Lausanne World Pulse – The Global Status of Evangelical Christianity: A Model for Identifying Priority People Groups
By Scott Holste and Jim Haney
Undoubtedly, the availability of evangelical resources is an important factor in reaching a people group, but the last bulleted observation above clearly demonstrates that there are many people groups that have no active evangelical church planting underway despite the fact that resources are available. Why? The fact that a resource is available does not mean that it is being used or being used effectively. For example, a Bible translation may exist in the heart language of a given people group, but no one is distributing it. Perhaps the translation is rather old and no one really understands it anymore. Perhaps the vast majority of the people group is primarily non-literate communicators. They could not read the Bible, even if a current translation of it was placed before their eyes. It is also possible that Evangelicals may be found within a people group involving themselves in various efforts and projects, but their “mission” does not include the proclamation of God’s word, the invitation to accept Christ as Lord and savior or the establishment of churches. If so, does this people group actually have access to the gospel?
Clearly, an overemphasis on the “availability” of resources as an indicator of progress is problematic. For this reason, while we recognize resource availability as a factor in our model and as an important component of our strategies, we do not give it significant weight as a measure of progress. More significant for us is whether or not evangelical church planting is actually taking place and whether or not people are coming to saving faith in Christ. Thus, progress is measured as people groups move from Levels 0 and 1 to levels 2, 3, 4 and beyond. For this to occur, evangelical Christians must effectively engage these unreached people groups.
The following Global Status of Evangelical Christianity map displays the status of each people group in their country and habitat. Unlike previous maps, this map only portrays the status of people groups in places where people actually live. Table 1 provides the key to the status colors, which are found on the map. A poster-size version of this map will be available to the public from the Missions Atlas Project website later this year.
Criteria for Prioritization: Status of Engagement
The second question is also critical: Which people groups have no evangelical church planting efforts directed toward them? In our prioritization model we consider a people group engaged when an evangelical church planting strategy is underway. At the very least, this means that the gospel is being sowed among the people group with the clear intent that the believers who emerge and are discipled will also be gathered together to form healthy, indigenous churches.
Pages: ALL Prev 1 2 3 4 Next
|
|
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]. |
