State of the World - The Task Remaining

The following data comes largely from Gordon Conwell Seminary in their Center for the Study of Global Christianity.

Basically, the world can be divided into three parts based on how people respond to two questions:
1. Do you have access to a Christian witness?
2. Are you a Christian?

People that respond "yes" to both questions are considered "World C". These people are spread out in countries like the United States, Spain, England, Poland, Kenya, Romania, and all throughout Latin America. They have had significant access to the gospel and many people living in these areas would at least claim to be "Christian" even though they may be very nominal or cultural followers of Christ. About 10% of the world's population is estimated to be true believers while another 23% are at least considered adherents to the Christian faith.

People that respond "yes" to the first question and "no" to the second question are considered "World B". These people are spread throughout countries like India, Thailand, Japan, China, Nigeria, and Vietnam. These are people that for the most part have had access to the gospel but have not chosen to embrace it for a many number of reasons. They are what we would call exposed unbelievers because they have had a chance to respond to the message.

People that responded "no" to both questions are considered "World A". These people live in countries like Iran, Bhutan, Somalia, Turkey, Afghanistan, and Algeria. Many of these people have no access to a Christian, a missionary, a church, or a Bible. These guys are virtually unreached and would need an outside witness to come and share Christ with them. We refer to them as unexposed unbelievers because they really do not have any chance of hearing about Jesus.

As of 2011, the world's population can be divided into these three categories:
World A - 1.6 billion people 29.6% of the world's population
World B - 2.4 billion people 40.1% of the world's population
World C - 2.0 billion people 33.0% of the world's population

So, where are the missionaries going?
This is the breakdown of the worldwide foreign missionary force and where they are currently deployed:
World A - 10,200 (2.4%)
World B - 103,000 (24.5%)
World C - 306,000 (73.1%)

So, basically, we only have 2.4% or 1 out of every 40 of our foreign missionaries serving among "World A" where the majority of the unreached people groups in the world live.

This is the breakdown according to religion (the THUMB people - Tribal, Hindu, Unreligious (Chinese), Muslim, Buddhist):
Tribals - 262,502,000 - (4.0% of world population) - 11,500 Missionaries (1 for every 22,826)
Hindus - 888,300,000 - (13.7% of world population) - 5,300 Missionaries (1 for every 167,603)
Unreligious - 1,175,334,000 - (18.1% of world population) - 14,400 Missionaries (1 for every 81,620)
Muslims - 1,359,745,000 -(20.9% of world population) - 4,000 Missionaries (1 for every 339,936)
Buddhists - 386,023,000 - (6.0% of world population) - 2,000 Missionaries (1 for every 193,000)

There is a lot of talk in the Christian world today about fighting injustice (human trafficking, slavery, AIDS, poverty, etc.) and we believe that those are issues that are near to God's heart. But we also think that it is a huge injustice that 2000 after Jesus said to go and make disciples of all nations that only 2.4% of our missionaries are going to the 1.6 billion people who have never had the chance to hear the good news of the kingdom!

The are currently about 6900 of the 16000 people groups in the world that are still considered unreached. So, there is still a huge task remaining. However, in the world today there are about 5.5 million churches meaning that there are 750 congregations for every unreached people group. If we would start working together as well as praying, giving and going strategically, we could see all nations reached with the love of Christ in our lifetime!