International Bulletin of Missionary Research

Vol. 37, No. 3

July 2013

pp. 157–64



Article in PDF Back

Key Findings of Christianity in Its Global Context, 1970–2020

Christians around the world today find themselves in contexts that are very different from those of forty years ago. Since 1970, many societies have experienced dramatic social upheavals and severe environmental catastrophes, yet the period from 1970 to 2010 was also a time of great technological advancement and increased connections between people around the world. Such changes challenge Christians to think differently about the people among whom they live and work, the ways in which they interact with them, and the potential for future cooperation.

Christianity in Its Global Context, 1970–2020: Society, Religion, and Mission, a report produced in 2013 by researchers at the Center for the Study of Global Christianity, Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, South Hamilton, Massachusetts, offers a timely overview of the changing demographics of Christianity and Christians’ activities over the past forty years while looking forward to the next ten. If current trends continue, what will be the state of the world in 2020? Who will be the neighbors of Christians, and what issues will they be facing together? Here we summarize the key findings from the full report, which is available for PDF download at www.globalchristianity.org/globalcontext.

Christianity in Its Global Context presents global data on the demographics of world religions, providing evidence for the continued resurgence of religion into the twenty-first century. It covers global Christianity, including Evangelicalism and Pentecostalism, and offers projections for where growth of all major Christian traditions is most likely to occur in the future. The bulk of the report details the Christian, religious, and social contexts of each of the twenty-one United Nations (UN) regions and what changes have occurred or will occur from 1970 to 2020, with discussions of key social issues that are putting pressure on all residents in each region. The “Mission and Society” section of the report details the status of the worldwide missionary movement, including personal contact between Christians and other religionists around the globe, the status of unreached people groups, and the religious demographics of international migrants. The report also highlights the most pressing social issues in each of the UN regions, particularly those currently being addressed by the UN Millennium Development Goals.

Religious Adherents as a

Percentage of the Global Total, 1970–2020 Data source: Todd M. Johnson, ed., World Christian Database

(Leiden/Boston: Brill, accessed February 2013)

Global Data: World Religions

For the period 1970–2020, several global trends related to religious affiliation are apparent.

• The percentage of the world that is religious continues to increase.

In 1970 nearly 80% of the world’s population was religious. By 2010 this had grown to around 88%, with a projected increase to almost 90% by 2020. Religious adherence is growing globally largely because of the continuing resurgence of religion in China.

• That is, projections to 2020 indicate a sustained decline of the world’s nonreligious population.

This decline is due primarily to the resurgence of Buddhism, Christianity, and other religions in China, and Christianity in Eastern Europe. If this trend continues, agnostics and atheists will be a smaller portion of the world’s population in 2020 (10.7%) than they were in 2010 (11.8%).

• Christianity and Islam dominate religious demographics and will continue to do so into the future.

In 1970 these two religions represented 48.8% of the global population; by 2020 they will likely represent 57.2%. This has enormous implications for countries with large populations of both, such as Nigeria.

• Religious diversity is increasing in many countries and regions.

Most countries are becoming home to a greater number of religions. The Baha’i have a greater global spread than any other major world religion except Christianity. Overall religious diversity is decreasing in many countries in the Global South, however, given the growth of mainly one religion, most commonly Christianity or Islam.

Global Data: Christianity

The twentieth century experienced the great shift of Christianity to the Global South, a trend that will continue into the future.

• In 1970 less than half (41.3%) of all Christians worldwide were from Africa, Asia, or Latin America. By 2020 this figure is expected to approach two-thirds (64.7%).

Over this fifty-year period, each of the six major Christian traditions is expected to grow more rapidly than the general population in the Global South. The fastest-growing tradition on each continent is Marginals in Latin America (5.8% per year), Independents in Asia (4.8%), Anglicans in Africa (4.4%), and Orthodox in Oceania (2.5%). This shift to the Global South was recently reflected in the election of Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio of Buenos Aires, Argentina, as Pope Francis, the first Latin American head of the Roman Catholic Church.

• Northern America and Europe were home to 57.2% of the world’s Christians in 1970. By 2010 this had dropped to 37.7%, and by 2020 it will likely fall to 34.4%.

Christianity is declining at a dramatic rate as a percentage of the population in the Global North. Birth rates in many European countries in particular are below replacement level, and populations are aging. The world’s population will average 0.97% growth per year between 1970 and 2020. In Northern America, Christians are poised to grow only 0.62% per year. For Europe, the figure is only 0.33%.

• In the years 1970–2020 and 2010–20, the growth of Christianity is greatest in Eastern Asia (averaging, respectively, 5.6% and 3.0% per year).

Eastern Asia will experience the highest projected growth rate for Christianity in part because the Christian population there is still comparatively small. Christians were only 1.2% of the region in 1970 but are poised to grow to 10.5% by 2020. Growth is particularly rapid in China and Mongolia, which are each expected to have growth rates of over 3% between 2010 and 2020.

Global Data: Evangelicals

Evangelicalism is a dynamic, diverse movement within Christianity—but how many Evangelicals are there in the world?

• The World Christian Database (WCD) estimates there were 98 million Evangelicals in the world in 1970, increasing to 300 million by 2010, with expected growth to 349 million by 2020.

The WCD utilizes a structural definition of all church members self-identifying as Evangelicals, plus Christians who are members of 100% Evangelical denominations.

• Operation World (OW), utilizing a theological criterion, estimates there were 124 million Evangelicals worldwide in 1970, growing to 550 million by 2010, with expected growth to over 650 million by 2020.

The OW estimate includes church members who affirm or practice belief in the crucified Christ, an experience of personal conversion, adherence to the Bible as a theological foundation, and active engagement in missionary evangelism.

Composition of Renewalists by Type and Tradition, 1970 and 2020 Data source: Todd M. Johnson, ed., World Christian Database

(Leiden/Boston: Brill, accessed February 2013)

Global Data: Pentecostals

Pentecostal and Charismatic churches are best conceptualized as part of a single interconnected set of movements (which we have called Renewalists) in three distinct types: Pentecostals, Charismatics, and Independent Charismatics (for definitions, see full report available online). Renewalists numbered 62.7 million in 1970 and are expected to grow to 709.8 million by 2020.

• Between 1970 and 2010, Renewalist movements grew at nearly four times the growth rates of both Christianity and the world’s population.

In 1970 Renewalists were 5.1% of all Christians, but by 2010 they had grown to 25.8% (averaging 4.1% growth per year between 1970 and 2010). By 2020 it is expected that Renewalist movements will grow almost twice as fast as both global Christianity as a whole and the world’s population and will represent 27.8% of all Christians.

• Between 1970 and 2020, Charismatics were the fastest-growing type of Renewalists, but Pentecostals will grow faster between 2010 and 2020.

Charismatics (who are found in all major Christian traditions) averaged 10.5% growth per year over the forty-year period, with Catholic Charismatics maintaining the fastest growth (11.9%). Between 2010 and 2020, Pentecostals will likely grow at 2.3% per year, and Charismatics at 1.9%.

• Renewalists were most numerous in Latin America in 2010, but Africa will likely surpass Latin America by 2020.

Renewalists grew the fastest in Asia and Latin America over the forty-year period 1970–2010 and will grow most rapidly in Asia and Africa over the next ten years. The growth of Renewal Christianity in these areas has been astounding: in Africa, going from 18.8 million in 1970 to 226.2 million by 2020; in Latin America, from 12.8 million to 203.1 million; and in Asia, from 9.3 million to 165.6 million.

Christians by Continent, 1970 and 2020 Continent 1970 2020 Africa 142.6 million 630.6 million Asia 95.4 million 420.4 million Europe 491.8 million 580.3 million Latin America 269.9 million 600.6 million Northern America 211.0 million 288.0 million Oceania 18.1 million 30.8 million World total 1.2 billion 2.6 billion Data source: Todd M. Johnson, ed., World Christian Database

(Leiden/Boston: Brill, accessed February 2013)

Regional Trends: Africa

In 1970, Africa was 38.7% Christian (143 million); by 2020 the continent will likely be 49.3% Christian (631 million).

• The proportion of Roman Catholics worldwide who live in Africa has been increasing, and will likely continue to do so into the future.

Between 1970 and 2010 the number of Roman Catholics in Africa rose from 44.9 million (6.8% of Catholics globally) to 197.0 million (15.2%). By 2020 there will be 232 million Roman Catholics in Africa, or 18.0% of the world’s Catholics.

• Anglicanism was the fastest-growing major Christian tradition in Africa between 1970 and 2010.

Anglicans in Africa grew from 7.7 million in 1970 to 50.8 million in 2010. By the year 2000 the Anglican Church was larger in Africa than in Europe, its historic home. Anglicanism has plateaued in Europe, but continued growth is expected in Africa, where Anglicans will reach 65 million by 2020 (compared to 27 million then in Europe).

• Africa experienced the greatest religious change of any continent over the twentieth century.

By 1970 Muslims had replaced ethnoreligionists as the largest group of religious adherents, largely through ethnoreligionist conversions to Christianity or Islam. These conversions have continued, and by 2020 Africa will be 49.3% Christian, 41.7% Muslim, and 8.7% ethnoreligionist.

Regional Trends: Asia

Despite having its origins in Asia, Christianity has spread more successfully in other parts of the globe; by percentage, Asia is the least-Christian major area in the world. In 1970 there were 95 million Christians (4.5%), with growth to 420 million (9.2%) forecast by 2020.

• Christianity is expected to grow faster than any other religion in Asia between 2010 and 2020.

Christianity will likely average 2.1% growth annually in Asia, more than twice the rate of growth for the general population (0.9%). Many of these gains are by conversion, though some countries, such as Afghanistan, have experienced fluctuations with the entrance and exit of large expatriate populations.

• The Christian population in Western Asia is being depleted, largely because of emigration.

Many historic Christian communities in Western Asia—notably those in Lebanon, Syria, and Iraq—have been emigrating because of ongoing conflict and violence in the region. In 1970 Western Asia was 7.3% Christian, but by 2020 the region will likely be only 5.4% Christian.

• Asia has been and will continue to be the most religiously diverse major area in the world.

Asia is the historic home to Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, Chinese folk-religion, the Baha’i faith, Sikhism, Daoism, Confucianism, Judaism, Jainism, Zoroastrianism, and Christianity (as well as numerous New Religions and ethnoreligions). In 2010 Asia was home to 99.2% of the world’s Hindus, 98.4% of Buddhists, 75.5% of agnostics, and 69.4% of Muslims.

Regional Trends: Europe

Christianity is on the decline in Europe largely because of secularization, but the continent is also becoming increasingly more religiously diverse because of immigration.

• Christianity in Europe grew between 1970 and 2010 but now is in decline.

Christianity in Europe experienced growth between 1970 and 2010—492 million (75.0%) to 580 million (78.6%)—largely because of a resurgence of religion in Eastern Europe after the fall of the Soviet Union. Between 2010 and 2020, however, the Christian population will plateau and the Christian share of the total population will decline (to 78.0%), largely because of deaths and because of individuals leaving the faith.

• Immigration is drastically altering the religious landscape of Europe.

Numerous religions will have relatively high (over 2%) growth rates in Europe over the fifty-year period, including Confucianism, Zoroastrianism, Chinese folk-religion, Hinduism, and Buddhism. Muslims will grow from 2.7% of the population in 1970 (18 million) to 5.9% in 2020 (44 million), likely because of immigration and lower-than-average European birth rates.

• In 2010, on average, 23% of Muslims, Hindus, and Buddhists in Europe personally knew a Christian.

It is projected that these communities will continue to grow at a much faster pace than Christians between 2010 and 2020 (Christians will average 0.0% annual growth between 2010 and 2020, compared to 0.5% for Muslims, 1.0% for Hindus, and 0.4% for Buddhists), potentially creating more opportunities for members of all these traditions to interact.

Regional Trends: Latin America

Christianity is declining as a percentage of Latin America’s population, from 94.2% in 1970 to 92.1% by 2020, but Latin American Christians represent an increasing share of the global Christian population, up from 22.0% in 1970 to 23.5% by 2020.

• Roman Catholics, as a percentage of Latin American Christians, will decline.

Roman Catholics represented 87.7% of the total population in 1970, a figure that is expected to decline to 79.7% by 2020. While some of the decline can be attributed to secularization, the majority of those who leave join Protestant or Pentecostal churches. For example, in Brazil in 1970 Protestants and Independents combined represented 7.7% of the country’s population, a figure that is expected to grow to 17.6% by 2020.

• Dramatic growth characterizes both Evangelicals and Renewalists in Latin America: from 3.2% and 4.5% of the population, respectively, in 1970 to 9.1% and 31.1% in 2020.

Many Roman Catholics in the region are becoming Catholic Charismatics or are switching to Evangelical or Renewalist denominations. Pentecostals in particular are gaining an increased role in public life, with the region having recently seen two Pentecostal presidents in Guatemala and the founding of a Pentecostal political party in Nicaragua.

• Marginal Christianity will grow significantly in the region (to 11.2 million in 2020), in particular, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and Jehovah’s Witnesses.

Mormons are making great gains in some of the smaller island countries like Aruba, and Saint Kitts and Nevis. Jehovah’s Witnesses averaged growth of more than 5% per year in Nicaragua and Honduras between 1970 and 2010. In 2010 they each numbered over 40,000 in both countries.

Regional Trends: North America

Christianity is declining as a share of the population in Northern America, while the number of unaffiliated—both religious and nonreligious—is on the rise.

• Christianity’s share of the population has been shrinking dramatically in Canada.

In 1970 Canada was 94.5% Christian, but by 2010 this figure had dropped to 69.4%, with a further drop to 66.0% forecast by 2020. The presence in Canada of nine religions, each with adherents numbering at least 1% of the total population, makes it one of the most religiously diverse countries in the world.

• The number of Christians who are not affiliated with any particular church tradition is growing.

The religiously unaffiliated include not only agnostics and atheists (the nonreligious) but also a growing number of Christians who have chosen to disaffiliate with institutionalized Christianity; the majority of these Christians are under age thirty.

• Agnosticism is the second-largest tradition in Northern America and growing.

By 2020, agnostics in Northern America will have tripled from their 1970 percentages in the United States and increased their share by a factor of seven in Canada. Between 2010 and 2020 agnosticism will grow almost four times faster than Christianity in the region (2.17% vs. 0.56% per year). Although the United States will remain the country with the most Christians globally in 2020 (263 million), it will also be home to over 53 million agnostics and atheists (the second-largest population, after China).

Regional Trends: Oceania

In terms of percentage, Christianity in Oceania declined from 92.5% of the population in 1970 to 76.6% in 2010, largely because of secularization.

• Ethnoreligions are still quite prominent in the region, with 1.0% of the total population in 2010 (420,000 individuals).

The resilience of ethnoreligions in Oceania (and elsewhere worldwide) has been a surprise to some. Active Christian missionary presence in the region could challenge ethnoreligionist existence in the future.

• High rates of immigration from Asian countries are significantly affecting the region’s religious landscape.

China is a major sending country, contributing to the rise of Chinese folk-religionists (over 100,000 in 2010) in the region. Many migrants arrive from India as well, increasing the Hindu population (over half a million lived in the region in 2010). Buddhism has the highest average annual growth rate among larger religions, nearly 8% per year between 1970 and 2020 (though only 2% for 2010–20).

• The internal makeup of Christianity in Oceania is expected to change by 2020.

Anglicanism and Protestantism are the oldest traditions in Oceania, the result of early Western missionary efforts. In 1970 these traditions together represented 46.4% of the population, but by 2020 this percentage is expected to drop to 32.0% (accompanied by an ongoing decline in the actual number of Anglicans). The Roman Catholic share of the population is declining as well, while Independents, Marginals, and Orthodox are all poised to make gains, through both missionary effort (Mormons are particularly active in smaller island nations) and immigration (such as European Orthodox immigrating to Australia).

Mission and Society: Missionaries

In 2010 Christians from all traditions sent out approximately 400,000 international missionaries; they went from almost every country to all of the world’s countries. This figure does not include cross-cultural missionaries who were at work in their home countries.

• Countries of the Global South are sending increasing numbers of international missionaries.

Of the ten countries sending the most missionaries in 2010, three were in the Global South: Brazil, South Korea, and India. The second “top ten” included six Southern countries: South Africa, the Philippines, Mexico, China, Colombia, and Nigeria. Southern missionaries go not only to other Southern countries but also to Northern countries, in a reverse of the pattern seen over much of the twentieth century.

• Countries of the Global North are receiving increasing numbers of international missionaries.

Five of the countries receiving the most international missionaries are in the Global North: the United States, Russia, the United Kingdom, France, and Germany. While many of these international missionaries come from the Global South to work among their own peoples in diaspora, they are also increasingly seeking to reach the native populations of the countries in which they minister.

• The ten countries that received the most international missionaries in 2010 were home to 29% of the world’s non-Christians—but also to 37% of the world’s Christians.

When India (ranked tenth) is left off the list, the top nine receiving countries were home to only 3.5% of the world’s non-Christians but received more than 34% of all international missionaries. All nine have Christian majorities, and they were home to over 34% of the world’s Christians in 2010. They also sent almost 53% of international missionaries.

• Missionaries are often sent to places where there is already a well-established Christian presence.

The countries that receive the most missionaries per million people are overwhelmingly in Oceania and the Caribbean, both of which have majority Christian populations. In contrast, the countries receiving the fewest missionaries per million people have some of the least-Christian populations, and often either ban or severely restrict missionary activity.

Percent of Religious Adherents Who Personally Know a Christian, 2010 Data source: Todd M. Johnson, ed., World Christian Database

(Leiden/Boston: Brill, accessed February 2013)

Personal Contact

The data on personal contact have their origins in a simple concept: proximity. What percentage of religionists around the world has contact with Christians, and what does this mean for mission and civility in society?

• The countries in which there is least personal contact between non-Christians and Christians are overwhelmingly Muslim-majority countries.

On a regional basis, only 9.9% of non-Christians in Western Asia are thought to have personal contact with a Christian. In South-central Asia and in Northern Africa the figure is 11.9%.

• Atheists and agnostics have more contact with Christians than do most non-Christian religionists.

In one sense this is not surprising, given that many nonreligionists, at least in the Global North and Latin America, are former Christians. More surprising, however, is that agnostics have less contact with Christians than do atheists. Globally, Muslims have less contact with Christians than do Jews; in some individual regions Muslim contact is much higher than average, while for Jews this is not the case.

• High levels of contact by atheists and agnostics mask low levels of contact among other religionists in many parts of the world.

In Northern America, for example, 80.2% of other religionists have personal contact with a Christian. Removing atheists and agnostics from the calculation reduces the figure to only 40.1%. The decline is even greater in Northern Europe, from 82.0% to 20.8%. However, more other religionists know a Christian in Western Africa (23.5%) than is true for any region in Europe.

Unreached Peoples

At the Lausanne meeting in 1974, missiologist Ralph Winter defined a “people group” as the largest group within which the Gospel can spread without encountering barriers of understanding or acceptance. A people group is considered “unreached” if there is no indigenous Christian community within it capable of carrying on the task of evangelization and church planting without outside assistance.

• Increasing attention is being drawn to people groups who have no missionary presence among them.

Despite almost forty years of emphasis on unreached people groups, many groups still have no church-planting work of any kind among them. Many mission strategists are seeking to move churches and mission agencies beyond “adopting” a people to actively engaging them in actual church planting work.

• Progress in reaching unreached peoples has been steady but slow.

There are many ways to divide the world’s peoples and multiple ways to measure Christian progress among them. Our method is to divide each country into ethnolinguistic groups and to assess twenty different ways of evangelizing. Using this model, there were approximately 3,600 least-evangelized peoples in 1970, dropping to about 2,200 by 2010, and expected to further drop to about 1,900 by 2020.

• The number of unevangelized individuals has remained high but is falling as a percentage of the world’s population.

The number of unevangelized individuals is estimated to have been 1.8 billion in 1970 (44.3% of the world’s population) rising in number to 2.0 billion by 2010 (but dropping to 29.3%), and expected to reach 2.2 billion by 2020 (29.0%). Thus, even though population growth is increasingly outpacing evangelistic efforts, the percentage of unevangelized individuals worldwide is slowly dropping.

Migration

Migrants tend to alter the religious makeup of the countries in which they settle, either by bringing entirely new religions or by bringing different forms of already established ones.

• Of all people in diaspora worldwide, nearly half are Christians, and another quarter are Muslims.

Christians and Muslims together made up 55.3% of the world’s population in 2010, but they represented 72.8% of all people in diaspora. Most of these migrants are individuals moving from the Global South to the Global North. This has potential for improving efforts in Christian-Muslim dialogue and understanding.

• The top three “sending” countries of international migrants are Mexico, Bangladesh, and Argentina.

Mexico has sent the most Christian migrants, most of whom have settled in the United States. Bangladesh is the leading sending country of both Hindus and Muslims, many of whom are found across the border in India as modern geopolitical migrants following partition of the subcontinent.

• The United States hosts the most total migrants of any country worldwide: 118 million.

The United States is the top destination of Christian, Buddhist, and atheist/agnostic migrants; the number 2 destination for Hindus (after India) and Jews (after Israel); and the number 7 destination for Muslim migrants. Together, the United States and India host nearly a quarter of all people in diaspora.

Social and Economic Challenges

The most significant set of indicators on social and economic progress around the world is the UN Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The 2012 MDGs report categorizes some of the most critical human problems into eight major goals, followed by a plan for global partnership in development.

• Extreme poverty continues to decline in many countries and regions.

The proportion of people worldwide living on less than US$1.25 a day fell from 47% in 1990 to 24% in 2008. By 2015 it is expected that the global poverty rate will fall below 16%. This global trend has continued despite the effects of deep economic recession in recent years. Four of every five people living in extreme poverty in 2015 will live in sub-Saharan Africa and Southern Asia.

• The poorest children have made the slowest progress in terms of improved nutrition, and hunger remains a global challenge.

In the period 2006–9, a total of 850 million people (15.5% of the world’s population) were living in hunger. Even though extreme poverty has decreased, progress has been slow in reducing child malnutrition. In 2010 nearly one in five children globally was underweight, including one-third of children in Southern Asia.

• Christian involvement in caring for the poor has deep roots.

Over the centuries, each of the major Christian traditions has developed strong theological foundations for social action. Current Christian efforts tend to dovetail with those initiated by the United Nations and individual governments. Many of these take the form of nongovernmental agencies, ranging in size from multi-billion-dollar global enterprises to local family-run operations.

Slum Dwellers

Improving the lives of a growing number of urban poor remains a monumental challenge. In developing regions, the number of urban residents living in slum conditions was estimated by the UN at 863 million in 2012, compared to 260 million in 1970.

• Improvements in the lives of 200 million slum dwellers exceeded the MDG slum target.

The share of urban residents in the developing world living in slums declined from 39% in 2000 to 33% in 2012. More than 200 million gained access to improved water sources, improved sanitation facilities, or durable or less crowded housing. This achievement exceeds the target of significantly improving the lives of at least 100 million slum dwellers, well ahead of the 2020 deadline. There is still a great need to improve the lives of slum dwellers, however, especially in terms of sanitation and security.

• The Christian presence in slums is disproportionately small.

Although 1 in 6 people globally lives in slums, it is estimated fewer than 1 out of 500 Christian missionaries work in slums. In addition, only a tiny fraction (perhaps 1 in 10,000) of national workers (such as pastors) work in slums in their own countries.

• Very few Christians who do ministry in slums actually live in slums.

The vast majority of Christians who work in slums live elsewhere. While many have built effective ministries, the most promising work appears to be that of incarnational teams living in the slums.

Christianity in Its Global Context, 1970–2020: Society, Religion, and Mission illustrates that fundamental shifts in the demographics of global Christianity and religion are continuing into the twenty-first century. The percentage of Christians from the Global South is still increasing, but the personal-contact gap between Christians and non-Christians continues to be very wide. Christians are also struggling, along with the entire development community, to address critical social and economic issues. A central problem appears to be uneven resource distribution in a multitude of areas. Christian resources are poorly deployed and not reaching those who could benefit most from them, in terms of both mission and social action. Yet, Christian involvement in spiritual and social transformation has never been greater, and it remains to be seen how effective Christians in both the North and the South will be in carrying out global, integral mission.

Gina A. Bellofatto is a doctoral student at Boston University School of Theology, studying international religious demography. She is a Research Associate at the Center for the Study of Global Christianity at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, South Hamilton, Massachusetts, as well as at Boston University’s Institute on Culture, Religion, and World Affairs. —gbello@bu.edu



Todd M. Johnson is Associate Professor of Global Christianity and Director of the Center for the Study of Global Christianity at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, South Hamilton, Massachusetts. He is coeditor of the Atlas of Global Christianity (Edinburgh Univ. Press, 2010) and coauthor of the World Christian Encyclopedia (2nd ed., Oxford Univ. Press, 2001). —tjohnson@gordonconwell.edu



The full report Christianity in Its Global Context, 1970–2020: Society, Religion, and Mission is available for free download at www.globalchristianity.org/globalcontext.

For information about the report see “Christianity in Its Global Context, 1970–2020: Society, Religion, and Mission” in this issue of the INTERNATIONAL BULLETIN OF MISSIONARY RESEARCH (vol. 37, no. 3 [July 2013]: 164).

Return to July 2013 home page Return to current IBMR home page