Ministry in a Multi-Cultural and Unchurched Society

Append i x

271

World Christianity by the Numbers, continued

p. 27). There is also a megatypology of Pentecostal/Charismatic Georenewal, which includes 95 generic categories of Pentecostals/ Charismatics/Neocharismatics (pp. 283ff.). Here we learn about First Wavers, Second Wavers, Third Wavers, Peripheral quasi-Pentecostals, Prepentecostals, and Postpentecostals. This preoccupation with Pentecostalism and conservative Protestantism has led some scholars, such as Jan Jongeneel in Utrecht, to ask if there is an implicit or hidden ecclesiology and agenda at work in WCE2 . Anyone who likes lists (as this reviewer does) will be fascinated by such features as the chronology of world evangelization from Creation to New Creation (called Cosmochronology), beginning with God’s Eternal Pre-Existence (and the “successive bounce”! p. 101); the Who’s Who in world evangelization, A.D. 30-2000 (does not include Neill, Newbigin, Freytag, Gensichen, Sundkler, or Max Warren); the alphabetical listing of 2,550 known Christian martyrs (out of 70 million total), A.D. 30-2000; a bibliographic listing of 600 major classics or books impinging on missiometrics and thus defining the science of global mission, A.D. 66-2001 (includes books by Moltmann, Pannenberg, and Küng, but nothing by Newbigin!); 1,500 global plans to evangelize the world, A.D. 30-2000; and many others. David Barrett concludes his overview essay “Geostatus: The changing face of Christianity across 21 centuries” with a scathing assessment of what he calls “the A.D. 2000 debacle” of the 250 global plans that promised to fulfill and complete Christ’s Great Commission for world evangelization during the decade of the 1990s leading up to the year 2000. Christian leaders, he says, “proved unable to deal with or make any measurable dent in a situation of this magnitude.” It was “an appalling catastrophe,” “a cruel sham,” “a spectacular failure,” a decade “catastrophically squandered,” and he calls for “the replacement of leadership” (p. xiv). The judgment is too harsh and unhelpful. What does the author suggest should have been done that was missed? Was it wrong to try? Was nothing worthwhile accomplished? The heart of the volume’s data and trends is found in sections titled “Geotrends,” “Countrytrends,” “Geostrategies,” “Macroevangelistics,” and “Futurescan.” The bottom line of the authors’ projections is that