Was It Worth It?

This graphic gives a visual impression of the accompanying numbers. The numbers are gleaned from various sources and, in many cases, are simply educated guesses by missiologists. Estimates of the number of Christians today vary widely among experts. We've used the figures of Tony Lambert of OMF (international), which seem to occupy a middle ground. —The Editors

Protestant Missionaries 1807: 1 1840: 20 1858: 81 1865: 189 1874: 436 1893: 1,324 1906: 3,833 1918: 6,395 1926: 8,325 1928: 4,375 1930: 6,346 1951: 0

Western Protestants poured money and people into China for a hundred years. Did it make a significant difference?

Population of China 1812: 362 million 1851: 380 million 1949: 450 million 1980: 900 million 1990: 1.1 billion 1996: 1.2 billion

Baptized Protestants 1800: 0 1834: 10 1853: 350 1869: 5,753 1876: 13,035 1898: 80,000 1911: 207,747 1934: 500,000 1980: 2 million 1996: 33 million (government estimate: 19 million)

Protestants per Chinese 1850: 1 in 1 million 1900: 1 in 2,000 1926: 1 in 1,000 1952: 1 in 1,000 1996: 1 in 36

Roman Catholics 1800: -250,000 (compared to 0 Protestants) 1900: (about) 1 million 1950: -3 million-or five times the number of Protestants 1996: -18 million-or about half the number of Protestants (government estimate: 6 million)

Total Christians (Protestants & Catholics) in China's population today 4.3 percent or 1 in 23.

Source of Statistics: Kenneth Scott Latourette, A History of Christian Missions in China (1929); Tony Lambert, OMF (INTERNATIONAL); statistics of the People's Republic of China.