our Field

The Land

The United States shares land borders with Canada to the north and Mexico to the south, a territorial water border with Russia in the northwest, and two territorial water borders in the southeast between Florida and Cuba and Florida and the Bahamas. The Pacific Ocean otherwise bounds the contiguous 48 states on the west, the Atlantic Ocean on the east, and the Gulf of Mexico to the southeast. Alaska borders the Pacific Ocean to the south and southwest, the Bering Strait to the west, and the Arctic Ocean to the north; Hawaii lies far to the southwest of the mainland in the Pacific Ocean.

Forty-eight of the states are in the single region between Canada and Mexico. With varying precision and formality, this group is referred to as the contiguous United States and as the “Lower 48”. Alaska, which is included in the term “continental United States,” is located at the northwestern end of North America.

The People

The United States is now the 3rd largest country in the world in terms of population. A new baby is born every 8 seconds in the United States, and every 29 seconds, a new international migrant arrives in America. The population of this country at this writing is 328 million people. According to a recent poll conducted by Gallup, 70% of our population now has no meaningful church connection. That percentage represents a mission field of over 230 million people who could be reached with the Gospel in the United States. The fastest-growing belief in America is unbelief, followed by the followers of Islam. 

The Missions Work

Today, while the doors to more and more North American churches are shut, the doors to cross-cultural evangelism are wide open, without the need to cross borders.

Currently, people from unreached people groups are increasingly coming to North America. Many immigrants migrate to the US with the intention of returning to their countries, creating opportunities for the North American church to disciple and commission these ex-pats to take the gospel back home.

The North American church is aptly positioned to reach these diverse people groups with the gospel on its home soil. Programs exist to serve and equip individuals through a disciple-making movement that multiplies leaders and churches to reach every ethnē people group.