Search: “africa”

Demographic contrasts. Even though population growth is slowing in every area of the world, there are vast gaps in fertility rates around the globe. Populations continue to increase rapidly in Yemen, Afghanistan-Pakistan and much of West, Central and Eastern Africa. Much of Europe and parts of East Asia and southern Africa have sub-replacement fertility and […]

International migrations. There are now 200-250 million people living outside the land of their birth. Greater levels of migration are fuelled by: increasing gaps, internationally, in quality of life; population growth (and decline); climate change and ecological ruin; financial, educational and social opportunities; and upheaval, conflict and persecution. Large-scale migrations into Western Europe, North America, […]

Threats to human health, including disease. COVID has been the high profile infectious disease of recent years, but increasing awareness and changing behaviour patterns along with widespread vaccination and treatments see infection rates declining. Cancer continues to take many lives all over the world. New, resistant strains of old diseases, such as malaria and tuberculosis, […]

Immigration into Europe is an unstoppable tide of humanity from Africa, the Middle East, Asia and Eastern Europe. The plunging birthrates in EU countries and the affluence, stability and generous social services in Europe are factors that pull in immigrants, many of whom are coming from countries where conflict rages. While immigration is utterly necessary […]

The West African fault line between Islam and Christianity has seen clashes, mob violence and civil war, especially in Nigeria and Côte d’Ivoire. Religious differences are exacerbated and fuelled by ethnic divisions.

Somalia keeps struggling to avoid becoming a failed state; it is a broken land with severe environmental challenges and gripping poverty, populated by warlords, pirates, a government constantly under duress and a number of aggressive Islamist groups. The upheaval has spilled into the Horn of Africa, where terror attacks connected to Somalia increase, and marine […]

Central Africa, while not the cauldron of anarchy it was in the 1990s, retains much of the upheaval and unrest of those dark times. Eastern Congo, South Sudan, Central Africa, and Chad all suffer from militia groups, violence, and lawlessness.

The globalization of the Great Commission movement changed the face of missions. Many nations in Asia, Africa, and Latin America have mission-sending movements (like Ethiopia, Nigeria, Brazil, Philippines, South Korea). The Majority World nations together already send more missionaries than Western countries. This exciting 21st-century reality also introduces unique challenges. New missions movements will still […]

The globalization of the Great Commission movement has profoundly changed the face of mission. Since the late 1970s, there has been a surge of interest and involvement in missions from the Majority World. Mission sending has recently gained or maintained momentum in countries such as Ethiopia, Nigeria, Brazil, Philippines, South Korea and others. Involvement by […]

The unprecedented harvest of new believers continues across Africa, Asia and Latin America, in contrast to the relative stagnation or decline in the rest of the world. We are witnessing a remarkable story of a growing, spreading and diversifying Church. Christianity has slightly declined as a percentage of the world’s population since 1900 – only […]