Christianity’s Rise In The Global South Essay Example

Christianity has been increasing throughout the “Global South” in recent years because Christianity provides answers to many of this region’s problems, and this does not surprise me. In the case of the Global South, many of these countries have become more industrialized over the past decades, and this industrialization has brought rapid changes to the countries, the people, the culture, and even the cultural mores of these countries. These worlds are rapidly changing, and that change results in shifts from one way of thinking to another. For example, much of the “Global South” suffers from poverty, disease, and political corruptness, examples of a hard life that can be found in the New Testament. Citizens of the Southern countries find the New Testament a guidebook, of sorts, to their growing problems. As Miller (2002) puts it, “Their world may look nothing like ours”. She goes on to add, the New Testament offers “divine assistance.” Divine assistance can be defined as a sanctuary of the actual church building, the acceptance that comes from members of the same faith system, and the healing that can come from God or from prayer. In other words, the New Testament offers a guidebook of sorts to help citizens of the Global South to navigate an ever-changing world.
This ever-changing world can also leave thousands (millions) of people disconnected and removed from their homeland. This separation of people from their countries can come from war, poverty, or industrialization. The Church, however, unifies people and it becomes a place to belong, a place of inclusion for all people. Additionally, as stated earlier, the Bible offers a guidebook, a map of sorts, to help people overcome these problems, and when the Scriptures are translated into the native languages of the Global South, many people can believe that God is speaking to them.

References

Miller, S. (2002, January 1). Global Gospel: Christianity is Alive and Well in the Southern Hemisphere. Retrieved April 10, 2015, from http://www.religion-online.org/showarticle.asp?title=2656