Think about the shift of the epicenter of gospel activity over the centuries. It started with a Holy Spirit-sized explosion in Jerusalem. Within a few years, Antioch in Syria was the new center—and then Corinth, Ephesus, and Rome. For centuries, gospel activity reverberated back and forth across Europe until it was well established in what was known as the western world.

Where is the epicenter of gospel activity today? By 1977 there were more Christians in Africa, Latin America, and Asia than there were in European background nations. Even more spectacular, by 1999, there were more missionaries from those countries than there were from the “West.”

So, to answer our question, the epicenter of gospel activity has shifted. A new emerging mission movement is rising up in Korea, Latin America, China, northeast India, and the Philippines. Korea is leading the way, sending out over 1000 new cross-cultural missionaries every year. Latin American churches have sent out 4000 overseas career missionaries. Churches in northeast India want to send out 2000. We hear of churches in China and the Philippines that want to send out thousands of new missionaries.

This movement of God’s people from all over the world taking the gospel to the ends of the earth is the most exciting thing happening in our generation. The same Holy Spirit who called our fathers to leave prairie farms in Canada or villages in Scotland and New Zealand is now calling Bolivians, Liberians, and Chinese to go into all the world.

What does this mean for SIM? First, it presses us to do all we can to preach and teach missions in the Bible schools and seminaries where we are involved. An Ethiopian student we teach in Addis Ababa could be a very powerful missionary in Pakistan or Somalia. Second, when invited, SIM needs to develop partnerships with the emerging missions. Some of them have the capacity to send workers but are unable to care for them in their fields of service. That is why we partner with a number of Latin American missions in South Asia. We are intentionally changing our structures and our ethos from a “western only” mission to a “global mission.” SIM statistics show that our fastest growth areas now are Korea and South Africa.

Doesn’t it make sense that God would be pleased to raise up His whole church to reach the world with the gospel? We long to see all people of whatever race or nationality standing shoulder to shoulder to take the gospel to the nations of the world. As we look forward to the day when we will stand before the Savior with worshipers from every people, nation, tribe, and tongue, we believe that one of the earliest hints of that grand drama will be a truly global missionary movement. What an exciting time this is for people who are involved in world mission!