Lausanne World Pulse – Research Articles – The Past Five Years of Christian Growth Worldwide

By Bradley Coon
April 2008

Most notably, during the first five years of this century, Christianity as a whole grew faster than the global population. A quick glance at the continental growth rates shows that much of this growth came from Asia and Eastern Europe. Eastern Asia’s Christian growth rate was fueled by the continued growth of Christianity in China. Over thirty million new Christians emerged in China between 2000 and 2005, yielding an average annual growth rate of over five percent.

Like Eastern Asia, South-Central Asia’s Christian growth as a whole was aided by the steady rise of Christianity in India’s large population (although Afghanistan and Nepal saw the greatest growth rates in that region).

South-Eastern Asia, in comparison, drew its growth from many countries in the region.

In Africa, meanwhile, the widespread adoption of Christianity in many countries during the twentieth century has led to lower growth rates today, as natural increase replaces the higher conversion rates of the previous century.

Graph 3 (above) gives a closer look at the growth of Christianity within each continent. Globally, each Christian megabloc maintained roughly the same average growth rate over the past five years that it held during the last century. Anglicans continue to grow in Africa and have risen slightly in Asia at a rate of 1.4% per year, from almost no growth over the past century. Europe’s Christian landscape is continuing to change with the present decline in Protestant adherents. Anglican and Roman Catholic congregations are at a near standstill and failing to keep up even with the low birthrates in most of Europe. Independent, Marginal, and Orthodox believers are all on the rise.

Christian growth can be approached from many different angles. The broad strokes painted in this article in graphs 2 and 3 will likely draw more questions than answers. As research draws us to both ask and answer questions about the state of global Christianity, let us remember that we see these figures with two prayers in mind: that Christ would reign as Lord and King in the lives of as many people as would bow to him, and that he would unify believers as they love one another in his name.

For a closer look at the numbers behind the graphs, visit: www.worldchristiandatabase.org.