Proclaimer Blog
Facts and figures
Some more detailed analysis of EMA to follow but – to be perfectly honest – this week's posts have been written prior to the EMA as we anticipated having NO time this week to keep the blog up to date. Here are our facts and figures for the EMA for 2013, correct as of Thursday of last week.
We have 1,225 delegates from 5 continents, 24 countries and – within the UK – 645 churches.
- Here is cause for encouragement. There are at least 645 (and, of course, many, many more) churches in the UK for whom faithful Bible expository ministry lies at the heart of what they do. In this sense, the EMA crowd is self-selecting. That's a lot of churches and is one of the most thrilling statistics we have.
- Here is cause for prayer. What are 645 churches amongst a population of over 60 million (1 for every almost 100,000 people). Of course there are more churches preaching God's word faithfully than are here at the EMA, many more. Even so, this hardly represents a picture of a church mobilised to reach the country for Christ.
Join me then, in thanking God and praying. If you're interested, here is the Google map of where delegates are coming from in the UK. It hardly warrants close analysis because (a) the EMA crowd are not representative of every Bible believing church and (b) our database is not always up to date. However, especially in the SE, spot the holes!!
Interesting also that we have a number of refused visas from those who hoped to come but have not been allowed, despite attending the EMA in the past. Please do pray for a more measured response from UK Government on such permissions.