Church growth in the Muslim world

There are 52 nations where Islam forms more than 40% of the population and the total number of Muslims numbers more than 100,000. Nearly half of the 52 nations are more than 90% Muslim; all but 8 are over half Muslim. Together these nations have more than 1.3 billion people, some 932 million of whom are Muslims and 122 million are Christians. The people have an average life expectancy of 63 years. Many of these nations have substantial populations of youth. Most have state policies of either outright hostility to the church, or at the very least interference in church growth.

In 19 of these nations, the projected growth rate of the church by AD 2025 is likely to exceed the population growth rate. This means that, for 33 of these nations, the church is losing ground now and will continue to be losing ground in AD 2025 unless something remarkable is done.

The reality is that for the world to be evangelized and for new believers to be discipled, inroads of some kind must be made in these nations. They form a substantial part of the 10/40 Window, and so as I return to the reality-check I have decided that, over the next 52 weeks, we will survey each of these nations, and learn about some of the challenges for church growth.