What Are the Greatest Injustices in the World?
Surprising Statistics and the Opportunity to Make a Difference
Some people are passionate about injustices surrounding war, race, human trafficking, abortion, poverty, or the plight of refugees. Others highlight forms of income inequality, climate change, lack of healthcare, and inadequate housing or clothing. Some people are passionate about domestic violence, voting rights, immigration, gun violence, mental health, or threats against women. And of course, I’m missing dozens of other key concerns.
These are injustices worth talking about, and many of them impact millions of people.
But what about the injustices that impact billions of people?
Billions
There are four global ratios I have been thinking about:
Worldwide, 1 in 10 do not have access to food security, 2 in 10 do not have access to safe water, 3 in 10 do not have access to the internet, and 4 in 10 do not have access to the gospel.
Food insecurity is when someone does not have consistent daily access to enough safe food to live, and safe water is a fundamental life access problem that contributes to many of the most impactful diseases in the world today. Both are major poverty statistics (nearly a billion people in the world live in extreme poverty), but so is the internet ratio noted here. It’s less consequential than water and food, but in a lot of ways, not having internet access now cuts people off from the ability to make economic gains. This is why some people are working to try to expand this access – not as a business initiative, but as a relief and development strategy.
But even more people are impacted by the last ratio about gospel access. Justice is about power, and the misuse of that power or withholding of it from those without it. If one believes that having access to the good news of Jesus Christ is powerful, and perhaps even the greatest power there is, then it’s an injustice to withhold it from those who lack access). Many are simply born into circumstances where they don’t have access – through no fault of their own – much like these other injustices.
If I can help someone gain access to hear about the love of Jesus Christ in a way that is holistic, relational and non-threatening, then I want to do what I can to help. A lot is riding on this lack of access.
Knocking On Every Door
I met Lemi in November of 2023. Lemi worked as a young man on a cruise and saved enough to start a restaurant in Istanbul. Because of my work around the world, I lived and worked in Istanbul for a season and while there, Lemi’s restaurant became my favorite haunt.
Lemi is a part of the 70 million Turks who have very little, if any, access to the gospel. There are only 10,000 Turkish Christians. For comparison, I have a friend in the States who is the pastor of a single church that has more attendees than all the Christian Turks in Turkey. They are the 3rd largest unreached people group in the world.
I remember looking out from my terrace in Istanbul, counting all the apartment buildings around me. I considered the reality that one could knock on every door in that mahalle (neighborhood) and not find one person to disciple them in their language. Of course, Lemi and the Turks are not alone, since 4 in 10 people worldwide do not have access to the gospel.
What can we do about this gospel access injustice?
1. Pray about it. I’ve been praying through the list of the most unreached people groups in the world in the last year and it has grown my knowledge and heart for those who don’t have access to knowing Jesus. I’ve been asking God to send people to do life among these people (Matthew 9:38), perhaps you can do the same?
2. Think about the Christians you know who might live and work in a country other than their home. Could you catch up with them and learn about the culture they are living in? They could become Global Marketplace Multipliers, Christians who serve in the marketplace intentionally engaging in global disciple-making. Or maybe you have marketable skills in the global economy, or perhaps your job could take you to where people lack access. Should we talk about this possibility for your future?
3. Is God is nudging you to the nations to be a missionary? A missionary is just a Christian who takes this gospel access problem so seriously that they’ve committed themselves to global service where they confidently and joyfully live out their faith in another country. All kinds of people take up this way of life to honor Christ. If you google “4 in 10 people don’t have access to the gospel” one of the top results is Global Partners. Perhaps it’s time to start a conversation with them, if God is nudging you.