When people hear Christianity, they typically think North America and Europe. Surprisingly, Christianity is on the decline in places like Europe and the United States, but on the rise in Africa surprisingly enough. Christianity first came to Africa at the end of the second century and was found on the North African coast. WWII had a great impact on the colonial era, especially in Africa. By the year 1960, sixteen different African countries declared independence from their colonial rulers and by 1970 the map of Africa resembled much of the map that we see today (Jacobsen, 52). After WWII, many of the local leaders got a taste of freedom for the first time in years. In 1975, almost eleven percent of the world’s Christians lived in Africa, and then in 1999, nineteen percent lived in Africa. It is predicted that in 2030, Africa will have more Christians than any other continent. The postcolonial era had a great impact on Africa as many countries gained their independence. During WWII many Christian missionaries fled Africa, which gave the local Christians a chance to step in after WWII was over (Jacobsen, 52). In 1970, almost 15 percent of the Christians in Africa identified as Pentecostal or Spirit-centered. This has drastically changed recently and today about 35 percent of African Christians are Pentecostal.

Africa has a much different culture than the West, which has lead them to establish themselves on a much different level of Christianity than we have seen. In Africa, local cultures play a large role in influencing religion, especially Christianity. With the differentiation in cultures comes the slightly different takes on Christianity. Africa has seen danger on a level that we have not seen here in the U.S. They have seen genocides take place and more violence that we can imagine. With this, we see the idea of ubuntu. Ubuntu is the interconnectedness of all people, and it serves simultaneously as a statement of fact and as a moral ideal. As a South African theologian states, it is the essence of being human (Jacobsen, 62). This idea of ubuntu gives the Christians in Africa a different sense of spirituality than it does to western Christians and is one of the things that distinguishes the two. It is a concept of connecting one another rather than focusing on the individual.

I think that the West has a lot to learn from African Christianity. Christianity in Africa is much different than the Christianity that we see here in the U.S. or even in Europe. African Christianity has a large focus on forgiveness and connection to one another in the community, but in the West, there seems to be a larger focus on the individual and their salvation, rather than the well being of the community. That probably has a lot to do with the history that each has faced, but I think that we have some learning to do and so does African Christianity.