Amid growing concerns over a lack of discipleship in the global Church and the inability to keep pace with shifting demographics, Bishop Efraim Tendero, executive director of the Galilean Movement and former secretary general of the World Evangelical Alliance, convened a gathering of U.S.-based and international church and ministry leaders at Regent University in Virginia Beach, VA, from March 25–26.
The event—co-hosted by Regent and the Christian Broadcasting Network—focused on confronting the widening gap between church growth and true disciple-making, and challenged participants to reexamine the Church’s role in responding to the spiritual needs of a rapidly changing world.
In his keynote address, Tendero outlined some of the historic and contemporary trends in the U.S. and globally that raised questions about the Church’s effectiveness in raising Christians as disciples of Jesus Christ who also disciple others.
Despite the world’s population surpassing 8 billion, the number of committed Christians remains stagnant, he observed. Citing data from the Joshua Project, he said that only 11 percent of the global population are considered active followers of Jesus Christ, while 21 percent are nominal Christians, 40 percent have heard the Gospel but not responded, and 28 percent remain unreached.
Tendero said these numbers call for reflection and reform. “We need to ask why—after almost 2,000 years since Jesus gave the Great Commission—we are still lagging behind,” he said. “Is something wrong? Is something missing?”
The Galilean Movement seeks to address the underlying issues by facilitating conversations that lead to a collaborative response, he said. It aims to mobilize one million churches and training institutions to raise what Tendero calls “Christlike harvest workers” by 2033—the 2,000th anniversary of the birth of the Church, the resurrection of Christ, and the Great Commission.
Tendero cited several studies that point to a shrinking church footprint in the West. According to research by Barna Group and other institutions, church attendance in the United States has declined significantly over the past two decades, especially among younger generations. In 2019, while 3,000 new churches were planted in the U.S., approximately 4,500 churches closed.
He also noted the demographic growth of other religious groups. According to one study, “Muslims are projected to grow by 70 percent by 2050, compared to 35 percent for Christians,” Tendero said, calling the disparity “alarming.”
These trends, he argued, reflect a larger problem: the church’s over-reliance on professional clergy, a fragmented landscape of ministries, and a widespread failure to make disciples according to the model laid out in the New Testament.
A return to early church models
Tendero emphasized that the growth in the early years of the Church described in the book of Acts was not led by clergy but by ordinary believers that were scattered due to persecution. Today, he said, many churches remain clergy-centric, limiting the scope and speed of mission.
He also criticized what he described as a lack of coordination among ministries and a tendency for leaders to prioritize building their own institutions over advancing a shared vision. “We are busy building empires, not the Kingdom of God,” he said.
Tendero called for churches and ministries to shift away from what he described as an “ABC” model—focused on Attendance, Buildings, and Cash—and to adopt what he termed a “D” model: Disciple-making.
“The church has become inwardly focused,” he said. “We measure success by the size of our buildings, the money we raise, and how many people attend—but not by how many disciples we are making.”
Overcoming the barriers to discipleship
Tendero identified three barriers that he believes prevent churches from engaging in effective discipleship. First, many congregations focus internally and lack vision for training members to influence their broader communities. “A church should be like a hospital,” he said. “You help people get well, but you don’t keep them in the hospital forever.”
Second, many pastors have not been discipled themselves and have few models for how to disciple others. “Seminary training tends to focus on academics, not relational discipleship,” he said. “We cannot give what we don’t have.”
Third, he said many churches lack intentionality. “Programs are not the problem,” he said. “But if our programs don’t lead people to become Christlike and multiply others, we’re missing the mark.”
The Galilean Movement, named for the region where Jesus began his public ministry, seeks to catalyze disciple-making at a global scale. Tendero said the goal is not to form a new organization but to serve as a catalyst that helps coordinate collaboration among existing churches, training institutions, and mission groups.
“We want to see Christlike harvest workers in every sector of society,” he said, “not just in churches, but in business, medicine, education, and government—everywhere.”
According to Tendero, the movement pursues a three-phase strategy: first, enlisting churches and institutions willing to prioritize disciple-making; second, equipping leaders and congregations through coaching and workshops; and third, evaluating progress using defined benchmarks.
He noted that 12 countries, including his native Philippines, have already committed to national disciple-making initiatives. In the Philippines, the National Evangelical Alliance has launched a campaign to involve its 50,000 member churches.
A call for unity and accountability
Tendero repeatedly returned to the need for unity within the global Church, saying the fragmentation of the body of Christ is a major obstacle to progress. He pointed to Jesus’ prayer in John 17 as a model for collaboration.
“We need to eliminate competition and pursue cooperation,” he said. “This is not the work of one organization—it’s the work of the whole body of Christ.”
He also addressed issues of leadership integrity, citing financial scandals and moral failures as further threats to the church’s witness. “We enjoy the promise of Jesus’ presence,” he said, referring to Matthew 28:20, “but we forget that his presence also demands accountability.”
Tendero urged those in attendance to see the coming years leading up to 2033 as an opportunity to catalyze change. The Galilean Movement, he said, hopes to influence not only local congregations but also seminaries, national evangelical alliances, and international networks.
“If we want to reach the billions who have not yet heard the Gospel, we must return to the only strategy Jesus gave us: make disciples,” he said, and challenged participants: “If this is the strategy of Jesus—perhaps the only one—what will you do about it?”
