Was It Worth It?

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

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

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

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.

By the Editors

[Christian History originally published this article in Christian History Issue #52 in 1996]

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