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Metrics
Today, the U.S. represents only
12% of global Christianity.
Today, the worlds 50 largest churches
are all outside the U.S.
Some of the shifts trace back to 1886
when God began to wake up the
church in the West to the needs of
the world. In 1885, the famous
Cambridge Seven packed their bags
for China. In 1886, the Student
Volunteer Movement launched as
100 students at D.L. Moodys
conference grounds in Mount Hermon,
MA, signed the Princeton Pledge
which says: I purpose, God willing,
to become a foreign missionary. By
1887, those hundred students were
serving around the globe. In 1888,
Jonathan Goforth sailed for China
Trends
The question we face as a result of
these changes: How will we, as a
missional people, approach our task
in our generation? Three trends will
influence how we answer:
Questions
Predictions
Perhaps more answers lie not with the
United States, but in other nations of
the world.
Maybe we need the followers of Jesus
in places outside of North America
to help define and clarify the role of
Western Christians. Perhaps, just as
the centers of Protestant Christianity
in decades past (U.S., England and
Canada) were primary sending centers
of missionaries, the new centers of
Christianity like Korea, China, Kenya
or Brazil will take on the unfinished
slack of the Great Commission. In
short, we predict other nations like
Nigeria, China, Korea and Brazil will
pick up the slack that the Western
world has not.
Amidst a wash of missional
uncertainty, there are some bright
spots worth exploring. Austin
Stone Church in Austin, TX (www.
austinstone.org) is less than a decade
old and has more than 6,000 who call
the Stone their home. The average
age of attendees in this college town
is a mere 27 years old. Fired up by the
fact that more than one billion people
in the world have no church, Bible
study or Christian witness, Global
Pastor Joey Shaw and his team have
challenged 100 people to go to an
unreached people group for at least
two years. So far, 90 people have
stepped up to this missional calling.
In a couple of years we will ask God
for another hundred, says Joey. What
if every church sent a dozen or so
Volunteers from the Austin Stone Church at the Makarios School in the
Dominican Republic
people to the unreached peoples of the
world?
About Leadership
Network
About 11 for 11
The idea behind 11 for 11 is to profile
eleven specific ministry innovations
(one per month) during 2011. The total
series will also include Rapid Growth
Churches, Executive Pastors and Key
Implementers, Large Church Senior
Pastors, Missional Renaissance, Next
Generation Pastors, Externally Focused
Churches, Multisite Churches, Leadership
Development, Generous Churches, and
Next Horizons.
Endnotes
1. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_Christian_missions. Accessed
December 16, 2010.
2. Christianity Today, December 2010 p. 35.
3. Jenkins, Philip, The Next Christendom: The Coming of Global Christianity,
Oxford University Press (2002), page 2.
4. Livermore, David A. Serving with Eyes Wide Open: Doing Short-Term Missions
with Cultural Intelligence. Baker Books 2006, Kindle edition, Locations 277-80.
5. Briscoe, Pete with Todd Hillard. The Surge: Churches Catching the Wave of
Christs Love for the Nations. Grand Rapids, MI, Zondervan (2010) p.61
Resources
Briscoe, Pete, and Todd Hillard, The Surge: Churches Catching the Wave of
Christs Love for the Nations (Zondervan, 2010).
Corbett, Steve, and Brian Fikkert, When Helping Hurts: Alleviating Poverty Without
Hurting the Poor and Yourself (Moody, 2009).
Kling, Fritz, The Meeting of the Waters: Seven Global Currents that Will Propel the
Future Church (David C. Cook, 2010).
Contact
Contact Eric Swanson at eric.swanson@leadnet.org if youre interested in being
part of a Global Connections Leadership Community. These gatherings focus on
breakthrough ideas of increasing missional effectiveness on both the going and
receiving sides of missions, with the ultimate goal and outcome of accelerating the
learning, knowledge and application of innovative approaches to global missions.