As we saw in the previous chapter, there is considerable interest, especially among engaged Christians 18 to 34, in four missionary roles that are quite different from the culturally insensitive evangelist stereotype that many find objectionable. Researchers were eager to drill down on this interest, so they clustered those who say they would “definitely” consider taking at least one of the roles—business leader, entrepreneur, artist, church trainer—into a group called “potential missionaries.” Young adults 18 to 34 are far more likely than teens and older adults to be potential missionaries. (See p. 76.)

The findings are stunning: Half of engaged churchgoing young adults are open to God’s call to serve overseas! Are they currently planning on it? Based on their answers to the question about what kinds of missions engagement are likely for them, no: Just one in six young adults (17%) says long-term missions and one in three (36%) says short-term missions will be in their future (still, higher percentages than among older adults).

Even so, when given a chance to imagine themselves serving in specific missionary roles, half of engaged 18–34-year-olds say yes, they can see it. Let’s meet them.

Researchers were surprised at first that a significantly larger proportion of young men (58% of all engaged churchgoing men 18 to 34) than young women (45%) qualifies as potential missionaries. Male self-identified Christians of any generation have long been less likely than their female counterparts to engage in faith-related activities like weekly Bible reading (33% men vs. 37% women) and prayer (65% vs. 73%), so the high level of engagement among the engaged Christian young men in this study was, in the early days of analysis, unexpected. These young men are more likely than young women to say that, in the past seven days, they have read the Bible on their own (84% vs. 77% women), attended a small group or Bible study (62% vs. 53%) and volunteered at church (58% vs. 45%). By their own accounts, they are deeply invested in their own faith and in the life of their church community.