There are a number of factors that contribute to the growth or decline of Christianity in any given area. Listen to This Article. Tertullian would not be surprised. According to the research organization Operation World, Iran has the fastest-growing evangelical movement in the world. According to the research organization Operation World, Iran has the fastest-growing evangelical movement in the world. Churches also find that having them in community with older members and answering their whys help them stay in the church. But in the Great Commission, Jesus tells us to make disciples (not converts) and teach them to obey everything he commanded. The team looks at the familiar and dismal story of Europe, with its "state churches." Nigeria has the largest population of Christians in Africa, followed by Ethiopia and Egypt. Smith argued that "a market economy spurs competition, innovation and vigor among firms by forcing them to compete" so in theory "an unregulated religious marketplace would have the same effect.". The good news for concerned Christians is that, if our research and analysis are correct, it may be possible to reverse trends toward secularization. Christianity in the United States, and in particular the evangelical movement, stands today at a very precarious crossroads. Help us continue to be a voice for truth in the media by supporting CBN News for as little as $1. Additionally, Christianity also faces competition from other religions, such as Islam and Buddhism. Indeed, the church persisted through poverty, war, dictatorship, and national crises throughout Korean history. Instead, Jesus left them with a mission: You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judaea and Samaria and to the end of the earth (Acts 1:8). People like carpenters, sports coaches, taxi drivers, schoolteachers, custodians, farmers, and even politicians are making disciples and planting churches. Its illegal to kill anyone. Christianity is growing rapidly in the Philippines, thanks in part to aggressive proselytizing by evangelical groups. There's further timeliness in the Gallup Poll's March bombshell that less than half of Americans now claim religious affiliations, the lowest mark since it began asking about this 84 years ago. Do some more research.. Dont try to misguide people. How do you not know that? He pastored two mission sending churches and co-founded Final Command Ministries. Yet Christianity persisted by going underground. The rate of growth among Evangelicals in Nepal is 5.3%. Here are the top 10 countries where Christianity is growing the fastest: Nigeria China The Philippines India Brazil Indonesia Kenya South Africa Ethiopia Tanzania Nigeria has the largest Christian population in Africa and is also home to a large number of Muslim residents. Join thousands of others to get the FREEDOM POST newsletter for free, sent twice a week from The Christian Post. It's often said that the American founders' pioneering separation of church and state energized Christianity across two centuries. Want to help your child build lasting, meaningful friendships? In 1910, Christians made up 26.8% of the global population. In short, Christianity in Africa, as in Asia, is thriving not because it is supported by the state but because it is not supported. As official aid increases, the number of Christians declines significantly. They report this is cause-and-effect, not mere correlation (unrelated events occurring simultaneously) and holds true after accounting for other factors like demographic trends. The majority of Christians in Europe are Catholic, although there are significant Protestant populations in countries like the United Kingdom and Germany. The rate of growth among Evangelicals in Nepal is 5.3%. When Adam has questions or answers about Christianity, he now researches and posts about it here on TheWitness.org to share with the world. By comparison, Christianity is estimated to have grown to 1. Africa is home to the largest number of Christians in the world, with around 685million believers. Today, there are nearly 700 million Christians in Africa, making it the worlds most Christian continent in terms of population. The worlds Christian population is expected to grow from 2.2 billion in 2010 to 2.9 billion in 2050. So, even before they come to faith, they are discipled into sharing what they are learning about God. Christianity is the worlds largest religion, with over 2.3billion followers worldwide. The worlds Christian population is growing in Africa and the Asia-Pacific region. European churches have taken on a largely ceremonial function but play little role in peoples everyday lives. If you persecute us, we grow even more. The team claims this research substantiates the following theory, which is not new but now gets statistical grounding. According to the research organization Operation World, Iran has the fastest-growing evangelical movement in the world. If Jesus is Lord of all, then there is no area of life that is not rightfully his. It is worth noting,as author Rod Dreher has, Prime Minister Victor Orbans governance in Budapest is very much aligned with politically conservative Christian views. Rula Ghani, the first lady of Afghanistan, is a Maronite Christian from Lebanon. Christianity has been estimated to be growing rapidly in South America, Africa, and Asia. Lifeway Research, a ministry of Lifeway Christian Resources, Pastors Say Christmas Eve Is Most-Attended Holiday Service, 6 Concerning Trends in Global Christianity, The Places Where No One Knows a Christian, How the Growing Global Church Can Encourage American Christians, 2022 Status of Global Christianity report. Some are sending workers to help Global North churches and ministries. Because South Korea is not a Christian country, Christianity enjoys no special relationship to the state. Overall, Christianity is growing slightly more than it is declining. This approach results in personal transformation as well as community transformation. The religion has a strong presence in Africa and Asia and is also expanding in Latin America. Help us continue to be a voice for truth in the media by supporting CBN News for as little as $1. Please click here to learn how. During the first three decades of communist rule in China, the church was subjected to severe persecution, especially during the era known as the Cultural Revolution from 1966 to 1976. Interestingly, some research even suggests that missionaries from state-supported churches are less effective than missionaries whose commissioning churches are independent of the state. By 2060 six of the countries with the top ten largest Christian populations will be in Africa, up from three in 2015, according to a new Pew Research Center report. Plus if a non-muslim or Muslim kills someone it should be condemned justly, equally. If you need a fact you can contact me. Some say I follow this version and read that version. Hes created the whole universe. I want to assure you that Islam is the fastest and fastest growing religion in the world. In places where Christians enjoy official support from national governments, religious faith tends to decline. While Christianity faces some challenges in the modern world, it appears that the religion will continue to grow in the years to come. Why so much outrage over the burning of an LGBT Pride flag? That has now fallen to 28%, according to the 2022 Status of Global Christianity report. By 2050, most Christians (50.4%) around the world will live in non-majority Christian nations, according to the 2022 Status of Global Christianity report. Speaking Out is Christianity Todays guest opinion column and (unlike an editorial) does not necessarily represent the opinion of the publication. However, it is not in the way devout believers might expect. There are close to 801,000 Evangelicals in Nepal, nearly 10 times the number in Afghanistan. Members of Discovery Groups are also encouraged to tell others about what they are learning. Trends that influence news: Where in the world is Christianity still growing? where did you read this propaganda hamilton shut up dude. If these numbers reveal anything to Christians, it is that believers should place their trust not in conventional wisdom, but in the often paradoxical work of the Holy Spirit. A Discovery Bible Study in Alabama went viral and impacted multiple countries and a huge number of people. CONTINUE READING: Where is Christianity still growing?, by Richard Ostling. The sacralization of politics suggests that the US may be headed down the same path as its European counterparts. Ive got some points. Since World War II, Korean Christianity has grown exponentially, with tens of thousands of churches being built and seminaries producing thousands of graduates every year. At least 5 percent of Chinas population of nearly 1.5 billion people now subscribes to Christianity. While it is difficult to determine exactly how many Christians live in Iran, given that most keep their faith secret for fear of persecution, it is estimatedbacked by survey datathat there could be as many as a million Iranian believers. 38% of the world population. In some parts of the world, such as Europe and North America, Christianity is actually in decline due largely to these factors. Just as iron sharpens iron, competition hones religion. Omg, this is so wrong. Hinduism was created long ago by an unknown person, however it does not have the title for first religion ideology wiseonly oldest named. The scholars proposing a 21st Century version of this are Nilay Saiya (writing solo in CT) and study partner Stuti Manchanda, both at the public policy department of Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. So: Bad times for Christians are good times for Christianity? The Associated Press turns crisis pregnancy centers into 'anti-abortion' sites and that's that, Pentecostalism from soup to nuts: A (near) complete history of this movement in America, About that Christian trans teen report -- Washington Post ignored all the inconvenient voices, Ciao, GetReligion: Thanks, all, for my tenure. Christianity is growing faster in Africa than any other place in the world and more Christians live in Africa than any other continent, according to the 2022 Status of Global Christianity report. Christianity, like all religions, faces a number of challenges in the modern world. The team says the pattern holds as "hundreds of millions of Christians live in countries where they experience high levels of persecution" and yet "prove extraordinarily resilient." Published Feb. 11, 2021 Updated Feb. 12, 2021. Look at the teams list of the worlds 10 fastest-declining Christian populations. For much of the 20th century, social scientists answered this question by appealing to the so-called secularization thesis: the theory that science, technology, and education would result in Christianitys declining social influence. Need prayer? Ive made plenty of spell,gram mistakes,I was kinda fast. Hundreds of large people groups that had been Muslim for many centuries, are now seeing ordinary people making disciples that transform whole communities. They are polytheistic. Christians attempting to curry the favor of the state become distracted from their missions as they become engrossed in the things of Caesar rather than in the things of God to maintain their privileged stations. This example illustrates well the paradox of pluralism. Conversions credited to women evangelists sharing the good news one-on-one in conversations. We know the truth except if we failed to speak it out. Today thats between 800,000 to 1 million people. Ephesians 4 tells us that pastors are to equip believers to do ministry in other words, pastors are to be coaches and teachers, but the actual work of ministry is to be carried out by the people in the congregation something we see in the churches in the Global South. Almost all of the Pygmy peoples of Africa are seeing dramatic transformation by the Gospel of the Kingdom in the last 12 years. When Communists took power in 1949, there were one million Protestants living in China, compared with 58 million in 2010 and probably around 100 million in 2019, he said. Tanzania, Uganda and Kenya are all projected to join the list, displacing Russia, Germany and China. These are the countries with the fastest-growing Christian populations (the states with low/no official support for the faith are in bold): Tanzania,Malawi, Zambia,Uganda,Rwanda,Madagascar,Liberia, Kenya,DR Congo, andAngola. Not surprisingly, Christianitys growth in Africa and Asia is explosive. Even the idea of what it means to be a disciple is different. It currently ranks as the second-largest sender of missionaries, trailing only the United States. This year, 93 million copies of Gods word will be printed, up from 54 million in 2000 and 5 million in 1900, according to the 2022 Status of Global Christianity report. A campus minister at a large state school is reading the Word one hour a day, interceding one hour a day and listening for Gods response one hour a day 5-6 days a week. We are living in a season of the greatest church growth since the 1st century! Like most Christians, Adam has questioned his faith at more than one occasion. But this one is raised by a brand-new article this week at Christianity Today and a more academic version posted by the journal Sociology of Religion. 18 billion adherents, accounting for 24. That contention is a modern update on Tertullian's 2nd Century maxim during an era of outright persecution, "semen est sanguis Christianorum" "blood is the seed of Christians." Ironically, though, Christianity is often the strongest in countries where it has to compete with other faith traditions on an equal playing field. Peace out Is Christianity Growing Or Declining In The World? WebSingapore, China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Indonesia, and Malaysia are said to have the fastest-growing Christian communities and the majority of the new believers are upwardly mobile, urban, middle-class Chinese. Many Christians believe that the best way for Christianity to thrive is to shut out all other religions. So our Lord has to be something, hes to be the greatest. Associated Press report mentions Clinton-era religious liberty principles (updated). Christianity has been estimated to be growing rapidly in South America, Africa, and Asia. Countries with high birth rates tend to see more growth in Christianity, as there are simply more people being born into the religion. Let's not forget that, Why revival must be tethered to Scripture, Revelation 9: The pit, the smoke and hideous demon creatures, Sadie Robertson Huff, mom Korie talk sex, sin and harmful messages taught in the church, Former youth pastor gets 60 years in prison for sex crimes involving boys, Hilarion Heagy, Eastern Catholic monk, renounces Christianity for Islam. 914-661-1374 The Christian share of the population is down and religious nones have grown across multiple demographic groups: white people, black people and Hispanics; men and women; in all regions of the country; and among college graduates and those with lower levels of educational attainment. Remarkably, Protestants even witnessed sizable growth by the end of the Cultural Revolution. Across just one century it moved from a land largely devoid of Christians to the faith's command of a third of the population, with vibrant churches that send evangelists across the globe. The Top 20 Countries Where Christianity Is Growing TheFastest, Europe is home to around 700 million Christians, China has the second-largest Christian population. But if Orthodoxy is weak nonetheless, remember the decades when Communists made every legal and illegal effort to exterminate the Orthodox faith and with it to exterminate unnumbered priests and parishioners. Tanzania, Uganda and Kenya are all projected to join the list, displacing Russia, Germany and China. Christianity is growing faster than any time in history. Opinions expressed are solely those of the author(s). Get the best from CT editors, delivered straight to your inbox! Since World War II, Korean Christianity has grown exponentially, with tens of thousands of churches being built and seminaries producing thousands of graduates every year. Indeed, the 10 countries noted above with the fastest-growing Christian populations in the world from 2010 to 2020 are all located in sub-Saharan Africa. The growth of Christianity in these regions can be attributed to a number of factors: evangelism, natural population growth, and immigration. Lay ministry is also central in the Global South to finding pastors. That Europe is the most secular region of the worldand also the richesthas led many to posit a causal relationship between affluence and the decline of Christianity. Who is Jesus? Church attendance in these countries remains the lowest in the Christian world, despite the fact that the vast majority of citizens in these states retain their official church memberships. As such, the country has passed legislation to that end. With Gossip of the Gospel, the Church Grows in Nepal, Southern Baptist Convention Disfellowships Saddleback Church, To Keep Gen Z in the Pews, One Singapore Church Lets Them Run the Service, Complete access to articles on ChristianityToday.com, Over 120 years of magazine archives plus full access to all of CTs online archives. As China also has 10m-12m Catholics, there are more Christians in China today than in France (38m) or Germany (43m). To enjoy our website, you'll need to enable JavaScript in your web browser. The studys findings,outlined in Christianity Todayby authors Nilay Saiya and Stuti Manchanda, buck conventional wisdom. This would require institutions of faith to shun the temptation of privilege and to not see religious competition as threatening and something to be shut out. Never Ending Leadership Training for All. Return to homepage. Despite facing extreme persecution where the government has outlawed conversion from Islam, imprisons those who evangelize, and arrests people for attending secret house churches or sharing Christian literature its believed there could beat least one million Christiansin the Islamic country. Looking back, Asia began the last century with only one Christianized nation, the Philippines, but more recently the faith has grown at twice the rate of the population. Africa in 1900 had only pockets of Christians, mostly in coastal locations but today is the worlds most Christian continent in terms of population.. How do we explain this paradox? Another factor is the rate of conversion. Currently, Christianity is growing fastest in Africa and Asia. This means that, although religion is not growing as rapidly as it once was, it is still slowly expanding. Christians confront persecution not only from the Islamist government but also from Islamist militants who target religious minorities. The academic article is headlined "Paradoxes of Pluralism, Privilege and Persecution: Explaining Christian Growth and Decline Worldwide," and available for purchase. Now, all of that is familiar to missionary strategists and historians of the modern church. But this one is raised by a brand-new article this week at ChristianityToday.com and a more academic version posted by the journal Sociology of Religion. I am born Hindu reverted to Islam. The disciples were perplexed when, 40 days after Jesus resurrection, He ascended to heaven without restoring the earthly kingdom of Israel, a political victory they were certain was imminent. South Korea is a much-discussed example. In 2000, 814 million Christians lived in Europe and North America, while 660 million Christians called African and Asia home. Some successful politicians have positioned themselves as defenders of Christianity against an alien Islamic faith that threatens the Christian integrity of their respective countries. What about places where the state has propped up churches with money, favoritism, status, and legal advantages? Today Christianity is growing rapidly in certain Muslim countries such as Iran and Afghanistan, where the faith experiences a high level of persecution. The continent is now firmly established as "the most secular region of the world -- and also the richest," with the lowest church attendance in the Christianized world. Not surprisingly, Christianitys growth in Africa and Asia is explosive. In many churches in America, to become a pastor requires years of formal education, at the very least a degree from a Bible college and often a Master of Divinity degree. Where in the world is Christianity still growing, and why? In 1900, less than 1 million people around the world identified as Pentecostal or charismatic Christians. In fact, Christianity in Korea endured the brutal persecution of Japanese colonial rule, during which churches were forcibly closed down and their properties confiscated. Glenn Sunshine is a professor of history at Central Connecticut State University, a Senior Fellow of the Colson Center for Christian Worldview, and the founder and president of Every Square Inch Ministries. These paradoxes hold important ramifications for Christian communities around the world. Good. Thats massive growth. According to Operation World, Iran has the fastest-growing evangelical movement in the world. Nilay Saiya is assistant professor of public policy and global affairs at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. Where is Christianity still growing, and why? Unaffiliated groups are growing fastest in some of the more Catholic countries around the world in South America, Mexico and Poland along with several countries in Africa. 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