WorldChristian Briefing #23

The world by 1900
To begin the series we look back 100 years to the world as it was in 1900. First, we have to acknowledge the fact that a large number of Christians involved in missions had their sights set on evangelizing the world by the year 1900. Their rationale was set out clearly in a document published in 1885 entitled ‘An Appeal to Disciples Everywhere’. For ten years, the great evangelist D.L. Moody and the indefatigable missions pastor A.T. Pierson and dozens of others published their support of this plan in journals and books. A majority of Christian leaders and their followers were convinced that the gospel could be preached to every person by AD 1900. Yet, by 1895 it was obvious to most that the movement would fail. A.T. Pierson’s final assessment was that the churches were ‘trifling with souls.’ (See Countdown to 1900 by T.M. Johnson for a more complete analysis of this movement).

The World in 1900
Why did this massive movement of
Christians fail to evangelize the world? By
1900, there was enough evangelism in the
world for every people to receive an hour long
gospel presentation every other month all year long (or 6 opportunities a year). But our analysis shows that in 1900 over half of the world’s population had never heard of Jesus Christ. The global map offers clues as to why Christians were unable to contact everyone in the world with the gospel of Christ.

The Map
(see World in 1900 map) In the center page one finds the first color map in our series. The map shows the status of evangelization in 1900. Two things immediately strike the eye. First, there are only 9 countries shaded yellow (World B). These are Bosnia Herzegovina, British Indian Ocean Territory, Ethiopia, Guyana, Madagascar, Nauru, Reunion, South Africa, and Surinam. This is due to the lack of evangelization outside of the Christian countries. In 1900 Christians were either in the vast majority
(over 60%, in 125 countries) or virtually non-existent (as in World A, 103 countries). Although the 558 million Christians made up over 34% of the world’s population, they had only contacted an additional 181 million individuals (11%) with the gospel of Christ. This left over 879 million (54%) without any opportunity to know Christ. Thus, poor distribution of more than adequate evangelism seems to be the root cause. Second, Christianity in 1900 was located mainly in the Western world. In fact, 81% of all Christians were White. This limited the effectiveness of Christian outreach. The gospel
was mainly in the hands of the rich and powerful who continued to extend the reach of their political power through massive colonization of the world’s poorer nations.

Definitions of World A, B, and C

Individuals
World A unevangelized non-Christians
World B evangelized non-Christians
World C Christians

Countries
World A < 50% evangelized
World B >= 50% evangelized, < 60% Christian
World C >= 60% Christian

Unbridled optimism
Nonetheless the year 1900 was a time of unbridled optimism in regard to all things Christian. A few years earlier a major new publication was launched with the title ‘Christian Century’, anticipating the 20th century accomplishing many things that the
19th did not. In 1900, a 35 year-old leader of the Student Volunteer Movement, John R. Mott, set out his rationale for how the world could be evangelized in a very short time in his classic The evangelization of the world in this generation. Mott was confident that Christians were close to their goal primarily
due to the major technological advances of his day—steamships, railroads, telegraphs, printing presses. Meanwhile, the same year, a major missionary conference was held in New York City with a clear goal to see the whole world evangelized as soon as possible.

The churches’ resources
The mini-table at left quantifies major subjects and resources related to Christian missions. In 1900 the personal income of church members was $270 billion. $8 billion of that went to church and parachurch organizations. $200 million went to the world’s 600 foreign mission agencies supporting its 62,000 missionaries. John R. Mott calculated that it would only require an additional 20,000 missionaries to adequately cover the world’s population (assuming the present mission force was evenly distributed).

Anticipating the 20th century
Given the enormous resources of the church and the enthusiasm for mission expressed in many Christian traditions, one would expect to see substantial progress in Christian mission in the 20th century. A monumental gathering of missionaries in Edinburgh, Scotland in 1910 was followed by the publication of a crystal-clear presentation of the needs of the unevangelized in Samuel Zwemer’s The unoccupied mission fields of Africa and Asia (1911). Hundreds of other books and articles followed, making sure
Christians were fully aware of their Great Commission responsibility. In the next issue we will examine the evidence to see what happened next!