Note from Ed Stetzer: We are in a series called, “Voices from the Global Church,” leading up to the Fourth Lausanne Congress on World Evangelization. I serve as the regional director for North America, and serve with a team of other regional directors. I’ve asked them to share what God is doing in their regions as we plan toward the next congress. You can also find more at the Lausanne site, including the State of Great Commission report here. Part 1 of the series, The Church and Mission in Europe Today: Changing the Narrative, is here. Part 2 is The African Church and Its Global Significance. Australia comes next.
In the last century, Asia along with Africa and Latin America have experienced explosive church growth. In a complex and challenging context with Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam, Communism, various folk religions, and 5,300 unreached people groups, the church in Asia is now entering a new era of global missions.
Despite numerous religious and political challenges, growing nationalism and rising persecution, societal turmoil through urbanization and globalization, and the influences of secularism and materialism, Christianity in Asia in the 20th century has nevertheless grown twice as fast as the population, representing 8.2% of the population of 4.5 billion people. As the Western missionary movement is in decline at an “old age” (Walls 1996, 261), the Asian church is preparing for a new era transitioning from being a mission field to becoming a new missionary force.
This article explores several leading countries in mission: Korea, China, and India, mentioning other countries of the Philippines, Indonesia, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Taiwan. A dawning new missions movement called Arise Asia has emerged among the next generation of students and young people who are passionate about “going to where there is no gospel.”
Korea
During Korea’s industrialization and urbanization, Christianity played a significant role in addressing societal issues by providing a spiritual and moral compass during social instability with a breakdown in the traditional family structure, labor disputes, a gap between the rich and poor, and deterioration in society ethics. Several strengths of the Korean Church have included 1) early dawn prayer meetings, 2) vibrant Sunday worship, 3) tithing and stewardship, 4) theological education, and 5) emphasis on missions. Korea’s missionary movement was the fruit of evangelistic crusades, student movements, and explosive church growth in the 1970s and 1980s. Christianity in Korea is estimated at around 32% of the population, including 9.2 million Protestants (18%). In 2020, pre-COVID-19, Korea had 22,259 missionaries serving overseas.
Korean missionaries are aging and come from mostly cross-cultural ordained pastors supported by churches and mission agencies who are mainly involved with evangelism, discipleship, church planting, and leadership training. Many Korean missionaries are involved in church planting in harsh, remote areas, as well as some involvement with holistic ministries for the poor. The Korean church and missions have recently plateaued due to secularization, a general disinterest in religion among young people, and the possible impact of mega-church scandals.
China
China’s explosive house church growth in the 1980s in rural communities and church growth among the intellectuals in the cities after 1989 laid the grounds for a missionary movement. Christianity in China is estimated at around 6% to 7% of the population, with around 90 million Christians (estimated at 60 million house church and 30 million TSPM Christians). Christianity grew by addressing societal issues during urbanization. China’s top-tier cities’ average salary is now comparable to Seoul, Korea, becoming a financial resource for missionary sending. In the mid-2000s, unregistered house churches in the cities started to rent office space, transitioning from the home to more open, larger-sized congregations. Churches began to collect offerings to pay pastoral salaries and support ministries, including missions. However, the tightened religion policy in 2018 leading to increased persecution, followed by COVID-19 in 2020, has directed churches back into their homes.
China’s missionary movement, Mission China (formerly Mission China 2030), has emerged among the unregistered house churches in the cities. The official Three-Self Patriotic Movement (TSPM) church engages primarily in local evangelism since the church is legally prevented from conducting activities outside the walls of the local church building. House church leaders hosted several large annual Mission China conferences overseas and have declared a goal “to send 20,000 missionaries by 2030.” Mission China activities moved online during COVID-19 with prayer and mission mobilization. Over 200,000 people have taken Kairos, an online missions mobilization course. A separate Back to Jerusalem movement has sent hundreds of missionaries Westward, primarily from rural Henan and Anhui. The Wenzhou church also has some mission involvement through its extensive overseas entrepreneurial businesses.
Mission China’s “core strength” is a sacrificial missionary spirit birthed from a context of persecution. Suffering has prepared the church to send missionaries to harsher areas without the gospel. Persecution has also created innovative solutions to minister in closed societies hostile to Christians. Additionally, the Chinese pastors’ sense of mission responsibility for the world also involves factors of a significant sized Christian population from a large country with geopolitical power and economic strength. However, with increased persecution experienced by the church, a mass movement of missionaries would unlikely occur under the current political milieu. Though hard to verify, an estimated number of 2,000 mainland Chinese house church missionaries serve cross-culturally overseas.
