One of the encouraging issues I address in my forthcoming book Pressure Points: Twelve Global Issues Shaping the Face of the Church is that of the growth of the Church in the Majority World (Majority World commonly refers to the non-Western world, where the number of peoples and believers are in the majority.).
For over 200 years, Prote
stant missionaries went into all the world as a part of the modern missionary movement. They sacrificed. They loved. They preached. They planted churches. They developed leaders. . . . And for the most part, the churches in North America rarely asked, “Has God done anything over the past two centuries with all of our praying, giving, and going?”
Yes. Yes He has. And He continues to move in powerful ways.
Some of the fastest growing and largest churches in the world are outside of the West. Presently, Nigeria claims to be 51% Christian, with evangelicals comprising 31% of the population of 158 million people. If you recall from my last post in this series, the United States is about 26% evangelical and Canada 8%. Consider the following evangelical percentages in some other countries:
- Kenya 49%
- Uganda 37%
- Central African Republic 32%
- El Salvador 32%
- Zimbabwe 31%
- Nigeria 31%
- Nicaragua 30%
- Burundi 27%
In his book, The New Shape of World Christianity, Mark Noll noted the following concerning the transformation that has already occurred in the Majority World:
- In all likelihood, more believers gathered for worship in China this past Sunday than in all of “Christian Europe.”
- More Anglicans gathered for worship this past Sunday in each of Kenya, South Africa, Tanzania, and Uganda than the Anglicans gathering in Britain and Canada, and Episcopalians in the United States combined.
- More Presbyterians gathered for worship this past Sunday in Ghana than in Scotland.
- There were six to eight times as many people gathering for worship in the Yoido Full Gospel Church in Seoul as gathered for worship in Canada’s ten largest churches.
- Europe’s largest church is in Kiev and is pastored by a Nigerian of Pentecostal background.
- Each week fifteen thousand missionaries, mostly from Africa and Asia, are evangelizing communities in Great Britain.
The centers for much Christian activity are found in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. It has been estimated that by 2025 the world will contain 2.6 billion Christians, with 633 million from Africa, 640 million from Latin America, 460 million from Asia, and 555 million from Europe.
And after centuries of teaching peoples to obey all that Christ commanded, they have been going into all the world to make disciples of all nations. Consider the numbers of missionaries coming from the following countries:
- India 82,950
- China, PRC 20,000
- Nigeria 6,644
- Philippines 4,500
- Indonesia 3,000
- Ghana 2,000
- Ukraine 1,599
- Mexico 794
- Bangladesh 500
- Thailand 468
- Malaysia 380
- Argentina 350
- Japan 300
- Romania 130
The growth of the Majority World Church is a pressure point shaping the face of the Church today. Particularly for those of us in the West, we now must address matters such as how do we enter into healthy partnerships with our brothers and sisters from the Majority World while avoiding paternalism? We know this philosophy and practice very well. What can we learn from the Majority World Church? They have much to teach us. How can we help them carry out the Great Commission? Though some people (both from the West and the Majority World) would have us believe that the Church in the West should get out of the way of the Church in the Majority World, such thinking is foolish and unbiblical. We have much to offer. What does global disciple making now look like when many of the traditionally missionary-receiving countries are also missionary-sending countries? These are exciting times!
You may find the previous posts in this series linked below:
The Church and the Pressures of the Age
Pressure Points may be pre-ordered HERE.
(image credit: Image by © Royalty-Free/Corbis, Microsoft Office)
I very much agree. Exciting times!
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It never ceases to amuse me that the church in the West feels that the unless they are somehow involved, then the church in the majority world(as they call it) cannot fulfill God’s mission. Really?
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