24. Historia de Misiones
Libro de los Hechos de los Apóstoles
Pero cuando venga el Espíritu Santo sobre ustedes, recibirán
poder y serán mis testigos tanto en Jerusalén como en toda
Judea y Samaria, y hasta los confines de la tierra. (1:8)
1-7
Jerusalén
8
Samaria
9
Saulo
10-11
Gentiles
13
Antioquía; Pablo
13-26 “Último de la tierra”
32. Religiones del Mundo
“...the definition of Islamic-Christian
frontiers will be a vital and contentious
matter in the political world in the [21st]
century.”
Jenkins, p. 72
43. “Nueva Cristiandad”
Adherentes en millones
2001
Denominación
Católicos
Independientes
Protestantes
Ortodoxos
Anglicanos
“Marginales”
TOTA
L
Adherentes
1057
386
342
215
79
26
2105
Jenkins, p. 61
44. “Nueva Cristiandad”
Distribución de los Cristianos en tiempos
antiguos y medievales
Continente
Africa
500
Cristianos (millones)
Año
1000
1200
XV
1500
8
5
2.5
1.3
Asia
21.2
16.8
21
3.4
Europa/Rusia
14.2
28.6
46.6
76.3
TOTAL
GLOBAL
43.4
50.4
70.1
81
Tomado de Jenkins, p.
24
45. “Nueva Cristiandad”
Por ciento de protestantes que vivían fuera
de Europa y de los Estados Unidos
1800
1%
1900
10%
2000
XX
67%
Tomado de
Jenkins
48. “Nueva Cristiandad”
Jesus promised that his Church would last
until the end of time, but he never mentioned Europe.
The Church of the future [will] be
the Church of South America,
of Africa, of China and Japan.
San Vincente de Paul,
1640
57. “Nueva Cristiandad”
Siglos XIX-XX
Christianity is a “religion decorated and
smeared with everything white...needed
washing, cleaning away all the dirt, leaving
only the eternal. And that eternal that was the
truth had to be reconciled to the traditions of
the people.”
Jenkins, p. 45
58. “Nueva Cristiandad”
Siglos XIX-XX
“We can suggest all sorts of reasons why
Africans and Asians adopted Christianity,
whether political, social, or cultural; but one
all-too-obvious explanation is that individuals
came to believe the message offered, and found
this the best means of explaining the world
around them”
Jenkins, p. 43-44
59. “Nueva Cristiandad”
Siglos XIX-XX
“Once the religion was accepted, what
remained was to purge away from that
essential truth the foreing cultural trappings
with which it was originally presented, and to
let the message speak intelligibly in African (or
Asian) terms.”
Jenkins, p. 45
61. “Nueva Cristiandad”
Evangélicos en América Latina
(millones)
1940
1
2000
50
Crecimiento de 6% desde 1961
Puerto Rico el mayor - 35% población
Tomado de
62. “Nueva Cristiandad”
Pentecostalismo en América Latina
“...una de las más grandes revoluciones
religiosas de los últimos siglos.”
“Los Pentecostales representan
“el 80 ó 90% del crecimiento evangélico.”
Jenkins, p. 62, 63
75. “Nueva Cristiandad”
Teologí
a
Very generally, and with plenty of obvious exceptions,
Southern Christianity, in terms of both theology and
moral teaching, really is more conservative than its
Western or specifically American version. Obviously,
Western reformers do not like this fact—James Carroll
has complained that “world Christianity [is falling]
increasingly under the sway of anti-intellectual
fundamentalism”—but the cultural directions are hard
to ignore.
Jenkins, Philip, “After The Next Christendom”. IBMR, January, 2004.
76. “Nueva Cristiandad”
Teologí
a
Southerners look back to a New Testament church
filled with spiritual power, able to exorcise the
demonic forces that cause sickness and poverty.
...this powerful supernaturalism is also a strong
characteristic of Southern Catholicism.
Jenkins, Philip, “After The Next Christendom”. IBMR, January, 2004.
77. “Nueva Cristiandad”
Teologí
a
The most successful Southern churches preach deep
personal faith and communal orthodoxy, mysticism
and puritanism, all founded on clear obedience to
authority. Across the denominational spectrum,
Catholics and Protestants alike preach messages that,
to a Westerner, appear simplistically charismatic,
visionary, and apocalyptic. In this thought world,
prophecy is an everyday reality, while faith healing,
exorcism, and dream-visions are all fundamental parts
of religious sensibility.
Jenkins, Philip, “After The Next Christendom”. IBMR, January, 2004.
Sources:
Developed from Neill, A History of Christian Missions, 1964 Lapple, The Catholic Church: A Brief History, 1982
Source: Adapted from Transforming Mission, 1991
The Christian church began as a Jewish church and then moved to western Asia, becoming a largely Gentile church.
By A.D. 600, the church spread to North Africa and to southern Europe. Its language was largely Greek. The center of gravity of the church lay between Rome and Constantinople.
By A.D. 1000, the church had largely disappeared from North Africa and the Middle East in the face of a surging Islam. The center of gravity moved to Europe. Theology and mission became largely European.
By the mid-20th century, the church was declining in the West. The center of gravity now lies in Asia, Africa and Latin America.
At the beginning of the third millenium after Christ, the Christian church is now non-Western and its theology and mission are rapidly following suit.
Sources:
Adapted from Andrew Walls, 1987
Operation World, 2001
World Christian Encyclopedia, 2001
In the 21st century…
There are 2 billion people in the world who identify themselves as Christians.
There are 1.2 billion Muslims. Muslims are the fastest growing major religious group, largely as a result of high birth rates.
There are 784 million people who are Buddhists or who practice Chinese traditional religion.
There are 811 million Hindus, largely in India.
There are 918 million people who profess no faith at all.
Source: World Christian Encyclopedia, 2001
In God’s world…
Over 1.21 billion people in the world are Muslim.
Islam is the fastest growing major religious group, largely as a result of population growth in Asia and Africa.
The majority of Muslims live in South Asia and Africa.
Over 80% of all Muslims have never heard the gospel yet regard Jesus as a key prophet.
Sources:
World Christian Encyclopedia, 2001
Christianity Today, February 2002
Impact of secularism
The number of nonreligious grew from 3.2 million in 1900 to 918 million in 2000.
This number of nonreligious began to decline after the fall of Communism.
Being nonreligious or atheist is a largely 20th century phenomenon.
Staying power of folk religion
Traditional or folk religion was the second fastest growing religious grouping after Islam in the last century.
Traditional or folk religion failed to disappear in the face of modernity and the science and technology of the 20th century.
Sources:
World Christian Encyclopedia, 2001
Operation World, 2001
Source: Operation World, 2001
Source: Operation World, 2001
In God’s world…
There has been a massive shift in the center of gravity of the church from north to south and from the West to East Asia.
Over half of all Christians live in the developing world; nearly 70% of all evangelicals live in the non-Western world.
The religious forms of the southern church are generally enthusiastic, spontaneous, fundamentalist, and supernaturalist.
Two of every five professing Christians live in the world’s poorest countries.
The role of women is a pervasive element of the story of the growth of the church in the south.
Sources:
World Christian Encyclopedia, 2001
Jenkins, The Next Christendom
Source: Mission Frontiers, December 2001
(Evangelicals are defined as “persons of evangelical conviction
who are active in spreading the gospel.”
These numbers include Pentecostals and charismatics.)
In God’s world…
In a global village of committed Christians, there would be three Africans, three Asians, two Latin Americans, two North Americans, one European and a Pacific Islander.
The evangelical movement is growing at 4.7% per year.
Almost 40% of these people have no connection with a Western denomination or organization.
People identifying themselves as Christians declined in Europe and North America during the 20th century, yet the percentage of committed Christians increased.
Source: World Christian Trends, 2001
In God’s world…
In 1900 there were less than 1 million Pentecostals/charismatics. Now there are over 524 million, about one-quarter of all Christians.
Three-fourths of Pentecostal and charismatic Christians live in the developing world.
Pentecostal/charismatics in 2000 are more urban than rural, more female than male, more under-18 than adults and more poor than affluent.
Pentecostals and charismatics provide 38% of the global Christian workers.
In God’s world in 2025…
Three-quarters of all Catholics will be found in Africa, Asia, and Latin America.
The Pentecostal/charismatic movement will be over 800 million strong, located largely in the south.
The southern churches are more conservative theologically than their counterparts in the north.
The southern churches are deeply engaged in the supernatural expressions of the faith, including a Jesus of power who confronts and defeats the demonic.
Across the south, church leaders are becoming national moral and even political leaders in a way no longer imaginable in the north.
Sources:
Jenkins, The Next Christendom
Atlantic Monthly, October 2002
In God’s Africa…
The Christian church first took root in North Africa in the second through fourth centuries.
Before the mid-1970s there were more Muslims than Christians in Africa.
Africa is experiencing the fastest church growth of any region.
In Africa, the largest churches are Catholic, Anglican and Methodist.
Responding effectively to the HIV/AIDS pandemic is the crucial test for the African church in the 21st century.
Sources:
Walls, “Significance of Christianity in Africa”
State of Food Insecurity, 2002
Jenkins, The Next Christendom
Source: Operation World, 2001
In God’s Asia…
The Christian church went to Asia in the second century from the Church of the East in Syria and again to Asia in the 16th century from Spain and Portugal.
Over 60% of Asia’s 312 million Christians actively witness to their faith, the highest proportion of any region in the world.
Asian Christians have faced the church’s greatest persecutions. Religious discrimination directed toward Christians is once again on the rise.
The largest Christian populations are found in China (90 million), the Philippines (67 million), India (67 million) and Indonesia (26 million).
Sources:
Moffett, The History of Christianity in Asia, 1992
Operation World, 2001
World Christian Encyclopedia, 2001
Source: Operation World, 2002
Source: World Christian Encyclopedia, 2001
In God’s Latin America…
The Christian church came 450 years ago from Spain and Portugal.
The rapid rise of Pentecostal and charismatic churches among the poor and now the middle class is one of the startling missiological facts of the 20th century.
The largest population of Protestants is in Brazil (33 million).
The income share of the richest 20% is 10-20 times that of the poorest 20% in most countries.
Source: Human Development Report, 2001
