SCHOLAR: NEW FACE OF GLOBAL CHRISTIANITY WILL BE BLACK

Sources: Christian Post, Religion Today

Christianity has long been stereotyped as a “Western, white man’s religion,” but a prominent theologian said this image will soon drastically change. “The new face of Christianity will be the black woman,” Kwok Pui Lan, a professor at Episcopal Divinity School in Cambridge, Mass., told an audience at Lexington Theological Seminary in Kentucky Thursday, March 27. As of last year Europe still had the largest number of Christians in the world -- 532 million -- followed by Latin America with 525 million and Africa at 417 million. But by 2025 Africa is projected to shoot up to 634.6 million Christians followed by Latin America at 634.1 million and Europe at 531 million. The U.S. had 223 million Christians in mid-2007 and is predicted to grow slightly to 252 million by 2025. Explaining Christianity’s boom in Africa, Rev. Samuel Kobia -- the first African general secretary of the World Council of Churches -- said late last year that Christianity is not seen as a “part-time” occupation in Africa in comparison to the U.S., but rather “permeates the whole life.”