Where are We?
A Reflection on the
Current Status of
Reaching the Unreached
The World is
Changing
Changes Affecting All of Us
A Changing World
1) Globalization
• economic
• cultural
• information
• physical
A Changing World
1) Globalization and the Unreached
We are seeking increased
opportunities for interaction and
influence among the unreached
while struggling with all the
implications
A Changing World
2) Localization
• cultural identity
• nationalism
• ethnocentrism
• religious identity resurgence
A Changing World
2) Localization and the Unreached
The common ethne approach
addresses this felt-need.
We are also seeking to use a
wide variety of “customized”
approaches
A Changing World
3) Urbanization
• Over 50% of world now urban
• By 2050 estimated 66%
A Changing World
3) Urbanization
• Christians are 44% of urban
populations, while we are only
33% of world population.
• Globally 63% of Christians lived in
cities in 2000.
A Changing World
3) Urbanization and the Unreached
• Multi-dimensional approaches
necessary for the cities
• Currently a greater emphasis on
people group homelands
• We need more emphasis on UPGs in
non-homeland unreached cities &
megacities
A Changing World
4) Three Waves of Societies
• Agricultural Wave
• Industrial Wave
• Information Wave
3 Waves are co-existent
A Changing World
4) Key Issues for the Three Waves
• Agricultural – Tribalism
• Industrial – Nationalism
• Information - Globalization
A Changing World
4) Waves of Societies & the Unreached
• Some unaware of waves
• Some subconsciously aware
• Some addressing different approaches
to different waves – such as the rise
of “information wave ministries”
A Changing World
5) Migration
• political refugees
• ecological migrants
• economic migrants
• nomadic communities
A Changing World
5) Migration and the Unreached
• political refugees – growing number
of refugee ministries
• ecological migrants – growing number
of “green” ecological mission efforts
A Changing World
5) Migration and the Unreached
• economic migrants – some attention
to student and economic immigrants –
but probably not proportionate
attention given their strategic potential
• nomadic communities – focused
missions to nomads but one of the
most difficult focus populations
A Changing World
6) Hurting
•
•
•
•
•
400 million on verge of starvation
1.3 billion – so safe water
1.1 billion – no adequate shelter
1.5 billion – no medical care
40,000 children under 5 will die
today from malnutrition & sickness
A Changing World
6) The Hurting among the Unreached
Some encouraging signs of getting
beyond the heretical separation
of the sacred & secular /
physical & spiritual
while acknowledging that salvation
and new life in Christ is the
ultimate healing
A Changing World
7) Crisis
• Wars: over 100 primarily ethnic wars
- 90% of casualties are civilians
• Increase of Terrorism
• Fundamentalist / Mainline / Modernist
conflict in major religions
• Increasing CHEs – complex
humanitarian emergencies
A Changing World
7) Crises and the Unreached
• People are usually more open
during times of uprooting
• A need to be more strategic in our
collaboration in response to crises
such as Frontier Crisis Response
Network strategy group here
A Changing World
7) Crises and the Unreached
• A growing number of radically
committed people willing to risk
their lives for the gospel
A Changing World
8) Persecution
• The 20th Century has seen more
martyrs than the previous 19
combined… (population is greater)
• There may be up to 160,000
martyrdoms per year in 50 countries.
(David B. Barrett & Todd M.
Johnson, World Christian Trends
AD30-AD 2200, p. 71)
A Changing World
8) Persecution and the Unreached
• Some have learned to thrive
despite persecution.
• Others are struggling to know best
ways to deal with persecution
• Greater awareness that persecution
is the norm, not the exception
A Changing Church
Changes in the
Global Body of Christ
PROTESTANT MISSIONS
IMPACT
Percentage of
Protestants
in Asia, Africa, and
Latin America
1%
in 1800
Paul E. Pierson
10%
in
1900
77%
in
2005
A Changing Church
• 100,000 new Christians
every day.
• 4,500 new congregations
every week.
Christians around the World
410
million
227
million
350
million
123
million
300
million
427
million
20
million
In South Korea
• In 1900 there were no
protestant churches.
Seoul
• Today South Korea is 30%
Christian.
Pusan

In Africa
• In 1900 only 3%
Christian
• Today sub-saharan
Africa is 50%
Christian.
• 25,000 new believers
daily
In Latin America
• In 1900 there were
50,000 Protestants.
• In 1980 there were 20
million Protestants.
• In 2000 there are 100
million Protestants.
In China
• In 1950:
1 million Christians
•Today:
70+ million Christians
• 35,000 new believers
daily
Great Commission Christians
• In 1900 14% of all Christians
• In 2005, they are 32%
Int’l Bulletin of Missionary
Research, 1/05, David B. Barrett
and Todd M. Johnson, p. 29.
A Changing Church
• The Christian center of gravity has shifted to
the Global South (now with 62.5% of all
Christians).
• It is also shifting east. East Asia has about 115
million Christians.
World Christian Database
Missions
is Changing
Changes
in the
Harvest Force
New Sending Countries
• More missionaries are being sent from
non-Western churches than from
Western churches.
• There are now about 4,000 Third World
mission agencies.
Ralph Winter & Bruce Koch, “Finishing the Task: The Unreached Peoples Challenge,” Perspectives, 3rd
ed., p. 509)
David B. Barrett & Todd M. Johnson, World Christian Trends AD 30-AD 2200, p. 71).
How many Christians to send one missionary?
Rank
Country
PIAs/miss
Rank Country
PIAs/miss
1 Mongolia
222
23 Australia
1546
2 Lebanon
295
26 Japan
1806
3 Singapore
400
30 United States
2148
4 Niger
451
31 Switzerland
2166
5 Nepal
458
37 Finland
3046
6 Sri Lanka
479
40 Brazil
3666
7 Spain
512
41 UK
3775
8 Faeroe Is
533
42 Norway
3873
9 Mali
608
43 Sweden
4081
10 Thailand
633
52 Argentina
7059
11 China, HK
688
53 Germany
7226
12 Canada
696
67 South Africa
9985
13 India
842
73 Romania
12089
14 New Zealand
887
75 Nigeria
13204
15 Korea, S
918
Internationalization of Missions
• Emergence of multi-national Christian agencies
– CCC, YWAM, OMF, SIL, SIM, Navs, WV, AOG
• No more “sending” and “receiving” nations
• Missions continues to move East and South: South
Korea, Philippines, Latin America, India, Africa, South
Africa, China, Singapore
• The Chinese church has a vision to move through
Central Asia “back to Jerusalem.”
They are praying to send out thousands and tens of
thousands of missionaries
New Mission Patterns
• More local churches are bypassing
traditional mission agencies, becoming
direct senders. (Stan Guthrie, Mission in the
3rd Millennium, p. 5)
• Churches and individuals are supporting
more indigenous, national ministries,
instead of more costly foreign missionaries
(who have their own efficiencies).
A Changing Focus
Changes in
how we define
and segment
the Unreached
Changing Focus
From one main list (Joshua Project)
to a variety of perspectives
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Access to Gospel
Joshua Project List (large UPGs)
Joshua Project 2 List (all UPGs)
Unimax Peoples
Evangelical Percentages
Viable Church
Major Blocs
The Unfinished Task
• 28% without access to gospel
• 39.5% members of ethne without
viable churches
• 4300 Least Evangelized ethnolinguistic
groups
• 6721 Unreached Ethnic Peoples
• 13,000 Unreached Unimax Peoples
The Unfinished Task: Access
• Access – do they have access to the
gospel? / do they have opportunity?
• While 72% of the world is adequately
evangelized, 1,800,228,000 are left.
David Barrett, Todd Johnson and Peter F. Crossing, “Status of Global Mission,
2005, in Context of 20th and 21st Centuries,” International Bulletin of Missionary
Research, Jan. 2005, p. 29.
The Unfinished Task: Access
• This 28% of the world is an increase from
24% in 1980 but a decrease from 58% in
1900.
• Currently, about 87,000 are evangelized per
day.
(From the World Christian Encyclopedia, David Barrett, George Kurian, Todd
Johnson, Eds. 2001, ISBN:0195079639, p. 2: 538.)
The Unfinished Task:
Population without Churches
• 39.5% of the world’s individuals are
members of ethne with no viable church
Joshua Project 2
The Unfinished Task: Major Blocs
100
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
Muslim 20.4%
Buddhist 12.2%
Hindu 13.5
Other 4.7
Non-Religious 11.9%
Ethnoreligious 4%
Christian 33.1
Looking Forward: An Overview of World Evangelization, 2005-2025
A special report for the Lausanne 2004 Forum on World Evangelization Center for the Study of Global Christianity, Gordon-Conwell
Theological SeminaryTodd M. Johnson, Peter F. Crossing, and Bobby Jangsun Ryu
The Unfinished Task:
Ethnic Groups
Total Peoples by Country
(People Group counted for
each country it is in.
This is the list most often
referred to as the
peoples of the world.)
15,900
The Unfinished Task:
Ethnic Groups Needing Outside
Help
Unreached / Least Reached:
(Less than 2% True Christian
and less than 5% Adherent)
6,721
Joshua Project 2
The Unfinished Task: Churches
• A “unimax people” is “An alternate term for
minipeople emphasizing the maximum size of
people in which the gospel can spread before
encountering barriers.” World Christian Database
• By mid-2005 there were 13,000 unreached
unimax peoples—”having no viable church
planting movement or viable, indigenous,
evangelizing church.”
Center for the Study of Global Christianity “All Humanity in Mission Perspective
in mid-2005” © 2004 www.globalchristianity.org
13,000+ Unreached Unimax Peoples
5500
3200
2000
1500
300
200
100
200
Muslim
Hindu
Tribal
Buddhist
Chinese
Jewish
Nonreligious
Other
Changing Realities
Changes among
the Unreached
Changing Realities: Bad News
• Majority of Christians still not aware of
the challenge of the unreached
• Many that are aware feel it is not their
responsibility
• Many church and mission leaders feel
that missions to the unreached has been
over-emphasized
Changing Realities: Bad News
• Average Christian gives 1.8% of their
income
• 5% of christian giving goes to missions
(15 billion)
• More is lost to embezzlement (16 billion)
than is given to missions
• Of mission funds -- between 0.1% and
1.66% is focused on unreached
Changing Realities: Bad News
• 95% of Christian ministers focus on their
own people
• Of the 5% who become missionaries 8090% focus on ethne which are majority
Christian
• Only 2.5 – 4% of missionaries are
focused on the 25 - 28% of the world
who are unreached
Cross-cultural Missionaries
per Million in Major Blocs
200
180
160
140
120
100
80
60
40
20
Muslim 2.7
Buddhist 5.6
Hindu 5.6
Other 9.9
Non-Religious 10.5
Tribal 50.9
Jewish 58.8
Christian 185.6
0
Source: Todd M. Johnson & Mission Frontiers Magazine, June 2000
Changing Realities: GOOD News
• In the last 20 years: a 250 to 400%
increase in number of missionaries
focused on the unreached
• New reinforcements:
– Comibam has 14% of their missionaries
focused on the unreached
– Singapore has an estimated 25%
– Resources from the Harvest: former UPGs
now reaching out – Mongolian, Bhojpuri, etc.
Changing Realities: GOOD News
• Increase of networks w/ UPG emphasis
– Increase of Prayer Networks
– Various UPG Networks in countries around the
world: Phillippines, India, Argentina, Nigeria,
Indonesia, Malaysia, Australia, BAM
– Regional and Bloc Networks:
SE Asia, Africa – MANI, Comibam, CAC, NAP,
APP, SEANet, Vision 5:9
Gospel Movements in
Unreached Areas
1. Bhojpuri in India:
30,000 churches in 10 years
2. Henan, China:
1 million to 5 million in 1990’s
3. Masai in Africa:
from 0% to 15% christian in 10 years
4. Sierra Leone – new CPM approach March
2005 – now 1 new church a day
5. Nepal, West Africa, Cambodia, North
America, South America,
Unevangelized World is Shrinking
Unevangelized
Evangelized
Non-Christian
Christian
Births
+166
Evangelized
-148
Evangelized
+148
Convert
-36
Births Convert
+70
+36
Defect
+31
Deaths
-25
Deaths
-74
Defect Deaths
-31
-35
-7
+69
+40
Justin Long,
Network for Strategic Missions
Conversion rates: 1990-2000
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
Muslim 8%
Buddhist 4.5%
Hindu -8.7%
Pentecostal 58%
Evangelical 42%
Christian 13.5%
0
-10
“An Overview of the World by Religious Adherents” from the Mission Frontiers June 2000 edition.
Conversion as % of Growth, 2005:
Independent Christians: 47%
European Christians: 34%
Pentecostal / Charismatic Christians: 23%
All Christians: 10%
Barrett, Int’l Bulletin of Miss. Research, Status of Global Mission, 1/04, 1/05
Michael Jaffarian, “The demographics of world religions entering the 21st century,” in Between past & future,
J. Bonk ed. 2003, pp. 264-5.
Addressing the “domains”
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Arts, Media
Business, Economics
Education
Government, Law
Healthcare, Medicine
Religion
Science, Technology
Sports
Will We Change?
Our current patterns will
not reach the unreached
Will We Change?
If current patterns continue,
the unreached will still be
23-28% of the world’s
population in 2025
Will We Change?
Insanity is doing the same
thing over and over again and
expecting different results
Albert Einstein
NOT what can we do
BUT what must be done
NOT ‘How can I reach these
people with the gospel?’
BUT ‘What and Who is it going
to take to reach these people?’
Will We Change?
It is not OK to be selfish
“for the sake of” your…
• people group
• city
• ministry
• organization
We must act more like the Body of
Christ and be more kingdom minded
and servant hearted
Will We Change?
• We need a variety of approaches
• We need to avoid the “Garden of Eden”
mindset that we can become “like God”
and find and teach THE ONLY WAY to
do missions among the unreached
• We need these various ministries to
work more strategically and effectively
together
The Resources are
in the Harvest!!
The Resources are in the Harvest
• Matthew 28:18-20 teaches us to disciple the
lost nations, baptize them and teach them to
obey
• We need to strip off our culture as much as
possible and plant the gospel
• Dependency is the primary killer of people
movements
• The goal is indigenous churches – as the
primary instrument of God’s presence and work
in a community
Will We Change?
Are we desperate?
Are we desperate yet?
Are we desperate enough?
Are we willing to give up anything,
completely change our life and
ministry, sacrifice everything?
Will We Allow God to Change Us?
I pray that Christ Jesus and the church
will forever bring praise to God. His
power at work in us can do far more
than we dare ask or imagine. Eph 3:20
"Look at the nations and watch-and be utterly amazed. For I am
going to do something in your days
that you would not believe, even if
you were told. Habakkuk 1:5
“I looked, and behold, a great number
which no one could number – of all
nations, tribes, peoples and tongues –
standing before the throne and before
the Lamb, clothed with white robes,
with palm branches in their hands and
crying out with a loud voice saying,
‘Salvation belongs to our God who sits
on the throne and to the Lamb.’”
Revelation 7:9-10