Geographical Shift in “Let the Nations Be Glad: Edition 3″
April 27, 2010 – 4:01 pm
Although it was released a month ago, today was the first opportunity I had to browse through the 3rd edition of John Piper’s Let the Nations Be Glad! missions book.
Twenty-six pages longer than the 2nd edition, it includes a new introduction on the subjects of “New Realities in World Christianity” and “Twelve Appeals to Prosperity Preachers.”
The first topic Piper addresses in the intro is the geographical shift of the center of Christianity from the “West” to the “Global South.” After presenting a list of staggering statistics on this recent shift from the works of Philip Jenkins,1 Dana Robert,2 and Mark Noll,3 Piper affirms that there still is a need for Western churches to send out cross-cultural missionaries to the unreached.
I was reminded of this geographical shift last Sunday night, when my church’s missions pastor, Pearson Johnson, shared a presentation regarding the state of the mission field at a nearby church’s missions conference. (View the PowerPoint slides of the presentation.)
Though I have seen this presentation multiple times (and have presented a similar one myself at various venues), I walked away amazed at God’s work around the world and convicted of my ethnocentrism. When was the last time you thought about the fact that the majority of the foreign, cross-cultural missionaries (80%) are sent to areas that already have a Christian witness of some sort? Or that over 50% the world’s missions force in the year 2010 are sent from Majority World (Global South) countries? Or that by the year 2030 that number is estimated to jump to 70%?
These and other statistics ought to make us aware that things are changing around the world. But they ought not cool our desire to send out gospel missionaries from our own country, our own churches and families. Rather, they ought to remind us that God is stirring up co-laborers in various countries and contexts so that we can pursue the task of the Great Commission.
I would encourage you to purchase Let the Nations Be Glad! and let God change your heart. If you already have versions 1 or 2 of Let the Nations Be Glad! you can download a PDF of the preface and introduction to the 3rd edition. I am certain that after reading the new intro you will want to purchase the 3rd edition and add it as a resource to your shelf.
(Preview: I plan on doing a review of the Study Guide and DVD that accompany the new edition of Let the Nations Be Glad! in the future.)
1The Next Christianity, (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007).
2“Shifting Southward; Global Christianity Since 1945,” International Bulletin of Missionary Research 24, no. 2 (April 2000). You must register on the IBMR site as a free, online user to access the article.
3The New Shape of World Christianity: How American Experience Reflects Global Faith (Downers Grove, IL: Inter-Varsity Academic, 2009).
