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!

Articles

Authors

Schedule

Give to Teams or Projects

Your partnership will help us reach the nations through the nations.

Partner with our staff

Give to a Training

We are always on the lookout for ambitious and talented people to come and join Via. If you are passionate about the bringing God's glory to the nations and want to help mobilize the global church then we would love to hear from you.

Open Roles

Careers & Internships

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

Show Notes

Formats

Available Languages

About the Author

Filter

Tools

Search

Team Profile

A Nation Put Through Hardships Can Point to His Goodness

Massive Church Growth in the Past 50 Years

Home to 3 million evangelicals, Venezuela is a predominantly Christian nation, with 84% of its population identifying as Christian and over 10% as evangelical. [[2]]&nbsp;
The evangelical church in Venezuela has seen much growth in the past years, increasing at an annual rate of 3.2%. The late 1960s saw the beginnings of a much quicker growth of evangelical populations. Between 1967 and 80, the evangelical community in Venezuela grew exponentially, from 47,000 to 500,000 in just those 13 years. [[3]] Praise God for such church growth in Venezuela!&nbsp;
As evangelical numbers increase, so does the violence and persecution against the church. Recent reports show that Venezuelan evangelicals have suffered horrific persecution due to their ministering to individuals involved with the drug cartels. [[4]] Pray for the continued bravery and protection of our Venezuelan brothers and sisters!

Venezuela and Latin American are Culturally Bridged with the Arab World

With an average median cultural distance of 20.5, Venezuela shares moderate cultural similarities with the 30 UPG nations on our list. Their closest cultural neighbors are Ethiopia (11), Kuwait (11), and the UAE (11). Notably, none of Venezuela's nearest cultural neighbors are within 10 points of cultural distance. This means that while the nation shares some similarities with UPG nations, no countries on our list are extremely close to Venezuela in values. However, of Venezuela's nearest cultural neighbors, most are located in the Middle East, are majority Muslim, or have a significant Muslim population. Venezuela shares a cultural connection with the Islamic world, like many Latin American countries. &nbsp;
Venezuela scores very low in individualism on the Geert Hofstede Cultural Values Index. [[5]] This means that the country is predominantly group and community-focused rather than individual-centered, as are the rest of Latin American countries. As Venezuelan culture values the benefit of the group over that of the individual, they have a great connection to the Muslim world, which is also very community lead and group focused. Venezuela and all Latin American missionaries are uniquely positioned to build cultural bridges with the 1.5 billion Muslims in need of the gospel! These cultural bridges could lead to opportunities to build gospel-focused relationships easily.

Venezuela's Low Access Challenges Mobilization

With unreached populations of 35,000 in-country and 814,000 regionally, Venezuela scores low in the Strategic Access index. While there are still unreached ethnic people groups in the region and a small number of unreached ones within their borders, the Venezuelan church has comparatively little regional access to the unreached. This means that for the average Venezuelan evangelical to have a meaningful relationship with an unreached individual, they would likely need to leave the country for locations with greater access. Low strategic access could challenge mission mobilization efforts that seek to raise awareness and passion for the unreached.&nbsp;
Pray that the Lord would not allow this fact to discourage the Venezuelan church but instead encourage them to capitalize on their cultural connections with the unreached and go abroad to complete the great commission.

Low Restrictions, but Not Without Governmental Hostilities

According to Pew Research, Venezuela has low religious restrictions and social hostilities compared to the 60 countries on the Mobilization Index. [[6]] With a weighted score of 2.7, the nation has low governmental restrictions and social hostilities against religious expression or practice. With a score of 3.2 in governmental restrictions and 1.8 in social hostilities, Colombian evangelicals are twice as likely to experience governmental persecution or legal pressure than they are to experience social pressure, outcasting, or communal strife for their religious choices.&nbsp;
Mission Mobilization and other Christian ministries are free to promote and carry out their work as they see fit, so long as it does not go against the public good or general morality. [[7]] The Venezuelan constitution states that there is no official religion of the state and that individuals have freedom of worship and practice. [[7]] This is great news for Venezuelan evangelicals, as they have the freedom to worship, meet, mobilize, and raise support. Despite the written freedom, Venezuelan Catholic and Protestant evangelical Christians have undergone massive amounts of government persecution and harassment in recent years. [[7]]&nbsp;
Pray that Venezuelan government leaders would hold to their statements of religious freedom and for the church to endure any and all forms of persecution or social hostilities that they might experience as a result of their faith.

Low and Falling Prosperity Could Hinder Sending

With a 147 out of 167 ranking, Venezuela scores very low on the Legatum Prosperity Index compared to other Mobilization Index countries. Venezuela is the second lowest in prosperity compared to the other twenty-two Central and South American countries on the Index, above only Haiti. [[8]] &nbsp;
Venezuela ranks highest in Natural Environment and Education and lowest in Governance and Enterprise Conditions. This low score in Governance, coupled with the governmental hostilities toward Christians, could deter mobilization efforts, as missionaries could be hesitant to launch to Venezuela because of these concerns.&nbsp;
Overall prosperity in Venezuela has drastically decreased, dropping 34 positions in the last nine years. Venezuela follows the trend of Latin America, which, as a region, is falling in prosperity. If this downward trend continues, it will become increasingly more challenging for the Venezuelan evangelical church to support and launch missionaries to the unreached. It could also become exceedingly difficult for missionaries and mobilizers to launch from Venezuela. Ask that He would make known to the Venezuelan church the most strategic way to use their prosperity to further God's kingdom to the unreached.

Room for Increased Sending

Venezuela currently sends approximately 120 missionaries in-country and another 120 out of the country to the unreached.&nbsp;
One prayer goal of the Mobilization Index is to see 0.1%, or 1 in every 1,000, of a nation&rsquo;s evangelical church mobilized for missions to the unreached. With 120 missionaries going abroad, only 0.00004% of the Venezuelan evangelical church has been mobilized to the unreached. Imagine what it could look like to see 2,800 or more Venezuelans going to places such as the Arab world where the gospel is hardly known! Pray that the Lord would double or triple that sending number so these evangelicals could be part of the emerging worldwide mission movement!

High Potential to be Mobilized to the Unreached

The Lord has divinely set the Venezuelan church to be part of His story and the completion of the great commission. If just 0.1%, or 1 in 1000 evangelicals, were mobilized to go to the unreached, the Lord&rsquo;s harvest would see 3,000 new Venezuelan missionaries raised! Coupled with their cultural similarities to many UPG nations, Venezuela could have a monumental impact on getting the gospel to the 5 billion unreached Muslims in the world! On the other hand, their physical distance from UPG nations, lack of sending culture, and falling economic prosperity could make mobilization that focuses on the unreached more difficult. &nbsp;&nbsp;
When considering the number of evangelicals in Venezuela, their religious freedom, and their cultural connections with the Arab world, we rank their mobilization potential high.
Ask that the Lord would make known to the Venezuelan church how they can best be used in reaching the world with the good news of Jesus Christ!

Obstacles:
<ul>
<li>Venezuela is geographically far from most large populations of unreached people groups. Missionaries must travel significant distances to access large groups of unreached people.</li>
<li>The Venezuelan church lacks a mentality of generosity and sending, which is vital if more are to be sent to the unreached.&nbsp;</li>
</ul>
&nbsp; Opportunities: &nbsp;
<ul>
<li>Though Venezuela experiences some social and governmental tensions due to religion, they are a constitutionally free nation that permits open worship and faith, allowing churches and ministries to build firm and lasting foundations to launch a sustainable missions movement without fear of persecution.&nbsp;</li>
<li>The cultural similarities between Venezuela and the Muslim world offer a certain level of ease that will accompany missionaries as they make His name known among the unreached.</li>
</ul>

Prayer:
<ul>
<li>Pray that the Venezuelan church would raise up and send out 1 in 1,000 believers from their country, which would result in 3,000 new cross-cultural laborers!</li>
<li>Ask that the Lord would give a mindset of support and sending to the Venezuelan church, that they might see the joy in sending and going to the unreached.&nbsp;</li>
</ul>
Praises:
<ul>
<li>Praise God for the growth within the Venezuelan evangelical church, as it has exponentially grown in the last few decades.&nbsp;</li>
<li>Praise the Lord for culturally connecting the Venezuelan church to the unreached Islamic world despite their physical distance from UPGs.</li>
</ul>

PEW religious restriction numbers Myanmar

Venezuela Constitutional Religious freedom

Official Country Name:The Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela

Population:28,516,000

Region:Latin America

Government:Federal Presidential Republic

Official Languages:Spanish

Religious Demographics:Christian ±84%, Evangelical ±10%, Ethnoreligious ±1%, Non-religious ±14%

Venezuela