At the World Evangelical Alliance General Assembly, researcher Jason Mandryk presented new data showing that Evangelicalism is expanding rapidly around the globe, most notably in Africa, where growth has been described as “explosive.” Mandryk noted that in 1960, Evangelicals made up just 8% of the global Christian population. Today, that number stands at over 25%, with an estimated 600 to 650 million Evangelicals worldwide. “We are many …, we are increasing,” he said, attributing the growth to evangelism, natural reproduction, and the evangelization of previously non-Evangelical Christians.
Mandryk stated, “The future of Christianity is already here, and it has already been here for 45 years. This is not new news.” He challenged Evangelicals to consider “whether evangelicalism looks and acts and is led by the demographic realities on the ground or led by the vestiges of the past.”
David Tarus of the Association of Evangelicals in Africa emphasized the urgent need for theological training, noting, “We need to begin imagining ways of developing such kind of leaders because those are the kind of leaders that the Church depends on.”
