Among the many great things God is doing in the world, one of the most encouraging is the growth of Christianity. Specifically in a region of the world called the “Global South.” The term “Global South” originated in the 1960s to describe the developing countries of the world.¹ Primarily close to, or in, the Southern Hemisphere.  

Missiologists have utilized this term to describe the locations where the spread of the gospel occurred in the 19th and 20th centuries, and where it is thriving today. This spread happened in three major movements: 

1. Coastal: The taking of the gospel to the coastlands of many nations. Guys like William Carey and Adoniram Judson led the way in the late 18th century. 

2. Inland: Taking the gospel inland to those who had not heard. Hudson Taylor was a key leader of this movement in the mid-late 19th century, along with many female missionaries like Lottie Moon. 

3. People Group: Taking the gospel to distinct languages and cultures, categorized as “people groups.” William Cameron Townsend and Donald McGavran led these efforts that blossomed in the mid-late 20th century. 

With the movement of these three missions, the number of Christians and churches in the Global South has risen considerably, while the number of Christians in the Global North has dropped dramatically. Consider these stats: 

• In 1900, 18% of Christians lived in the Global South, while 82% in the Global North. 

• Today, around 67% of Christians in the world live in the Global South, while 33% live in the Global North. 

• In 1970, 227,000 missionaries were sent from the Global North compared to 31,000 from the Global South. 90% from the Global North; 10% from the Global South. 

• In 2021, a similar number of missionaries were sent from the Global North, but the Global South grew exponentially to 203,000. 53% from Global North; 47% from Global South.² 

With this shift, we are now, in the 21st century, what would be considered a fourth era of missions. One in which the global, non-Western church will take the lead in bringing the gospel to those who have never heard. 

I have had the incredible opportunity to witness this fourth era of missions and the courageous work of brothers and sisters from the Global South. In the fall of 2023, I visited two ministries in India. Both have trained over 20,000 pastors in a 5-year training program to equip them to lead their churches and plant new ones. Many of these pastors minister in areas statistically considered “unengaged,” displaying our need to update the Western statistics. 

Most recently, I visited an Acts 29 conference in Brazil. Brazil and South Korea regularly vie for second place in the number of missionaries sent. They have a more accepted passport than Americans, greater perseverance, and are likely to surpass America in sending out the most missionaries in the near future. 

The Effectiveness of the Non-Western Missionary

God is on the move in the Global South. From that movement, missionaries are being raised up. These missionaries have some distinct advantages over Western missionaries that need to be recognized by the Western Church. We need to respond in a way that honors this movement of God. Here are some of the distinct advantages of indigenous leaders and near-culture missionaries in the Global South. 

1) Cultural and Linguistic Proximity 

If you have ever taken the Perspectives on Global Missions class³, you will have learned about the E-Scale. The E-Scale represents the cultural and linguistic distance an evangelist must go to reach an individual. It goes as follows: 

• E-0: Within the church, to a similar culture 

• E-1: Outside of the church, to a similar culture 

• E-2: Outside the church, to a different but similar culture. 

• E-3: Outside of the church, to a very different culture. 

The evangelism of an indigenous believer reaching out to friends, co-workers, and possibly those of an unreached people group through the common language of their country is generally E-1 or E-2. The runway for sharing the gospel after becoming a Christian, in a shared language, with a person from an unengaged people group is very high. With some training and learning a near-culture language, they would be able to lead others in that unengaged people group. 

While Western missionaries can now reach areas of the world with unengaged people groups in a day, their ability to understand language and culture effectively for gospel proclamation, discipleship, and planting churches will take much longer.  

A Western missionary’s stages of ministry effectiveness are likely to go through the following stages: 

• 1-3 years to be conversant in the language enough to meet their daily needs, have real friendships, and be able to share the gospel at a basic level. 

• 2-5 years to be able to converse about the gospel and disciple believers with the language and cultural understanding needed to do so in a contextual way. 

• 5-10 years to preach and lead in a contextualized manner.  

There are certainly exceptions to these timelines when unengaged people or local believers speak English fluently as a second language. But to reach out to those who do not speak English, do not know Christ, and are an unengaged people group, it will likely take this long.  

2) Characteristics of Indigenous Believers 

Indigenous believers, generally speaking, have a higher level of perseverance, heartiness, and flexibility. With a more difficult upbringing and no ability to escape their circumstances, indigenous believers tend to accept and adapt to their situation naturally.  

3) Financial Cost 

It doesn’t take an accountant to realize that the financial cost of a missionary from most Global North locations will be exponentially higher than that of a native or close-culture missionary in the Global South.  

The Western missionary’s need for transportation, air conditioning, bottled water, a cleaner and larger home, money for schooling, health insurance, and retirement is exponential to an indigenous believer. If we are simply looking at the cost of a missionary from the Global North to the Global South, helping an indigenous believer do church planting or missions makes much more fiscal sense. 

What Do We Do with This? 

If your church’s strategy for global missions does not include the empowering of local indigenous workers, I would encourage you to do so. In the meantime, a few resources that are worth checking out before empowering and supporting indigenous workers are: 

1. When Helping Hurts: How to Alleviate Poverty Without Hurting the Poor…and Yourself by Steven Corbett and Brian Fikkert. 

2. The Next Christendom: The Coming of Global Christianity by Philip Jenkins. 

3. Western Christians in Global Missions: What’s the Role of the North American Church? By Paul Borthwick  

There is no doubt that the future of sending will come from the Global South. So, it begs the question: “Why should we keep sending Western missionaries?” 

 This is an essential question for the American church to wrestle with. In Part 2, we will look into the reasons and circumstances for why it is still valuable to send Western missionaries. We will also give tips on how to send Western missionaries in a healthy and helpful way.