Africa is the big growth area of the Church, the continent where the largest numbes of priests are being called to vocations and where converts are multiplying daily — and in a place where the population is young and growing, not old and shrinking. These people are the future of the Church and it’s very likely that in coming years, they’re going to be running it.
Here is some insight on the numbers and what’s happening:
A century ago, sub-Saharan Africa had fewer than 2 million Christians. Today it has more than 130 million. That’s a growth rate of nearly 7,000 percent. We are blessed with many great shepherds from Africa such as Cardinal Robert Sarah. And Africa is also witnessing a growth in priestly vocations. An example đŸ‘‡
16 young men were ordained to the priesthood for Catholic diocese of Nnewi in Nigeria last year, which has only around 450,000 Catholics.
That means in the near future African priests, bishops and cardinals would play an important role in the global Church’s decision making.
Not only Catholic and Anglican, and Evangelical churches there undergoing explosive growth, they are also very, very moral and conservative (with a few exceptions). As such, a bishop there has an enormous diocese, but the concomitant power of an Archbishop.
They can’t build churches fast enough for their congregants.
The overwhelming majority of parishioners are converts from Islam. This is based on a multitude of problems in Islam, which promises equality for all, but delivers slavery and abuse to blacks. And their penchant for violence against the innocent also drives away many people.
If you are a Muslim, you cannot just “leave” Islam, you have to convert, mostly to Christianity, to be fully free.
Because the Episcopalian-Anglican church in North America has become so tainted with immorality, many congregations have discovered that they can leave their American diocese and become a “Missionary church”, of an African diocese.
Rather surprising to visit an “African Missionary” church to discover that most of its congregation is white, and it is very traditionally conservative.
The Catholic church I attend has a Jesuit priest from Nigeria. He teaches Physics at the Catholic university in town.