(Henri Luke Orombi of Uganda)
Tim Keller reports in his Reason for God that both secularism and religion are on the rise in the West. However, it is not your grandma’s Christianity that is the wave of the future. It is not the ‘Old Line’ form but a robust, orthodox, and ethnic Christianity that will be the one our children and grandchildren will experience.
With immigration on the rise and a desire among the young for a socially conscious yet vibrantly biblical and orthodox Christianity, what will the older denominations choose? The tired, worn-out elitist religion of the West, or the colorful Christian witness of the rest of the world and increasingly urban America.
Consider: 20 million Anglicans in Nigeria and under 2 million in the US (at least in TEC); there are more Presbyterians in Ghana than the USA and Scotland together. Keller states that in 50 year, there will be a half billion Christians in China ‘which will change the face of Christianity forever.’ So which one will you choose?
I’ve been asking myself this as well. I’m in the AMiA, and read a great book that details this global shift, called “The Next Christendom: The Coming of Global Christianity”.
It’s beautiful that one of the most impoverished and spiritually dark place in the world, Africa, is being ignited in it’s faith, and is bringing the Gospel back to us.
I see the bearers of this Gospel, poor, not wise by the worlds standards, child-like in faith, and full of joy. And I discover something I remember from my childhood, a treasure buried in a field.