In a new survey by the Pew Research Center's Forum on Religion & Public Life, most evangelical Protestant leaders who live in the Global South (58 percent) say that evangelical Christians are gaining influence on life in their countries.
By contrast, most leaders who live in the Global North (66 percent) say that, in the societies in which they live, evangelicals are losing influence.
U.S. evangelical leaders are especially downbeat about the prospects for evangelical Christianity in their society — 82 percent say evangelicals are losing influence in the U.S. today, while only 17 percent think evangelicals are gaining influence.
In general, evangelical leaders who live in the Global South (sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle East/North Africa, Latin America and most of Asia) are optimistic about the prospects for evangelicalism in their countries, while those who live in the Global North (Europe, North America, Japan, Australia and New Zealand) tend to be more pessimistic.
These are among the key findings of the Global Survey of Evangelical Protestant Leaders, which offers a detailed portrait of 2,196 evangelical leaders from 166 countries and territories who were invited to attend the Third Lausanne Congress on World Evangelization held in October 2010 in Cape Town, South Africa.
For additional findings, check out the full report on the Pew Forum's website.
