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The southern shqt in the center of gravity of Christianity has far greater implications than just numerical changes. It marks a profound change in the constitution of Christianity. With the change, world Christianity undergoes a translation from being a predominately Western culture construct to having a myriad of diverse cultural expressions. The implications of this shift are of central importance as the church in the 21st century increasingly faces the dual challenge of a non-ChristianWest and a non-Western Christianity, and the complex relationship between the two.t is no exaggeration to state that the current changes in world Christianity are as significant as the Reformation or the conversion of Constantine. Buhlmann stated I that "The coming of the Third church [southern church] is the epoch-making event of current church history; it is therefore a sign of the times to be taken very seriously" (1977: 131). It is surprising then that Western Christianity often exhibits blissful ignorance or wilful negligence about these events. In this essay I wish to describe the most significant phenomenon in 20th and 21 st century Christianitythe southward shift in the centre of gravity of global Christianity. This southward shift from its heartland in the West of Europe and North America to new heartlands in Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Pacific has been documented by Walbert Buhlmann (1977), statistically validated by David Barrett (1970Barrett ( , 2001, and explored by Philip Jenkins (2002) and Andrew F. Walls (1996Walls ( , 2002.The southward shift brings about a demographic change in the constitution of the church, but it is not just about numbers. As Christianity loses its place in the West and becomes rooted in the cultures of the South, a cultural transformation is taking place in the very nature of what constitutes Christianity. Jenkins notes that the southern churches are far more "traditional, morally conservative, evangelical, and apocalyptic than their northern counterparts." The church of the South is characterised by such phenomena as "mysticism, Puritanism, belief in prophecy, faith healing, exorcism, and dream-visions," features which many of the Western churches have long ago exchanged for a more secular spirituality (see Jenkins 2002). In this paper I will Mark Laing teaches missiology and coordinates the work of the Centre for Mission Studies at Union Biblical Seminary, Pune, India. He is also pursuing doctoral studies at Edinburgh University.
The southern shqt in the center of gravity of Christianity has far greater implications than just numerical changes. It marks a profound change in the constitution of Christianity. With the change, world Christianity undergoes a translation from being a predominately Western culture construct to having a myriad of diverse cultural expressions. The implications of this shift are of central importance as the church in the 21st century increasingly faces the dual challenge of a non-ChristianWest and a non-Western Christianity, and the complex relationship between the two.t is no exaggeration to state that the current changes in world Christianity are as significant as the Reformation or the conversion of Constantine. Buhlmann stated I that "The coming of the Third church [southern church] is the epoch-making event of current church history; it is therefore a sign of the times to be taken very seriously" (1977: 131). It is surprising then that Western Christianity often exhibits blissful ignorance or wilful negligence about these events. In this essay I wish to describe the most significant phenomenon in 20th and 21 st century Christianitythe southward shift in the centre of gravity of global Christianity. This southward shift from its heartland in the West of Europe and North America to new heartlands in Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Pacific has been documented by Walbert Buhlmann (1977), statistically validated by David Barrett (1970Barrett ( , 2001, and explored by Philip Jenkins (2002) and Andrew F. Walls (1996Walls ( , 2002.The southward shift brings about a demographic change in the constitution of the church, but it is not just about numbers. As Christianity loses its place in the West and becomes rooted in the cultures of the South, a cultural transformation is taking place in the very nature of what constitutes Christianity. Jenkins notes that the southern churches are far more "traditional, morally conservative, evangelical, and apocalyptic than their northern counterparts." The church of the South is characterised by such phenomena as "mysticism, Puritanism, belief in prophecy, faith healing, exorcism, and dream-visions," features which many of the Western churches have long ago exchanged for a more secular spirituality (see Jenkins 2002). In this paper I will Mark Laing teaches missiology and coordinates the work of the Centre for Mission Studies at Union Biblical Seminary, Pune, India. He is also pursuing doctoral studies at Edinburgh University.
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