A Glance at Religions around the World | Lausanne World Pulse Archives

As we draw near the upcoming Ethne09 global gathering, 1-5 November 2009, we are thankful for what God has already done among the more than 6,700 least-reached peoples, assessing the status of work among these groups, and accelerating the movement of the gospel among them.

The least-evangelized groups of people with the highest populations in the world still get the least number of missionaries. Just over twenty-five percent of Protestant foreign missionaries are focused on the two-thirds of the world which is predominately non-Christian—and most of them are ministering among already-reached groups! Over twenty-seven percent of the world’s population is part of people groups who have no or very little access to the gospel. Furthermore, in terms of finances, less than one percent of U.S. church giving goes to support mission work among these least-served groups.

According to www.adherents.com (2005), the world’s top ten religions are:

Religion	# of Followers	Founder	View of God	Means to God	View of the Afterlife
Christianity	2 billion (33%)	Jesus Christ	Monotheism	Atonement/Substitution	Heaven
Islam	1.3 billion (21%)	Mohammed between AD 610-632	Monotheism, Allah	The Five Pillars of Islam: 1. The profession of faith in the one God and in Muhammad as his Prophet. 2. Prayer five times a day. 3. The giving of alms to the poor. 4. Fasting during the month of Ramadan. 5. The hajj, or pilgrimage to Mecca, at least once in the lifetime.