This weekend Cherry Creek Presbyterian Church is having its annual World Outreach Weekend and banquet. So I am thinking a lot about missions. I did some quick checking of facts on the web.
World Population Statistics
Total world population 6.8 billion
Urban dwellers now just outnumber rural dwellers. The new “mission field” is now in the city.
And there are over 480 mega cities with a population of over 1 million
Total number of organized religions 11,500
Largest world religion Christianity 2.27 billion
Total number of Christians as % of the world 33.3%
Number of Christian denominations around 40,000
Number of people in unreached people groups 2.72 billion
Total people groups 16,302
Number of unreached people groups 6,649 www.joshuaproject.net
Suffering
Missions Maker Magazine, published by STEM Press in Minnesota, said that while you are enjoying a tasty fast food meal during your 60 minute lunch break, here’s what took place around the globe.
Number of people dying from starvation 2,738
Number of people dying from malaria 342
Number of babies who die from induced abortion 9,582
Number of Christian Martyrs Worldwide:
An average of 171,000 Christians worldwide are martyred for their faith per year. That is 465 a day. About 20 an hour.
World’s ten worst persecutors of Christians
North Korea, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, India, China, Pakistan, Iran, Eritrea, Vietnam
International Christian Concern
Top Largest National Christian Populations
USA – 224,457,000 (85%) Brazil – 139,000,000 (93%) Mexico – 86,120,000 (99%)
The Major Denominations:
The Roman Catholic Church denomination is the largest Christian group in the world today with more than a billion followers constituting about half of the world’s Christian population.
Approximately 225 million people worldwide are Orthodox Christians.
There are approximately 500 million Protestants in the world.
Evangelicals:
Of the approximate 2 billion Christians in the world today, 648 million (11% of the world’s population) are Evangelicals or Bible believing Christians. Evangelicals have grown from only 3 million in AD 1500, to 648 million worldwide, with 54% being Non-Whites.
Christianity in America:
About 75% of adults in America identify themselves as Christian. In comparison, the next largest religions in America are Islam and Judaism. Combined they represent only about one to two percent of the United States population.
Missionaries:
In the unevangelized world, there are 20,500 full-time Christian workers and 10,200 foreign missionaries. In the evangelized non-Christian world, there are 1.31 million full-time Christian workers. In the Christian world, there are 306,000 foreign missionaries to other Christian lands. Also in the Christian world, 4.19 million full-time Christian workers (95%) work within the Christian world.
The Changing Face of Global Missions
For most of the past 200 years missionaries flowed in one direction—from North America and Europe out to Africa, Asia and Latin America. Now a global map that tracks missionaries would display lines originating in all regions and heading in all directions. Missions is from everywhere to everywhere.
The U.S. still sends the most Protestant cross-cultural missionaries, but India and South Korea are close behind.
Bible Distribution and Christian Books in Print
Approximately 72 million Bibles are distributed globally per year.
There are approximately 6 million books about Christianity in print today.
“How can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written, ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!’” Romans 10.14,15