Candidate Profile Summary
The Finishers Project began collecting information in a database form on the web since May 2000. The total number of family units (last names) currently stands at 8532. The total number of entries is 13064 individuals including spouses. From the live database an up-to-the-minute summary of results is generated. Below is a live report.
Countries of Domicile Represented
What percentage of those that have placed their names on the Finishers Project web site indicate they live in North America or elsewhere?
| United States | 91.6 |
| Canada | 3.3 |
| All Others | 5.1 |
Process Stage
People make a self-evaluation as to where they are in the process of moving into missions from a career. What are the percentages in each process stage?
| Process Stage | |
| Beginning | 50.1 |
| Investigating | 40.3 |
| Deciding | 9.6 |
This is representative of missions-minded adults in America within +/- two percentage points within each category. About 1 in 12 are ready to decide which organization to join. However, most are exploring, open to be persuaded that personal involvement in the missions enterprise is a good life-choice for them. The Finishers Project is specifically designed to move people along from the early stages, so this profile should not be surprising.
Age Groups Represented
What percentage in each age bracket have placed their names on the Finishers Project web site indicating they are willing to consider options and opportunities in missions?
| before 1940 | 2.4 |
| 1940 — 1949 | 20.2 |
| 1950 — 1959 | 31.2 |
| 1960 — 1969 | 18.9 |
| 1970 — 1979 | 14.9 |
| 1980 — 1989 | 11.9 |
| 1990 + | 0.5 |
Over 50% are in the boomer generation. Over 35% are Gen-Xers and representation among the Millenial Generation exceeds 10%.
The older Builder Generation is not well represented on-line or in this database.
Financial Situation
Overall how do people rank their financial situation?
How do those in the boomer generation rank themselves?
What about the buster (Gen-X) generation?
Financial Category |
Boomers |
Gen Xers |
Millenials |
|
| Self supporting including travel and overhead | 14% |
16% |
10% |
13% |
| Self-supporting but needing travel and overhead | 22% |
26% |
15% |
18% |
| Need support but retirement is funded | 16% |
18% |
12% |
16% |
| Need support plus retirement | 22% |
19% |
29% |
23% |
| Will only consider paid positions | 16% |
14% |
20% |
17% |
| Must get out of debt first | 9% |
6% |
14% |
14% |
Not surprisingly, there is a difference in the financial positions of the generations. Overall about 1 in 3 can self-fund. Slightly over 4 in 10 boomers and nearly 1 in 4 Gen-Xers indicate they can be self-funded. Surprisingly, the stats for the Millienial generation are the same as for the Gen-X generation. The majority of all of these need to raise some travel and overhead funds.
Note that another 4 in 10 need to raise support in the conventional missionary manner in all generations. Of these about half the boomers have their retirement funded. Another 2 in 10 in the boomer generation, 3 in 10 for subsequent geneations indicate they require a salary, if the "in debt" category is included. It is likely this is not representative of the general population. It seems mission-minded people tend to be better off financially.
Financial Situation and DivorceOverall how does divorce affect the financial situation?
Financial Category |
either spouse |
either spouse |
|
| Total Database Population | 8532 |
5603 |
2461 |
| Self supporting including travel and overhead | 14% |
14% |
13% |
| Self-supporting but needing travel and overhead | 22% |
22% |
22% |
| Need support but retirement is funded | 16% |
16% |
17% |
| Need support plus retirement | 22% |
22% |
23% |
| Will only consider paid positions | 16% |
16% |
15% |
| Must get out of debt first | 9% |
10% |
10% |
Of these mission-minded people, 29 percent report having been divorced. This is lower than the general population. Unexpectedly, perhaps, divorce is not much of a factor in the financial situation of this segment of the population.
Preparation
Beginning in 2009, the candidate profile was changed to ask an optional question about knowledge of and status with Persepectives. The table below is a sample of 780 of a total of 1665 that have completed the profile since the start of 2009.
|
Perspectives Attendance |
Percent |
| Yes, more than 5 years ago | 3 |
| Yes, within the last 5 years | 8 |
| Currently enrolled | 3 |
| Planning to attend this or next year | 4 |
| No, but I am aware of Perspectives | 17 |
| No, never heard of it | 64 |
Note: Less than half answered the question. Of those responding to this survey question, two-thirds never heard of Perspectives on the World Christian Movement.
Readiness
The profile was also changed to ask where the candidates are on their faith journey.
|
Spiritual Readiness |
Percent |
Percent |
| Take full responsibility for assignments the Lord sets before me | 56 |
48 |
| Ready to stretch my experience of Jesus working through me | 33 |
30 |
| Ready to interact with Jesus and serve Him and others | 7 |
13 |
| Ready to observe Jesus and the nature of His mission using me | 3 |
8 |
| Not yet ready to call Jesus my Lord and my God | 0 |
1 |
Note: More than half indicate they are radical Christ-followers. About a third indicate they still need to be stretched. Spouses are a little behind the primary person constructing the profile.
Service — Length of Time
On the web site people are asked about the length of time they may be willing to serve. Below is the summary of those statistics:
|
Length of Service |
All Ages, % |
| Short-Term < 1 month | 13 |
| Short-Term 1 - 6 months | 16 |
| 6 mos — 2 years | 12 |
| Summer | 8 |
| Part-Time | 9 |
| Part of year | 7 |
| Full-Time | 39 |
| Not Sure | 55 |
About 4 in 10 indicate an interest in moving into missions full-time from their careers. The options of Part-time, Part of a year and summer are considered by about 2 in 10 that place their personal profile at the Finishers Project. If you concede the 6 mos — 2 year option "full-time" for that period, over half that enter their profiles on the Finishers Project web site are considering fully committing themselves to the global missions effort.
Notice that over half have indicated they are "Not Sure" as to the length of service to which are willing to commit. Most are open to a compelling challenge for a career switch. (The percents add up to over 100 as this is a multiple choice category.)
Where in the world?
People are permitted to indicate where in the world they might have a preference to serve. On the Finishers Project web site they are allowed to make more than one choice. However the percentages are based on the number of people not the number of choices, so the percentages add up to over 100%.
| Region of Preference | |
| Africa | 16 |
| CIS - Central Asia | 6 |
| Central America | 20 |
| Eastern Europe | 10 |
| Europe | 1 |
| India | 6 |
| Middle East | 12 |
| North America Total | 43 |
| Only North America | 24 |
| North America (among others) | 19 |
| Pacific Rim | 10 |
| Russia | 6 |
| South America | 18 |
| South East Asia | 16 |
| No Preference | 69 |
Over half of those indicating a willingness to serve in missions indicate No Preference for geographic location. This accurately reflects previous findings that people are more interested in joining God and offering their skills than in what agency they join or where they serve.
The North America choice is a little different. Over 1 in 5 indicated they will only take North American assignments. About 1 in 3 indicate interest in serving in either Central or South America. Nearly 1 in 6 indicate a preference for Western Europe. The remaining indicate preferences somewhat evenly spread out over the rest of the earth.
Note: The percentages add to over 100% because people can indicate multiple geographical preferences.
Languages
People are requested to indicate what languages they know. They are allowed to make more than one choice. The totals are based on the number of languages checked, not the number of people that know these languages. The total number of entries in the database is 8532. Of these 8099 report living in the US or Canada and 433 live outside North America.
| Languages | Americans |
|
| English (not native) | 283 |
487 |
| Spanish | 1216 |
1250 |
| French | 441 |
488 |
| German | 301 |
317 |
| Portuguese | 82 |
90 |
| Russian | 96 |
106 |
| Mandarin | 99 |
111 |
| Cantonese | 0 |
0 |
| Japanese | 53 |
59 |
| Arabic | 2 |
2 |
| Farsi | 3 |
3 |
| An Indian | 32 |
77 |
| Another European | 153 |
177 |
| An Asian | 191 |
227 |
| An African | 119 |
222 |
| Other | 282 |
341 |
Nelson Malwitz, Finishers Project Chief Innovation Officer, September, 2010