{"id":73340,"date":"2024-04-26T06:00:27","date_gmt":"2024-04-26T10:00:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/?p=73340"},"modified":"2024-04-26T07:34:16","modified_gmt":"2024-04-26T11:34:16","slug":"where-christianity-is-growing-the-most","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2024\/04\/where-christianity-is-growing-the-most\/","title":{"rendered":"Where Christianity Is Growing the Most"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

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As we have often said (e.g., here<\/a>), while Christianity seems to be in decline in the United States, Europe, and other industrialized western countries, it is growing dramatically in other parts of the world.<\/p>\n

I stumbled upon a list of the 10 Countries where Christian Population will Increase the Most by 2050<\/a>.\u00a0 It bodes well for Lutherans.<\/p>\n

According to a related post<\/a>, in 2020 there were 2.4 billion adherents to Christianity, about 31% of the world\u2019s population, making it the most practiced religion in the world..\u00a0 Those numbers are projected to grow by 22.4% to over 2.9 billion by 2050.\u00a0 The percentage of the world\u2019s population will still be about 31%, as this growth in other parts of the world will be offset by declines in the west.<\/p>\n

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But Islam is expected to grow even more, from 1.9 billion in 2020 to 2.8 billion in 2050, a jump of 47%, nearly the same number as Christians.\u00a0 In the United States, Islam will surpass Judaism as the second largest non-Christian religion, and in Europe Muslims will constitute 10% of the population.<\/p>\n

But here are countries where Christianity will see its biggest growth by 2050.\u00a0 I am rearranging these by rate of growth:<\/p>\n

1.\u00a0 Zambia.\u00a0 43.2 million Christians, a growth of 147%.<\/p>\n

2. Malawi.\u00a0 41.9 million Christians, a growth of 142%.<\/p>\n

3. Uganda.\u00a0 81 million Christians, a growth of 105.7%.<\/p>\n

4.\u00a0 Tanzania.\u00a0 54.8 million Christians, a growth of 141.5%.<\/p>\n

5.\u00a0 Madagascar.\u00a0 44.4 million Christians, a growth of 91.4%.<\/p>\n

6. Kenya.\u00a0 79.8 million Christians, a growth of 79.5%.<\/p>\n

7. Democratic Republic of the Congo.\u00a0 141.8 million Christians, a growth of 73.93%.<\/p>\n

8.\u00a0 Nigeria.\u00a0 154.8 million Christians, a growth of 61.16%.<\/p>\n

9. Philippines.\u00a0 143.6 million Christians, a growth of 40.3%.<\/p>\n

10.\u00a0 Ethiopia.\u00a0 84.8 million Christians, a growth of 35.4%.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

By comparison, the United States will have 262 million Christians, an increase of 3.6%.\u00a0 Though the percentage of Americans who profess Christianity has gone down from 90% in 1990 to 75.5% in 2020, the U.S. still has more Christians than any other country.<\/p>\n

The posts referenced here draws on data from the Pew Research Center\u2019s 2015 study The Future of World Religions:\u00a0 Population Growth Projections, 2010-2050<\/a>\u00a0with 2020 data worked in. My impression is that the researchers multiplied the population growth by the percentage of Christians in each country to get their projections, the number of conversions, of course, being incalculable.\u00a0 But still, this is a lot of souls.<\/p>\n

And a lot of Lutherans.\u00a0 According to Lutheran World Federation<\/a> figures, Ethiopia has the largest Lutheran church in the world with 10.4 million members.\u00a0 Tanzania is second with 7.9 million.\u00a0 Madagascar is sixth with 4 million.\u00a0 Nigeria is thirteenth with 2.2 million.<\/p>\n

If these projections are correct, by 2050 Ethiopia will have 14 million Lutherans.\u00a0 Tanzania will move into first place with 19 million.\u00a0 Madagascar will have 7.65 million.\u00a0 And Nigeria will have 3.5 million.<\/p>\n

Such growth would be good news for world Lutheranism.\u00a0 And yet it also brings problems, as I\u2019ve heard from Ethiopian Lutherans studying at Concordia Seminary here in St. Louis:\u00a0 recruiting and training more pastors; building more places of worship; and, always, the need for more money to serve poor people in a poor country.<\/p>\n

Still!\u00a0 Praise God for the vitality of these and other churches.\u00a0 I hope we western Christians will support them and learn from them.<\/p>\n

Here are some other\u00a0tidbits from the Pew Study<\/a>:<\/p>\n