Is the Church growing? Not in North America. The latest edition of the "Yearbook of American&Canadian Churches," identified a "slight but startling decline" in two of the United States’ largest denominations.

The figures compiled by the National Council of Churches included a drop of 398,000 members in the Roman Catholic Church and 40,000 in the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC).

Although that is less than one percent for each, only four of the 25 largest church bodies report growth. And two (Mormons and Jehovah’s Witnesses) fall outside the definition of orthodox Christianity.

Immediate past SBC President Frank Page told the Associated Press that the decline in his denomination was troubling because of its emphasis on soul winning.

To get a wider view of what God is doing, though, it helps to broaden our vision beyond our borders. That was one of the benefits of hearing consultant Reggie McNeal at a recent seminar in Louisville, Ky., on the missional church.

During the session, he chronicled what is happening elsewhere. Citing respected author Philip Jenkins’ estimate that by 2050 there will be more than 2.5 billion Christians worldwide, McNeal pointed to India as an example of burgeoning growth. Only 2 percent Christian in 2000, it is now 10 percent, reflecting 80 million new believers.

"Ninety percent are (in) house churches because they don’t know how to ‘do church,’" McNeal joked. "In the West we’re trying to plant churches to start a movement. We’ve got it backward. Churches grow out of a movement."

The same phenomenon is happening elsewhere, such as in China and Africa, where the population went from 3 percent Christian to 47 percent in the past century.

In Indonesia, the Christian population is approaching 18 percent. Though the Indonesian government proclaims it is 90 to 95 percent Islamic, don’t believe it, McNeal said.

"People are adopting Christianity because it offers hope," he said. "We are seeing a Pentecost somewhere in the world every single hour. We’re saying ‘rain down’ and God says, "I’m pouring.’"

The figures for Europe and the Western world are mirror images of this good news. McNeal rattled off some percentages for church attendance: Australia, less than 5; France 0.5; and Germany and England, each at 2 percent.

While higher here, people who are "lying like dogs" to pollsters inflate the commonly-reported figure of 40 percent in the U.S., he said.

McNeal said this means that this nation is the largest English-speaking mission field in the world. Although he didn’t say so, what it doesn’t mean is that God has forgotten the Church—as evidenced by the explosions elsewhere.

"If we don’t wake up and smell the coffee and sniff the wind blowing, we’re going to miss this thing," McNeal said. "God’s not waiting on us to do it. What kind of God do you think we serve?"

As we survey shrinkage in the pews at home, it helps to remember that God is still moving. And, that just as a great revival swept the U.S. because of a businessman-led prayer meeting in the late 1850s, conditions are ripe for a repeat of history.