Ministry in a Multi-Cultural and Unchurched Society

Append i x

267

World Christianity by the Numbers, continued

maps on the human environment, Christianity, and ministries in the global context. WCE2 mentions a companion CD-ROM titled World Christian Database as forthcoming. Volume 2, The World by Segments: Religions, Peoples, Languages, Cities, Topics , presents much new material that was not in the first edition. This includes segments for what are called Religiometrics (profiles of the 270 largest of the 10,000 distinct religions worldwide), Ethnosphere (cultures of the world, with 12,600 people profiles), Linguametrics (demographics, ministries, and scriptures via 13,500 language profiles), Metroscan (7,000 city profiles), and Provincescan (major civil divisions in 238 countries, with 3,030 profiles). It also includes sections similar to what appeared in the first edition: a survey dictionary of Christianity in the global context; a world bibliography of Christianity, religions, and worldwide ministries; and extensive indexes of topecs, abbreviations, acronyms, initials, and photographs. One valuable feature in the first edition that is not included in the second is the Who’s Who in the Christian World, which had brief biographical notes on nearly 500 contemporary Christian leaders, many with their photo. It is now included, and expanded in the volume World Christian Trends (see below). The challenge of coping with the sheer mass of information presented in WCE2 is compounded by a certain difficulty in navi gating through it, especially in comprehending and interpreting some of the terminology and concepts. The authors have introduced some radically new and revised classifications in the statistical table of religious adherents in each country profile, as compared to the first edition. For instance, they have introduced a new category in the set of religious megablocs: Independents. This new megabloc takes account of the contemporary phenomenon of postdenomi nationalism (p. 10). The majority of new denominational bodies listed in WCE2 (not found in WCE1 ) are found in the Independent category. In addition, the new category absorbs the WCE1 category “Non-White . . . Indigenous” and picks up a great many other denominations that formerly, in WCE1 , were labeled Protestant or Anglican. For instance, in the United States, the Conservative Baptist Association of America, the Orthodox Presbyterian Church, and the Presbyterian Church in America were all labeled Protestant in WCE1 , but now, curiously, they are in the Independent category.