The Unfinished Task

World
Evangelization:
A Year 2008 Overview
 The Big Picture?

Sometimes we are so close to something we

don’t see “the forest for the trees.” What is this?
What is this?
The answer is at the end of this presentation.
 Table of Contents

• The Big Picture - Jesus’ last words.

• Status of the Great Commission.

• The Gospel to the ends of the earth.

• Dramatic recent progress.

• Challenges of the unfinished task.

 1. Jesus’ Last Words

The Command:
“Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations”
Matt 28:19 - A church for every people group
Nations = ethne = ethnic people groups

The Results:
God’s glory and Kingdom filling the earth –
worship from “every nation, tribe, people,
and tongue” Rev 7:9, Hab 2:14
2. Status of the Great Commission

A Church for Every People:

What is the Status?
 2. Status of the Great Commission

How Many People Groups Are There?

Total Peoples by Country

(People Group counted for each country it is in. 16,400
This is the list most often referred to as the
peoples of the world.)
 2. Status of the Great Commission

How Many People Groups Are Considered

Unreached / Least-Reached?
(Using criteria of less than 2% Evangelical
and less than 5% Adherent)

Best current estimate of

unreached / least-reached
ethnic people groups: 6,800
 2. Status of the Great Commission

Countries with the Most Unreached Peoples

# Peoples # Unreached
Country Total Peoples
India 2695 2384
China 516 427
Pakistan 389 374
Bangladesh 402 355
Nepal 334 310
3. The Gospel to the Ends of the Earth

What strategy can the Church use to

“make disciples of all the nations?”
Mark 16:15 says “Go onto all the world
and preach the Gospel to all creation.”

Since we do not know who is part of

God’s family, the Church ought to
strive to give every person the
opportunity to respond to the Gospel.

Is this a realistic goal to present the

Gospel to every person on earth?
3. The Gospel to the Ends of the Earth

Vision of Coca-Cola:
“A can of coke in the hand
of every person on the planet.”
3. The Gospel to the Ends of the Earth
 3. The Gospel to the Ends of the Earth

World as Coke
Drinkers
Approximate Percentages

10%CokeFans (TrueFollowers of Christ)

20%ColaDrinkers (Nominal Adherents of Christianity)
40%Non ColaDrinkers (Heard, butnotresponded)
30%ColaUnknown (Virtuallyno exposureto Gospel)

What are some ways being used to reach every person?

 3. The Gospel to the Ends of the Earth

Bible
Translation
What happened after
1500 that caused
such a dramatic rise?

Year

The New Testament has been translated into the mother tongue
of over 82% of the world’s population. However the remaining
approximately 18% will require over 2,500 new translations.
 3. The Gospel to the Ends of the Earth

7,000
6,050

Accumulated Millions of Viewers

6,000
Jesus Film Viewers
Jesus Film 5,000
3,600
4,000

What3,000
is the most viewed film in history
and 2,000
what film has been translated into
the most languages
730 in history?
1,000
488
0
1990 1995 2000 2008

There have been approximately 6.225 billion cumulative

viewings or hearings to the Jesus Film. It is available in
languages known by over 90% of the world’s population.
 3. The Gospel to the Ends of the Earth

Christian Radio Broadcasting

It is estimated that Christian radio
broadcasts cover at least 91% of
the world’s population.
 3. The Gospel to the Ends of the Earth

Status Summary
A Church for every People Group
Global Total 16,400
Unreached / Least Reached 6,800

The Gospel to the Ends of the Earth

True Believers 10%
Nominal Adherents 20%
Heard, no response 40%
Virtually no exposure 30%
4. Dramatic Recent Progress

Is Christianity stagnant,
declining or growing?
 4. Dramatic Recent Progress

5.0% 4.70%

Major Religions
Annual Growth Rate

4.0% Annual Growth Rates

3.0%
2.17% 2.20%

2.0%
1.40% 1.44%
1.21%

1.0%

0.0%
ns

als
s
m

am

on
his

is
ia

lic
I sl
du

ti
ist
dd

na

ge
Hin
hr

mi
Bu

an
C

no

Ev
All

De

Evangelical Christianity is growing 2x faster than Islam

and 3x faster than Buddhism and Hinduism.
 4. Dramatic Recent Progress

* Explosion of the non-western Church *

• True Christianity has grown by more than 300
million believers in the past ten years.
• About 10 million of these new Christians are from
North America and Europe
• The rest – 290 million – are from developing
countries like Nigeria, Brazil, India and China.

The Global South: The new faces of Evangelical Christianity

 4. Dramatic Recent Progress

* Unprecedented growth of the

Church in the two-thirds world *

Cambodia
1990 – ~ 10 tiny groups
1997 – ~ 300 fellowships
2005 – 1,000 churches
2005 – new church every week
2005 – 100,000 believers
 4. Dramatic Recent Progress

* Philippines *
1975 – 3,000 churches
2005 – 55,000 churches
2010 – Expect to send out 100,000
contract workers into the 10/40
Window in the next 15 years as
tentmaking missionaries … the
most of any country!
 4. Dramatic Recent Progress

* China *
• 1948 less than 1 million believers.
• 2008 upwards of 125 million believers. Most all
of the growth has been in the last 30 years.
• There are more followers of Jesus Christ in
China than in North America.
• More people are born in China every year than
live in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago,
Houston, Philadelphia, San Diego, Phoenix,
Dallas, El Paso and Denver combined.
• Over 12,000 new Chinese believers every day!
Great need is for pastoral training.
 4. Dramatic Recent Progress

* Developing World Missions Initiatives *

Estimated missionaries sent by various
countries over the next 15-20 years. Koreans: 30,000
Missionaries
10/40 Window Chinese: 50,000
Missionaries

Filipinos: 100,000
Nigerians: 15,000 Contract labor
Latin Americans: missionaries tentmakers
10,000 missionaries

The fullness of the Gentiles brought in and the grafting back

in of the natural branches beginning? (Romans 11)
5. Challenges of the Unfinished Task

Why hasn’t the Great Commission

been completed?
5. Challenges of the Unfinished Task

* Spiritual Challenge *
Satan does not give up
ground without a battle.

More Christians have been martyred

in the 20th century than in the
previous 19 centuries combined.
 5. Challenges of the Unfinished Task

* Population Challenge *

5.5 billion lost people in the world …

Viewing 5 per second it would take 35 years to see everyone.
Related video from International Mission Board-SBC at: www.churchmedialink.com
5. Challenges of the Unfinished Task

* People Group Challenge *

Remaining people groups are the
most difficult to penetrate.

• GEOGRAPHIC BARRIERS: remote, harsh climate,

difficult access, or nomadic.
• LINGUISTIC BARRIERS: illiteracy, no scripture in their
language, unwritten language, terminology confusion.
• CULTURAL BARRIERS: persecution, closed to change,
Christianity viewed as a “foreign” religion.
 5. Challenges of the Unfinished Task

* Political / National Challenge *

Countries with the highest % of unreached tend
to be the most closed to Christianity
North Korea
• Open Doors ranks North Korea #1 in Christian persecution.
• Government severely represses all religious activity and there is
systematic oppression, imprisonment and execution of Christians.
• Physical and spiritual starvation of 23 million people.
 5. Challenges of the Unfinished Task

* Church Challenge *

Imbalance in Missionary Distribution

• Over 85% of all cross-cultural foreign missionaries minister among
nominal Christian peoples.
• For every million unreached Muslims there are less than 3 missionaries

Imbalance in Missions Finances

Question: For every $1 of Christian giving to all
causes how much goes to financing pioneer
church planting among unreached peoples?
Answer: Half a penny
 That There Might Be Worshippers

“After these things I looked, and behold, a great

multitude, which no one could count, from every nation
and all tribes and peoples and tongues, standing before
the throne and before the Lamb” Rev 7:9
Big Picture
Quiz Answers
1. B
2. C
3. C
4. D
5. A
6. B
7. B
8. A
9. C
10. A
11. A
12. D
What is the source of this information?

Joshua Project
PO Box 64080
Colorado Springs, CO 80962 USA
719-886-4000
www.joshuaproject.net
info@joshuaproject.net
The Unfinished Task

World
Evangelization:
A Year 2008 Overview