The Global Christian Forum’s (GCF) fourth global gathering kicked off in Accra, Ghana, with an emphasis on major demographic shifts in global Christianity. With the theme That the world may know, the event held from April 16 to twenty brought together 240 participants from 60 different countries representing all major Christian traditions.
As one among the keynote speakers, Dr. Gina Zurlo, an American sociologist and scholar of history of mission and world Christianity, highlighted Africa because the region emerging as a point of interest. Reviewing demographic shifts over the past 150 years, she pointed to the surprising statistic that today 44% of Protestant Christians reside in Africa.
According to the newest survey of worldwide Christianity, the gradual but significant shift has develop into evident when taking a look at the past century. In 1900, a overwhelming majority of 82% of Christians hailed from the Global North, in start contrast with the remaining 18% from the Global South, which can also be known as the Majority World, including populous regions similar to Asia, Africa and Latin America. Fast forward to the current, and the demographics have dramatically reversed, with only 33% of Christians within the Global North and 67% within the Global South.
Zurlo, who serves as co-director of the Center for the Study of Global Christianity at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, has focused her research on the demography of faith, World Christianity, sociology of faith, and ladies’s studies. She highlighted that recent research revealed that historically and in the current, women have played a major role on this demographic shift, comprising a majority of believers overall and actively participating in religious activities.
Current projections point to further shifts in the identical direction and suggest that by 2050, an awesome majority of 77% of Christians will hail from the Global South. These numbers include all streams of Christianity, from Roman Catholic, Orthodox, Protestants, evangelicals, Pentecostals, and charismatics.
“Evangelicals emerged within the 18th century as a renewal movement inside Protestantism shifting to the Global South over the twentieth century. And regardless that the United States is the country with probably the most evangelicals on the planet, 4 fifths of all evangelicals worldwide are people of color,” Zurlo observed.
The Pentecostal Charismatic Movement, originating within the early twentieth century, has develop into a trademark of Global South faith, encompassing diverse manifestations inside classical Pentecostalism, the Catholic Charismatic Movement, and other charismatic movements.
Zurlo noted that the trends offer some insights to where the subsequent centre of Christianity will likely be situated. “Wherever Christianity spread, and within the twentieth century, the Pentecostal charismatic movement spread with it, it seems that the long run of worldwide Christianity appears to be Pentecostal.”
As Christianity’s geographical distribution continues to vary, Africa and Asia witness a rise in Christian populations, while Europe and North America experience declines. Within these regions, the proliferation of Pentecostal and Charismatic movements adds to the religious diversity.
Zurlo emphasized the importance for Christian leaders to pay attention to these statistics and developments, as they may help them to know the changing global landscape inside Christianity.
