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
Paul E. Pierson
77%
in
2005
10%
in
1900
1%
in 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%
Intl 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
3
rd
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 worlds individuals are
members of ethne with no viable church
Joshua Project 2
The Unfinished Task: Major
Blocs
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
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)
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 peopleshaving 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
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
140
160
180
200
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
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 1990s
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
Evangelized
Non-Christian
Christian
-7
+69
+40
Justin Long,
Network for Strategic Missions
-10
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
Muslim 8%
Buddhist 4.5%
Hindu -8.7%
Pentecostal 58%
Evangelical 42%
Christian 13.5%
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, Intl 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.
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Will We Change?

Our current patterns will
not reach the unreached

If current patterns continue,
the unreached will still be
23-28% of the worlds
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 Gods 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