The Spiritual Landscape is a collection of demographic and survey statistics the describe the contextual conditions we find ourselves in as we pursue Mission and Ministry. This is distinct from The Journey Map which maps out spiritual journey for individuals and communities. This information is helpful when considering our personal and communal priorities in regards to The Great Commission.

Opportunity

When Jesus first announced his identity of Messiah, he proclaimed a vision for a harvest outside his home faith community of the Jews:

³⁵ Don’t you say, ‘There are yet four months until the harvest’? Behold, I tell you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, that they are white for harvest already. ³⁶ He who reaps receives wages and gathers fruit to eternal life, that both he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together. (John 4:35-36 WEB)

For those with eyes to see, there is still great potential for harvest “out there”.

Belief in God and Church

According to Pew Research Center:¹

90%| of US believes in God or a higher power

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56%| believe in God as described in the Bible

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19% (66M)| of the US are engaged Christians

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Openness of Non-Christians to Engagement

The world is not as hostile to exploring faith as some might think. According to Barna:⁶

59%| of non-Christians and lapsed Christians are open to exploring faith

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30%| of non-Christians and lapsed Christians are open to casual conversation

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Deployment

Paul describes in Romans 10:12-15 the possibility of salvation for all humanity:

¹² For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, and is rich to all who call on him. ¹³ For, “Whoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved.” ¹⁴ How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? How will they believe in him whom they have not heard? How will they hear without a preacher? ¹⁵ And how will they preach unless they are sent? As it is written:

“How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the Good News of peace,
    who bring glad tidings of good things!”

While the Kingdom and it’s Salvation by Allegiance is open to all, the manifestation of it in lives requires the participation of the Church. Simply and practically put: people’s faith in the Lord is dependent on our mobilized labor (someone preaching) and deployed resources (sending).

Labor: Christian Mobilization

As Jesus sent out the seventy, he made this prayer request of them:

² Then he said to them, “The harvest is indeed plentiful, but the laborers are few. Pray therefore to the Lord of the harvest, that he may send out laborers into his harvest. (Luke 10:2 WEB)

It’s disturbingly hard to find studies about how well we’re doing on mobilizing people so others can meet and believe in Jesus, but sobering statistics can be found here and there:

This means we have just over 7 million people actively trying to reach the 283 million un-churched and non-Christian people in the US. Assuming that the 13% of Christians are having effective conversations with the unchurched and non-Christian, each of these faith-sharing Christians will need to reach 40 people to completely evangelize the US. With only 13K missionaries working among un-reached people groups comprizing 3.6 billion people, each missionary will need to reach more than 270,000 people.

The implication is that we need to mobilize many more resources to take advance of the tremendous spiritual opportunity in front of us.

Resources: Giving and Outreach Spending

The landscape of resources for deployment of the church looks like the following:

According to research compiled by The Traveling Team:¹³

$70 Trillion| estimated income of all church members

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$1.3 Trillion| amount given to “Christian causes”

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1.7% of “missions” / $1.32 Billion| to work on unreached people groups

According to Fellowship Development:¹⁴

2.5% of income | Average giving level for all church attenders

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1. Dalia Fahmy, “Key findings about Americans’ belief in God” Pew Research Center, April 25, 2018. https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2018/04/25/key-findings-about-americans-belief-in-god/
2. “Decline of Christianity in the U.S. Has Slowed, May Have Leveled Off” Religious Landscape Study, February 26, 2025. Pew Research Center. https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2025/02/26/decline-of-christianity-in-the-us-has-slowed-may-have-leveled-off/
3. “Countries in the world by population (2026)” WorldOMeter. https://www.worldometers.info/world-population/population-by-country/
4. “10 Facts About America’s Churchless” Barna, December 10, 2014. https://www.barna.com/research/10-facts-about-americas-churchless/
5. “Global Dashboard” The Joshua Project. https://joshuaproject.net/people_groups/dashboard
6. “Beyond an Invitation to Church: Opportunities for Faith-Sharing” Barna, March 26, 2019. https://www.barna.com/research/opportunities-for-faith-sharing/
7. John Taylor, “80% of Non-Churchgoers Say They Would Go If Invited — So Why Don’t We?” Relevant, October 3, 2025. https://relevantmagazine.com/faith/church/80-of-non-believers-would-go-to-church-if-invited-so-why-dont-we/
8. Sometimes referred to as “The Moveable Middle”. “The Bible in America Today” State of the Bible, USA 2026, Chapter 1, pg 4. American Bible Society. https://sotb.americanbible.org/report/state-of-the-bible-usa-2026/
9. “Is Openness to Prayer a Door to Digital Church Engagement?” Barna, March 3, 2021. https://www.barna.com/research/digital-prayer/
10. “When it comes to evangelism, the small things really matter” Lifeway Newsroom, August 28, 2017. Life Way. https://news.lifeway.com/2017/08/28/when-it-comes-to-evangelism-the-small-things-really-matter/
11. Caleb Maglaya Galaraga, “Lausanne Report: Most Missionaries Are Reaching the Reached” Christianity Today, September 25, 2024. https://www.christianitytoday.com/2024/09/lausanne-missions-state-great-commission-christianity-polycentrism/
12. Shannon Doyne, “How Often Do You Start Conversations about Faith or Spirituality?” The New York Times, October 15, 2018. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/15/learning/how-often-do-you-start-conversations-about-faith-or-spirituality.html
13. “Money and Missions” The Traveling Team. https://www.thetravelingteam.org/money-and-missions
14. “102 Church Giving Statistics for 2026” Fellowship Insights, Fellowship Development, March 26, 2026. https://www.fellowshipdevelopment.com/blog/church-giving-statistics/