Yes, I realize that Easter was last Sunday.  But millions of Christians who follow a different calendar will celebrate Easter this coming Sunday April 8, including in Ethiopia.

Ethiopia is one of the epicenters of a global spiritual earthquake. In 1981, for the first time in over 1000 years, a majority of Christians in the world lived outside Europe and North America. 

If both the church and population in Ethiopia continue growing at current rates, it is predicted that by 2050, Ethiopia (a nation only twice the size of Texas) will become the third largest Christian nation on earth. 

Consider what is happening in Africa generally.  In the great missionary century from 1900 to 2000, Christians in Africa grew from 10 million in 1900 to 360 million in 2000. …But now it is expected the African church will come close to doubling—growing another almost 80% to 633 million–in only 25 years. 

This is the global spiritual earthquake.  Global Christianity is tilting more and more away from Europe and North America and toward what we used to call (a little disparagingly) the “3^rd world.”  In terms of global Christianity, it is now the first world.

How should we in America feel about this seismic shift in global Christianity? Alarmed?  Defensive? Excited? Here are some changes in global Christianity you may have missed.

First, the new Christian majority is usually very poor.

Philip Jenkins, author of The Next Christendom: The Coming of Global Christianity, writes:

“Considering Christianity as a global reality can make us see the whole religion in a radically new perspective, which is startling and, often, uncomfortable. One example of these startling rediscoveries, Christianity is deeply associated with poverty. Contrary to myth, the typical Christian is not a White fat cat in the United States or western Europe, but rather a poor person, often unimaginably poor by Western standards.”

The pastor of our church in Addis Ababa told a story about caring for the poor in the same neighborhood where Marilyn holds her weekly women’s Bible study. They were distributing cooking oil so these mothers could make injera—a flat pancake-type bread most Ethiopians eat every day. Unfortunately, they had only 25 liters of oil to give away, so they had to turn the rest of the mothers in line away empty-handed. 

But then something amazing happened! Mothers began going up to other mothers, handing over their cooking oil and saying, “Your family is bigger than mine—you need this more than I do.”  Soon many in the last of the line walked away with the cooking oil while those in the first of the line walked away with nothing. Experiences like this make me wonder: what does “needy” really mean? Maybe in your lifetimes you’ll read a book by an Ethiopian about how to have a “purpose-driven life”… even if you don’t have anything else.  

Second, this new Christian majority in the world is very young. Here’s a photo of Ethiopian kids who lived in our neighborhood.  

The median age in America is about 37 years. In Ethiopia, the median age is 16. This has profound impact on the future of Christianity, especially as most Western Christians are not aging but now elderly.

Third, this new Christian majority are actively engaged with a supernatural God.

When Jesus was asked if he was the Messiah, he didn’t give a theological lecture but pointed to the signs and wonders done in his name.  The NT is absolutely full of stories of healings, miracles, exorcising demons…and this is the world many world Christians live in. Prophecy, visions, miracles and especially healing—all these might seem strange to us, but they are very normal parts of ordinary Christian life and worship. To quote Philip Jenkins again:

“Issues of healing, whether of mind or body, dominate the everyday life of the churches of the poor. The practice of healing is one of the strongest themes unifying the new southern churches and perhaps their strongest selling point for their congregations.”

Fourth, a large proportion of this new Christian majority lives in close proximity to other world religions.  Until very recently, we in the West rarely encountered other world religions but our brothers and sisters in Christ in Ethiopia have lived side by side with Muslims for over 1400 years!  This means they both know far more about these religions than we do, and also they are far more open to persecution. A few years ago, clashes between Christians and Muslims in a city west of Addis Ababa left over 50 churches burned and many injured. 

What does it all mean?  The 19^th and 20^th century era of “one way” mission is over!  Increasingly in the 21^st century, we will see the direction moving from the global south to us!  Four quick examples:

1. For the first time in over a 1000 years, worldwide Christian leaders will not have white skin—the Billy Graham’s and CS Lewis’s of the 21^st century will be African or Asian or Latin American.
2. Increasingly missionaries will come to us from the global south—for example, many of the fastest growing churches in Europe today are being planted by Nigerians.
3. It’s abundantly clear that in America we need help relating to other world religions—especially Muslims. Global south Christians like Ethiopians who have interacted with Muslims for millennia will be our guides and teachers.
4. Perhaps most of all, whereas before we were the examples for Christians in the global south, now we need their examples. They trust the Bible’s supernatural authority and radically live by it—too often we no longer trust the Bible this way. They experience the supernatural power of the Holy Spirit as an ordinary part of life—too often we say the supernatural is not rational or scientific and dismiss it. We need their examples.

I want to end by inviting you to look deeply into these faces of my Ethiopian students at a party in our home. Look at their smiles. Notice how many women are there.  See how they just radiate faith and joy. They are the “face” of the new global Christianity.  They’re young, many are poor and they live every day trusting a God who does the supernatural.  I went to Ethiopia to be their teacher…but discovered there are millions just like them who have much to teach all of us.

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