I greatly appreciate the work of the Pew Research Center. They recently released a very important study: “The Future of World Religions: Population Growth Projections, 2010-2050.” This work is filled with a great deal of information. For example, by 2050, the global Muslim population will nearly equal the global Christian population and the global religiously unaffiliated will decline in number. The Hindu population in the United States is expected to double and the European Christian population is expected to decline by 100 million people. I recently had a conversation with one of the primary researchers on this project and wanted to share this discussion with you.
Phillip Connor, Ph.D., is the missions pastor at Great Commission Community Church in Arlington, Virginia and formerly worked as a researcher with Pew. In addition to several research projects, he contributed to this recent study. He is the author of Immigrant Faith: Patterns of Immigrant Religion in the United States, Canada, and Western Europe and co-author (with Kandace Connor) of Who is My Neighbor? Reaching Internationals in North America.
Phillip and I discuss some of the demographic matters related to this project and the missiological implications for the Church today.
This report calls church leaders from around the globe to a sobering present reality and possible future. This is a podcast you should not miss as you lead your church, mission agency, seminary, or denomination into the days to come. All Kingdom citizens need to be aware of these trends as we pray, go, give, re-structure, re-organize, and cooperate for gospel advancement among the unreached peoples of the world.
I fear that many evangelicals will listen and will continue with business as usual. May it not be so! We stand at a strategic moment in history. Will we be wise stewards with what we have in view of this possible future?
———-
In light of this report, David Garrison, Ph.D., will be my next guest on Strike the Match. We will be discussing his latest book A Wind in the House of Islam: How God is Drawing Muslims around the World to Faith in Jesus Christ. David has some encouraging things to share with us. Subscribe to this podcast so you will not miss any future episode–RSS or iTunes.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Subscribe: RSS
Great conversation, thanks for posting this! I met a few people from Dr. Connors church when I was teaching Perspectives this past term – they told me he highly recommended they take it.
Thanks, Tony! Please pass it along to others.