New Research Shows What May Be the ‘Future of Christianity’
The global population of evangelical Christians is rapidly increasing, now comprising over 25 percent of all Christians worldwide-up from just 8 percent in 1960-with about 600 to 650 million evangelicals today. This growth is primarily concentrated in africa, Asia, and Latin America, where over two-thirds of Christians now live, and nearly 70 percent of global Christian growth happens in Africa. These trends reflect a relative decline in Christianity within Western nations. jason Mandryk of Operation World highlighted that evangelicalism is no longer predominantly a Western or “white man’s” religion, emphasizing that its expansion occurs through natural growth, evangelism, and conversions from other Christian traditions. However,the term “evangelical” encompasses a wide range of beliefs and practices globally,with no single,uniform definition. Other studies similarly note that the majority of evangelicals reside in the global South, confirming the ongoing shift in Christianity’s demographic center.
Evangelical Christianity is quickly growing around the world, making up an increasingly large of mankind’s total Christian population.
Jason Mandryk, a researcher and author at Operation World, delivered a presentation at the World Evangelical Alliance General Assembly in Seoul, South Korea, detailing the trend, per a news release d Monday by The Christian Post.
In 1960, only 8 percent of Christians around the world were evangelical.
But today, it’s more than 25 percent.
That means there are around 600 million or 650 million evangelicals.
Over two-thirds of Christians now live in Africa, Asia, and Latin America, with almost 70 percent of all worldwide Christian growth occurring in Africa.
Such trends correspond with a relative decline in Christianity for Western nations.
“The future of Christianity is already here, and it has already been here for 45 years. This is not new news,” Mandryk said.
“The notion of Christianity and Evangelicalism as the white man’s religion is rapidly shrinking in the rearview mirror.”
Mandryk said that the rise in evangelical identification comes through reproduction, evangelism, and the switch in affiliation from other types of Christian traditions into evangelicalism.
But some have noted that the term “evangelical” lacks clarity, describing an incredibly wide array of practices around the world.
“There are many tribes of Evangelicals, many points of contention regarding what our priorities should be, and, therefore, it becomes necessary to acknowledge there is no one single definition to rule them all,” Mandryk asserted.
“It means different things to different people. And even being Evangelical means different things to different Evangelicals,” he added.
“And apart from jettisoning this term entirely, which I don’t think the WEA is very likely to do, we’re going to have to operate in this reality that there is not a single understanding of what it means to be an Evangelical.”
Other studies have noted a similar increase in worldwide evangelical identification.
An article published by Gordon Conwell Theological Seminary more conservatively said that the number of evangelicals climbed from 112 million in 1970 to 386 million in 2020.
The article also noted that 77 percent of evangelicals live in the global south.
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