Today, I have the opportunity to introduce you to my friend Tom Terry. Tom has a rare vantage point for some of the work God is doing around the globe. Tom is head of Global Broadcast Strategy for JESUS Film Project and manages English language radio stations for TWR. He also blogs on Bible study and theology at www.guywithabible.com. If this sparks a desire to partner in Tom's ministry, I encourage you to contact him at tom.terry@cru.org.
-John
If you were asked, "What is God doing in the world today?" How would you respond? Let me share my answer with you.
Based on what we see going on with the gospel, I'd say that God may be busy fulfilling the Great Commission in our lifetime. There is no single, more important task God is engaged in than fulfilling the Great Commission. Let me explain why.
Regardless of what you see on the news about the state of our nation or the world, irrespective of the many evils we are seeing perpetrated on so many victims, regardless of the lack of hope that so many people have, there has never been a time more fruitful for the advancement of God's kingdom on earth, and I want to tell you why. It all begins with the Great Commission.
What is the Great Commission?
"All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age" (Matthew 28:18-20).
God may fulfill the Great Commission our lifetime.
There are a number of things happening around the world, regarding the spread of the gospel, that have never happened before in history, most of which were not even possible prior to the modern age.
I'd like to present evidence from twelve areas that signify that the Great Commission may be accelerating, and that may indicate that the Great Commission could be fulfilled in our lifetime.
MISSIONARIES
According to Aboutmissions.org, 140,000 protestant missionaries serve in almost every country in the world. That's one missionary for every 50,000 people. If we include all branches of Christendom, according to the Lausanne Movement, there are 450,000 missionaries worldwide. That's one missionary for every 17,777 people. This has never happened in the history of the world.
Cru is the largest missions organization in the world. Cru alone accounts for 16,000 missionaries working worldwide committed to spiritual multiplication.
PEOPLE GROUPS
It's important that we define a couple of terms to help us understand what God is doing around the world. These terms are unreached and unengaged. A people group is unengaged when they have no Christian activity to reach them for Christ. A people group can, however, be engaged, but unreached. A people group is unreached when less than 2% of its population is Christian.
The late Steve Douglass of Cru reported that in 2005 there were 639 unengaged large people groups (more than 100,000 people). Additionally, there were over 1500 unengaged people groups of less than 100,000. Not just unreached, but nobody was even trying to reach them. Mission leaders, learning of this, decided to do something about it with the desire to see that number down to ZERO.
Now, according to "Finishing the Task," there are only 189 unengaged people groups left in the world to reach. Just 189. It’s possible these groups could be engaged in this decade.
BIBLE TRANSLATION
According to Wycliffe Bible Translators, there are 3,658 translations in whole or in part. According to Ilumni Nations, at the current pace of translation, there will be a translation of the scripture for every person on earth by 2033. There have never been more translations available than there are right now.
The New Testament is translated into the languages of 94% of the world's population.
JESUS FILM PROJECT
The JESUS film is the most watched & translated movie ever made with 2,000 translations and 640 million decisions for Christ made following the movie.
60% of all new church plants globally involve a JESUS film showing. In 2022 alone, 113,477 new churches were established through a JESUS Film showing.
My project is the Global Broadcast Strategy, an effort to continue extending the JESUS film's reach to as far across the globe as possible. 1.4 billion have seen our films on TV so far. 23 million have come to Christ through our broadcast ministry since 2016. We are working for an additional 1 billion views by 2028.
RADIO, TV, AND THE INTERNET
Christian media is now available to every nation on Earth through radio, TV, satellite, print, and the Internet.
99% of the world's population has access to Christian radio. This includes North Korea, the most closed country on earth.
Godlife.com reports that since 2004, more than 303 million decisions have been made through online ministry. That's 41,500 people a day.
CHINA
According to Cru:
In 60 years of intense persecution in China, the Chinese church has grown 100 times.
• 10,000 people come to faith in China every day.
• Christians in China outnumber communist party members by nearly 2 to 1.
• At this growth rate, China may become the most Christian nation on earth within the next 12 years.
MOVEMENTS
According to scholar Peter L. Berger of Boston University "The spread of Pentecostal Christianity may be the fastest growing movement in the history of religion."
AFRICA
Africa has the most Christians in the world. "The Center for the Study of Global Christianity at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary reports that more than 631 million Christians currently reside in Africa, and they make up 45 percent of the population."[i]
THE ISLAMIC WORLD
1. More Muslims have become followers of Jesus over the last two decades than in Islam's entire history.
2. Iran: The Christian house church movement is one million strong and growing at one of the fastest paces in the world.
3. According to the publication The National Interest, the countries with the largest numbers of Muslims converting to Christianity include Indonesia (6,500,000), Nigeria (600,000), Iran (500,000 versus only 500 in 1979), the United States (450,000), Ethiopia (400,000), and Algeria (380,000).
4. Indonesia: 80,000 new house churches in the last few years. 15% of the population is Christian and the church has grown so fast in recent years that the government has stopped measuring Christian growth.
5. In the Middle East, 90% of conversions come through media.
Despite growing persecution against Christians and the major challenges converts face, a significant number of Muslims are coming to Christ across the world. Missionary David Garrison spent two and a half years traveling, conducting research, and interviewing over one thousand Muslim converts. In total, he found 69 movements that had started in the first 12 years of the 21st century, compared with virtually no voluntary movements of converts to Christianity in the first 12 centuries of Islam.[ii] He states, 'We are living in the midst of the greatest turning of Muslims to Christ in history."
ASIA
According to a report by the Singapore Management University, Singapore, China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Indonesia, and Malaysia are said to have the fastest-growing Christian communities in the world, and the majority of the new believers are "upwardly mobile, urban, middle-class Chinese."
THE USA
Whenever I give this talk I am always asked, "What about America? Why is Christianity losing ground in America but growing everywhere else?"
There is no denying that church attendance overall in the US is in decline. However, much of this decline was triggered by the COVID pandemic. Many churches were closed during the pandemic, and after reopening, fewer people returned to church. However, there are encouraging signs. Consider these numbers published by Churchtrac.com for 2024.
• 39% of millennials (1981-1996) attend church weekly, up from 21% in 2019. That's a considerable increase.[iii]
• Non-white Millennials drive the increase in church attendance. 45% of non-white Millennials attend church weekly, compared to 35% of white Millennials.[iv]
Generation Z (1997-2012) is actively looking for churches to attend, and what they are looking for is encouraging.[v]
• 77.7% of non-churchgoing members of Gen Z are looking for churches that help the poor.
• 73.6% of non-churchgoing members of Gen Z are looking for churches that address mental health.
• 69.2% of non-churchgoing members of Gen Z are looking for churches that provide opportunities to help others.
While there are significant declines in church growth in America, these statistics demonstrate that there is hope that things can turn around.
THE NUMBERS
2.8 million churches have been planted in the last two years. Currently, globally, 3,500 churches are planted every week.
According to the World Christian Encyclopedia, approximately 2.7 million convert to Christianity annually from other religions.
From 1960 to 2000, the global growth of the number of evangelicals grew at three times the world's population rate, and twice that of Islam.
• 140 million people are born each year.
• The gospel is shared with about 250 million new people each year.
• The spread of the Gospel of Jesus is outpacing population growth by a factor of nearly 2 to 1. This was not possible prior to the modern age!
Every second, seven people hear the gospel.
We are not facing a spiritual famine; instead, we are experiencing a global spiritual awakening that has never happened before in the history of the world.
God is doing remarkable things around the world to fulfill the Great Commission. And if you decide to get involved, you will have God's promise to be with you and empower you in the work. Jesus promised this when he said, "Behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age." He is with us, so we have nothing to fear. How is he with us?
• He is with us in four ways.
1. His presence — I am with you
2. His purpose — Make disciples of all nations
3. His power — I am with you (Acts 1:8. The filling of the Holy Spirit)
4. His persistence — to the end of the age
We are seeing more fruit for the Great Commission now than ever. Now is the perfect time to get in. Join God in what he is already doing.
• What to do.
1. Go — full-time, short-term, trips, etc.
2. Give — financially, expertise, labor, etc.
3. Get involved — host mission events, work through your church, and volunteer for mission-oriented teaching or events.
Go, give, get involved—and watch what God will do!
[i] Africa’s Christian Explosion, https://www.christianpost.com/news/africas-christian-explosion-rod-anderson-226155/
[ii] This is defined as a group of 1,000 baptized believers, or one hundred new churches within a Muslim community.
[iii] https://www.churchtrac.com/articles/the-state-of-church-attendance-trends-and-statistics-2023#:~:text=What%20Percent%20of%20Millennials%20Attend,State%20of%20the%20Church%20report.
[iv] https://www.churchtrac.com/articles/the-state-of-church-attendance-trends-and-statistics-2023#:~:text=What%20Percent%20of%20Millennials%20Attend,State%20of%20the%20Church%20report.
[v] https://www.churchtrac.com/articles/the-state-of-church-attendance-trends-and-statistics-2023#:~:text=What%20Percent%20of%20Millennials%20Attend,State%20of%20the%20Church%20report.
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