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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Divinely Set to Reach UPGs

Highly Educated Evangelicals

The number of evangelicals in Singapore increased 20-fold in the years between 1960-2010. Currently, with more than 415,000 believers, 1 in 13 people in Singapore are evangelical Christian, many of which are educated, university graduates that have come to faith. Approximately one out of every three English-speaking Chinese university graduates is Christian. [[1]] This has the potential to have a great impact on Singaporean society, as many of these graduates will go on to have very influential positions and chances to bring the gospel to the corporate world. Pray the the Lord of the harvest would raise up workers to launch into the workforce and be a light for the gospel, in a very achievement-centered and personal success oriented corporate world.

Culturally Bridged to the Islamic World

With an average cultural distance of 16.7, Singapore shares cultural similarities with a few UPG countries on our list. Singapore's closest cultural neighbors, with data in all six dimensions of the Geert Hofstede Index are: Indonesia, Jordan, Thailand, and Turkey. These cultural similarities give the Singaporean church a great advantage when going to the unreached. As roughly 14% of Singapore is Muslim, Singaporean evangelicals will naturally have a certain level of familiarity with the Muslim world. This familiarity could be a great step of advantage when it comes to evangelicals sending, going, and reaching their Muslim cultural neighbors. Singapore is also closely related to Senegal, Sierra Leone, Ethiopia, United Arab Emirates, and Kuwait, though these countries are missing data on one or more dimension of the Index.

High Access to Unreached within Singaporean Borders

Singapore has access to 919,000 unreached people in-country and 328 million unreached people regionally. Singapore alone has over 100 nations represented in their population. [[1]] This makes Singapore a very strategic place to launch a mobilization movement, as it is very likely that the average Singaporean evangelical is likely to have meaningful relationship with an unreached people even in their own country. Singapore is also geographically close to countries such as Malaysia, Indonesia, and Thailand, all of which are on our list of UPG nations.

Legally Free, but not without Social Restrictions

Singapore has a moderate level of religious freedoms according to Pew Research. Although the country has freedom of religion, the coinciding Maintenance of Religious Harmony Act places some restrictions on this freedom. Many individuals fear breaking this act, which lessens their willingness to share the gospel. [[1]] The main point of this Act is to protect against religion being used in the name of political activism or social change and to safeguard against different religions using hate or enmity against one another. Although the government does not explicitly prohibit sharing the gospel with others, it does discourage any kind of activity that might disrupt another religious group. [[2]] The fear of these religious restrictions could present a problem in mobilizing Singaporean individuals to engage people of other religions, as well as dissuade missionaries from launching to Singapore.

Leading In Prosperity

Singapore ranks very highly at number 15 on the Legatum Prosperity Index. Compared to all other countries in Asia, Singapore is the second highest in prosperity after New Zealand. Singapore's highest sub-indices are Safety &amp; Security and Health, where it ranks 1st and 2nd respectively. Singapore also ranks within the top 20 on five more of the sub-indices. It receives its lowest rank on the Personal Freedoms sub-index. Singapore has a booming economy that is very open to new businesses. The long-term stability and the success of new businesses could create an opportunity for Singaporeans to use a business as missions model to reach the unreached within their own country and abroad. In addition, the steady economy provides a great opportunity for Singapore to be a powerful sending force.

A Might Sending Force Poised to be a Welcoming Place

Singapore is currently sending 140 individuals in-country and 600 individuals abroad. This is very encouraging when we consider that the base goal of the Mobilization Index is to see each country sending 0.1% of its evangelicals. For Singapore, this would be 400 goers. Though Singapore is already sending more than 0.1%, there is potential to use this momentum to launch an even greater missions movement.&nbsp;
 Even now, thousands of individuals are going on short-term trips, using their skills and expertise to specifically help in medical missions or disaster relief; however, long-term goers are desperately needed. Singapore has been considered a hub for mission activity and mission sending, [[2]] because of the education and wealth of the country. There is also great potential for Singapore to be a welcoming place to the thousands of foreign workers residing in the country every year. Roughly 36% of the country is now made up of non-citizens, living in Singapore for employment. [[3]]&nbsp;
Singapore has a high potential to train and send many more long-term goers! Pray that the Lord would raise up long-term workers to go into the harvest.

Positioned to Sustain a Mobilization Movement

Singapore ranks high on nearly every aspect of the Mobilization Index. Despite having a smaller number of evangelicals and higher religious restrictions, the prosperity, current sending, and strategic access give Singapore Moderate potential for mobilization.
Singapore is one of the most prosperous countries on our Mobilization Index. The overall prosperity of Singapore creates an environment suitable to sustaining a mission sending movement. With a great number of UPGs even within its own country, Singapore could benefit from a focus on mobilizing in-country and then stretching itself beyond its borders to the countries to which it is most culturally similar.&nbsp;
Their church has already seen a rise in missions mobilization with Perspectives courses, Singapore Center for Global Missions, and Pioneers in Asia, among other resources. These organizations focus not only on sending people to the nations but on connecting pastors, churches, and training individuals to know how to be on mission both in Singapore and abroad.

Obstacles:
<ul>
<li>Rising religious restrictions may make it difficult for evangelicals to engage the unreached in their own country. Much prayer is needed to protect against the fear of governmental pressures.</li>
</ul>
Opportunities:&nbsp;
<ul>
<li>&nbsp;There are many different nations within the country of Singapore. This provides a great opportunity for the church to be mobilized to engage with the unreached within their own country. If the unreached in Singapore were to know Christ, they could return to their own countries and effectively reach their own communities.</li>
<li>Singapore is a wealthy nation that has the opportunity to leverage its resources for the Gospel and send many to the unreached.</li>
</ul>

Pray:&nbsp;
<ul>
<li>Pray for evangelicals to be bold in the midst of governmental restrictions.</li>
<li>Pray for the Singapore church to recognize its opportunity in reaching thousands of unreached within its borders.</li>
</ul>
Praise:&nbsp;
<ul>
<li>Praise God for the vision he has already given many in Singapore to begin missions mobilization.</li>
<li>Praise God for the many who have already gone both long-term and short-term. Ask God for more laborers from the Singaporean church.</li>
</ul>

US Department of State | International Religious Freedom Report 2010, Singapore

Official Country Name:Republic of Singapore

Population:5,804,000

Region:Southeast Asia

Government:Unitary Dominant-Party Parliamentary Republic

Official Languages:Chinese, Mandarin

Religious Demographics:Buddhist ±40%, Non-Religious ±18%, Christian ±16%, Muslim ±14%, Other ±12%[[3]]

Singapore