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There are problems in the world today that loom so large that no single person or organization can provide answers. The United Nations can’t do it. Governments can’t. Business can’t. These giant problems are simply too overwhelming…too formidable. They are the GLOBAL GIANTS.
The world’s greatest problems are aggravated by an unwillingness to be reconciled, which leads to broken relationships, war, riots, racism, greed, gender issues, unfair competition, partisan politics, ethnic strife and pitting the rich against poor.
Spiritual Emptiness is the number one problem on our planet. Billions of people live without hope. They live a life without meaning. They live a life without purpose. They’ve got scant resources to live on—, and they are convinced they have even less reason to continue living.
Some people have never realized that their life is not an accident. There are accidental parents. There are no accidental children. There are illegitimate parents, but there are no illegitimate children. Your parents may not have planned you, but God did.
Most people don’t know that they are made to last forever…for eternity. They don’t know that this life is preparation for the life to come. Jesus came to forgive our past, give us purpose for living today and a home in heaven tomorrow.
Spiritual Emptiness is rampant all over the world.
Many people feel like Solomon, who said in the book of Ecclesiastes, “Everything is meaningless, utterly meaningless. What do people get for all their hard work? Generations come and go but nothing really changes. Everything is so weary and tiresome. No matter how much we see we’re never satisfied. And no matter how much we hear we’re not content.” (Ecclesiastes 1:1-10)
So many people today live without purpose. Or as Isaiah said, “My work all seems so useless. I spent my strength for nothing and to no purpose at all.” (Isaiah 49:4)
There are over 4.5 billion people in the world who do not know Jesus. Of these, over 2 billion people have never heard the life changing message of Jesus…not even once.
Self-serving leadership thinks that followers exist for them instead of them existing for the benefit of their followers. It’s the root cause of many other problems.
There is a severe shortage of the type of leadership that Jesus modeled – servant leadership. This is exemplified by the good shepherd who lays down his life for the sheep. The Bible says, “For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve” (Mark 10:45).
Corrupt, greedy and even dishonest leadership keeps billions of people stuck in poverty, disease and illiteracy. Many leaders don’t have the courage, the compassion, the conviction or the character to handle power.
There are really only two kinds of leaders in the world. There are selfish leaders and there are servant leaders. Servant leaders are shepherds. They care for the people as a shepherd would care for a flock.
In Zachariah 10:2 God says, “The people are like lost sheep. They are abused because there is no shepherd.”
The Bible says in Proverbs 11:14 “Without wise leadership a nation falls.” Without wise leadership, a family falls. Without wise leadership, a business falls. Without wise leadership, a church falls. Without wise leadership, a country falls.
Everything rises or falls on leadership. And the world desperately needs leaders with compassion, conviction, character and courage to challenge the selfishness in our society and to lead the people that they serve unselfishly.
Poverty keeps billions of people stuck in miserable and hopeless living conditions.
“The righteous care about justice for the poor, but the wicked have no such concern.” (Proverbs 29:7)
The world is facing continued regional conflicts and unparalleled financial turmoil resulting in unprecedented job losses, massive debt, the loss of homes and for many the very real uncertainty about where their livelihood will come from. Cities and towns, urban and rural, are all facing an uncertain future.
Half the world today--three billion people—live on less than two dollars a day. A billion and a half people live on less than a dollar a day. A billion people in our world live in grinding, dehumanizing poverty.
As the 21st century dawned, food prices rose and an estimated 1 billion people are hungry, while another 2 billion are undernourished. These people go to bed hungry every night wondering, “will I eat tomorrow?”
For millions of people in the world today, jobs provide little relief from poverty because the pay is so low. Employed people earning less than $1 per person a day have been labeled the ‘working poor.’ In sub-Saharan Africa, over half of the workers fall into this category.
Many women remain outside the education system and labor force due to cultures oppressive to women’s rights. They would work if they were given the opportunity. Work and family responsibilities could be more effective if institutions and culture would allow more training, support structures and job opportunities for women.
Rapid urbanization has accelerated the increase in poverty. Slum dwellers, who account for 1 billion of the worldwide urban population, die earlier, experience more hunger and disease, receive less education and have fewer job opportunities.
“When Jesus saw a great multitude, He felt compassion for them, and healed their sick.” Matthew 14:14
Billions of people today suffer from diseases. The unconscionable part of that is that we already have the cures for most of these, or at least we know how to prevent them. It’s amazing and sad that in the 21st century the world is suffering from diseases that we figured out how to cure or prevent in the 19th century.
We know how to prevent yellow fever, measles, mumps, typhus, polio and leprosy. We know how to prevent water-borne eye diseases, parasites and the number one killer of many children – diarrhea.
The statistics are staggering:
HIV/AIDS is the greatest humanitarian crisis in history. Globally, approximately 33 million people are living with HIV/AIDS, resulting in 15 million children losing one or both parents. AIDS is the leading cause of death in sub-Saharan Africa and the 4th leading cause of death globally. Every day, nearly 7,500 people are infected with HIV and 5,500 die from AIDS. HIV/AIDS hits women the hardest and is the leading cause of death worldwide for women ages 15-45.
Malaria kills over 1 million people annually. There continue to be between 350 million and 500 million cases of malaria worldwide each year. That’s a disease that we learned how to cure and prevent almost 100 years ago.
Malnutrition is an underlying cause of mortality in more than one third of all deaths in children under five. The number of children in developing countries who are born underweight still exceeds 140 million every year.
Every minute, a woman dies of complications related to pregnancy and childbirth. This adds up to more than 500,000 women annually and 10 million over the course of a generation. Every year, more than 1 million children are left orphaned and vulnerable because their mother died.
Today, even where healthcare is available, the high cost and lack of health insurance leaves more and more families vulnerable to a catastrophic illness or a debt burden that is devastating.
Much of the world is very sick and it is unnecessary.
Hosea 4:6 says, “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.” Billions of people have little or no education.
Globally, 570 million children are enrolled in school. But 73 million children of primary school age do not participate on a regular basis.
The children most likely to drop out of school, or to not attend at all, are often girls and those from poorer households living in rural areas. Approximately 25 percent of children of primary school age in rural areas of the developing world are out of school, compared with 16 percent of children from the same age group living in cities.
For children to reach their full potential and countries to develop, children must finish the secondary level of education. Currently, less than 55 percent of children in developing countries attend secondary school.
In many urban centers around the world--and among some populations--secondary school dropout rates are becoming epidemic. Dropout rates of 70-80% are not unusual among some populations.
This problem is leaving half of our world functionally illiterate. Half the world cannot read, write or do basic math. How are they going to make it in the global economy? They are destined to live out their lives in ignorance and confusion. These are problems we can help solve through PEACE.
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