Index and links to all blogs on world missions

Disturbing trends for Christianity in China

Missions and China's current political climate

The curtailing of freedoms in China will impact business, missions and the free flow of information

Putin crosses a line - Bans Russians from preaching the Gospel outside churches

Terrorism and missions

Check out this map of the world's largest languages

What missionaries aren't telling you (and what they need from you). From a veteran missionary

A must read for all those interested in Latin American Christianity

God is alive and well in Cuba

The future of world religions with growth projections from the Pew Research Center

7 encouraging trends in global Christianity

Great article: A plea for Gospel sanity in missions

Check out this map and article on Islam in Europe from the Economist

If we saw ministry in the United States through missionary eyes we would do things differently

Does missions separate families?

The top 50 countries where it's most difficult to be a Christian

Cracks in the atheist edifice in China - a very encouraging update from the Economist magazine

The insider movement and Islamic ministry

One map says a great deal about the growth rate of evangelical Christianity globally

Why mission agencies do not pay ransom for staff who are kidnapped

A surprising map on the world's most and least religiously diverse countries

Understanding one of the most important countries in Africa

World conflict, the Gospel and our personal response

Five current dangers to world missions

14 things missionaries might want to tell you but probably won't

Avoiding paternalism in missions through a round table approach with ministry partnerships

A real time picture of globalization: Most commonly spoken language (other than English) in each London borough

Christianity is alive and well in Cuba

Can the gospel impact whole cities?

Looking away from the lamppost

The 20 countries where Christianity is growing the fastest

The amazing, surprising, Africa-driven demographic future of the earth in 9 charts

The single greatest deficit in missions today

Change blindness and missions today

Missions and Europe: Should we be sending missionaries to a place that has been evangelized in the past?

Partnerships in missions: Five principles

Berlin - A city of destiny

Looking and praying for open ministry doors

This story will rock your world! From India

It is time to stop the blame game in missions

Can the cities of Europe be re-evangelized?

Accountability for missionaries - rethinking the paradigm

The both/and of missions: Gospel and Compassion

What is missions? Be careful how you define your missions efforts

Short Term Missions - Doing it Right

What are you and your church doing to raise up workers for the harvest?

Mission agencies: Choose wisely

The nine critical shifts that must take place in missions today

Helpful and wise words from a veteran missionary to the US church

What I wish my supporters understood about my work as a missionary

We will not support you as a missionary because...

A wake up call for missions: The world is moving to the city

Moving from fear to friendships with Muslims

Sticker shock in missions

Holistic missions: Cautions and Opportunities

Bride over Brand

Best practices for training overseas

Strategic missions strategy: Leveraging your investment

Its about the Bride not the Brand

Generosity by ministry personnel and missionaries

Missionary support team building: Very tough work

Safety is not our highest value

Missions and child protection

Parents: A major inhibitor to sending new missionaries

The world hits 7 Billion

TED talk at the Mission Exchange on critical shifts that need to take place in the mission world

It really is a very bad idea

Changing antiquated local church mission strategies

Definitions of poverty and wealth in the majority world

Muslims are not the problem

Straight talk about results in missions

Disappointment in missions

Leadership in missions

Persecution: How God turns the tables

Syncretism and false altars

Missions in the 21st Century: Two circles, one goal

When money hurts mission efforts

From leader to partner in global missions

What kind of churches should we be planting around the world?

Western vs. indigenous missionaries

Missions and the Holy Spirit

Determining what missionaries to support?

What is the Gospel worth?

Do it alone or do it together

Missions and the incarnation

It's too dangerous

Trends in missions today

Game changers in missions

Emotional Intelligence in missions

Understanding Sharia law

Missions nice and missions strategic

Missions and risk

Real missions

The changing face of world missions

What missionaries should your church support?

Best practices that can help you leverage your missions strategy

By the numbers: A snapshot of our globe

Ordinary people

Ripples in global ministry

A wake up call for missions: The world is moving to the city

The largest migration in the history of the world is quietly taking place and it will become a tsunami shift of the world's population in the next forty years: the world is moving from the countryside to the city in massive numbers. This shift threatens to catch the missions world unprepared.


Consider these statistics from 2005 related to foreign born migration to the cities. The percentage of the foreign born population in Miami was 50.94%, Toronto, 44.99%, Los Angeles 36.24%, London 27.05%, Brussels 26.58%, Dubai 82%. And this does not count all the internal migration taking place within countries like China to the city. China is set to resettle 400 million people from the country side to the city in the next 30 years.


Look at the populations of these cities of the world:
1. Tokyo, Japan - 32,450,000 
2. Seóul, South Korea - 20,550,000 
3. Mexico City, Mexico - 20,450,000 
4. New York City, USA - 19,750,000 
5. Mumbai, India - 19,200,000 
6. Jakarta, Indonesia - 18,900,000 
7. Sáo Paulo, Brazil - 18,850,000 
8. Delhi, India - 18,680,000 
9. Õsaka/Kobe, Japan - 17,350,000 
10. Shanghai, China - 16,650,000

11. Manila, Philippines - 16,300,000
12. Los Angeles, USA - 15,250,000
13. Calcutta, India - 15,100,000
14. Moscow, Russian Fed. - 15,000,000
15. Cairo, Egypt - 14,450,000
16. Lagos, Nigeria - 13,488,000
17. Buenos Aires, Argentina - 13,170,000
18. London, United Kingdom - 12,875,000
19. Beijing, China - 12,500,000
20. Karachi, Pakistan - 11,800,000

21. Dhaka, Bangladesh - 10,979,000
22. Rio de Janeiro, Brazil - 10,556,000
23. Tianjin, China - 10,239,000
24. Paris, France - 9,638,000
25. Istanbul, Turkey - 9,413,000
26. Lima, Peru - 7,443,000
27. Tehrãn, Iran - 7,380,000
28. Bangkok, Thailand - 7,221,000
29. Chicago, USA - 6,945,000
30. Bogotá, Colombia - 6,834,000

With some exceptions, traditional missions has flourished in rural mono cultural settings. In many ways it is easier and less expensive than tackling the growing major urban areas of our planet. It is also where the majority of the world's population lived until recent decades. Hard as this was, it pales in comparison to reading the multi-cultural complex urban centers of the future.


In addition, because the evangelical movements in the United States largely abandoned the cities of our nation for the suburbs and rural areas, there are very few personnel coming into mission organizations with experience of working in large, complex, highly populated, diverse urban areas.


What are the challenges faced for mission agencies in reaching these huge urban areas with the gospel? First, Gospel penetration will never happen without agencies and denominations working together in cooperation to reach the growing urban areas of our planet. Mission agencies and denominations have a poor track record of cooperating for the cause of the Gospel globally but until that happens we will not see significant Gospel penetration of the world's cities.


Coupled with this, many denominations in the United States (and globally) do not see the value in working with believers outside of their particular theological tribe. Our small kingdom hearts, compared to that of Jesus hold us back from seeing the synergies of working in cooperation with others who are Gospel centered and missional. For too many of us it is about the brand before the Bride. For Jesus it is about the Bride, not the brand.


Cities are complex. They are also the populations of influence. Their large immigrant communities are more open to the Gospel then when they lived in their traditional places with their traditional social systems. There is a higher level of education and often higher concentrations of evil. In addition, they are not mono cultural but multi cultural requiring multi-cultural teams and strategies. Unless we unlock the code of how the Gospel can penetrate these huge and growing population centers - and start today, we will again be playing catch up to a changing world. 


The Western church, indeed the global church and its mission agencies need to take up the challenge of cooperative efforts to penetrate these growing global cities with the gospel. The time to start is now!