Christianity shifting from global north to south’

DIMAPUR — A one-day regional seminar on "Global south Christianity: Trends and transformation in the 21st century”, jointly organised by the Centre for Advanced Religious Studies (CARS) of North East Christian University (NECU), Dimapur and Oxford Centre for Religion in Public Life (OCRPL), UK, was held at NECU campus on Friday.

In his keynote address, Hukato N Shohe, principal of Trinity Theological College, Dimapur shared that the scholars and researchers have observed that Christianity in the world is shifting from global north to global south.

He said this shift has brought a significant change in the Christian community, because in the last three decades Christianity is “not specifically defined or no more imagined as the religion of the white man.”

Shohe said that in 1910 about 68% of the population in global north were Christians, but by 2010, Christians in global north were reduced to 38%.

This dramatic decrease has many factors, but one of the main reasons is that many of the people are drifting away from the Christian faith.

While in Africa, in 1910 there were about 10 million Christians but by 2010 the number of Christians in Africa increased to 734 million (34% of the population). And in Asia, the number of Christians increased from 4.5 percent to 8.2% in 2020, he said.

In the meantime, Islam is another religion that is growing at a faster rate and going by the present trend, Islam is likely to overtake Christianity by 2050, he added.

The theologian also shared that the growth of Christianity in global south has in many ways affected “the way we think of ourselves as a person of faith.”

“There is a growing realisation of contextual religion of all faiths, where all religious practices are very strongly influenced and directed by the context we are living,” he said.

The resource persons for the seminar were Rev. Taimaya Ragui, academic lead and deputy head, The Shepherd's Academy, Bangalore (OCTPL, UK) on the topic "Online theological education: preparing leaders for the future church"; John Lalnuntluanga, academic research coordinator with BREAD at Klesis Global, Bangalore on "Indigenous spirituality"; Temsulemla Longchar, academic dean of United College and Theology and Missions, Chümoukedima on "Transformative Theology and quality of life in Nagaland";  Rev. Justin Moses, registrar TSA (OCTPL, UK) and NECU programmes (MACS and MARS) on the topic "Global south research", and Biju Mathew, consultant on "Leveraging adult learning strategies for dynamic bible study groups."