Monday, February 13, 2023

It is the 13th of February, 2023. Welcome to the Christian History Almanac brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org. I’m Dan van Voorhis.

 A happy Monday- I’m sure the Eagles fans are happy- that, or I was wrong. It’s a Monday, so let’s head to the mailbag- some very good questions- sifting through them, I was going to answer a particular question about Africa, but it was getting so interesting that I have pushed that to a weekend edition. But Sean (s-e-a-n) in Youngstown, Ohio, wrote… many Ohio listeners-

Youngstown… well, I read somewhere that they have produced more pro football players than any city per capita. All of the Stoops from college football are from there, as are Jim Tressel and Maurice Clarrett- I seem to remember a news story about them. Also- The Rams kicker on the Super Bowl-winning team in 2000. So too, were all the actual Warner Brothers and George D. Wick, the founder of Youngstown Sheet and Tube- the heartbeat of this industrial town up until the 1970s. Wick died on the Titanic. Christopher was telling me something about the Titanic and the Jesuits…

Sean asked a pretty open question about Christianity in Africa- I mentioned how massive sub-Saharan Christianity is- Africa is the epicenter of global Christianity, at least from the demographic’s perspective. One study showed that by 2060 4 in 10 Global Christians will be in Africa, while 1 in 10 will be in America.

Part of this is demographics and birth rate. In 1950 in the US, there were 24 births per 1000 Americans. Today, roughly 12. Wow. Africa has also gone down, but in 1950 each rate was 48 per 1000, while today, they are at roughly 32.

And this shows in median age- the median age for a Christian in Africa is 19. I have the median age of several American denominations. The PCA (Presbyterian Church in America) and its pals in the mainline PCUSA have the same median age: 59. Lutheran Church Missouri Synod- 56, tied with the Southern Baptist Convention.

A PEW research study also found that some of the most devout Christians are in Africa- let me quote Joey Marshall here: “The study analyzed 84 countries with sizable Christian populations. In 35 of those countries, at least two-thirds of all Christians say religion is very important in their lives. All but three of these 35 countries are in sub-Saharan Africa or Latin America. (The three exceptions are the U.S., Malaysia, and the Philippines.) 

He continues: “Levels of religious salience are particularly high in sub-Saharan Africa: Over 75% in every country surveyed in the region say religion is very important to them.

“Christians in Africa and Latin America also tend to pray and attend church at higher rates than Christians in most of the rest of the world. For instance, four out of five Christians in Nigeria, Liberia, Senegal, Cameroon, and Chad pray daily.” 

“Similarly, in every African country surveyed, more than 60% of Christians say they attend church at least weekly. “

As far as denominations go- the rough numbers tell us that Protestants more than double the size of Catholics, and Catholics more than double the size f Orthodox. Most Orthodox are part of the Tahawedo Ethiopian Church.

Amongst Protestants, they go, in order from larger to smaller: Anglican, Lutheran, Reformed, Pentecostal, Methodist, Baptist.

There is also a very interesting group- the Zion Christian Church… a very large group. And you think- “that’s nice, like Mt. Zion.” No, Zion Illinois- a utopian community that spread out and founded a church in Africa that eventually became its own church and has a history that you will hear about soon.

Part of the story of African Christianity is balancing the native African churches- churches that predate any European explorers and those churches that have been brought by missionaries and then molded by African culture such that they don’t look like “colonizers' churches.” Thanks, Sean from Youngstown, OHIO

The last word for today comes from James- it’s a book in the Bible:

2 Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3 because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. 4 Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. 5 If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you.

This has been the Christian History Almanac for the 13th of February 2023, brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org.

The show is produced by a man whose median family age is considerably younger than mine, but not because he’s older… Christopher Gillespie.

The show is written and read by a man happy with Bones, Mason, and the return of EJ Dan van Voorhis.

You can catch us here every day- and remember that the rumors of grace, forgiveness, and the redemption of all things are true…. Everything is going to be ok.