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May 10, 2005

The geography of mission   

WCC chief cites demographic shift, calls for new thinking

by Stephen Brown
Ecumenical News International

     “Forms of expressing our faith that grew out of European culture are no longer normative,” Kobia, a Methodist from Kenya, told about 500 participants in a WCC‑organized Conference on World Mission and Evangelism on the outskirts of the Greek capital.     

    “We are being called to rethink our assumptions concerning the geography of mission,” Kobia said, noting a

center” — the point on the globe  where the numbers of Christians living to the north, south, east and west are equal. 

     “In the middle of the first century, this center was in or near Jerusalem; in the following centuries it shifted to Europe, where it long remained,” said Kobia. “But statisticians now locate Christianity’s center of gravity near Timbuktu in the Sahara desert, and it continues to migrate southward.” 

     Africa is one of Christianity’s fastest-growing regions. Researchers have predicted that by 2100, the vast majority of Christians — almost 80 per cent — will live in Africa, Asia, Latin America and Oceania. 

     Kobia noted the rapid growth throughout the world in Pentecostal and charismatic spirituality. 

     He asked, “Are we open to mission from directions we have not anticipated, borne by brothers and sisters who have received gifts of the Spirit that were never monopolized by European or American missionaries?”