Research Reports

Reporting for Accountability and Strategy

Accurate reporting is one of the ways the IMB seeks to be accountable to churches and individuals who support IMB. The reports produced by our Research Team have strategic value as we prepare to engage and reach peoples and places with the gospel. As we anticipate future opportunities for church planting, we need a trustworthy picture of the current landscape.

Each year the IMB offers two types of reports: the Global Status of Evangelical Christianity Report (GSEC) and the Annual Statistical Report (ASR). The GSEC documents the progress of the gospel globally, while the ASR focuses specifically on the ministry of IMB teams around the world.

Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC)

The GSEC is a model that describes the progress of the gospel among the peoples of the world by considering:

  • the extent to which a people group is evangelical
  • a people group’s accessibility to the gospel
  • church planting activity, whether localized or widespread, within the past two years

The model establishes the criteria for the group of the world’s peoples who should be identified as “Unreached People Groups.” The data comes from the Church Planting Progress Indicators, a system of reporting used by IMB church planting teams around the world.

Annual Statistical Report

The Annual Statistical Report is a summary of Southern Baptist work overseas in the previous year.

See the latest report at imb.org/ASR.