Missiometrics 2008

For the last 24 years David Barrett and Todd Johnson at the Center for the Study of Global Christianity have released updated statistics on Global Mission.

Included is a table of 50 new facts and figures. Here are some that caught my attention.

95.6% of people have access to Scripture in 6,600 languages, leaving 286 million in 7,000 languages with no access at all

690 million Christians today are active in Christ's world mission; 1,540 million Christians ignore it

China is the country with the fastest Christian expansion ever at 16,500 converts and births a day

Since 1900, Pentecostals/Charismatics and related movements have grown to 602 million believers

Despite predictions of the collapse of religion, trends indicate Christians and other religionists in AD2200 are likely to number 87% of the world

Christian bishops, evangelists and missionaries all fall into what sociologists consider a "high" murder rate, over 3%. That puts them among the most dangerous occupations.

Nearly one in five Christians are among a massive, new category: independents and postdenominationalists. That means 423 million individuals worldwide have no interest in and no use for historic denominational Christianity.

More than 90% of all Christian outreach and evangelism targets other Christians. Less than 10% is directed toward non-Christians.

It costs Christians 1,800 times more money to baptize converts in Belgium than in Cambodia

There are 10 million converts to Jesus who have elected to remain within the Hindu, Buddhist and Muslim religions in order to witness for Christ at a personal level

The four people groups currently most responsive to the gospel are Jinyu Chinese, and the Pathan, Bihari, Maithili peoples of India and Nepal. The four people groups least responsive to the gospel are Levantine Arab, French, Czech and Russian

Annual church embezzlements by top custodians exceed the entire cost of all foreign missions worldwide

HT: Faith in Context