World Christianity and the Unfinished Task

A Very Short Introduction

F. Lionel Young, III

• Publisher: Cascade Books
• Year: 2021
• Print ISBN:
  9781725266537
  9781725266544
• eBook ISBN:
  9781725266551
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Christian Church

This book is a short introduction to one of the most remarkable transformations in the modern world that many people still do not know about. In 1900 more than 80 percent of the world's Christians lived in Europe and North America and nearly all of the world's missionaries were sent out "from the West to the rest." In a dramatic turn of events Christianity experienced a decidedly "Southern shift" during the twentieth century. Today nearly 70 percent of the world's 2.5 billion Christians live in Africa, Asia, and Latin America, while nearly half of all missionaries are being sent out into all the world from places like Brazil, Ethiopia, and South Korea. This book is intended to change the way readers think about the church and challenge the way the Western Christians engage in contemporary missions.

1

Shifting Southward

How the Gospel Is Turning the World Upside Down

“The era of Western Christianity has passed in our lifetimes, and the day of Southern Christianity is dawning.”

—Philip Jenkins, The Next Christendom

After a long day of study in Cambridge I usually walk to an old pub across from Magdalene College where C. S. Lewis (1898–1963) would often repair for a pint with a colleague.15 I consider this evening ritual a reward to myself for staying focused on research and writing throughout the day—especially when there are so many distractions that call out even in a place that is almost singularly devoted to study. At least that’s how I justify my pre-prandial pint—and I like to think that Lewis would heartily approve. It’s not unusual to strike up a conversation with another academic in an old world pub, and when I tell someone I’m doing research in World Christianity it sometimes requires a lengthy explanation.16 I recently told a fellow academic with a doctorate in aeronautics about the research I was doing on the history of Christianity in East Africa and he said: “Oh, yes! Isn’t that the study of how Christianity fell into decline after Africans gained their independence from the British?” I smiled, remembering that I knew almost nothing about aeronautical engineering, and then replied, “Actually, it’s quite the opposite. Christianity grew even more rapidly after decolonization.” He was both astonished and intrigued.

I could recount dozens of similar conversations, not only with fellow academics, but also with Christian laypersons that are passionate about missions. If you didn’t know that most Christians live in the non-Western world (the vast majority of them) and that the church actually grew more rapidly in Africa and Asia after decolonization, you are certainly not alone.17 Even rocket scientists don’t know about this remarkable turn of events! I’ve now become accustomed to the audible gasps in the room when I tell people that there are nearly three times as many Christians on the African continent than in the United States, Canada, and Greenland combined! The most recent data on World Christianity reports that in 2020 there were 267 million Christians in all of Northern America compared to 667 million followers of Christ in Africa!18 Many faithful church members, especially those in Northern America, find it almost inconceivable when they learn that the world’s largest mega churches are not in Houston, Dallas, Chicago, Atlanta, or Los Angeles; they are in Lagos (Nigeria), Harare (Zimbabwe), Nairobi (Kenya), Hyderabad (India), Surabaya (Indonesia), Rio de Janeiro (Brazil), and Seoul (South Korea). And the numbers aren’t even close!19

The Yale historian Lamin Sanneh (1942–2019) was born in West Africa and educated in the United States and England. He devoted most of his career to writing about Christianity in the non-Western world. Joel Carpenter is an academic whose work has largely focused on the history of Evangelicalism, a movement that has now expanded beyond the borders of the United States and Europe.20 In the introduction to their collaborative work on Africa and the West in 2005 they observed that

One of the most important and least examined changes in the world over the past century has been the rapid rise of Christianity in non-Western societies and cultures. In 1900, 80 percent of the world’s professing Christians were Europeans or North Americas. Today, 60 percent of Christians live in the global South and East.21

Those words were written in 2005—some fifteen years ago. The percentage of Christians living in the Global South is now closing in on 70 percent and scholars are working overtime to explore these “least examined changes.” The growth of the church in the non-Western world is not only remarkable, it is considered by leading experts to be one of the least understood subjects of our day.

A World Tour of Christianity

Christianity has always been a world religion, but it is now growing most rapidly in the ...

Table of contents

• Title Page
• Foreword
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction
• Chapter 1: Shifting Southward
• Chapter 2: Counting Every Soul on Earth
• Chapter 3: Converting Colonialism
• Chapter 4: The Surprising Work of God
• Chapter 5: The Unfinished Task
• Chapter 6: The White Man’s Burden
• Chapter 7: A Century of Partnerships?
• Bibliography