The Average Christian: Non-White, Non-Western

A great piece on the true state of contemporary Christianity.  Read the whole thing (and buy Philip Jenkins' books).  Excerpts:

...For some centuries, European and American Christians prayed fervently for the conversion of the wider world, especially in Africa and Asia, and many devoted their lives to achieving this end. And to an astonishing degree, they succeeded. During the 20th century alone, around 40 percent of the population of Africa converted from animism or primal religion to some variety of Christianity. Within a few decades, the African continent could be, in numerical terms, the center of world Christianity. Growth in Asia has also been impressive, while enthusiastic new forms of Christianity have blossomed in Latin America. Many denominations are discovering, to their surprise, that large numbers of their adherents, even majorities, no longer live in those areas that could once be claimed to represent the "Christian world."


At least by the 1970s, churches were acknowledging, at least in theory, that concepts of mission had to reflect these changing realities, that mission could no longer be seen as a blessing bestowed by Europeans and Americans upon those less fortunate dwellers beyond the pale. But for all the well-intentioned egalitarian talk of "mission in six continents," we still find people asking, semi-humorously, whether someday we might even find African or Asian missionaries coming to evangelize Europe and North America—as if such missionary efforts were not already widespread and thriving. As to the intellectual effects of the epochal southward movement of Christianity, no less a celebrity than Father Andrew Greeley opines that "We will depend on them for vitality, but they will continue to depend on us for the ideas." Uh-huh. I somehow doubt that the global South's contribution to theological inquiry will be confined to rhythmic dancing or hand-clapping.

In order to rethink mission, we Northerners must absorb a number of basic points. Primarily, we must appreciate the wider context in which we stand in relation to the wider Christian world. Already, we do not represent the norm within Christianity, whether in racial, social or economic terms, and we will over time be ever further marginalized. By 2050, white non-Hispanics could represent just 15 or 20 percent of the world's Christians. Following from that fact, the world's "average Christian" looks very different from the media stereotype. She or he is above all likely to be an extremely poor person by Western standards, with all that implies in terms of access to food, water, schooling, transportation, medical care, and a healthy environment. Nor, probably, does this ordinary believer live in a stable nation-state in which government is limited by the popular will, and where human rights receive more than lip service.

In terms of mission, that profile demands a reorientation of priorities. Of course, it is far too early to think of abandoning the basic task of proclamation, of introducing Christian faith and doctrine to new sections of the world. For all the brilliant successes of the past century, the gospel still remains unknown in much of the Muslim and Hindu worlds, in the celebrated 10-40 window, and where Christianity is known in those regions, its Western cultural associations often give it a radioactive taint. But having acknowledged this, we must also recognize how effectively and thoroughly the basic job of foundation-laying has already been done across so much of the world. It is impossible to travel in much of Africa without noticing the constant revivals, healing services, and prayer meetings. (A bemused Kenyan friend once asked me, "How do people find time to do any work?") Today, the primary obligation is not trying to make people Christians, but to help the Christians who are already there, and who are often living in dreadful circumstances.

Rather than thinking about how to carry the message, then, the churches of the Old Christendom must now undertake a rigorous self-assessment to determine just what "we" have that "they" still lack. High on the inventory, obviously, would be the incalculable material riches of the global North, as well as the technological brilliance that manifests itself in medicine, transportation, and communications. Europe and North America still also carry the ambiguous blessing of their immense political and military predominance, which could—if used judiciously—be used to defend Christian communities under assault, facing massacre or forced conversion...