In response to our July/August 2009 eJournal, which gave high marks to Patrick Johnstone's Operation World, one reader raised some interesting questions:

I read with interest the comments in the 9Marks eJournal, July/August 2009, Volume 6, Issue 4, regarding Patrick Johnstone's Operation World (OW).  While some aspects of OW are helpful, it is wanting in other ways.  Specifically, Johnstone's use of the term "adherent" is problematic.  About eight years ago, while serving with the Western Europe regional leadership team of the Southern Baptist International Mission Board, I did some research on the Basque region of Spain and France. Our church planting team in that area could locate few evangelical churches in the area, all of which were rather small.  No churches conducted services in any of the Basque dialects.  I had lived in Spain for five years and could confirm what the other missionaries said.  Yet, OW reported at the time that about 97% of the Basque people were Christians.  Of those, most were Roman Catholic.  In reality, most European Catholics don't practice any religion, let alone show any evidence of having a saving relationship with Jesus Christ.  The Catholic church claims them as "adherents" because they live in the region or were baptized as infants.  Whether or not those people claim the church or its teachings as their own is another matter.  The reality is that, sadly, probably about 97% of the Basque people are lost.

Operation World is hardly the only resource that relies on various kinds of (dubious?) statistics in reporting the number of "Christians" in a region. (Personally, I find OW very helpful for knowing what to pray for a country, but I tend to look at the stats not so much to tell many how many Christians there are, but something about a country's cultural history.) I mentioned in the editor's note that I share a little of this reader's curiosity about all the academics saying Christianity is moving south and east, globally speaking. Maybe it is, but I'm still not sure what to make of the stats their studies reply upon. Any thoughts, anyone?