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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Double the Average Evangelical Growth

Bolivia is currently home to approximately 1,600,000 evangelicals, which make up roughly 16% of their almost 11 million Christians. The majority of those who identify as Christians are of the Roman Catholic faith, which is by far the dominant religious group in Bolivia. However, the Bolivian Evangelical Church is growing at an annual rate of 4.6% which is almost double the global average growth rate of 2.6%. There is a rapidly growing population of believers who can be mobilized and sent out. Praise God for such rapid growth in the Bolivian Church! Bolivian evangelicals are free to worship as they please and are not restricted by any governmental regulations. This growth in numbers and freedom in ministry make for an environment ripe for mobilization.

Cultural Neighbors to the Arab World

Bolivia has an average Median Cultural Distance of 14.8 with a very high number of cultural similarities to the 30 UPG nations on the Mobilization Index.
Bolivia's closest cultural neighbors are Senegal and Ethiopia. Both of these cultural neighbors have significant Muslim populations.&nbsp;
Bolivian culture places an extremely high value on relationship, as they score very high in community and low in the individualism category. [[2]] This gives the Bolivian evangelical Church significant similarities to many of the 30 UPG nations on our list, as many of them place great importance on community. Bolivian missionaries can use these similarities to bridge the cultural divide with unreached cultures.&nbsp;
Pray that these bridges lead to opportunities to build strategic gospel-carrying movements to the unreached Arab world!

Geographic Distance but Cultural Advantage to the Unreached

Bolivia scores very low on the Strategic Access index with access to only 2,900 unreached peoples in-country and 814,000 regionally; however, it is important to note that Bolivia is culturally poised to reach the 1.8 billion unreached Muslims that live thousands of miles away.&nbsp;
Though it is only a tiny percent of the population, there are still unreached groups practicing indigenous folk religions in Bolivia. Among Bolivia's indigenous groups, culture, tradition, and religion are tightly woven together.
Pray that for opportunities for the Bolivian church to continue to reveal His glory among the lost nationally while growing in passion and vision for the lost globally.

Freedom for Ministry and Religious Practices

According to Pew Research, Bolivia has a low level of religious restrictions and hostilities at a weighted score of 1.7. [[3]]&nbsp;
Bolivia's social hostilities score is 3 times as high as its governmental restrictions score. This means that Christians are more likely to experience familial or communal backlash or tensions due to religious beliefs.&nbsp;
The Bolivian constitution states that the nation will have freedom of religion and worship. There is no state religion, and all institutions have the right to teach religion, publicly or privately, as they see fit. [[4]]&nbsp;
Though Bolivia is religiously free, this does not mean the country is without religious tensions. In 2018, a group of Protestant missionaries and pastors were removed from rural areas by tribal leaders "for not observing indigenous customs such as making offerings to mother earth." [[5]] Pray that the Lord would grant for peace and wisdom to those reaching the lost in Bolivia.

Sending Barriers in a Prosperity Deficit

Ranked at 106, Bolivia falls in the lower portion of the Legatum Prosperity Index. [[6]]
Bolivia also ranks low compared to other Latin American countries. Only Honduras, Nicaragua, Venezuela, and Haiti rank lower. Over the last 10 years, Bolivia has stayed relatively stagnant at its 106th rank, only fluctuating slightly in categories such as Social Capital and Enterprise Conditions.&nbsp;
Currently, the country scores highest in Natural Environment and Personal Freedom categories and lowest in Social Capital and Enterprise Conditions.
In the face of a general prosperity deficit, the Bolivian evangelical church could experience obstacles financially supporting and sending missionaries and mobilizers to the unreached. Pray that Bolivian evangelicals would not be discouraged but instead would rely entirely on the strength of the Lord to provide all of their needs for both sending and going.

Small Sending Numbers but Great Potential for Increased Sending

Bolivia has roughly 140 missionaries, 70 serving in-country and 70 serving cross-culturally outside of Bolivia.
The prayer goal of the Mobilization Index is to see 0.1% of a nation's evangelical church mobilized to the unreached. With 70 overseas missionaries, Bolivia currently sends .00007% of their evangelical church. If the church were to send the prayer goal of 0.1%, we would see an increase of almost 1,600 missionaries sent to the unreached!&nbsp;
With Bolivians uniquely and culturally positioned to reach many unreached peoples worldwide, namely those from Muslim backgrounds, imagine the kingdom movements that could be in store for the next generation of Bolivian missionaries.&nbsp; Would you pray for this increase of laborers?

Moderate Mobilization Potential for the Bolivian Church

When considering Bolivia's number of evangelicals, cultural access to the unreached, low prosperity, and religious freedom, we rank Bolivia's mobilization potential at Moderate.
If 1 in 1,000 evangelicals were mobilized, Bolivia could see 2,000 new missionaries sent to the unreached. Geographical distance and lack of access to unreached people groups could present obstacles in mobilization, but Bolivia can celebrate its cultural connection with the Arab world and the hundreds of millions of unreached Muslims. &nbsp; There is great potential in the upcoming generation of Bolivia, as 32% of the population is under the age of 15. As this young generation grows, pray that the Lord would put a desire for the nations on their hearts. With one-third of the population being so young, the Bolivian church has the responsibility and the opportunity to connect children and families with God's heart for the nations.

Obstacles:
<ul>
<li>Bolivia's low economic prosperity could be an obstacle for raising financial support and sending missionaries to the unreached.</li>
<li>Bolivia's low geographic access to the unreached is potentially one of the country's most significant obstacles to reaching its full Mobilization Potential.</li>
</ul>
Opportunities:
<ul>
<li>The Bolivian evangelical church's rapid growth shows great promise for the future of missions!</li>
<li>Close cultural distance to many Arab UPG nations can provide the spark needed for cross-cultural missions to flourish.</li>
</ul>

Pray:
<ul>
<li>For laborers from Bolivia to be mobilized to the unreached, particularly to their close cultural neighbors in the Muslim world.</li>
<li>For Bolivians to fully reach their mission sending potential by mobilizing tens of thousands of World Christians and thousand new missionaries.&nbsp;</li>
</ul>
Praise:&nbsp;
<ul>
<li>Praise the Lord of provision for providing such cultural similarities between Bolivia and the many Muslim UPGs.</li>
<li>Praise God for the few governmental restrictions on religion! The Bolivian church has the freedom to practice their faith as they feel led.</li>
</ul>

Puerto Rican Population Declines on Island, Grows on U.S. Mainland, Pew Research

Official Country Name:Republic of Bolivia

Population:11,513,000

Region:Latin America

Government:Presidential Representative Democratic Republic

Official Languages:Spanish

Religious Demographics:Christian ±91%, Evangelical ±16%, Ethnoreligious ±2%, Non-religious ±3%

Bolivia