A gap that keeps wideningThe first number Mandryk put before the congress was one that, he acknowledged, many in the room might already know. Because the world's highest birth rates are concentrated in its least-evangelized regions, the number of unevangelized people is not shrinking. In 50 AD, approximately 99.9 percent of humanity had not heard the gospel — the Church was barely a generation old. "Just those two countries by themselves represent over a billion people who are still waiting to hear about Jesus," Mandryk said. By comparison, he noted, Americans spend more money annually on Halloween costumes for pets than the entire Christian world gives to frontier mission.