Lausanne World Pulse – Research Articles – The Global Status of Evangelical Christianity: A Model for Identifying Priority People Groups

By Scott Holste and Jim Haney
August 2006 As noted in Table 1, levels 0 – 3 are classified as unreached. In this model, unreached signifies a people group whose population is less than two percent evangelical Christian. This definition is consistent with that used in evangelical circles for many years. It differs in that it does not exclude those groups with five percent or more “Christian adherents.” Unfortunately, there are various “Christian” traditions that neither articulate nor embody a clear, uncompromised understanding of the gospel. Consequently, it is difficult to argue that the majority of adherents within such traditions really understand the gospel, really believe it and are really committed to propagating it.

All four of these levels describe people groups in which evangelical Christians comprise less than two percent of the population. Level 0 describes a relatively small subset of unreached people groups for which there are no known evangelical resources available. Level 1 people groups have some resources available, but have had no new evangelical church plants within the past two years. We call Levels 0 and 1 people groups “Last Frontier” people groups. Levels 2 and 3 people groups are also unreached, but have had localized or widespread evangelical church plants within the past two years. As the percentage of evangelical Christians within a people group rises to two percent and greater, the status of that people group progresses from levels 4 – 6.

This information is maintained on every people group in the world and is updated regularly based on information from national believers, field missionaries, evangelical researchers and others. Table 2 summarizes the world’s people groups by status based on the July 2006 GSEC report. The most current reports and lists are available for download at www.peoplegroups.org.

Table 2: Global Status of Evangelical Christianity Status Level

by People Groups and Population (July 2006)

Status Level	People Groups	Population
0	126	1.1%	6,834,254	0.1%
1	5,711	50.3%	1,657,959,915	25.4%
2	551	4.8%	1,629,259,065	25.0%
3	33	0.3%	335,663,332	5.1%
4	943	8.3%	590,576,388	9.0%
5	1,185	10.4%	1,617,755,386	24.8%
6	1,888	16.6%	302,366,615	4.6%
7	928	8.2%	386,011,125	5.9%

Table 2 shows that:

• More than half of the world’s population is found in unreached people groups (Levels 0 – 3).
• More than half of the world’s people groups are Last Frontier people groups (Levels 0 – 1).
• More than a quarter of the world’s population is found in Last Frontier people groups (Levels 0 – 1).
• Although 5,711 Last Frontier people groups have evangelical resources available to them, no recent evangelical church planting is taking place among them. They continue to remain less than two percent evangelical Christian with no new evangelical churches in the past two years. (Level 1).

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Dr. Scott Holste (left) is a former missionary to unreached people groups in Southeast Asia and in northern Africa. He serves as associate vice president for Research and Strategic Services in the International Mission Board’s Office of Overseas Operations. He can be contacted at [email protected]. Dr. Jim Haney (right) is a former missionary to the people groups of West Africa. He currently serves as director of the International Mission Board’s Global Research Department. He can be contacted at [email protected].