This week we begin a six week series focused on the 46 countries of Latin America and the Caribbean.

This region of the world is home to some 600 million people–about 8% of the world–and is projected to rise to about 700 million by 2025. Racial intermingling has made an exact determination of ethnic groups virtually impossible, but can be generally categorized as Amerindian, Asian, Blacks (descended from African slaves brought to the region during the 16th century), Whites, and mixes these various groups. Asians are primarily found in Brazil and Peru; African descendants are mostly in the Caribbean and Brazil. There are large numbers of European minorities. The population of the region is heavily urban: about three-quarters live in metropolitan areas, and there are 51 megacities (with over 1 million inhabitants). Mexico City and Sao Paulo are among the largest urban agglomerations in the world. Migration is a key issue in Latin America, particularly between the region and the United States. Spanish and Portuguese are the dominant languages, but there are numerous minority and creole languages as well.

Latin America’s economy has been rapidly developing. Brazil is one of the so-called “BRIC” nations (Brazil, Russia, India, China). Most of the Latin American nations have developed to a higher degree than China, although not to the same level as the United States and Europe. However, poverty continues to be a significant issue, and the economic divide between the rich and the poor is a major challenge. Tourism is a key part of the economic life in the area, and many of the countries can be significantly damaged by any downturn in tourists.

At the start of the 20th century the region was almost entirely Roman Catholic, with nearly five centuries of Catholic history. At that time, over 95% of the region’s population would have professed to be Christian. Today, that percentage is not greatly different. The population as a whole grew by 2.05% per annum over the past century, while Christianity grew by 2.03%: it lost ground slightly, falling from 95% of the population in 1900 to 92% today. The balance has gone to the nonreligious, who now make up nearly 3% of Latin America, and to a small revival in Spiritism, mainly in Brazil. Other world religions have also grown in size although their overall percentage of Latin America remains small: Islam, for example, grew from some 70,000 members in 1900 to nearly 2 million today, but still only make up about 0.3% of the region.

Christians have remained the dominant majority in Latin America, but the makeup of Christianity has changed. Latin America was solidly Catholic at the start of the century. Today Catholics are still large, numbering 478 million out of a total population of 593 million. But the growth rate in the Catholic tradition has fallen far short: for the decade of 2000-10, the population grew at 1.28% but the Catholic tradition grew by just 0.78%. Meanwhile Protestants were growing at 2.52% per year – nearly double the population – and thereby increased from 1 million in 1900 to 57 million today. Meanwhile marginal Christians such as Jehovah’s Witnesses and the Mormons grew from 4,000 in 1910 to 11 million in 2010. The Pentecostal-Charismatic movement has been particularly fast-growing. Today, the largest Catholic Charismatic community can be found in Brazil.

Of course, there is a phenomenal amount of missionary activity focused on Latin America. Some 4,000 missionaries in 350 agencies are at work in the region, not counting the vast numbers of short-term mission trips taken to Latin America every year. Trying to give even a brief accounting of this vast mission work is virtually impossible; it is enough to say that you can call up virtually any denominational mission board, major missionary-sending church or mission agency and, unless they are particularly specialized, you’ll find they are doing something in this region. At the same time, let us not forget the vast number of missionaries now coming from Latin America to the rest of the world. COMIBAM is the regional network for missions, with a particular emphasis on the unreached. One classic example is PM International, with a vision to spread the Gospel of the Kingdom among all Islamic peoples.

In the next six weeks we will focus on Central America, the Caribbean, and South America, with spotlights in special countries in each. If you’re working in this region, we’d be happy to hear from you!

The nations of Southern Europe were once great empires, but most have lost the glories of past positions and are struggling to advance into the modern global economy.The individual countries are fairly small, having few precious commodities but abundant natural resources like timber, water and metals. Many are landlocked, but sit on key trade routes between Europe and Asia. Most have suffered from air and water pollution. Nearly all have experienced severe earthquakes and continue to be at risk.

Although most of the governments are stable, many are barely so. Albania and the states of the former Yugoslavia have endured sharp wars but have labored hard to rebuild. Old tensions continue to bubble: Spain still deals with its Basque separatist movement, and the former Yugoslavian states with their wounds. Greece, Italy, Portugal and Spain are trying to come to grips with new economic and political realities. Crime and corruption are ever present, and Albania struggles with the drug trade.

Economically, all of these nations have seen better days. Poverty and unemployment are widespread, with up to a quarter of some of the countries living below the poverty line. Most of the nations are, to some degree, dependent on tourism. Aid from the European Union forms a small but significant minority of national budgets. Sporadic violence still causes both investors and tourists to be skittish. Southern Europe’s total GNP is just slightly ahead of that of Northern Europe, even though it has half again as many people.

With the exception of Albania, the countries within the region are all majority-Christian, but this means very little considering the number of ethnic wars and genocides that have occurred here. Over the past century every state has experienced religious declines: the non-religious have grown in number (through defections from Christianity) as have Muslims, who have tripled in number. At the start of the 1900s most Muslims lived in Albania. Today while the majority are still there, immigrant Muslims can be found in every country in the region. Several of the former states of Yugoslavia are strongly Muslim.

Most who profess Christianity belong to the Roman Catholic church, but the fastest-growing churches are Independents and Marginals (particularly Charismatics and Jehovah’s Witnesses). The Catholic church is struggling with scandals, the aging of its existing priests and nuns, and the decline in the number of seminary students. Still, while the church is seeing growth, it is mainly demographic in nature: and in nearly every nation it is not keeping up with population growth. Thus, right now, the church’s share of Southern Europe is in a slow but steady decline.

Name	Pop	Growth	Chr	Growth	Issues for the church
Albania	3.2		1.0		Widespread poverty, unemployment, crime, corruption, drugs, relations with Islam
Andorra	0.07		0.06		Small landlocked nation.
Bosnia-Herz	3.9		1.6		Reconciliation, reconstruction, poverty, unemployment, corruption.
Croatia	4.5		4.1		Reconciliation, reconstruction, poverty, unemployment, relations with Islam.
Gibraltar	0.02		0.02		Small country.
Greece	11.2		10.4		Tensions with Turkey, EU aid, immigrant workers, unemployment.
Holy See	-		-		Scandals, aging
Italy	59.0		47.5		Illegal immigration, crime, corruption, unemployment, rich/poor gap.
Kosovo	2.0		0.1
Macedonia	2.0		1.3		Kosovo, economy, poverty, unemployment, grey market.
Malta	0.4		0.4
Montenegro	0.6		0.5
Portugal	10.7		9.6		Stable but poor, unemployment, competition with Asia.
San Marino	0.03		0.02
Serbia	7.8		6.3		Politics, ethnic tensions, poverty, unemployment, sporadic violence.
Slovenia	2.0		1.8		Stable, moderately wealthy, few Protestants.
Spain	45.1		40.8		Growing economy, tensions over social changes, unemployment.

Populations in millions. Pop. Growth: Red=Decline, Green=Growth. Christian Growth. 1st Square: Red=Decline, Green=Growth. 2nd Square: Red=Declining share of population; Green=Growing share of population.

Russia is the focus country for Eastern Europe (which we covered last week). It is the largest country in the world, spanning all of Asia and nearly half of Europe, and is the world’s largest in terms of forest reserves, minerals, and energy resources. Its lakes contain nearly a quarter of the world’s fresh water. Yet although it has such massive resources and is in fact the world’s 9th most populous country, it is only very sparsely populated with a density of about 23 people per square mile, most of whom live to the west of the Ural mountains. Moreover, this sparse population is presently on the decline. Residents in the eastern regions of Russia have in particular dropped by 25%.

Russia has been hurt in the current global economic climate, but it still an influential player and part of the so-called “BRICs” (Brazil, Russia, India, China). These are the four largest economies outside of the rich OECD, and the only developing economies with annual GDPs of over $1 trillion. Yet Russia’s crumbling infrastructure and imploding population mean it cannot adequately exploit the resources it claims to own. Russia’s economy is presently centered largely around energy: Gazprom, its natural gas company, is both a source of revenue and a political weapon. Russia is quite willing to turn off energy supplies to Europe in order to negotiate what it wants.

The government itself is no longer Communist but still autocratic. It’s perhaps not surprising: Russia hasn’t known anything but autocracy since its birth. The nation seems to prefer “strong” leadership. The government has been expanding its security powers, yet many businesses are afraid of being victims of corrupt officials.

Though we perhaps have forgotten it today, Russia became Christian very early in its history. It was founded sometime between the 3rd and 8th centuries by the descendants of Viking warriors who settled in Kiev and adopted Orthodox Christianity in 988. For a time Russia was considered the “Third Jerusalem” and the center of Christianity from which thousands of Orthodox missionaries were sent out.

After the October 1917 revolution, much of Christianity was heavily suppressed. Orthodox Christianity, long the dominant form in Russia, had its numbers cut nearly in half after decades of harassment. Despite this persecution, tens of millions of Christians remained public with their faith. After the fall of Communism, numerous missionaries swept in with unfortunately little regard for or understanding of the existing indigenous Christians (Catholic, Orthodox, Baptists, in some 470 denominations as of AD 2000). Today there remains much missionary work by dozens of agencies, but it is being hampered by increasing restrictions on their activity. At the same time, there has been a surge in Muslim affiliation. Dagestan, for example, is already majority Muslim.

Russia today is a World B (non-Christian but heavily evangelized) country. There are 83 unevangelized people groups in the country, with 6.5 million people in them, as well as 6 unevangelized cities and 2 unevangelized provinces. A minimum of 65 new pioneer missionary outreach centers, each able to raise up local ministries, are needed. That doesn’t count additional work amongst the 34 heavily evangelized but majority non-Christian peoples, or work needed amongst those who profess to follow Christ yet are highly nominal.

Related articles

For Russia’s distrastrous demographic decline:
Population Reference Bureau’s analysis
BBC on Putin’s comments
Dire predictions of Russian breakup
2003 East-West Church & Ministry Report
Europe-Asia Studies, 2005, on the Public Reaction

At expense of all others, Putin picks a church (NYT). “Just as the government has tightened control over political life, so, too, has it intruded in matters of faith… The close alliance between the government and the Russian Orthodox Church has become a defining characteristic of Mr Putin’s tenure…”

Fear takes over Russia’s businesses. Russia’s entrepreneurs are increasingly afraid of being victims of corrupt officials, facing the risk of extortion, confiscation or jail.

Russia has reasons to stay its hand (AsiaTimes). “The Russian Federation is more than capable of defending its interests
in the former Soviet space… but it will not act beyond what is absolutely necessary to preserve its dominance. It is this strategic decision to lie quiet that many analysts have
confused with frailty.”

Why the Russia Spy Story really matters (Radio Free Europe). ”Moscow is skillfully advancing its interests in the West, not through intelligence but business, often supported by crafty industrial espionage, influence-buying, and under-the-table deal-making.”

Russia rises to the challenge as foreign missionaries are pressured (Mission Network News). ”[This situation] empowers the local believers. It enables them not to be dependent on outside resources or people. It enables them to really take hold of it themselves.”

Orthodox priest gunned down in Moscow church (Persecuted Church weblog, 2009). “Fr. Daniil Sysoyev, a Russian Orthodox priest well known for his missionary activities among Muslims, occultists and others, was shot an killed in the St. Thomas the Apostle Church in Moscow on Thursday evening. The killer reportedly entered the church, asked for the priest by name, and then opened fire at close range with a pistol.”

Wave of clergy killings in Russia (International Christian Concern). “The priest was killed because he was not indifferent to disgusting human behavior and took a principled stand against it in accordance with his calling…”

Draft legislation threatens to make evangelism nearly impossible (Mission Network News). But it was questioned whether the legislation would hold up to a constitutional challenge.

The difficulty of Orthodox evangelism (Khanya blog). Analysis of an interesting account of Orthodox evangelism and some of the attendant difficulties.

Christians become ghostlike with increased Muslim influence in Russia (Voice of the Martyrs Canada). “In Russia’s Northern Caucasus, bordered by Chechnya to the west, evangelical believers in Dagestan have become almost ghostlike, and what ministry they are doing is facing increased restrictions…”

Eastern Europe (Belarus, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Moldova, Poland, Romania, Russia, Slovakia, Ukraine) has one of the largest landmasses of any region in the world. Russia is the largest country in the world, and Ukraine is the second largest in Europe. The region is rich in resources, with farmland, timber, oil and rare metals. It is also prone to earthquakes and landslides, and the remoteness and cold make it difficult to utilize these resources or bring them to markets. Heavy industrialization has led to significant soil, water and air pollution. The whole region was affected by the Chernobyl nuclear disaster, but most notably Ukraine and Belorussia (over 20% of the latter was contaminated).

For its size, the region is one of the least populated. About 315 million people lived here in 2000, but no longer: not a single Eastern European country has a growing population. All are aging and in decline. In 2010 the total regional population was estimated at 290 million. By 2025 the population will likely fall to 225 million: ahead of the rest of Europe but smaller than most Afrian, Asian or American regions. Two-thirds live in urban areas: there are nearly 600 megacities but their numbers, too, will likely decline.

Part of the problem is the regional economy. All of the nations have made the transition from communism to market economies, some better than others. While most of the economies are growing, and some are becoming players in the global economy, poverty and unemployment are still widespread. Moldavia remains one of the poorest countries in all of Europe. Over 75 million people in the region live in poverty, many more are poor and underemployed, and hunger and homelessness are readily seen on the streets. Eastern Europe produces just 7% of Europe’s total GNP.

Government corruption and instability–both so common as to be accepted without question–contribute to the economic challenges. Russia’s governments have been typified by strong, autocratic if not dictatorial leadership for centuries. The smaller countries have governments that are barely stable, although many are becoming more so. Crime is rampant. The combination of these many problems frightens would-be investors. The ongoing warfare in Chechneya only adds to the darkness of the mix.

AIDS is a silent threat, with significant epidemics in Bulgaria, Russia and Ukraine. Far more visible are the cankers of drug addiction and alcoholism.

This region’s religious climate experienced one of the most dramatic swings during the past century of any worldwide, caused by the 1910 Communist revolution, the 80 year suppression of all religious believers under Communist rule, and then the dramatic new freedoms followed by the collapse of Communism in the 1990s. Despite this, the non-religious remain a significant part of the region (estimated at about 7%). Islam is growing: having risen to 6% of the population (thus nearly equalling the numbers of atheists and agnostics). Jews in the region, once numbering 5% of the population in the early part of the century, have now fallen to less than 1% as most have emigrated to Israel.

The overwhelming majority of the population claim to be Christian of one variety or another. Most belong, if only in name, to the Orthodox or Catholic churches, but Independent and Marginal churches are the fastest-growing. Religious apathy, defections from the faith and inter-traditional rivalries are common. Few are interested in mission to other nations, although there are some indications this is changing. At the same time, although the numbers of nonreligious have fallen, they are still present, and there are a growing number of Muslim immigrants.

In most of the countries, there is significant personal religious freedom and widespread work marred by instances of persecution caused by the efforts of one or two dominant religions to remain dominant. Russia, in particular, is seeing a recurring chilling of religious freedom particularly for smaller groups like Baptists.

By 2025, it is presently unlikely that the religious situation will have dramatically changed. The number of believers will likely be smaller, due to the overall population decline.

Name	Pop	Growth	Chr	Growth	Issues
Belarus	9.5		7.0		Poverty, Chernobyl contamination, influence by Russia
Bulgaria	7.4		6.2		Economic growth, corruption, crime, openness.
Czech Republic	10.1		5.8		Strategic position, stable economy, openness, apathy.
Hungary	9.9		8.6		Economic growth, openness, leader development.
Moldova	3.7		3.5		Extreme poverty, agriculture, some restrictions.
Poland	37.9		36.5		Poverty, unemployment, pollution, Catholic vs. Evangelical tensions.
Romania	21.1		20.8		Poverty, corruption, some restrictions, renewal movements.
Russia	140.3		115.1		Erosion of democracy, stagnant economy, AIDS, migrants, poverty, war, Islam.
Slovakia	5.3		4.6		Growing economy, unemployment, religious openness, lack of vision.
Ukraine	45.1		37.9		Stabilizing government, growing economy, long Christian heritage.

Populations in millions. Pop. Growth: Red=Decline, Green=Growth. Christian Growth. 1st Square: Red=Decline, Green=Growth. 2nd Square: Red=Declining share of population; Green=Growing share of population.

Each month we keep an eye on 15 major issues and here link to articles on major events in each category. These are global ‘vulnerabilities’ that can cause significant challenges or opportunities for the church and missions. Some categories will be empty month to month; we keep the categories standard.

General

• Somalia in crisis: Drought, famine, narcotics trade, Islamic militias, pirates

1. Wars & Rumors of Wars

• Sudan landmines:
  • Result of Landmine Impact Survey Sudan (as of Nov 2009)
  • Sudan: Road Threat Map (as of Nov 2009)
• Yemen Removes 80 Per Cent Of Landmines- ICRC: some good news.

2. Ethnic & Religious Unrest

• UK: Weapons for Bibles scheme rolls out across London.
• Kyrgyzstan unrest: 2,200+? dead, 400,000+ fleeing
  Agencies rush aid to Uzbek refugees (Guardian)
  Kyrgyzstan crisis spreads as 100,000 Uzbeks try to flee (CSM, MNN)
  Uzbekistan closes border amid clashes (CNN)
  Running scared after fleeing (BBC)
  Video of Kyrgyz unrest (Youtube)
  Stalin’s harvest: what lies behind the violence (Economist)
  China offers humanitarian aid to Kyrgyzstan (Xinhua)
  400,000 Flee in Kyrgyzstan, U.N. Says (6/18, NYT, raising the estimate of the number of refugees)
  Kyrgyz leader estimates 2,200 dead (6/18, Washington Post)
  Children Hard Hit by Violence in Kyrgyzstan
• Iraq: Neda, young victim who defined Iran’s Green uprising, commemorated in film

3. Earthquakes & Disasters

• World: Reported Floods – Nov 24 – 30, 2009
• The 20th century has been one of the driest in nine centuries for Northwest Africa (Science Daily)

4. Famines & Droughts

East Africa: severe drought and famine, worst in 20 years

• Aid group: Rains fail again across East Africa (AP), Drought threat in East Africa (BBC)
• Africa: An Early Warning System for Droughts (AllAfrica.com), WMO develops Drought Monitoring System (Ghana Broadcasting Corporation).
• Rain ‘not enough’ to end hunger in Kenya (CNN)
• Somaliland & drought: the tale of one elderly. (Somaliland Press)
• Sahel faces worst food crisis for five years

Africa

• Funding shortage forces UN air service to halt aid flights in West Africa: World Food Program flights to Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia will be halted.
• Food crisis in Niger worse than in 2005 as millions face hunger. Oxfam on Twitter: Niger has 1 midwife per 33,500 people. Also: 3.3 million people, almost 25% of Niger’s population, are severely food insecure.
• RT @BarnabasFund: is helping starving Niger Christians as UN says the food crisis is of a magnitude not seen beforehttp://bit.ly/a9PzOo
• RT @ywamthailand @Oxfam: New video frm #Chad food crisis: women digging anthills to eat grains & seeds ants have storedhttp://bit.ly/d44H0C

Asia

• Nepal Food Security Map (as of Sept 2009)
• RT @ECHO_net: In Asia between 1993-2003 decline of poverty was most attributed to better rural agriculture not to migration to cities.

Americas

Pacific

• Drought takes tragic toll on farming families (Australia)

5. Plagues & Pandemic Disease

• 451 million clinical cases of malaria worldwide in 2007: Experts
• HIV/Aids: the invisible cure: notes how the main problem in Africa is long concurrent relationships, in which STD protection is not used, but which are violated on occasion by infidelity, through which STDs are spread (unlike in other countries where STDs are spread primarily through the drug trade and prostitution).
• No money for vaccines puts 120 million at risk of yellow fever

6. Crime:

General crime, violence:

• Crime rate in Orissa soars to India’s highest

Ecclesiastical, robbing the church of finances and mars its image.

• Church leaders deny exposing sex scandals

Structures of sin, addictions and generational patterns

• The iPad’s dirty  little secret to success: pornography? (Fast Company, mostly safe article, a few blurred pictures). But interestingly enough Apple has taken pornography on, and refuses to allow any porn apps in the store. (And the elimination of Flash from the iPad/iPhone may also contribute to success here.)
• New ‘morning-after’ pill effective, safe: FDA staff: “to prevent unwanted pregnancy with no unexpected side effects”
• Child porn too big for law enforcement? Microsoft steps in (CSM).
• Thai Religious warn of World Cup sex trade: around every sporting event there is usually a flourishing trade in sex.
• Woman describes how porn addiction destroyed marriage, calls for more scientific study
• RT @ecpatusa: “9 out of 10 Americans are unaware of the number of people living in sexual slavery” – http://bit.ly/cikbwU

Organized crime, and its threat

• US Includes Itself in Human Trafficking Report for First Time: faults 13 countries for human trafficking
• Drugs return to Guinea-Bissau, destabilizing it. Newspaper Office Vandalized for Publishing Narcotic Story. Former Exile Holds Power in West African Nation, and the US views the West African nation as a hub of the global drug trade. And it’s spreading: Gambia’s Drug Trafficking Dilemma.
• Hi-tech navies take on Somalia’s pirates: how to tell the difference between a pirate and a fisherman? not the fishing gear (which pirates take as a cover) or the AK-47s (which fishermen take for protection). It’s the long metal ladders. (Reuters Africa).

Terrorism

Human Rights, oppression, surveillance

• Teaching human rights in Africa (The Guardian)
• CCTV plan for Muslim areas halted
• New surveillance systems in West Bank – Jerusalem Post

7. Migration, Refugees

• Global conflicts bringing more refugees to Albany (mostly from Iraq and Myanmar)

8. Demography & Population Growth

9. Power, Energy

• In Nigeria, Oil Spills Are a Longtime Scourge: poor regulation, insufficient maintenance, sabotage.
• Why we may never be able to say goodbye to oil: a decade ago few imagined we would be drilling a mile below the ocean floor in the Gulf of Mexico (BBC).

10. Lack of successful youth outreach—which robs the church of its future

11. Nominalism/Apathy

12. Poverty & Economic Unrest

13. Postmodernity—

14. Women & Children—

• India moves to alter divorce laws, making it easier for couples to divorce (BBC).

15. Environment

• Africa push for ‘great tree wall’

In this insightful 4-minute talk by Alisa Miller (CEO of Public Radio International), we see how America’s major news outlets are drastically decreasing their coverage of international events, giving the average American (pew-sitter, donor, short-term mission taker, etc.) much less understanding of events around the world. Worth a watch below or see http://bit.ly/aab4H1.

Here are some of the problems with mass evangelism (as I have seen it) (there are of course also many benefits):

1. We do not build long-term relationships with those we evangelize–the evangelist is the guy who blows into town, hands out tracts, through the force of his wonderful personality sees lots of fruit, and then blows out. “Have tract, will travel.” (or, “have film, will travel.”)

2. We do not answer questions that come up many days down the road & threaten to steal the seed

3. We do not pray with people when they face problems and temptations that threaten to bake the seed

4. We do not disciple them to follow Jesus, only to answer one question (“do you accept Christ”) in the way that is expected (“yes”) without knowing what it means

5. We do not teach them to be disciple makers, because only people with our skills could really present the gospel in the right way

6. We are susceptible to pride (look at my big mass crusade ministry) rather than lifting others up

7. We are not accountable for our evangelism methods (he didn’t accept it, it can’t be how I presented it, after all I have these tracts…)

8. We are not accountable for preparing the soil for the planting of the seed (a long-term process of relationship)

9. When we have reached everyone around us (I use the term loosely) we are not willing to pick up and move and go somewhere else and live there long term and build relationships

10. We are not willing to have our life be as much a witness as our words and our printed literature

11. We would prefer to send a friend to a nicely reasoned tract or website rather than try to explain it ourselves–lazy thinking, inability to communicate, unwilling to make mistakes–pride?

12. We aim for as much fruit as possible in as short a time as possible but neglect what happens after the fruit is harvested. If it sits too long it goes bad, and has to be thrown in the garbage. What’s the point? It’s just putting more ministry work on local pastors – without giving any help.

13. We mostly aim where the fruit is easy – at people who are apathetic Christians or people in a church that they aren’t happy with. We aren’t seeing significant work among non-Christians.

14. We do nothing about the problem of defections from the church.

Can you add more? Really, these aren’t problems with mass evangelism – they are problems with us, right?

Steve Addison asked the question, noting that there is no clear consensus of what “mission” is and describing how he is surprised by the range of responses. So, in the interest of clarity, I will suggest my own definition(s).

First, let me begin by distinguishing between two different modes: the evangelist, who makes new converts; and the discipler, who trains converts. (Some folks do both.) Steve notes that there are a “whole variety of activities that can be missional–from aid and development, to political action, to drinking coffee with friends. You can even be a ‘business apostle.’” I would call these activities the “context” for evangelism and discipleship. In other words, someone who does relief & development, or teaches English as a second language, is not necessarily an evangelist. But an evangelist can share the good news through these contexts.

Side note: Just because these activities are done without evangelism does not make them bad. Somehow we get into the idea that anything which does not lead to souls won is bad. Sometimes public evangelism isn’t possible. Sometimes it’s all about planting a seed. Sometimes it’s simply about clothing the naked, feeding the hungry, bring water to the thirsty, helping the poor, being with the oppressed, etc.

A home missionary is someone who works in one of the two modes in their own home country. A foreign missionary is someone who works in one of the two modes in a country other than their home country. (Simple enough, eh?) With this globalizing world and its hundreds of millions of foreigners coming to the shores of every country, home missionaries can be just as important and strategic as foreign missionaries.

A home cross-cultural missionary is someone who works in one of the two modes, in their home country, but among an ethnolinguistic group other than their own. So, for example, it’s the white YWAMer from Texas who ministers to Arabs in Detroit. Or, it’s the Korean American who’s working amongst inner city African Americans. When you cross a cultural boundary, having to learn new customs, new languages, etc., it’s a new stage of difficulty.

A foreign cross-cultural missionary is someone who works in one of the two modes, in a country not their own, among an ethnolinguistic group other than their own. This can be even more difficult!

I also heard a new term the other day. I won’t steal their thunder by citing the name or the statistics, but let me just say that there is a difference between a full time vocational missionary and a “part-time evangelist” who goes to another country for a different reason (e.g. a job) and in the course of making friends can be a witness for Christ. Such “amateur missionaries” (and here I am not using the term “amateur” in a negative statement about quality, but because this is not their primary professional vocation) can be very effective: perhaps not so effective as professionals on a one-on-one basis, but because there are so many and because they are so relational they can have a cumulatively greater effect.

Finally, we have the distinguishing factors short-term and long-term. I don’t count someone as “long-term” unless they are intentionally present in country for longer than 2 years. (But I have also heard of mid-term which means anywhere from 1 month to 2 years, the typical short-term trip being 2 weeks).

So there’s my definitions. Hope they are useful. None of the categories are somehow “less than” other categories. But I will say that we have significantly more home missionaries than foreign missionaries, more short-term than long-term, more same-culture than cross-cultural. I think we all know why.

In Exponential and Church Planting Trends, Ed Stetzer shares the results of a recent Lifeway REsearch survey. 3% of Protestant churches started new churches in the past year. 14% financially supported new church plants. Fortunately more new churches have been started than established churches have closed: but “we have a long way to go.”