The Friday Fax 2005 #12

World

Global Christian Trends

Todd M. Johnson from the Center for the Study of Global Christianity at the Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary recently published an analysis of the annual 'Status of Global Mission' report he publishes together with Professor David Barrett, an extract of which was contained in last week's Friday Fax. The following are his most important observations:

A mega-census

Each year, Christian churches conduct a 'mega-census', in which 10 million questionnaires are sent out in 3,000 languages, containing questions on 180 topics. This costs US$ 1.1 billion per year. This mega-census consists of massive research projects such as the Annuario Pontificio as well as detailed studies by the Evangelical Alliance and other groups. In addition, over half of the national censuses generally performed every ten years include a question about religion. That makes it possible to answer questions such as 'Where are there Palestinian Christians?' (highest concentration: in Sydney) or 'How many churches are there in Cambodia?' (Johnson writes "I discovered a movement named 'Israelite Tree of Life', a group of Cambodian Christians which were evangelised by a Jewish Messianic group in Minneapolis, USA, and planted 12 churches in Phnom Penh"). Cooperation with some 1,000 scientists and information sources around the world, plus around 1 million documents reaching back to the 1950's form the basis for the status report, as well as the Global Christian Encyclopedia and World Christian Trends. Johnson sees seven things which clearly show that God is active in the world. (All figures are for mid-2005, unless stated otherwise.)

1. The size, variety and vitality of global Christianity

There are now some 37,000 Christian denominations in the world, ranging from several million to fewer than 100 members in all 238 nations. These denominations can be divided into six 'ecclesiastical megablocks': Roman Catholics (1.119 billion), Independents (427 million), Protestants (376 million), Orthodox (220 million), Anglicans (80 million) and Marginals (34 million). The Independents, comprised of independent and post-denominational Christians, are the fastest-growing group, and already make up 20% of the world Christian population. Christianity is currently growing fastest in China, with an estimated 10,000 new believers each day. In 1900, around 81% of Christians were Whites; today, the percentage has shrunk to 43%. The table below shows the current and projected top 10 nations ranked by Christian population:



2005	millions		2025	millions		2050	millions
USA	252		USA	295		USA	329
Brazil	167		Brazil	193		China	218
China	111		China	173		Brazil	202
Mexico	102		Mexico	123		DR Congo	145
Russia	85		India	107		India	137
Philippines	74		Philippines	97		Mexico	131
India	68		Nigeria	95		Nigeria	130
Germany	62		DR Congo	91		Philippines	112
Nigeria	61		Russia	85		Ethiopia	104
DR Congo	53		Ethiopia	67		Uganda	95

2. A massive global evangelistic movement

In 1980, 22% of viewers or listeners watched or listened to Christian TV or radio. By the year 2000, this number had grown to 30%. There are 227 million Bibles in non-Christian nations, though poorly distributed. Evangelisation is costly, though: since Christ, some 70 million people have been martyred. The five statistically most deadly jobs in Christianity are: Bishop, evangelist, catechist, colporteur, foreign missionary.

3. The challenge of managing resources

78 individual nations have Great Commission Christians whose annual incomes total over US$ 1 billion. Lax church regulations enable top custodians to embezzle US$ 21 billion each year, more than the total cost of all foreign mission.

4. The uncompleted Great Commission encourages planners

The 20th Century saw a large number of plans for global mission, and the number is constantly growing. The five most recent plans were 'Bold Mission Thrust' in 1976, 'A Church for Every People by the Year 2000' in 1980, 'Strategy to Every People' in 1984, 'One million native missionaries' in 1986 and 'Decade of Evangelism' in 1990. And yet 90% of evangelisation is targeted at people who are already 'Christians'.

5. Response in the least-reached people groups

A growing number of previously unreached people groups are becoming open for the Gospel. The currently most open groups are the Khandeshi, Awadhi, Magadhi, Bai and Berar Marathi.

6. Post-modern Christian youth is excellently suited to world mission

Post-modern Christians have six characteristics besides their openness which are positive for missions: critical realism, epistemological humility, generous orthodoxy, chastened rationality, faithful uncertainty and the non-modern meta-narrative.

7. The image of Jesus is becoming clearer

The more people come to know Jesus, the more cultural facets complete His image. This is particularly clear from the book market: today, there are around 175,000 books about Jesus in 500 languages. That number grows by four books every day.

Source: Todd Johnson, www.globalchristianity.org

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