Of All Nations

For the past few years, I spent time to read, study, and apply discipleship in a local church. Perhaps, I know this topic fairly well now. My interest has been gradually shifted from a local setting to a global setting. In other words, it’s shifted from “make disciples” to “of all nations.” God has been doing surprising work around the globe. How should I respond to God’s work? For the past few months, I’ve started to read books on globalization or global faith. How can I prepare myself to go globally in the future?  I just start to read Timothy Tennent’s Theology in the Context of World Christianity: How the Global Church is Influencing the Way We Think about and Discuss Theology (Zondervan, 2007). There have been many shifts in the “center of gravity” of the world Christian movement. The gospel is for all people and all nations. It’s not owned by any particular group.

An excerpt:

We live at another one of these important transitions in the history of Christianity as we experience the rise of the Majority World church and the signs of the possible, although once unthinkable, demise of Western Christianity. Evidence of this development is seen, for example, when we observe where the majority of Christians are now located around the world. This is often referred to as a shift in the “center of gravity” of the world Christian movement. The statistical center of gravity refers to that point on the globe with an equal number of Christians living north, south, east, and west of that point.

After its birth in Asia, Christianity had its most vigorous growth as it moved steadily westward and northward. As more and more people in the West embraced Christianity, the statistical center of gravity moved north and west. However, beginning in 1900, the statistical center began to shift dramatically southward, and in 1970 it began to move eastward for the first time in 1, 370 years! Today, the statistical center of Christianity is located in Timbuktu! This means that for the first time since the Reformation, the majority of Christians (approximately 67 percent) are now located outside of the Western world.

Some specific examples of how the church is changing will, perhaps, help to illustrate this shift better. At the turn of the twentieth century the Christian church was predominately white and Western. In 1900, there were over 389 million Christians in Europe and less than 10 million on the entire continent of Africa. Today there are over 367 million Christians in Africa, comprising one fifth of the entire Christians church. Throughout the twentieth century a net average gain of 16, 500 people were coming to Christ every day in Africa. From 1970 to 1985, for example, the church in Africa grew by over six million people. During that same time, 4, 300 people per day were leaving the church in Europe and North America.” (pp. 8-9)