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 UnreachedWe 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 World6) 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 World7) 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 Protestantsin Asia, Africa, andLatin America

Paul E. Pierson

77%77%in in

20052005

10%10%in in

19001900

1%1%in 1800in 1800

• 100,000 new Christians every day.

• 4,500 new congregations every week.

A Changing Church

Christians around the World

227 million

20 million

427 million

350 million

300 million

123 million

410 million

In South Korea

Seoul

Pusan

• In 1900 there were no protestant churches.

• Today South Korea is 30% Christian.

• In 1900 only 3% Christian

• Today sub-saharan

Africa is 50% Christian.

• 25,000 new believers daily

In Africa

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).

Rank Country PIAs/miss

1 Mongolia 222

2 Lebanon 295

3 Singapore 400

4 Niger 451

5 Nepal 458

6 Sri Lanka 479

7 Spain 512

8 Faeroe Is 533

9 Mali 608

10 Thailand 633

11 China, HK 688

12 Canada 696

13 India 842

14 New Zealand 887

15 Korea, S 918

How many Christians to send one missionary?Rank Country PIAs/miss

23 Australia 1546

26 Japan 1806

30 United States 2148

31 Switzerland 2166

37 Finland 3046

40 Brazil 3666

41 UK 3775

42 Norway 3873

43 Sweden 4081

52 Argentina 7059

53 Germany 7226

67 South Africa 9985

73 Romania 12089

75 Nigeria 13204

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 FocusFrom 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

Looking Forward: An Overview of World Evangelization, 2005-2025A 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

HelpUnreached / Least Reached: (Less than 2% True Christianand less than 5% Adherent)

Joshua Project 2

6,721

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 Muslim

3200 Hindu

2000 Tribal

1500 Buddhist

300 Chinese

200 Jewish

100 Nonreligious

200 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 80-90% 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

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

Births

+166

Evangelized

-148

Deaths-25

Convert

-36

Defect+31

Deaths-74

Deaths

-35

Births

+70

Evangelized

+148

Convert

+36

Defect-31

Unevangelized

EvangelizedNon-Christian

Christian

-7

+69

+40

Justin Long, Network for Strategic Missions

“An Overview of the World by Religious Adherents” from the Mission Frontiers June 2000 edition.

Conversion rates: 1990-2000

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

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

Will We Change?

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?’

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

Will We Change?

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

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 Change?

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

Will We Allow God to Change Us?

"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