In an excellent article for Lausanne, Justin Schell explains why we’re in a new era of global missions.

The global church is primarily African, Asian, and Latin American. Today roughly 77 percent of evangelicals globally are from these continents. Further, it’s estimated that half of all Christians will be African by the year 2050. Much has changed since the days of David Livingstone.

Schell that shares an illustration from Andrew Walls

Perhaps my favorite illustration of the global nature of the historic church is Andrew Walls’ story of an intergalactic PhD candidate. An alien scholar has decided to travel to the Milky Way to study a phenomenon on a tiny planet called Earth—namely, a religion known as Christianity.

Because the lifespan of this student is significant, he is able to visit Earth several times over a two-thousand-year period. Each time, he visits what he believes to be the heartland of Christianity: first-century Jerusalem, fourth-century Nicaea, seventh-century Ireland, nineteenth-century London, and twentieth-century Nigeria.

Think of the cultural diversity (from Jews of the early church to believers from the dozens of peoples in Nigeria). Think of the range of theological emphases (from Messianic expectation in Jerusalem to robust Trinitarianism in Nicaea to the present power of the Spirit in West Africa). Think of the variety of worship and mission practices (from temple worship to Monastic asceticism and even abolitionist activism).

There is a diversity in the church through both space and time. The church has always been a diverse movement.

But in his opening paragraph he also lets slip why perhaps the Western church is on such a steep slide.

I have a friend living in the London area. He recently shared a story with me that reflects the changing shape of the global church. He said, ‘Since I’ve lived in London, I’ve had three people approach me on the street to share the gospel with me. Two were from Africa and one from China.’ My friend has yet to have an English person offer Christ to him in such a way.

Here at Grace Church in Stockholm we’re experiencing a season of profound growth, and the majority of it is transfer growth. I don’t have a problem with that, if God is seeing fit to entrust us with more of His people, then I’m grateful for His trust. However what does bother me is that we lack consistent application in the ‘going out’ kind of evangelism to reach people who might not ‘come in’. That’s a focus for us to work on over the coming year.