Explosive Expansion of Christianity

Never before in the history of the church have so many come to Christ in such a short period of time.    

• In China, for example, the church has grown from 800,000 in 1949 when the communists took over, to approximately 91.5 million today (according to Operation World.)¹ Some estimate that 25,000 a day are currently coming to Christ. It is, perhaps, the greatest expansion of Christianity in the history of the church, yet few in the West are even aware it is going on.
• About 70% of the church’s outreach since Pentecost has been accomplished in this century alone.²
• At least 120,000,000 people are presented the plan of salvation each year.³
• At least 174,000 are daily coming to Christ worldwide.⁴
• In 1790 only 2% of the world’s population was Christian.⁵ By mid 2002, 33% of the world’s population identified themselves as Christian.⁶
• Approximately 50,000 new churches are formed each year. By mid 2002, the number of Christian worship centers worldwide numbered more than 3.5 million.⁷ This creates a tremendous need for trained pastoral leadership.
• According to Operation World, the largest religion in the continent of Africa is Christianity, with nearly 50% of the population claiming some kind of Christian faith. Of these 379 million adherents, Protestants and independents are experiencing the highest growth rate, at 4%, and among these, evangelicals are growing the fastest, at 4.6%.⁸
  
• The former director of the AD2000 and Beyond Movement estimates that in the 10-40 window,⁹any kind of Biblical training.¹⁰
  there are over 5 million pastors, many of them leading small hidden congregations, who have had no access to
• The Jesus Film has been viewed more times than the population of earth, and translations are available in every country and in 750 languages.¹¹
  
• Two thirds of the newest Christians are in the two-thirds world. The latest Operation World shows that of the world's more than 201,928 missionaries, the majority are being sent from Asia, Africa, and Latin America and only a third from the United States.¹² The torch is being passed. By 2010 the nation sending the most missionaries will be Brazil and, if present trends continue, China will overtake them by 2025. The financial center of gravity for missions may have shifted to the Pacific Rim in 2000. The West has become a junior partner in the international missionary enterprise.

References
¹Patrick Johnstone and Jason Mandryk, Operation World, 21st Century Edition, (Waynesboro, Georgia: Paternoster Lifestyle, 2001) p. 160.
²Bob Sjogren and Bill & Amy Stearns, Run With the Vision (Minneapolis: Bethany House, 1995), p. 16.
³Ibid., p. 19.
⁴Strategic Frontiers, Overhead Statistics, Youth With a Mission (Colorado Springs, CO., USA, 1993).
⁵Sjogren, Run with the Vision, p. 6
⁶World Evangelization Research Center, www.gem-werc.org, accessed August 15, 2002.
⁷David Barrett and Todd Johnson, World Christian Trends, (World Evangelization Research Center, 2001)
⁸Johnstone and Mandryk, p. 747.
⁹The 10-40 window is an imaginary rectangle in the Eastern Hemisphere, stretching from 10 degrees north of the equator to 40 degrees north of the equator, containing the vast majority of the world’s unreached peoples and emerging churches.
¹⁰Luis Bush, president AD2000 and Beyond Movement, personal communication, July 1998.¹¹“Jesus Film Official Ministry Statistics—July 1, 2002,” http://www.jesusfilm.org/updates/statistics.html, accessed August 21, 2002.
¹²Johnstone and Mandryk, p. 747.