80% of the world’s evangelical Christians live in Asia, Africa, and Latin America. Over the last 50 years, God’s church has grown exponentially in these areas.

These regions have tremendous mission sending potential to help bring the gospel to unreached peoples, but they currently send only 20% of the world’s cross-cultural missionaries!

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Total Number of Evangelicals

Cultural Bridges to UPGs

Regional Access to UPGs

Religious Freedom

Prosperity

Current Sending Abroad

Mobilization Potential

Custom Mobilization Potential

Number of Evangelicals

Cultural Bridges

Strategic Access

Religious Freedoms

Current Sending

This infographic provides a visual score for seven data points ranked on a 0 to 100 scale. Faded icons show scores for other countries on the mobilization index. See below for actual scores and country-specific insights.

ADDITION

FINANCIAL DEPENDENCY

INACCESSIBLE

LIMITED MISSION FORCE

DISTANT AND FOREIGN MISSION FIELD

THE WORLD IS THE MISSION FIELD

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A Nation with Great Power and Great Potential to Send

Predominantly Christian, with 3 Million Evangelicals

Australia is home to over 3.5 million evangelicals. With almost 70% of the Australian population identifying as Christian, the nation is predominantly Catholic and Anglican, including approximately 5% evangelicals. &nbsp;Church history in Australia dates back to the late 1700s when British colonists arrived. Soon after, the country saw a massive growth in high church congregations, such as Catholicism and Anglicanism. Numbers have fluctuated over the years, yet Australia has always remained a predominantly Christian nation.&nbsp; Pray that the Lord would stir the hearts of this majority Christian nation to take their faith the unreached, and cross borders in an effort to complete the Great Commission.

Few Bridges to the Unreached

Because Australia has an average Median Cultural Distance of 28.8, it does not share many cultural similarities with the 30 UPG nations on our list. The only country on the mobilization index with a higher rank and a further distance from UPG's is the United Kingdom.&nbsp;
Out of Hofstede's Cultural Values, Australia scores extremely high on both individualism and indulgence. [[1]]&nbsp;
These scores are not surprising, as Australia ranks very similarly to other more culturally Western countries such as the United Kingdom and the United States of America.
Ask that the Lord would begin to turn the cultural values of Australia to meet the values of His Kingdom and send out mobilizers into the harvest!

Low Access to UPGs Without Leaving Australian Borders

With access to 190,000 unreached in country and 772,000 regionally, Australia scores low on the Strategic Access Index.
As Australia is water bound on all sides, it experiences drastically less migration than the typical country. Because of this, it has less unreached coming into its borders, and is not geographically neighboring any unreached countries. Its closest neighbors are Papua New Guinea and New Zealand. However, Australia is close to Southeast Asia which is home to nearly 330 million Unreached Peoples. For example, pre-Covid 19, more Australians visit Bali Indonesia each year than almost all other nationality[[2]].
Pray that the Australian church would grow in passion for their regional neighbors and seek out opportunities to love the unreached beyond its borders.

Great Governmental Freedom and Low Social Hostilities

According to Pew Research, Australia has very low levels of religious restrictions and hostilities, with a score of 2.1 [[3]].
Australia's social hostilities score is much higher than its governmental restrictions, meaning that the majority of religious pressure an Australian evangelical might feel would come from societal norms, expectations, or communal pressure rather than from government-enforced rules and regulations. However, Australia's social hostility score is still considered moderate when compared to the rest of the world.
The constitution of Australia states that the nation will establish no religion or permit any religious discrimination. This is a huge opportunity and a great base for mobilization, as the Australian evangelical church can promote and boldly act out God's heart for the nations without any governmental stress or safety concerns.

Equipped with the Means to Send

Ranked at the 10th highest nation on the Legatum Prosperity Index, Australia outshines almost all countries on the mobilization index, save Germany with a ranking of 8. [[4]]
With its highest rankings in safety and security, living conditions, and natural environment. These high marks will make the financial side of mobilizing and launching Australiansmissionaries dramatically easier.&nbsp;
Over the past ten years, Australia has held relatively the same rank in most of its categories, driven by the stability and consistency of the government, the economy, and its infrastructures. This stability is great news when considering a country's ability to logistically send and financially support go-ers. Pray that the Lord would use the prosperity of Australia to support and send out the next missions movement.

Low Sending Numbers but Great Potential to Increase

Current sending estimates for Australia are around 2,200 abroad and 1,600 in-country.
One prayer goal of the Mobilization Index is to see 0.1%, or 1 in a 1000, of a nation&rsquo;s evangelical church mobilized to the unreached. Were they to reach the 0.1% prayer goal, we would see an increase of 1,500 more people sent to the unreached!&nbsp;
 Praise God that he has already given a heart of sending to the Australian evangelical church! With Australia's healthy and stable economy, the country has the means to support and send thousands more! Ask that he would continue to direct hearts to the unreached, and add to the number of evangelicals going to UPGs.

High protentional largely driven by high prosperity and percentage Christian

Australia's high score on the Mob Index is largely driven by its high prosperity and significant Christian population.
There is great potential for Australia to fulfill its mobilization potential, specifically due to its generosity score. With a high score of 70%, Australia is an incredibly generous nation that could use that quality to raise up, support, and send missionaries! [[5]] With such a strong economy, no governmental restrictions, and high generosity, Australia could be a leader in sending out the next mission wave.
Obstacles that could impede Australia's mission movement are their high cultural distance score and relatively low in-country access to the Unreached.

Obstacles and Opportunities

Obstacles:&nbsp;
<ul>
<li>Australia does not have many UPGs in country.</li>
<li>Australia does not share many cultural similarities with UPGs, especially when compared to other Mob Index countries.&nbsp;</li>
</ul>
Opportunities:
<ul>
<li>The wealth and generosity of the nation could be huge sending power for the evangelical church!</li>
<li>Australis has very little religious restrictions, meaning that the church can feel free to grow and mobilize without much fear of social hostilities.</li>
</ul>

Prayer and Praises

Prayer:
<ul>
<li>Pray Australian believers would find their most strategic role in seeing Christ proclaimed among the nations.</li>
<li>Pray that the church would not view its distance from UPGs as a hindrance, but rather grow in excitement for how God can use them to reach the nations.</li>
</ul>
Praises: &nbsp;
<ul>
<li>Praise God for the growth of the evangelical church in Australia!</li>
<li>Praise God for the provision of the Australian church and its sending, through a stable and impressive economy.</li>
</ul>

PEW religious restriction numbers Myanmar

Official Country Name:The Commonwealth of Australia

Population:25,203,000

Region:Australia and Pacific

Government:Constitutional Monarchy

Official Languages:English

Religious Demographics:Christian ±69%, (Evangelicals ±14%) Unevangelized ±4%, Muslim ±4%, Buddhist ±2%

Australia