"Men for God from Every Tribe and Language and People and Nation"

The growth of any single church or group of churches has never, of course, been the goal. Obedience to the Great Commission means caring about the progress of disciple-making beyond our immediate environs.

This is part four of a five part report published in cooperation with www.missionmemo.com and Disciples Today. Click here to see other reports: Church Surveys. Or just use the Google search feature in the upper right corner of this page.

The following chart and lists illustrate the enormity of the task ahead (see note 1).

Canada/U.S.
Membership: 37,154
Population: 332,000,000

Asia/Pacific
Membership: 18,489
Population: 3,618,000,000

Latin America/Caribbean
Membership: 13,748
Population: 566,000,000

Africa
Membership: 10,750
Population: 694,000,000

Eurasia
Membership: 6,797
Population: 277,000,000

Europe
Membership: 2,724
Population: 529,000,000

Middle East
Membership: 468
Population: 499,000,000

WORLD
Membership: 90,130
Population: 6,515,000,000

There is at least one International Church of Christ in 147 countries (note 2).

However, of these 147 countries:

• In only 24 countries (note 3) do we have churches with a combined membership 500 or more.
• In 35 countries, combined membership is 100-499.
• In 88 countries combined membership of all churches is fewer than 100 members.

There are approximately 48 countries in which we have yet to plant a viable church. These countries and their populations are listed below by region:

Middle East
Iran; 69,000,000
Algeria; 33,000,000
Yemen; 22,000,000
Syria; 19,000,000
Libya; 5,900,000
Mauritania; 3,200,000
Oman; 3,100,000
Western Sahara; 270,000

Europe
Poland; 38,500,000
Portugal; 10,600,000
Serbia; 9,400,000
Slovakia; 5,400,000
Macedonia; 2,100,000
Slovenia; 2,000,000
Montenegro; 600,000
Malta; 400,000
Andorra; 100,000
Greenland; 100,000
Liechtenstein; 34,000
Monaco; 33,000
San Marino; 29,000

Asia/Pacific
North Korea; 23,000,000
Bhutan; 2,300,000
East Timor; 1,100,000
Solomon Islands; 600,000
Brunei; 400,000
Maldives; 400,000
Vanuatu; 200,000
Samoa; 200,000
Tonga; 100,000
Kiribati; 100,000
Marshall Islands; 100,000
American Samoa; 100,000
Palau; 21,000
Nauru; 13,000
Tuvalu; 12,000

Africa
Somalia; 8,900,000
Eritrea; 4,800,000
Comoros; 700,000
Equatorial Guinea; 500,000
Djibouti; 500,000
Cape Verde; 400,000
Sao Tome and Principe; 200,000
Seychelles; 100,000

Latin America/Caribbean
Saint Lucia; 200,000
Antigua and Barbuda; 100,000
Dominica; 100,000
Saint Kitts and Nevis; 39,000

Notes for Part 4

1. We do not, of course, intend this section to reflect a view that we are the only disciples of Jesus in these regions, or that if a nation or city does not have an International Church of Christ it is therefore "unevangelized." We recognize as brothers all disciples of Jesus within or without the ICOC, and have areas of agreement with all who call themselves Christian, without compromising our convictions on "life and doctrine." But this need not in the least bit weaken our ambition to plant more disciple-making churches everywhere.
2. There are some difficulties determining exactly which political entities should be considered countries, but for the sake of this analysis, we have excluded dependent territories.
3. The 24 nations with over 500 members are Brazil, Canada, China, Congo (DRC), Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Haiti, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Ivory Coast, Jamaica, Kenya, Korea, Mexico, Nigeria, Philippines, Russia, Singapore, South Africa, Taiwan, Ukraine, United Kingdom and the United States. posted by Jerry Maday