The Worldwide Church is Changing
By Rachel
Posted in: Connect
In 1800, 1 out of every 100 Christians lived in Africa, Asia or Latin America.
In 1900, 10 out of every 100 Christians lived in Africa, Asia or Latin America.
In 2000, 77% of Christians lived in Africa, Asia, and Latin America.
There are 100,000 new Christians every day and 4,500 new congregations every week.
God has done some amazing things in the last 100 years!
• In 1900, there were no Protestant churches in South Korea. Today, South Korea is 30% Christian.
• In 1900, Africa was 3% Christian. Today, sub-Saharan Africa is 50% Christian with 25,000 new believers daily.
• In 1900, there were 50,000 Protestants in Latin America. Today, the number has risen to 100 million.
• In 1950, in China, there were 1 million Christians. Today, there are more than 70 million believers, and there are 35,000 new believers daily.
• In 1900, those interested in evangelism and missions were approximately 14% of all Christians. In 2005, they were 32%.
The Christian “center of gravity” has shifted to the Global South (now having 62.5% of all Christians) and East (where East Asia has about 115 million Christians.
If the church in the West wants to be a part of God’s Great Commission, we must realize that we are no longer at the center of the Global Church and work harder at partnering and collaborating with our brothers and sisters around the world.
Stan Parks
