{"id":31322,"date":"2022-09-10T15:25:48","date_gmt":"2022-09-10T20:25:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/10-encouraging-trends-of-global-christianity-in-2020\/"},"modified":"2022-09-10T15:25:48","modified_gmt":"2022-09-10T20:25:48","slug":"10-encouraging-trends-of-global-christianity-in-2020","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/10-encouraging-trends-of-global-christianity-in-2020\/","title":{"rendered":"10 Encouraging Trends of Global Christianity in 2020"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Kyle Glenn photo – Unsplash<\/div>\n

By Aaron Earls<\/em><\/p>\n

With so much happening in the U.S. in 2020, particularly within the church, American Christians can often forget theirs is a global faith.<\/p>\n

There are significant and noteworthy trends of Christianity happening around the world right now, according to the latest Status of Global Christianity report from Gordon Conwell Theological Seminary.<\/p>\n

1. Both Africa and Latin America have more Christians than Europe.<\/strong><\/h3>\n

In 1900, twice as many Christians lived in Europe than in the rest of the world. Today, the Christian population in Europe has a flat growth rate, while Africa and Asia continue to experience dramatic growth.<\/p>\n

Currently, almost 640 million Christians live in Africa and 604 million in Asia, while 544 million call Europe home.<\/p>\n

2. Evangelical Christianity is at home in the global South.<\/strong><\/h3>\n

According to the World Christian Encyclopedia<\/em>:<\/p>\n

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The number of Evangelicals in the world has increased from 112 million in 1970 to 386 million in 2020. Globally, Evangelicalism is a predominantly non-White movement within Christianity, and is becoming increasingly more so, with 77% of all Evangelicals living in the Global South in 2020. This is up from only 7.8% in 1900.<\/p>\n

3. Christianity is growing at five times the rate as atheism.<\/strong><\/h3>\n

There are fewer atheists around the world now (147 million) than there were in 1970 (165 million).<\/p>\n

In recent decades, atheism has started to experience minor growth but only at a 0.22% rate.<\/p>\n

Christianity, on the other hand, is growing at 1.19% rate and is expected to continue to grow and add adherents globally.<\/p>\n

4. By 2050, Charismatic Christians will outnumber the non-religious.<\/strong><\/h3>\n

The total of all non-religious individuals around the world currently sits at more than 878 million, while Pentecostal\/Charismatic Christians number 644 million.<\/p>\n

In the next 30 years, however, that branch of Christianity will top 1 billion, while the non-religious will be closing in on 850 million.<\/p>\n

5. Christianity will top 3 billion adherents before 2050.<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Currently, Christianity is the only religion with more than 2 billion followers. In the next five years, Islam will cross that threshold. Hinduism recently topped 1 billion.<\/p>\n

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See also  What Sparks Evangelical Generosity? Discipleship<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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By 2050, Christianity will be the first to reach 3 billion. More than 3.4 billion people will be Christians then, according to the Gordon Conwell projections.<\/p>\n

6. By 2050, almost 1.3 billion Christians will live in Africa.<\/strong><\/h3>\n

As Christianity continues to grow worldwide, the main driver of the growth remains Africa, increasing at a 2.86% rate.<\/p>\n

Before 2050, it will be the first continent that is home to more than 1 billion Christians.<\/p>\n

7. The percentage of the world that remains unevangelized continues to fall.<\/strong><\/h3>\n

While there are more than twice as many unevangelized people alive today than 100 years ago, they represent a smaller number than ever before.<\/p>\n

In 1900, more than half the world\u2019s population was unevangelized (54.3%). In 2020, that percentage has decreased to 28.3%.<\/p>\n

8. The percentage of non-Christians who know a Christian is climbing.<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Part of the reason for the decline in the unevangelized can be attributed to the growth in non-Christians knowing a Christian.<\/p>\n

While few non-Christians know a Christian today (18.2%) that percentage has increased dramatically since 1900 when only 5.3% knew a follower of Jesus.<\/p>\n

9. Over 100 million Bibles per year will be printed by 2025.<\/strong><\/h3>\n

In addition to all the digital ways people can access Scripture, the number of Bibles printed each year continues to climb.<\/p>\n

Today, approximately 95 million Bibles are printed each year. By 2025, that will have climbed to 110 million.<\/p>\n

10. The number of Christian martyrs is falling after spiking in the late 1900s.<\/strong><\/h3>\n

While persecution remains a significant issue for Christians globally, the number of martyrs has fallen since 1970, according to Gordon Conwell.<\/p>\n

Then, 3.7 million Christians were killed every 10 years. Today, that number is closer to 900,000 every decade.<\/p>\n

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Aaron Earls<\/h2>\n

@WardrobeDoor<\/p>\n

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Aaron is a writer for LifewayResearch.com.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n