C U R R E N T N E W S S U M M A R Y by the Editors of ReligionToday

February 14, 2000

Evangelical Christianity is the world’s fastest-growing religious movement, researchers said. There are 645 million evangelicals in the world, about 11% of the world’s population, the U.S. Center for World Mission and researchers Patrick Johnstone and David Barrett said. The movement is growing 3.5 times faster than the world population, and Pentecostal and Charismatic churches are growing 4.5 times faster. “That makes evangelical Christianity the fastest-growing major religious group and the only movement growing significantly through conversion,” Johnstone said.