Christians in Africa

Abstract

At the beginning of the twentieth century, Christianity was predominantly a white Euro-American religion with 83 percent of all Christians living in the Global North. Today, it is a global religion where over two-thirds of the world’s Christians are non-Westerners, who live in the Global South. Christianity is on the rise in Latin America, Asia and especially Africa: a trend that is predicted to continue in the second half of the twenty-first century. I will explore explanations for the appeal of Christianity, and Pentecostalism in particular, for contemporary Africans. Pentecostalism is a form of Christianity that is predominantly popular in those African countries with the fastest population growth. Alongside Catholicism, it is the most rapidly growing religion on the African continent.