Richard Coleman has a passion for missions. But he’s concerned that many of his African-American brethren aren’t on the same page with him.

Black churches overall have not been reinforcing the missionary force out of the United States. And Coleman is hoping they’ll confront their longstanding lack of involvement and make their way overseas to the millions who have never heard of Jesus.

According to the 2007 African American Missions Mobilization Manifesto by Columbia International University, blacks make up less than one percent of the total number (118,600) of U.S. missionaries.

But Coleman, who serves as the director of candidacy and mobilization for The Mission Society, didn’t have to look to statistics to realize that blacks were largely absent from the mission fields.

While attending Oral Roberts University, he became involved in short-term missions for the first time. It was in his first trip where he gained a passion for missions. He was 19 at the time and visiting Uganda.

The Tulsa, Okla., school would send some 200 to 300 students every summer on mission trips. But Coleman noticed there would only be a handful of black students.

“Then when I went to Africa, Africans would say ‘Where are the blacks? How come they don’t come?'” the 32-year-old evangelical recalled to The Christian Post…

Now on staff at The Mission Society, Coleman again is seeing only a handful of African Americans among the more than 200 missionaries who are being trained and sent to minister around the world.

Read More: http://www.christianpost.com/article/20101006/black-christians-largely-absent-from-us-missionary-force/