The State of the Spread of the Gospel 18 The State of the Spread of the Gospel

A Word about Statistics We can’t discern the numbers who will be in heaven in the future The focus of the chapter is on “engagement” of people groups with the gospel The global status of Christianity is dynamic – so a person must keep up to date on statistics

Global Studies Adherents to Christianity – 33% of world pop Stable for last century Largest religious group 190 to 420 million evangelicals depending on source Brazil – 30% “evangelical” Survey of 4 urban centers: 0.6 to 4.1% evangelical Excluded those with syncretistic beliefs

Counting the Nations Many have sought to count all the ethno-linguistic people groups of the world Wycliffe - Ethnologue Barrett/Johnson – World Christian Encyclopedia Scribner/Morrison – Joshua Project IMB – Church Planting Progress Indicators (CPPI)

Affinity Blocks, etc Various Heirarchical models are used to understand how people groups relate; EX: 15 affinity blocs 250 people clusters 10,000 specific people groups sharing 7,000 living languages Sociological affinities such as “teachers”

Urban Centers Another logical organizing strategy Takes into account shift from rural to urban From 2000 to 2030, population growth will be in cities of developing countries

Progress of Gospel Today Table 18.3 – (be familiar with it for final) Focus on status 0-3 – all <2% evangelical 55.6% of identified people groups in this group 57.8% of world’s population in this group Table 18.4 – (be familiar with it for final) 6,463 people groups in status 0-3 74 have population of 10 million or more 495 have pop. Of 1 million to 10 million

UPGs: Current Efforts Actions IMB report Finishing the task report Strategic Prayer Contextual Church Planting Indigenous Church reproduction IMB report Every year many UUPGs (unengaged) are removed from the list because missionaries are now working among them Finishing the task report Since 2005, more than half of the UUPGs known to exit at that time have been engaged

Critical Issues Syncretism – often evangelical beliefs are a veneer over older animist beliefs, voodoo, etc Contextualization – must maintain the tension between the uncompromised authority of the Word and the need to make the message plain The Majority World – we are not the only ones engaging the UPGs of the world. Reached peoples are strategizing and mobilizing to reach their near neighbors who are unreached