Although Christianity began in the rural villages of Galilee, it grew to be an influential movement throughout Roman cities and urban centres. From its early beginnings in Jerusalem, to its growth in Roman colonial cities like Ephesus and its eventual status as the official religion
of the Roman Empire, Christianity has a history of adapting to urban conditions and finding resonance among urban populations. Christian faith even sees its eschatological end in the city of ‗New Jerusalem‘ (Revelation 3:12). However, this urban influence has been mixed. At its best, for example, during the plagues in Roman cities when Pagan priests and most who were able to flee did so, the courage of early Christians to stay with the afflicted is credited as an important dimension in the rise of Christianity.133 The credibility of a Christian faith underpinning such acts rose too.134 However, Christianity can also be seen at its worst when entwined with the dark spectre of European colonization. Certainly this became the case when Christianity became the official religion of the Roman Empire, but also later the British, Dutch, Spanish and Portuguese Empires—which intertwined the tasks of ‗civilizing‘ and ‗Christianizing‘—were an especially oppressive force upon indigenous populations around the world and cities became important places for this to be based from.
Almost certainly Christianity‘s urban influence began to wane prior to 1900. According to Barrett and Johnson‘s ‗Status of Global Mission‘, cities seem to have been tough places for Christianity to find resonance in since then. For example, they note that in 1900 urban Christians made up over 68% of the global urban population, but by 2004 the figure was 39.67%, with projections at just 36.90% for 2025.135 The decline can be seen in chart 6 below.
Chart 6: Proportion of Christians in global urban populations
Source: Status of Global Mission, 2004136
133 Rodney Stark, The Rise of Christianity: How the obscure, marginal Jesus movement became the dominant
religious force in the Western world in a few centuries (San Francisco: HarperCollins, 1996), 73-94.
134
Stark, The Rise of Christianity, 91-93.
135 David Barrett and Todd Johnson, ‗Status of Global Mission, 2004, in Context of 20th and 21st Centuries‘,
International Bulletin of Missionary Research 28 no. 1 (2004): 25.
In 1910, the world had only twenty mega cities (cities with a population of over one million). Atlas of Global Christianity notes that the largest ten were each over 95% Christian, as shown in table 4 below.
Table 4: The largest cities in 1910 and their percentage Christian
Size Rank
City Country Population Christians Percentage Christian
1. London Britain 6,958,000 6,680,000 96.0
2. New York USA 5,405,000 5,135,000 95.0
3. Paris France 3,854,000 3,777,000 98.0
4. Berlin Germany 2,966,000 2,906,000 98.0
5. Chicago USA 2,300,000 2,208,000 96.0
6. Vienna Austria 1,739,000 1,670,000 96.0
7. Philadelphia USA 1,654,000 1,588,000 96.0
8. Buenos Aires Argentina 1,464,000 1,435,000 98.0
9. Ruhr Germany 1,406,000 1,378,000 98.0
10. Manchester Britain 1,425,000 1,368,000 96.0
Source: Atlas of Global Christianity, 2009137
Only five of the twenty mega cities were minority Christian in 1910. By mid 2010, however, there were 498 mega cites with 266 considered ‗non-Christian‘. By 2025 projections have numbers of non-Christian mega cities at 300 out of a total of 650 mega cities.138
Further, numbers of new non-Christian people in urban areas are rapidly growing. According to David Barrett and Todd Johnson, in 1800 the number of new non-Christian urbanites per day was 500 people. By 1900 it was 5,200 per day. By 2004 it was 138,000 and by 2025 this figure is projected to rise to 200,000 per day.139 This growth can be seen graphically in chart 7 below. By most measures, then, urban Christianity has shrunk as an influence in
137 Todd M. Johnson and Kenneth R. Ross, Atlas of Global Christianity (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press,
2009), 238.
138 David Barrett and Todd Johnson, ‗Status of Global Mission, 2010, in Context of 20th and 21st Centuries‘,
IBMR 34:1, http://www.gordonconwell.edu/sites/default/files/IBMR2010.pdf (accessed September 6, 2010).
comparison to the rapid population rise of cities over the last two hundred years.
Chart 7: Number of new non-Christian urban dwellers per day
Source: Status of Global Mission, 2010140
We also know that there are certain kinds of cities where Christianity is stronger, and others where Christianity struggles to make a numerical impact. This can be clearly seen in data from the Atlas of Global Christianity. For example, there are cities like Mexico City where 95% of the population describe themselves as Christian. On the other hand, cities like Mogadishu are 96% Muslim. Maps 1 and 2 below show the cities where Christianity is strongest and where other religions are stronger.
Map 1: Largest cities by religious adherence, 2010
Source: Atlas of Global Christianity, 2009141
Map 2: One hundred cities with the most Christians, 2010
Source: Atlas of Global Christianity, 2009142
There are a number of common factors here. First, Christianity is struggling in the cities of nations which are still undergoing rapid urbanization but which are not under communism. Christianity is strongest in cities where urbanization rates have stabled or are even in decline. At a regional level this can be clearly seen in table 5 below. Consider the urban rates of change, the percentage of the population that is urban, and the percentage of the population that is Christian. With the exception of Sub-Saharan Africa, in regions where the urban rate of change is higher than 2%, the population is less than 8.6% Christian. This trend can especially be seen in many Asian cities, like those found in India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Thailand and Cambodia. North Africa is another place where urbanization has not yet peaked and where Christianity is numerically weak. In many cities where rates of urbanization have stabilized, however, Christianity is doing numerically better. This can especially be seen in Western cities like Los Angeles, US (80% Christian), Rhine Ruhr, Germany (73%) and Melbourne, Australia (69.1%).143 Christianity is even doing better numerically in cities whose countries have recently stabilized their urbanization rates, such as cities in Latin America (for example, Bogota 93%
141 Johnson and Ross, Atlas of Global Christianity, 242-243. 142 Johnson and Ross, Atlas of Global Christianity, .238-239. 143 Johnson and Ross, Atlas of Global Christianity, 238.
Christian, Mexico City 95.3% Christian), South Korea (Seoul 45.7% Christian), and the Philippines (Manila 93.8% Christian).144 The exception to this rule is Sub-Saharan Africa, which still has high growth rates of urbanization, but also has a high percentage of Christians. The history of colonization in Sub-Saharan Africa is a part of the reason for this being the case.
Table 5: Urbanization and Christianity
Region Urban Rate of Change Percentage of Urban Population Percentage Christian 2010 1950-55 1970-75 2005-10 1950 1970 2010 World 3.12 2.56 1.92 28.83 36.08 50.46 33.2 Europe 2.06 1.35 0.40 51.27 62.84 72.78 80.2 North America 2.67 0.95 1.31 63.90 73.80 82.13 81.2 Oceania 2.85 1.82 1.28 62.00 70.80 70.22 78.5 Latin America 4.52 3.67 1.60 41.38 57.06 79.63 92.5 Asia 3.93 3.38 2.28 16.33 22.73 42.17 8.5 North Africa 4.40 3.67 2.45 24.78 36.22 51.15 8.5 Sub- Saharan Africa 4.88 4.83 3.71 11.10 19,50 37.30 82.0
Sources: Urbanization rates and percentages from United Nations, 2007145, Christianity percentages from Atlas of Global Christianity, 2009146
Second, urban Christianity struggles where colonization did not leave a majority of citizens Christian. Thus, Christianity is relatively strong in the urban areas of North America, Australia, Manila, Latin American and Sub-Saharan Africa. However, urban Christianity is far weaker numerically in most cities of Asia, Northern Africa and the Middle-East. It should be acknowledged, however, that the kinds of Christianity that State religion and colonization can produce can be characterized by high levels of Christian nominalism. This is not just the case in the Two-thirds World, but also where there are still official State churches in Europe. So while large sections of a population may identify themselves as Christian, what that identity means is more difficult to measure.
144
Johnson and Ross, Atlas of Global Christianity, 238-239.
145 United Nations, ‗World Urbanization Prospects: The 2007 revision population database‘, http://esa.un.org/unup/
(accessed September 6, 2010).
Third, Christianity is currently not strong numerically in cities where there is already a major religion other than Christianity, and that religion is the majority. Cities in this category include Cairo (82% Islam), Bangkok (78% Buddhist) and Delhi (78% Hindu). However, where Christianity is the majority, or even where there is a variety of religious expressions, Christianity fares better. For example, in Oceania, Europe and North America, there are strong numbers of urban Christian adherents. Further, where there is more pluralism (like many cities in China, South Korea or Indonesia), Christianity is able to survive, even thrive.
Fourth, Christianity in general struggles in the region known as the 10/40 Window— including in the cities of this region. Chart 8 below shows this geographical area, which extends from West Africa across the Middle-East to Asia, between 10 degrees north and 40 degrees north of the equator.
Chart 8: The 10/40 Window
Source: The Joshua Project147
Evangelical strategist Luis Bush and the Joshua Project, following the AD2000 movement, have been especially focused on this region and its cities, identifying it as the least evangelized part of the world. They contend that: ‗The top 50 least evangelized megacities [i.e., cities over one million] are all in the 10/40 Window‘.148 Bush estimates that: ‗97 per cent of the 3 billion people who live in the 55 most unevangelized countries live in the 10/40 Window.‘ This not only ‗constitutes the core of the challenge of reaching the unreached‘,149
but is also
147 The Joshua Project, ‗What is the 10/40 Window?‘, http://www.joshuaproject.net/10-40-window.php (accessed
December 20, 2010).
148Luis Bush, ‗What is the 10/40 Window?‘
http://www.tumi.org/migration/images/stories/pdf/lga/docs/WHATIS10.pdf(accessed September 8, 2010).
geographically significant in terms of poverty, with over 2.4 billion people there earning less than $500 a year and where ‗only 8 per cent of all missionaries work among these people‘.150
The 10/40 Window is also the focus of attention for geo-political reasons. For example, the US- based Foreign Policy Research Institute wrote an article entitled, ―The ‗Mega-Eights‘: Urban Leviathans and International Instability‖ which looked at the mega cities of this region where ‗socioeconomic challenges are the most daunting‘, and where ‗turmoil and violence are unavoidable. Without doubt, unchecked growth in the ―10/40 Window‖ will change the face of the global map in the twenty-first century.‘151
The 10/40 Window only has 8.5% of all Christians (352 million people).152 Given that over 140 million of these Christians live in Eastern Asia (which includes South Korea and China),153 the numbers become far starker for the other parts of Asia, and for Middle-Eastern and North African cities.
In summary, then, cities with an existing dominant major religion other than Christianity, cities which have experienced colonization and cities with high rates of urbanization and are in geographically located in 10/40 Window are less likely to have a strong urban Christian population. As we shall see these are the kinds of cities where the majority of slum residents live.