Last week we looked at the “Lausanne Covenant” which is the foundational document of a missions movement which began back in 1974. The “Lausanne 4” congress was held in late September near Seoul, South Korea. What can we learn from this landmark event?
Mission Fields
The good news is that 60 percent of the world (4.6 billion people) has been evangelized (or reached) meaning they have access to the Gospel. The bad news is that the remaining 40 percent (3.4 billion) has not yet been evangelized and are therefore unreached. World population today exceeds 8 billion.
South Asia has the largest number of unreached people groups. Two countries contain 60 percent of the world’s unreached people groups —Hindu-majority India and Muslim-majority Pakistan.
India is becoming more nationalistic, Hindu-oriented and restrictive to Christianity. Pakistan has the strictest blasphemy laws of any Muslim country meaning converting from Muslim to Christian can result in prison or death.
Mission Forces
There are about 450,000 missionaries in the world today. However, 97 percent are working with people who are reached or already have access to the Gospel. For example, more missionaries go to Europe than Asia even though 60 percent of the world lives in Asia. Further, it costs ten times as much to send a missionary to Europe than Asia.
America still sends the most missionaries (about 138,000) and receives 38,000 from abroad. However, the next four biggest missionary-sending countries are from the Global South — Brazil, South Korea, Philippines and Nigeria. For example, Brazil has 8 percent of all Christians and sends out 40,000 missionaries. This is largely due to the rapid growth of Pentecostal Christianity in that country.
South Korea sends 35,000 missionaries but has dropped in recent years from second to third place. The Philippines are fourth with 25,000 missionaries (most are Catholic) but this doesn’t include the tent-making, bi-vocational Filipinos working abroad.
Mission Stats
In the 20th century, Christianity has grown fastest in sub-Saharan Africa. Again, this is mostly due to the dramatic growth in Pentecostal churches. Christians are much younger in Africa (median age 19) than in North America (39) and Europe (42). And sub-Saharan African Christians are more active. For example, 90 percent of Nigerian adults attend church weekly (compared to under 40 percent in America).
In 1900, 80 percent of the world’s Christians lived in Europe and North America. Today, 25 percent of the world’s Christians live there. The rest live in the Global South meaning Africa, Asia, Latin America and Oceania. This represents a dramatic shift. About 10 percent of all Christians are American.
The World Bank reports that in the last 30 years, people living in extreme poverty has dropped from 2 billion to 1 billion. One reason is the greater emphasis now on holistic mission which cares for the social and economic welfare of people (and not just the spiritual). However, 40 million people today are victims of some form of slavery (forced labor, sexual exploitation, and unwanted marriage). The majority of these victims are girls and women.
One report states, “The rise in digital media is potentially as transformative to Scripture engagement as the advent of the printing press in Early Modern Europe.” About 60 percent of the world is now connected to the Internet. This is speeding Bible translation and access to Scripture in people’s mother tongues. God is using these new tools for His Kingdom.
Mission Shifts
In the 20th century, mission sending was basically “from the West to the rest”. In recent decades, that has changed. Now it is “from everywhere to everywhere”. However, Christian wealth is still centred in North America. This will require a greater sharing of resources to fund missionaries from the less prosperous Global South.
There are now over 280 million international migrants in the world. Nearly half are Christian and those who are not are more open to Christianity than they were in their homelands. Contrary to popular belief, one Christian leader (Sam George) says, “Christianity in the West is not declining, but immigrants from Asia, Africa, and Latin American are reviving it and transforming it with renewed missional thrust… Christianity is a missionary faith par excellence since it is a faith that was born to travel.”
“Lausanne 4” has left us with great encouragements but also great challenges. The congress is over but the mission needs to continue with great urgency and zeal.
Rob Weatherby is a retired pastor and missionary.
