Will Christianity reach 3 billion adherents by 2030 itself? Yes, there are good reasons to think so. Some mainstream sources deny it. Thus, there is a debate.
The Gordon Conwell Theological Seminary study for the year 2021 says there are now 2.545 billion Christians in the world. [1] That means Christianity will cross this extraordinary 3 billion souls milestone, the first religion in history to do so, if it gains 450 million more adherents. In an age where people are concerned with the number of their Twitter followers, Christ the King will much more pleased when the number of His actual followers is recognized to cross 3 billion. He was surely already aware it would 2000 years ago, when He said, in Mat 24:14: "14 And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come." (Mat 24:14, KJV).
Introduction
There are several reasons to think this will be done. For one, the Number of Internet Users is rapidly rising at an extraordinary pace. There will be One Billion Internet users in India alone by 2025. That means Internet evangelism will have even greater success than it has had in the past.
For another, the Wiki article on Christian population growth shows there were roughly 2.18 billion Christians about a decade ago. That means there has been an increase of around 0.4 billion or 400 million in around 10 years. Clearly, therefore, in the next 10 years, Christianity can grow by the same amount.
Yet the same Wikipedia article quotes a Pew forum that alleges that the Christian population even in 2050 will be only 2.9 billion. [2]
The evidence suggests this projection will be clearly mistaken. Similar projections, even relatively optimistic ones, have been known to understate final results in the past. For e.g., in 2004, the World Council of Churches reported, The statistics from the World Christian Encyclopedia (David Barrett) had illustrated that in 2025 there will be 633 million Christians in Africa. Whereas more recently, it has come about that the 633 million figure has already been crossed, with far greater results expected by 2025. According to updated data for 2021, there are now nearly 685 million Christians in Africa, with 760 million expected by 2025. [3] This surpasses even more recent earlier estimates, of 630 million to 700 million for 2025: "By 2025, that number is expected to nearly double, to somewhere between 630 and 700 million believers." [4]
Argument for the number of self-identified Christians being over 3 billion people happening during the period of 2040 to 2050
Other than a massive increase in internet evangelism, I don't think the 3 billion self-identifying Christians goal by 2030 is likely, but maybe by 2040 will occur. And even then, it can take a decade to ramp up web traffic, funding for internet evangelism, etc.
But maybe something dramatic will happen like the Chinese Communist Party dissolving. The Soviet Union collapsed fairly suddenly so it may be possible. Also, Europe is experiencing a lot of turmoil. Maybe a great revival will spread across Europe, but that seems unlikely. Europe could potentially be Christianized to a great degree, but it could take decades. It is really Africa and Asia that has the most potential.
The church I attend lost 50% of its membership during the pandemic. Maybe the churches in the global south and developing/poorer countries did better during the pandemic as far as church membership. Conservative (talk) 09:15, June 27, 2023 (EDT)
See also
References
- ↑ https://www.gordonconwell.edu/center-for-global-christianity/wp-content/uploads/sites/13/2020/12/Status-of-Global-Christianity-2021.pdf
- ↑ The Future of World Religions: Population Growth Projections, 2010-2050.
- ↑ https://www.gordonconwell.edu/center-for-global-christianity/wp-content/uploads/sites/13/2020/12/Status-of-Global-Christianity-2021.pdf
- ↑ https://catholicstarherald.org/the-rapid-growth-of-christianity-in-africa/