would you stay at home if instead you could welcome newly arrived Kurd and Arab refugees from Syria in Toronto, Canada? Were you aware that Phoenix, Arizona and Houston, Texas each host

Strangers Among Us


more than 11,000 refugees, primarily from Burma, Iraq, Bhutan, and Somalia? If you look, you will find refugees in many places.

Pray and work for these refugees, and the thousands of Tajiks, Pashtuns, and Uzbeks from Afghanistan living in California. Come close to the many South Koreans in our land and pray with them for the salvation of the millions of North Koreans who would flee for refuge if they could. Find out the needs of the refu-gees near you. If we will extend ourselves to help the strangers among us in tangible ways, we will meet Jesus! “For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: . . . I was a stranger, and ye took me in” (Matthew 25:35).

Jesus was a refugee in Egypt when He was just a baby. The Israelites fled Egypt and took refuge in the desert for many years. The early church had to flee from Jerusalem. God understands and loves refugees. We must too.

Next week: “Missed Opportunities”

* Also known as Myanmar.

Adapted from Praying for the World Next Door, © 2014 ASAP Ministries. Used by permission. For information on how to be involved with min-istry to refugees, see RefugeeMinistries.org.

,Read Hebrews 11:23–27. Moses left his palace to suffer with refugees. Look-ing in faith to Christ, he endured affliction and reproach to help them.

,Pray for the needs of the approximately 100,000 refugees who have been in North America one year or less. It is their most difficult and vulnerable time.

,Pray for healing for those who have fled war and persecution. ,Pray that we will care enough to find and help refugees in our cities and

towns.

Prayer Assignment

Young Disciple 17

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rWould you like the

opportunity to become the friend of the king of

Bahrain? If you had the chance, would you give the vice president of Taiwan a tour of your city? It would be a great opportunity both to learn and to wit-ness; but I’m sure you’re asking, “How could that ever happen?”

Here is how: Those very two indi-viduals, Sheikh Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa1 and Annette Lu,2 both studied in the United States when they were young. If you had been living in a uni-versity town, looking for international students to befriend and reach out to, you may have befriended these influen-tial figures before they ever ascended to power. It would have been an awesome opportunity to share your faith. But do you think the Christians in Kansas and Massachusetts3 had any idea that future world leaders were studying in their local universities? Most likely, the thought never entered their minds. Probably, the people who saw them thought they looked just like any other foreign students! Yet these are only two among many of the world’s political

and educational leaders who have stud-ied in North America.

Imagine being an international stu-dent—perhaps in Germany, France, or Singapore. How would you feel when you entered this new place all alone, knowing you would be there for a whole school year? Wouldn’t you be grateful if someone befriended you, made you feel welcome in their home, and offered to show you around and explain the local culture?

Today, almost 900,000 international students are studying in Canada and the United States—which means that if you live in these countries you have the opportunity to touch their lives and make them feel welcome. In 2012 and 2013, the highest numbers of interna-tional students came from China, India, South Korea, and Saudi Arabia. Think of all the Buddhists, Hindus, Muslims, and atheists who live in those countries. God has brought them to your area for a limited time so that they could have the chance to make friends with Chris-tians. If they find Christ, these very ones can influence their own countries for Him!

Missed Opportunities


However, the harsh truth is that 75 percent of international students go back to their countries without ever being invited into an American home. Worse, 80 percent never enter a church while they are here—because no one invited them. These sad statistics repre-sent hundreds of thousands of missed opportunities.

We can help finish the gospel commission if we take advantage of the amazing opportunities we have in the brief time that international stu-dents are in our country!

Next week: “A Special Work”

1. Current king of Bahrain.2. Vice president of Taiwan from 2000–2008.3. The states where Al Khalifa and Lu studied.

Adapted from Praying for the World Next Door, © 2014 ASAP Ministries. Used by permission. For information and training on how to share Christ across cultures, visit ReachtheWorldNext-Door.com. To get involved with student ministry, visit International Students Inc., an interdenomi-national ministry, at www.isionline.org.

,Read Hebrews 13:1, 2. Abraham invited strangers into his home, and later discovered he was talking with someone very important: Christ Himself !

,Pray that you and your family can reach an international students at a local university for God.

,Pray for God to raise up a network of Seventh-day Adventists who will powerfully enter this amazing mission field across North America.

,Pray for God to lead you to future kings, vice presidents, and other world leaders through international students near you.

Prayer Assignment

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Have you ever visited a popu-lar U.S. national park such as the Grand Canyon, Yel-

lowstone, or Yosemite? If so, you proba-bly noticed something interesting about the other visitors: many of them speak languages other than English. In fact, one often gets the feeling that foreign tourists outnumber the Americans!

International travelers also visit U.S. cities in droves, especially frequent-ing New York, Las Vegas, and the

coastal cities of California, Florida, and Hawaii. They come to experience the culture, see natural wonders, shop the malls, relax in the sun, enjoy the amuse-ment parks, visit historical sites and art galleries, spend time with friends and family living in America, and conduct business.

How many of these visitors have already crossed your path? It depends on where you live and where you have traveled, of course, but here is an astounding statistic: Over 160 mil-lion foreign tourists, business travelers, temporary workers, or students pass through the U.S. every year. To put the number into perspective, that is a little more than half the population of the United States!

Once again, God is using global travel to bring the world within our reach. Many tourists visit from secular Europe—places like Germany, France, and Great Britain, where willing martyrs once burned for the faith, but where true zeal for God has largely burned out. Huge numbers also come from Japan and China, where the vast majority of citizens are non-Christians.

Next time you hear an Asian lan-guage being spoken in the parks or

A Special Work


cities near you, remember this: In the Communist nation of China, over half of the residents are classified as non-religious, although China is a his-torical center of traditional Eastern religions. The Japanese follow the Buddhist and Shinto religions, and less than two percent of the people are Christians. In most Christian churches that do exist in Japan, women outnumber men by a wide margin. Where are the men? Maybe they are caught up in business pursuits—making frequent business trips to the United States. Some of them may be best reached in our nation!

Before your next family vacation, why not discuss how you can reach out to the international travelers you may come across? “A special work is to be done in places where people are constantly coming and going” (Counsels on Health, page 500). “In these tourist centers where many travelers come . . . we greatly need young men who are thoroughly grounded in the truth of the third angel’s message, to go around among the people, and minister to them” (Evangelism, page 586).

If you are willing to be His partner,

the Holy Spirit will go alongside you and bless your efforts to introduce these travelers to Jesus.

Next week: “Surprising Diversity”

Adapted from Praying for the World Next Door, © 2014 ASAP Ministries. Used by permission. For information and training on how to share Christ across cultures, visit ReachtheWorldNext-Door.com. For more information on the status of Christianity and other religions in each country of the world, visit operationworld.org.

,Read Acts 8:26–39. The Holy Spirit led Philip to an Ethiopian traveler so that he could introduce him to Jesus!

,Pray for the establishment of new ministries that focus on reaching interna-tional guests at centers of tourism.

,Pray that you will have a heart to meet and befriend the unreached when your paths cross.

,Pray that wherever you go, God will lead you to those who are searching.

Prayer Assignment

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If you grew up in America, you’ve probably heard the story of the Mayflower Pilgrims numerous

times. As some of America’s first Euro-pean inhabitants, the Plymouth colo-nists came to the New World to escape religious persecution. It cost sacrifice, suffering, and for some even death, but it was the beginning of a movement toward religious toleration. Although religious liberty hasn’t always been respected even in the U.S., freedom of worship was so important to the nation’s founders that they guaranteed

it in the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

With this political atmosphere of religious tolerance, it’s not surprising that our country has become religiously diverse. True, the United States is still primarily a Christian nation: An esti-mated three quarters of Americans adhere to some form of the faith. Yet, Christianity is only one of many reli-gions practiced within U.S. borders. When Harvard University surveyed the number of different houses of worship in the United States, the researchers found surprising diversity:

, 94 Jain temples , 244 Sikh temples , 714 Hindu temples , 1,583 Mosques , 2,150 Buddhist temples , 3,727 Jewish synagogues

One hundred years ago, it wasn’t this way. However, recent years have brought not only immigrant adherents, but also American converts to these world religions. Is there a mosque or a temple next to your church? If not, there may be soon!

Surprising Diversity


In Canada, non-Christian religions are growing even faster than in the U.S. Eleven percent of Canada’s population professes a non-Christian religion—compared with six percent in the U.S. These growing numbers mean that church members have increas-ing access to a rapidly growing mission field!

To find your local mission field, all you need to do is ask, “Who is in my community but not in my pews?” God calls us to move out-side our comfortable church walls and meet those of other religions who desperately need our attention.

When Jesus was on Earth, His church was so busy and self-absorbed that the Gentiles could hardly get near His Father’s house. He cried out, “Is it not written, My house shall be called of all nations the house of prayer?” (Mark 11:17). We must make sure that our church projects and social activities do not steal away the time and money that should be spent helping people in our own communities. What’s more, we must seek revival to clear from our lives the stumbling blocks that keep our neighbors from following Christ. Like the Gentiles of Jesus’ day, they will not

understand God’s truth unless we clear the way.

Next week: “The Mosque Next Door”

Adapted from Praying for the World Next Door, © 2014 ASAP Ministries. Used by permission. For information and training to reach those of other world religions, and to find out about six Global Mission Centers that can help prepare you to share, visit adventistmission.org.

,Read Acts 17:16–32. Paul learned about the Athenians’ religion and used it to lead them to an understanding of Christ. Will you learn enough about those of differ-ent religions in your neighborhood to make connections to lead them to God?

,Every time you see a mosque, synagogue, or temple, pray for the people who worship there to be led by the Holy Spirit into all truth.

,Pray that your church will be a place where the spirituality and morality is deep and real enough to attract these devoted people.

Prayer Assignment

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When you think of Mus-lims, what comes to mind? Do you picture

terrorism and violence, or does your mind see a mosque full of worshippers bowing to seek God the best way they know? Do you see long, dark burkas covering mystery women, or do you look into their eyes and see the long-ing for something better? Do you feel compassion or animosity? Concern or revenge?

Like it or not, Islam is a growing religion in North America. Some esti-mate that there are 2,750,000 Muslims in the United States. In Canada, the number of Muslims is predicted to

triple in the next 20 years, rising to almost

3 million by 2030 a.d.

How do you feel about that? Are you eager to reach out to these neighbors, or do you view them with suspicion because of Islam’s tragically radical fringe? Have you had the privilege of making friends with a hospitable, fam-ily-centered, deeply spiritual Muslim?

Many of us haven’t had even one personal encounter with a Muslim, so the only information we have about them comes from the news. However, you may be surprised to find out that you actually have more in common with some Muslims than you do with secular Americans. Muslim teachings empha-size a lifestyle of surrender to the one true Creator God. Muslims believe that Jesus was born to a virgin and taken to Heaven, and they are waiting for His return. Committed Muslims do not eat pork or drink alcohol—something else in common with Seventh-day Adven-tists.

It would take a whole book to describe the various groups of Muslims in North America, explaining where they live and where they come from. However, the ten states with the larg-est Muslim populations are California, New York, Illinois, New Jersey, Indiana, Michigan, Virginia, Texas, Ohio, and Maryland. Many come from Somalia,

The Mosque Next Door


Mali, Sudan, and other North African countries. Then there are the Urdu and Punjabi people from Pakistan and India. Other Muslims come from Albania, Algeria, Bosnia, and Bangladesh. In other words, varied ethnic groups of Muslims have come to Amer-ica by the tens and hundreds of thousands from all over the world.

Unfortunately, one study shows that only about half the Muslims in North America know even one Christian per-sonally. This is very sad, because these people are our brothers and sisters. Their holy book, the Quran, instructs them to read the law, the prophets, and the gospel; yet most have not followed this counsel. Perhaps they are afraid to learn what the Bible really says, after the many negative things they have heard about Christians. Perhaps they need to meet a true follower of Christ in order to be attracted to His beauty. Although they do not yet know Jesus, they need to meet Him as the Savior who has obtained full pardon for their sins and has the power to make their hearts new.

Your prayers can change the spiritual plight of Muslims in your homeland!

Next week: “Children of Abraham”

Adapted from Praying for the World Next Door, © 2014 ASAP Ministries. Used by permission. For information and training on reaching out to Muslims, visit the Global Center for Adventist Muslim Relations at AdventistMission.org.

,Read 1 Samuel 12:16–24. Will you determine in your heart, like Samuel, not to quit praying for your Father’s straying children who desperately need Jesus?

,Pray for the Muslims in North America to come to know the true Jesus, not what they see in faulty, corrupted Christianity.

,Pray for Seventh-day Adventist families to move to American regions where many Muslims live.

,Pray for God’s love to pierce through our prejudices and flow through us to our Muslim brothers and sisters.

Prayer Assignment

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How many times have you heard the story of Moses? If you were asked to tell

the story of David and Goliath to a group of small children, could you do it without looking it up in the Bible? Who is your favorite Old Testament hero? When we read Bible stories about amazing men of God like Abraham, Joseph, Elijah, Daniel, and David, we are reading about the ancestors and spiritual forefathers of a special group of non-Christians next door: the Jews. Though as a nation they rejected their Savior, these dear people are Abraham’s children—and God loves them and wants them to return to Him.

Through Moses, Jesus warned His people that if they continually rebelled, He would have to break up their nation

and scatter them throughout the

world.* The history of

the Jews shows that the Lord keeps His prom-ises!

Today, Jewish people live all over the globe—including your country. In the United States, about two people in every hundred are Jewish, for an estimated total of 6,700,000. About 370,000 Jews make their home in Canada, and thousands more live in Europe, Russia, South Africa, and even Latin America.

Tragically, these are people who for centuries have been left to wonder why Christians have hated, persecuted, and killed them in the name of their Mes-siah. As Christians, we would do well to remember that we as well as they have often wounded the heart of our Savior. Despite our differences, we worship the God of their fathers: the God of Abra-ham, Isaac, and Jacob. Their historical background includes our prophets and our Old Testament. We have much in common.

In the last 2,000 years, the Jews have divided into many different groups with a huge variety of beliefs, religious prac-tices, and even languages. Many people are aware of at least three of these groups: the Orthodox, Reform, and Conservative Jews. Yet, many Christians do not recognize the need for different types of ministries to reach different types of Jews. We must recognize this

Children of Abraham


diversity if we are to share the gospel with them.

In the United States alone, there are 75,000 Syrian Jews, an exclusive, affluent group living in Brooklyn, New York. Another area of New York City hosts about 35,000 Bukharan Jews who fled from places like Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and Kazakhstan after the fall of the Soviet Union. Then there are highly religious groups such as the Lubavitch, a branch of Hasidic Jews eagerly waiting for the Mes-siah; and the anti-Zionist Satmars who have isolated themselves into what has become the poorest commu-nity in the United States: Kryas Joel, New York.

Another group stands out from their religious relatives: the secular Jews. These descendents of Abraham appre-ciate their heritage for its historical and cultural significance—but they neither claim the God of their fathers as their own, nor practice Judaism as a religion. Instead, they blend in with secular soci-ety. About a fifth of the Jewish popula-tion in America belongs to this group.

For all their diversity, the chil-dren of Abraham have something in

common: They need our friendship—and our prayers!

Next week: “A Million Gods”

* Deuteronomy 28:15, 64.

Adapted from Praying for the World Next Door, © 2014 ASAP Ministries. Used by permission. For information and training on reaching out to Jews, visit the World Jewish-Adventist Friendship Center at AdventistMission.org.

,Read Romans 9:1–5. Paul’s heart was so burdened for his Jewish brethren that he could honestly say he desired their salvation more than his own!

,Pray to have a burden for the salvation of your brethren, the Jews. ,Pray for Seventh-day Adventists to take a renewed interest in knowing and

fellowshipping with Jews. ,Pray that we will truly keep the Sabbath holy and thus be able to share a

message of rest with the secular Jews caught up in a stressful, materialistic lifestyle. ,Pray for religious and secular Jews alike to embrace Jesus as their Messiah.

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Imagine a life without God’s forgive-ness—where all your friends and family believe that any misfortune

or pain you suffer is payback for your own past wrongs. Picture yourself believing that every sin you commit will come back to hurt you in this life or the next. Imagine serving cruel, capricious gods who demand lavish gifts and com-plicated worship in exchange for pro-tection from their own hateful whims. Imagine growing up as a Hindu.

India, a country of 1.2 billion people and 2,533 distinct

people

groups, is known as the land of a mil-lion gods. Walk along the Ganges River—one of the most important Hindu deities—and you will see scores of deeply religious people performing their rituals with obvious devotion. Hinduism is the only way of life these sincere souls know—the only hope of escape from pain and suffering.

How many Hindus live close to you? Canada’s most recent census counted nearly 498,000 Hindus nationwide. In the United States, estimates range from 582,000 to 1,200,000, and the majority of them come from India.

Almost 1,900,000 Indian immigrants live in the U.S., with the largest num-bers living in California, New Jersey, Texas, New York, and Illinois. Even if you aren’t near one of the larger Indian communities, you may have Hindu neighbors. In Delaware and Ohio, one out of every ten residents comes from India! Many are well off, with college educations and careers in information technology, management, business, or finance. In fact, Indian-born U.S. resi-dents are less likely to live in poverty than the average American—quite a contrast to their poverty-stricken homeland!

A Million Gods10


Knowing that Hindus believe in things like karma and rein-carnation may make you feel leery to share your faith. Perhaps you wonder if you have anything in common with these neighbors; but take heart. The very fact that you believe in the supernatural realm,* the judgment, and a future life gives you areas to discuss and share with Hindus even though you have different perspectives on these topics. You may find your discussions more interest-ing and rewarding than you expected!

Sadly, the majority of Hindus living in North America do not personally know a single Christian—but we can change that through prayer and friendship. We can let them know that they do not need to live thousands of lives and wor-ship a million gods to ascend the ladder to perfection and escape suffering. Jesus has made a way already.

Next week: “The Shadow of Our Doors”

,Read Matthew 15:21–28. The Canaanite mother knew that Jesus could free her daughter from the spirits—and He did, when she asked Him!

,Pray for Hindus to turn from their idols and spirit worship to the one true Father who made them and loves them.

,Pray for Christians to make lasting spiritual friendships with Hindus. ,Pray that you can cross paths with the Hindus in your community. ,Pray for the Hindus who come to Christ to use their large network of

family and friends to reach back into India and its millions in darkness.

Prayer Assignment

* God, angels, and evil spirits.Adapted from Praying for the World Next Door, © 2014 ASAP Ministries. Used by permission. For information and training on how to reach Hindus, visit the Center for South Asian Reli-gions at AdventistMission.org.

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Cambodia. Vietnam. Burma. Laos. These and other nations of Southeast Asia each host

many unique ethnic groups and lan-guages. Each has a history of recent warfare and political strife. Each is home to millions of Buddhists.

Communist takeovers, combined with continued fighting between ethnic groups, have caused many Southeast Asians to flee to the United States for a better life. In fact, it is estimated that from 1975 to 1985, 100,000 Southeast Asians settled in the United States each year. Today, the United States is home to at least 1,250,000 immigrants

from Vietnam and about

700,000 from

Burma, Cambodia, Thailand, and Laos combined.

When you meet a Burmese, Cambo-dian, Chin,1 Hmong,2 Karen,3 Lao, or Vietnamese individual, you can be fairly sure that that person has an amazing, perhaps harrowing story of heartache, hardship, and perseverance from the Vietnam War era or the recent con-flicts in Burma.4 Through their trials, thousands have become Christians; yet many more remain faithful to their Buddhist roots.

In addition to the Buddhists from Southeast Asia, many of the nearly two million foreign-born Chinese in Amer-ica also practice some form of Bud-dhism. Others practice Tao or Chinese folk religions. All of these religions, though promoting many good moral principles, teach a salvation that is based on what a person can do, usually over many supposed lifetimes. This fact should motivate us to become friends with Asian immigrants and share Jesus, who alone can grant us salvation!

With so many diverse ethnic groups inundating America, we can see the wisdom of Ellen White’s counsel: “Not all the means that can be gathered up is to be sent from America to distant lands, while in the home field there exist such providential opportunities

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to present the truth to millions who have never heard it. Among these mil-lions are the representatives of many nations, many of whom are prepared to receive the message. Much remains to be done within the shadow of our doors” (Evangelism, page 571).

Also within the “shadow of our doors” lurks another group we often overlook: American converts to world religions. That’s right: Not all Buddhists emigrated from Asia. Of Canada’s 366,830 Bud-dhists, 104,955 are non-immigrants. And although America is home to well over a million Buddhists, only a third of them describe themselves as Asian. Many are Caucasian! Unlike Hindus and Muslims, nearly 75% of Bud-dhists in the U.S. say they converted to this faith.

As immigrants have flooded our land, giving us priceless opportunities for witnessing, the enemy has seized the situation to do his own kind of evangelism. Many westerners study Buddhism from Asian adherents and decide they like it better than what they know of Christianity. You can help them discover that nothing can compare with real Christianity.

Next week: “New, Old, and Unusual”

1. An ethnic group in parts of Burma, India, and Bangladesh.2. A group living in China, Vietnam, Laos, and Thailand.3. A group from Burma, many of whom have taken refuge in Thailand.4. Myanmar.

Adapted from Praying for the World Next Door, © 2014 ASAP Ministries. Used by permission. For information and training on how to reach Buddhists, visit the Center for East Asian Reli-gions at adventistMission.org.

,Read 1 Kings 18:17–45. Elijah prayed for fire and rain so that the people would know that “the Lord, He is God!”

,Pray that you will meet Buddhists at the Asian restaurants and grocery stores they frequent and operate.

,Pray that they will learn that the God who created their delicious mangoes, coconuts, pineapples, and durians also died to free them from karma.

,Pray for our church to live the life of Jesus so that Buddhists can see the pure values they admire being lived by those who know God’s power.

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T hink of your favorite mis-sion book. What is the main plot of the story?

Who or what do the people worship before the missionaries come? Is there a witch doctor who gives the Christians trouble? What happens to set the vil-lagers free from fear?

Spirit and devil worship, animism, curses, and magic are common in unreached, indigenous tribes. How-ever, the last few decades have seen an alarming growth of similar religions in

North America. Although

they

come with new, sophisticated expla-nations, many of the new religions and cults springing up bear a striking resemblance to tribal religions. Indeed, the self-admitted roots of many new movements are planted in eastern reli-gions, paganism, and the occult.

Many people seeking enlightenment turn to these new religious movements to find meaning in life. Other seekers look to ancient religions in their quest for truth. Zoroastrianism, a religion from Iran, speaks of a supreme God and rituals of fire and water. Shamanism and voodoo, brought in by various people groups from around the world, attempt to put people in contact with the spirits. Paganism focuses on polytheism, pan-theism, and animism—in other words, worshipping many gods and spirits in nature. Wicca, a similar belief system, adds in “white witchcraft.” The New Age has become an umbrella term for various mixtures of eastern religion with modern thought. Baha’i melts many religions into one. There are too many old, new, and unusual religions to name—but it is important to pray for the people in these movements who have a real hunger for spiritual meaning and power.

New, Old, and Unusual

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As of the latest count in 2008, the U.S. Census found 340,000 self-identified pagans, 342,000 Wiccans, and 426,000 spiritualists in the nation. With the increased inter-est in magic and spiritual powers sparked by movies, children’s books, and video games, the adherents to these religions have each grown by 200,000 since 2001. Though many in these belief systems do not yet realize it, they are tampering with some-thing very dark and very evil. They need to be introduced to the light of the world!

“In our own country there are thousands of all nations, and tongues, and peoples who are ignorant and superstitious, having no knowledge of the Bible or its sacred teachings. God’s hand was in their coming to America, that they might be brought under the enlightening influence of the truth revealed in His Word, and become partakers of His saving faith” (Christian Service, page 200). “Wake up, wake up, my brethren and sisters, and enter the fields in America that have never been worked. . . . These need the light that

God has given to His church” (Evange-lism, page 571).

Next week: “The Strongest Argument”

Adapted from Praying for the World Next Door, © 2014 ASAP Ministries. Used by permission. For information and training on how to reach out to people in New Age and spiritualistic religions, purchase the inexpensive handbooks Reaching and Winning Followers of the Occult or Reaching and Winning New Agers, available at AdventSource.com.

,Read Daniel 2:10–24, 46, 47. Daniel’s prayers saved the lives of the fortune-tellers and magicians in Babylon and exalted our Creator as “God of gods, and a Lord of kings, and a revealer of secrets.”

,Pray that Christians will have the courage to get acquainted with people in new, old, and unusual religions and cults and be prepared to set them free in Jesus’ name.

,Pray that God will open their eyes and “turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God” (Acts 26:18).

,Pray that you will stay away from games, movies, books, and any practices that are related to magic and evil spirits.

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If you live in a small, rural com-munity, you may never have met a Hindu, Buddhist, or Muslim—

although it’s bound to happen one day soon. Perhaps no one in your school speaks a language other than English, though you’re certain to meet foreign language speakers before too long. Maybe you don’t know any refugees or exchange students, though you’re keep-ing a lookout for any internationals you might be able to befriend.

Take heart! There is still a mission field for you next door!

What about people who have no reli-gion at all? Your family

can make friends with your

neigh-bors,

whatever their race or language. The non-religious comprise a large and growing group that God loves—a group He desperately wants to join His great choir. This is a group God wants us to pray for!

Surveys have shown that close to one in five American adults do not profess any religious belief. This equals millions of people—including many you already know. Fully 30% of married Americans said they did not have a religious wed-ding ceremony, and 27% felt they had no need for a religious funeral at death. Where is their comfort in the midst of hard times? What hope do they have when they see death and calamities, wars and natural disasters?

Which groups are at highest risk for being non-religious? Surveys show it is the young adults—the people just now entering politics, public opinion, and civic life. One in four Americans ages 18–29 say they have no religious affili-ation. Also, men are at higher risk: 20% of all American men say they have no religious affiliation, compared to 13% of women. Unfortunately, the percentages of non-religious residents of Canada are even higher than those in the United States.

The Strongest Argument

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These concerning statistics simply show that we need to be prepared to effectively share our reasons for believ-ing in the Bible and in God—and to share how He is different from other so-called gods. We need to be able to show why we are confident that Jesus rose from the dead. And we need to live lives consistent with our beliefs. When we combine intelligent faith with a “loving and lovable” Christian life, we give unbelievers “the strongest argu-ment in favor of the gospel” (The Ministry of Healing, page 470). The Holy Spirit can do the rest!

“Christ is waiting with longing desire for the manifestation of Himself in His church. . . . Were all who profess His name bearing fruit to His glory, how quickly the whole world would be sown with the seed of the gospel. Quickly the last great harvest would be ripened, and Christ would come to gather the precious grain” (Christ’s Object Lessons, page 69).

Will you pray for Christ’s longing desire to become your own? Y

(Series concluded.)

Adapted from Praying for the World Next Door, © 2014 ASAP Ministries. Used by permission. To explore solid rational reasons for belief in the Bible and its teachings, read the book Cross Examination: The Evidence for Belief, by Subodh K. Pandit, or visit CSPS.AdventistMission.org.

,Read Luke 8:40–56. Pray and believe like the desperate Jairus. Don’t give up when it seems there is no hope.

,Pray for those without religion or faith to see God’s power in undeniable ways. Pray for them to come to know Him.

,Pray for all Christians to grow in our understanding of truth so that we can defend it rationally and lovingly.

,Pray for boldness to speak for God unashamedly. ,Pray for Christ to be manifested through the members of His church. ,Pray for fruit in your own life, so your unbelieving friends can see Jesus

through you.

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the world next door

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