January 2006

There is much that can be accomplished by intercessors, givers and short-term workers. However, there are some things only a ‘dedicated life’ can do. Without long-term workers, the task cannot be finished. Nothing else can replace them. The last edition of Operation World noted 200,000 long-term missionaries in 2,900 agencies (among Protestants, Anglicans, and Independents; Operation World doesn’t survey Catholic or Orthodox missionaries). About 97,000 were deployed as foreign missionaries, and 104,000 were deployed within their country in cross-cultural situations. This labor force has been globalized: the top missionary-sending nation is still the USA, but South Korea is second. The [...]