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World Christianity and contextual theologies

What is world Christianity and contextual theologies?

World Christianity is the study of Christian communities, faith and practice as found on six continents, across many church traditions and cultural histories. It treats Africa, Asia, Latin America, Oceania, Europe and North America each as a center of Christian history, and studies how theology is done in context and how the Bible is read from the South.

  • 69Sources
  • 19Traditions
  • 16Dated entries
  • 14Minutes

Study v1.1, 6 November 2026

World Christianity and contextual theologies

At a glance

Why it matters for reading Scripture

Most Christians now live in the Global South, and their readings belong in any account of the faith.

What the study found

Sixty-nine per cent of Christians now live in the Global South, Africa alone about 780 million (CSGC 2026); each region reads Scripture through its own history, languages and churches.

Where traditions divide

They divide on liberation theology, the prosperity gospel, ancestors and traditional religion, polygamy, healing and deliverance, women's ordination, sexuality, and how far Western money and categories still set the terms.

How the traditions compare

  • Lamin Sanneh: "world" and "global" Christianity

    In Whose Religion Is Christianity? (2003) Sanneh separated "world Christianity", which he saw arising almost spontaneously among the poor in societies with weak states, from "global Christianity", which he saw as orchestrated by the West and tied to global power and money.

    Graham Kings, reviewing the book, judged the point well made but doubted that others would adopt the terms.

    Sources1

  • Jehu Hanciles: the terms used interchangeably

    Hanciles notes that most scholars use the two words interchangeably, though seminaries use both and university religion departments tend to prefer "global".

    He adds that either term can carry overtones of dominance, and quotes Dana Robert: what matters is how the terms are used, not which one is chosen.

    Sources2

  • Cabrita, Maxwell and Wild-Wood: the transregional critique

    Joel Cabrita, David Maxwell and Emma Wild-Wood argue that the field tends to privilege the local and the regional, and want more weight given to the transregional networks Christians have always built.

    Hanciles answers that this critique rests on a selective reading of the field.

    Sources2–3

  • Andrew Walls: the translation principle

    Holds that the faith survives by being translated from one culture into another, and that the incarnation is the pattern for its spread: each new culture takes the gospel into its own forms, as the first believers did.

    Sources4

  • Mbiti, Idowu and Bediako on African traditional religion

    John S. Mbiti treated African traditional religion as a preparation for the Gospel and argued that traditional religions deserve serious study, not dismissal as "primitive".

    E. Bolaji Idowu argued for the autonomy and indigenization of the church. Kwame Bediako held that the first generation of African theologians had accepted too readily that Christianity was foreign and needed "Africanizing".

    Sources5–8

  • Byang Kato: the evangelical charge of syncretism

    In Theological Pitfalls in Africa (1975) Kato charged Mbiti and Idowu with syncretism and universalism.

    He still called for an African Christian theology: "Let African Christians be Christian Africans!"

    Sources9

  • Latin American liberation theology

    Its theologians, Gustavo Gutiérrez first among them, argue that Christian faith requires theological attention to poverty, exclusion and oppressive structures.

    It makes the experience of the poor the starting point for theology, reads God's universal love as siding with the oppressed in the option for the poor, and was carried by base ecclesial communities.

    Sources10

  • Roman Catholic magisterium on liberation theology

    Libertatis Nuntius (6 August 1984) warns against theologies that borrow Marxist analysis uncritically, treat class struggle as the law of history and reduce salvation to earthly liberation, and says the warning should "in no way be interpreted as a disavowal" of the option for the poor.

    Libertatis Conscientia (22 March 1986) affirms "a love of preference" for the poor that excludes no one. Notifications followed on works by Leonardo Boff (1985) and Jon Sobrino (2006).

    Sources11–14

  • Roman Catholic teaching on inculturation

    At Kampala on 31 July 1969 Paul VI said Africans "may, and you must, have an African Christianity", which he described as a lawful pluralism of expression, not a change in doctrine.

    Redemptoris Missio (1990) calls inculturation an "intimate transformation of authentic cultural values" and sets two tests, "compatibility with the gospel and communion with the universal Church", with the bishops judging between them.

    Sources15–16

  • The Lausanne Willowbank Report

    The report (1978) holds that the gospel must take local cultural forms with Scripture as the standard, like a good translation that keeps the meaning and adapts the form.

    It warns that elements "intrinsically false or evil" cannot be absorbed, while practices with evil associations may sometimes be redeemed.

    Sources17

  • Pentecostals in the ten-country survey

    In the Pew Forum's 2006 survey of ten countries, majorities of Pentecostals in all ten said God grants good health to believers with enough faith, and in nine of the ten most said God grants material prosperity as well.

    Agreeing that God can bless believers materially is not the same as holding the full prosperity system that critics condemn.

    Sources18

  • Lausanne Theology Working Group, Africa chapter

    Its statement of 16 January 2010 defines the prosperity gospel as "the teaching that believers have a right to the blessings of health and wealth" and finds that its most vocal promoters teach what is "gravely distorting of the Bible".

    It also affirms a biblical vision of human prospering that includes material welfare, and acknowledges the poverty in which the teaching flourishes and the hope it offers.

    Sources19

  • The Belhar Confession

    Drafted by the Dutch Reformed Mission Church in 1982 and adopted in 1986, it has three themes: the unity of the church, reconciliation in church and society, and God's justice.

    It is now the uniting confession of the Uniting Reformed Church in Southern Africa, and the Reformed Church in America adopted it in 2009 and 2010.

    Sources20

  • The Kairos Document

    Dated 25 September 1985, it sets "State Theology", which justifies apartheid, and "Church Theology", which relies on reconciliation and non-violence without addressing the structures, against the "Prophetic Theology" it calls for.

    Its text names its authors only as concerned Christians, theologians and church leaders.

    Sources21

  • Roman Catholic Church on marriage, healing and ordination

    The Catechism of the Catholic Church (2387) teaches that "polygamy is not in accord with the moral law" and that the convert remains bound in justice to former wives and children.

    The Instruction on Prayers for Healing (2000) holds that any believer may pray for healing, while liturgical healing services follow approved rites and the bishop's norms, kept out of the Mass and sacraments. Ordinatio Sacerdotalis (1994) teaches that "the Church has no authority whatsoever to confer priestly ordination on women", a communion-wide teaching, not a regional one.

    Sources22–24

  • Anglican churches

    Lambeth 1988 Resolution 26, as quoted by Martin Davie, upholds monogamy as God's plan but allows a polygamist convert to be baptized if he promises not to marry again while any wife at his conversion lives.

    The Anglican Church of Southern Africa opened priesthood and episcopate to women around 1992, and Ellinah Wamukoya was elected Bishop of Swaziland, its first woman bishop, on 20 July 2012. GAFCON's Jerusalem Declaration holds to "the unchangeable standard of Christian marriage between one man and one woman".

    Sources25–27

  • Lutheran World Federation churches

    In 2016, 82 percent of the federation's member churches (119 of 145) ordained women, including 70 percent in Africa, 76 percent in Asia and all in Latin America and the Caribbean.

    Sources28

  • Methodist churches

    Joaquina Filipe Nhanala became the first African woman United Methodist bishop in 2008, and Ruby-Nell Estrella the first in the Philippines in 2022.

    After the 2024 General Conference removed long-standing restrictive provisions on LGBTQ people, as UM News describes the changes, the Côte d'Ivoire Conference voted unanimously on 28 May 2024 to leave the United Methodist Church.

    Sources29–30

  • Themba Shingange: Ubuntu and the image of God

    Shingange (2025) re-reads the image of God in Genesis 1:26 to 27 through Ubuntu, rejects the white, male God of nineteenth-century mission teaching, and holds that all people bear God's image whatever their race, gender or sexuality.

    His paper is one scholar's proposal, not the African reading: that every person bears God's image is held across the traditions, while what follows for sexual ethics is contested.

    Sources31

How the field developed

  1. Late antiquity
    328

    The Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church is founded at synodal level, with Frumentius consecrated its first bishop by Athanasius, as the World Council of Churches records.32

  2. Modern
    6 April 1921

    Simon Kimbangu begins his healing ministry, the date to which the Kimbanguist church of DR Congo dates its foundation. Belgium recognized the church on 24 December 1959.33

  3. Modern
    1924 or 1925

    Engenas Lekganyane founds the Zion Christian Church in late 1924 or early 1925, in a Zionist line that runs from John Alexander Dowie's Christian Catholic Church in Zion, Illinois, through Pieter Le Roux's baptisms at Wakkerstroom in 1904.34

  4. Modern
    28 June 1959

    Coptic Patriarch Kyrillos VI appoints Abuna Baselyos patriarch and declares the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church autocephalous.3536

  5. Modern
    31 July 1969

    Closing the Symposium of African Bishops at Kampala, Paul VI says that Africans "may, and you must, have an African Christianity".15

  6. Modern
    1970s

    Minjung theology, "the people's theology", arises in Korea under industrialization and authoritarian rule, with Suh Nam-dong and Ahn Byung-mu as its central figures.37

  7. Modern
    1971

    Gustavo Gutiérrez publishes A Theology of Liberation. Liberation theology grew in the late 1960s and 1970s from the suffering of the poor.3810

  8. Modern
    1978

    At the invitation of Pope Shenouda III, leaders of African Initiated Churches from seven countries meet in Cairo and found the Organization of African Instituted Churches.39

  9. Modern
    1982

    The World Alliance of Reformed Churches, meeting in Ottawa, declares a status confessionis against the theological justification of apartheid and suspends the Dutch Reformed Church. It readmitted the church in 1998, and the church rejoined the World Council of Churches in 2015.40

  10. Modern
    6 August 1984

    The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith issues Libertatis Nuntius, signed by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, warning against theologies that borrow Marxist analysis uncritically.11

  11. Modern
    25 September 1985

    The Kairos Document opens: "The moment of truth has arrived." It calls for a "Prophetic Theology" against the "State Theology" that justifies apartheid.21

  12. Modern
    1986

    The Dutch Reformed Mission Church adopts the Belhar Confession, drafted in 1982, on the unity of the church, reconciliation and God's justice.20

  13. Modern
    1989

    The Circle of Concerned African Women Theologians is founded in Accra under Mercy Amba Oduyoye's leadership, to publish theology by African women grounded in their lived experience.41

  14. Modern
    11 December 2009

    In Bethlehem, Palestinian church leaders make public A Moment of Truth, known as Kairos Palestine, which calls the occupation a sin against God and urges non-violent resistance. The United Church of Canada's Executive received it as an authentic voice of Palestinian Christians; the Central Conference of American Rabbis judged it "factually, theologically and morally flawed".424344

  15. Modern
    16 January 2010

    The Lausanne Theology Working Group's Africa chapter, after meeting at Akropong, Ghana, in 2008 and 2009, publishes its statement on the prosperity gospel.19

  16. Modern
    2026

    The Center for the Study of Global Christianity estimates 2,674 million Christians in mid-2026, 69 percent of them in the Global South, with Africa the largest region at about 780 million. Pew, counting self-identification, found that sub-Saharan Africa passed Europe between 2010 and 2020.4546

How to study world Christianity and contextual theologies

The questions it asks

  • Where do Christians live today, and how sure are the counts?
  • Which churches are ancient and which are new, in Ethiopia, India, Nigeria, Korea, Brazil and South Africa?
  • How do theologians in Africa, Asia and Latin America read Scripture, and what have they argued about: apartheid, liberation, caste, ancestors, prosperity, healing, the place of women?
  • How far can the gospel take local cultural forms before it absorbs what is false?1716
  • Should the field speak of "world" or "global" Christianity, and does it privilege the local over transregional networks?13
  • How far do Western money and categories still set the terms?119

Its method

Start

  1. Start from primary sources: the data publishers' own tables and method notes, church and council documents, and the confessions and declarations themselves452021.

  2. Describe each church and theologian from its own documents and in its own terms, and where churches disagree, set out each position and who holds it.

  3. Give every figure with its source, date and method, and keep apart what is measured, estimated, projected, church-reported and self-reported4546.

  4. Where two sources disagree, show both with their dates and methods rather than resolving the difference by choice4748.

  5. Treat "Global South" as a geographical category, not a shared theological experience45.

  6. Name the specific practice and the church's position: there is no single African practice, and no single theologian speaks for what Asian Christians believe.

  7. Keep distinct questions apart: the dignity of every person as God's image and the ethics of marriage and sexuality, or expecting God's help in health and daily need and the teaching that health and wealth are entitlements311819.

  8. State contested political and historical questions as attributed, dated judgments.

  9. Test contextual theology by the criteria the traditions set: Scripture as the standard in the Willowbank Report, and compatibility with the gospel and communion with the universal Church in Redemptoris Missio1716.

What to read

Its primary witnesses

  • The Center for the Study of Global Christianity's Status of Global Christianity table and the World Christian Database, which count professing Christians plus secret believers4549.
  • Pew Research Center reports: the 2010 to 2020 global report, which counts self-identification in censuses and surveys, and Measuring Religion in China, an analysis of Chinese academic surveys4650.
  • National censuses, among them South Africa's Census 2022, Brazil's Census 2022 and Australia's 2021 census47485152.
  • The churches' own profiles on the World Council of Churches member pages, such as those of the Coptic, Ethiopian, Eritrean and Malankara churches53325455.
  • Confessions and declarations: the Belhar Confession, the Kairos Document, Kairos Palestine and GAFCON's Jerusalem Declaration20214227.
  • Catholic teaching documents: the instructions of 1984 and 1986 on liberation, Paul VI's Kampala homily and Redemptoris Missio11121516.
  • Lausanne statements: the Willowbank Report (1978) and the Africa chapter's statement on the prosperity gospel (2010)1719.

Standard reference works

  • Operation World, seventh edition (2010), with country profiles and its own evangelical estimates56.
  • The International Bulletin of Mission Research, which carries the annual status table of the Center for the Study of Global Christianity49.
  • Stephen Bevans's Models of Contextual Theology, revised edition (2002), with its six models57.
  • Jehu Hanciles's introduction to World Christianity: History, Methodologies, Horizons2.
  • The St Andrews Encyclopaedia of Theology, with entries on minjung theology, theology in India, Latin American liberation theology and Arabic Christian theology37581059.
  • The Dictionary of African Christian Biography957.
  • Studies in World Christianity (Edinburgh University Press), launched in 1995 as an "international forum for a dialogue of equals"60.
  • The Bible in Africa (2000), edited by Gerald West and Musa Dube, and Postcolonial Perspectives in African Biblical Interpretations (2012), edited by Musa Dube, Andrew Mbuvi and Dora Mbuwayesango6162.

Scholarship referenced in this study

The works below shaped the field and are cited in this study, from the earliest to the most recent. Hover over a book, or select it, to see its author and the sources behind it.

  • 1969African Religions and PhilosophyJohn S. MbitiAfrican Religions and Philosophy (1969)John S. Mbiti (1931 to 6 October 2019, Anglican)Sources563
  • 1971A Theology of LiberationGustavo GutiérrezA Theology of Liberation (1971)Gustavo Gutiérrez (passed away 22 October 2024, aged 96)Sources38
  • 1975Theological Pitfalls in AfricaByang KatoTheological Pitfalls in Africa (1975)Byang Kato (1936 to 1975)Sources9
  • 1979Third-Eye TheologyC. S. SongThird-Eye Theology (1979)C. S. SongSources64
  • 1983The Crucified among the CrossbearersTakatso MofokengThe Crucified among the Crossbearers (1983)Takatso MofokengSources65
  • 1986African CryJean-Marc ElaAfrican Cry (1986)Jean-Marc ElaSources66
  • 1995Christianity in Africa: The Renewal of a Non-Western ReligionKwame BediakoChristianity in Africa: The Renewal of a Non-Western Religion (1995)Kwame BediakoSources8
  • 2000Shifting Southward: Global Christianity Since 1945Dana L. RobertShifting Southward: Global Christianity Since 1945 (2000)Dana L. RobertSources67
  • 2000The Bible in AfricaGerald WestThe Bible in Africa (2000)Gerald West, with Musa DubeSources61
  • 2002Models of Contextual Theology, revised editionStephen B. BevansModels of Contextual Theology, revised edition (2002)Stephen B. BevansSources57
  • 2003Whose Religion Is Christianity?Lamin SannehWhose Religion Is Christianity? (2003)Lamin SannehSources1
  • 2018Christianity in the Twentieth Century: A World HistoryBrian StanleyChristianity in the Twentieth Century: A World History (2018)Brian StanleySources68

Listed because this study draws on their published work; no association with or endorsement of Numa Verse is implied. Suggest a correction.

Key terms

The words that carry the most weight in this field, each defined from the sources of this study. Turn a card over to read its definition.

In the statistical sense of the Center for the Study of Global Christianity, Africa, Asia, Latin America and Oceania; a geographical category, not a shared theological experience45.

What the World Christian Database counts: church members plus unaffiliated Christians, including secret believers; Pew counts instead the people who say they are Christian4546.

Churches of independent African foundation, also called African Instituted Churches; the OAIC distinguishes "nationalist", "spiritual" and "African Pentecostal" churches69.

In Redemptoris Missio, a long process, not surface adaptation: an "intimate transformation of authentic cultural values"16.

Andrew Walls's view that the incarnation is the pattern for the faith's spread, each new culture taking the gospel into its own forms4.

Stephen Bevans's six models: translation, anthropological, praxis, synthetic, transcendental and counter-cultural, the last added in the 2002 edition57.

Minjung means the people and han a collective grief and resentment: the key concepts of Korean minjung theology37.

A theology that asserted itself in India in the 1980s, rooted, as Jesudas Athyal writes, in the "pain and pathos" of the oppressed, and using Scripture to resist caste58.

In liberation theology, the reading of God's universal love as siding with the oppressed; the 1986 Catholic instruction affirms "a love of preference" for the poor that excludes no one1012.

As the Lausanne Africa chapter defines it, "the teaching that believers have a right to the blessings of health and wealth"19.

Where it sits

Builds on

World Christianity and contextual theologies

Leads to

Questions people ask

The Center for the Study of Global Christianity estimates 2,674 million Christians in mid-2026, 69 percent of them in Africa, Asia, Latin America and Oceania, with Africa the largest region at about 780 million and growing 2.6 percent a year45. Pew, counting self-identification, found that sub-Saharan Africa passed Europe as the region with the most Christians between 2010 and 202046.

They measure different things: the Center for the Study of Global Christianity counts professing Christians, including secret believers, while Pew counts self-identification, and their 2020 world totals differ by about 226 million4546. China is the widest single uncertainty: about 20 million adults identify formally as Christian in one survey, while belief in Jesus Christ or Tianzhu rises to about 81 million in another50.

No. The Coptic, Ethiopian and Eritrean churches and the Thomas Christians of India are among the oldest in the world32535554. The Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church, founded at synodal level in 328, keeps an 81-book canon32.

No. Jean-Claude Loba-Mkole names two main paradigms in African biblical interpretation: inculturation, or "theologies of being", and liberation, or "theologies of bread"61. Themba Shingange's Ubuntu reading of the image of God in Genesis 1:26 to 27 is one scholar's proposal, not the African reading31.

Pentecostal and charismatic Christians differ widely on healing, provision and suffering. In nine of ten countries surveyed in 2006, most Pentecostals said God grants material prosperity to the faithful18, but expecting God's help in health and daily need is distinct from the teaching the Lausanne Africa chapter condemns, that health and wealth are entitlements obtained by prescribed declarations or offerings19.

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  1. 1Review of Lamin Sanneh, Whose Religion Is Christianity?, Graham Kings (Fulcrum)https://fulcrum-anglican.org.uk/?p=14003 (opens in a new tab)
  2. 2Introduction to World Christianity: History, Methodologies, Horizons, Jehu J. Hanciles (Orbis Books)https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0185/6438/2784/files/Hanciles_World_Christianity_Intro.pdf (opens in a new tab)
  3. 3New publication from the CCCW: Relocating World Christianity (Cambridge Centre for Christianity Worldwide)https://www.cccw.cam.ac.uk/new-publication-cccw/ (opens in a new tab)
  4. 4The Cross-Cultural Process in Christian History, Andrew F. Walls (Orbis Books)https://orbisbooks.com/products/the-cross-cultural-process-in-christian-history (opens in a new tab)
  5. 5Mbiti, John Samuel, Francis Anekwe Oborji (Dictionary of African Christian Biography)https://dacb.org/stories/kenya/mbiti-johns/ (opens in a new tab)
  6. 6African theologian John Samuel Mbiti dies at 87 (Christian Century)https://www.christiancentury.org/archive/44148/201911 (opens in a new tab)
  7. 7Idowu, Bolaji (Dictionary of African Christian Biography)https://dacb.org/stories/nigeria/idowu-bolaji/ (opens in a new tab)
  8. 8Review of Kwame Bediako, Christianity in Africa, Kevin Ward (Journal of African History)https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-african-history/article/christianity-in-africa-christianity-in-africa-the-renewal-of-a-nonwestern-religion-by-kwame-bediako-edinburgh-edinburgh-university-press-and-maryknoll-ny-orbis-1995-pp-xii-276-1695-isbn-0748606254/31A1B5D1565D4C8FD624B1AE6905A496 (opens in a new tab)
  9. 9Kato, Byang Henry (Dictionary of African Christian Biography)https://dacb.org/stories/nigeria/kato-legacy/ (opens in a new tab)
  10. 10Latin American Liberation Theology, Jung Mo Sung (St Andrews Encyclopaedia of Theology)https://www.saet.ac.uk/Christianity/LatinAmericanLiberationTheology (opens in a new tab)
  11. 11Instruction on Certain Aspects of the "Theology of Liberation", Libertatis Nuntius (Vatican)https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/documents/rc_con_cfaith_doc_19840806_theology-liberation_en.html (opens in a new tab)
  12. 12Instruction on Christian Freedom and Liberation, Libertatis Conscientia (Vatican)https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/documents/rc_con_cfaith_doc_19860322_freedom-liberation_en.html (opens in a new tab)
  13. 13Notification on the book "Church: Charism and Power" by Father Leonardo Boff (Vatican)https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/documents/rc_con_cfaith_doc_19850311_notif-boff_en.html (opens in a new tab)
  14. 14Notification on the works of Father Jon Sobrino, SJ (Vatican)https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/documents/rc_con_cfaith_doc_20061126_notification-sobrino_en.html (opens in a new tab)
  15. 15Homily at the closing of the Symposium of African Bishops, Kampala, Paul VI (Vatican)https://www.vatican.va/content/paul-vi/en/homilies/1969/documents/hf_p-vi_hom_19690731.html (opens in a new tab)
  16. 16Redemptoris Missio, John Paul II (Vatican)https://www.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_jp-ii_enc_07121990_redemptoris-missio.html (opens in a new tab)
  17. 17The Willowbank Report: Gospel and Culture, Lausanne Occasional Paper 2 (Lausanne Movement)https://lausanne.org/occasional-paper/lop-2 (opens in a new tab)
  18. 18Spirit and Power: A 10-Country Survey of Pentecostals (Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life)https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2006/10/05/spirit-and-power/ (opens in a new tab)
  19. 19A Statement on the Prosperity Gospel, Lausanne Theology Working Group, Africa Chapter (Lausanne Movement)https://lausanne.org/content/a-statement-on-the-prosperity-gospel (opens in a new tab)
  20. 20The Belhar Confession (Reformed Church in America)https://www.rca.org/about/theology/creeds-and-confessions/the-belhar-confession/ (opens in a new tab)
  21. 21The Kairos Document: Challenge to the Church, 1985 (Kairos Southern Africa)https://kairossouthernafrica.wordpress.com/2011/05/08/the-south-africa-kairos-document-1985/ (opens in a new tab)
  22. 22Catechism of the Catholic Church 2387, Offenses against the dignity of marriage (Vatican)https://www.vatican.va/content/catechism/en/part_three/section_two/chapter_two/article_6/iv_offenses_against_the_dignity_of_marriage.html (opens in a new tab)
  23. 23Instruction on Prayers for Healing (Vatican)https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/documents/rc_con_cfaith_doc_20001123_istruzione_en.html (opens in a new tab)
  24. 24Ordinatio Sacerdotalis, John Paul II (Vatican)https://www.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/en/apost_letters/1994/documents/hf_jp-ii_apl_19940522_ordinatio-sacerdotalis.html (opens in a new tab)
  25. 25The nature of doctrine, marriage, and discipline in the C of E, Martin Davie (Psephizo)https://www.psephizo.com/sexuality-2/the-nature-of-doctrine-marriage-and-discipline-in-the-c-of-e/ (opens in a new tab)
  26. 26Revd Ellinah Wamukoya, Bishop-elect of Swaziland (Anglican Church of Southern Africa)https://archbishop.anglicanchurchsa.org/2012/07/revd-ellinah-wamukoya-bishop-elect-of.html (opens in a new tab)
  27. 27The Jerusalem Declaration (GAFCON)https://www.gafcon.org/about/jerusalem-declaration (opens in a new tab)
  28. 28More than 80 percent of LWF churches ordain women (Lutheran World Federation)https://lutheranworld.org/news/more-80-percent-lwf-churches-ordain-women (opens in a new tab)
  29. 29Timeline of Women in Methodism (The United Methodist Church)https://www.umc.org/en/content/timeline-of-women-in-methodism (opens in a new tab)
  30. 30Côte d'Ivoire Conference votes to leave denomination (UM News, via UM Insight)https://um-insight.net/in-the-church/umc-future/cote-divoire-conference-votes-to-leave-denomination/ (opens in a new tab)
  31. 31The images of God in religious discourses on race, gender and sexuality in contemporary Africa: A theology of Ubuntu, Themba Shingange (Verbum et Ecclesia)https://verbumetecclesia.org.za/index.php/ve/article/view/3515/9265 (opens in a new tab)
  32. 32Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church (World Council of Churches)https://www.oikoumene.org/member-churches/ethiopian-orthodox-tewahedo-church (opens in a new tab)
  33. 33Kimbanguist Church (EJCSK) Timeline (World Religions and Spirituality Project)https://wrldrels.org/?p=21679 (opens in a new tab)
  34. 34Zion Christian Church (World Religions and Spirituality Project)https://wrldrels.org/?p=15987 (opens in a new tab)
  35. 35Jubilation after Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church's 27-year-old schism is healed (World Council of Churches)https://www.oikoumene.org/news/jubilation-after-ethiopian-orthodox-tewahedo-churchs-27-year-old-schism-is-healed (opens in a new tab)
  36. 36Identity and Church: Ethiopian-Egyptian Dialogue, 1924-59, Haggai Erlich (International Journal of Middle East Studies)https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/international-journal-of-middle-east-studies/article/abs/identity-and-church-ethiopianegyptian-dialogue-192459/536AB52EB63784049CFE43ABBCCD4810 (opens in a new tab)
  37. 37Minjung Theology, Andrew Eungi Kim and Jongman Kim (St Andrews Encyclopaedia of Theology)https://www.saet.ac.uk/Christianity/MinjungTheology (opens in a new tab)
  38. 38Fr Gustavo Gutiérrez, champion of the poor, dies aged 96 (Vatican News)https://www.vaticannews.va/en/church/news/2024-10/gustavo-gutierrez-champion-of-the-poor-dies-aged-96.print.html (opens in a new tab)
  39. 39Organization of African Instituted Churches (World Council of Churches)https://www.oikoumene.org/en/church-families/african-instituted-churches/oaic (opens in a new tab)
  40. 40What convinced the World Communion of Reformed Churches in 1998 and World Council of Churches in 2015 to readmit the Dutch Reformed Church as a full member?, P. Strauss (Acta Theologica)https://journals.ufs.ac.za/index.php/at/article/view/3476 (opens in a new tab)
  41. 41Voice of the voiceless: The legacy of the Circle of Concerned African Women Theologians, Hazel O. Ayanga (Verbum et Ecclesia)https://verbumetecclesia.org.za/index.php/VE/article/view/1580 (opens in a new tab)
  42. 42Israeli occupation called 'sin against God' by Palestinian Christians (Christian Century)https://www.christiancentury.org/article/2010-01/israeli-occupation-called-sin-against-god-palestinian-christians (opens in a new tab)
  43. 43Kairos Palestine Document, General Council Executive (The United Church of Canada)https://generalcouncil.ca/print/pdf/node/287 (opens in a new tab)
  44. 44CCAR Resolution on the 2009 Kairos Document (Central Conference of American Rabbis)https://www.ccarnet.org/ccar-resolutions/ccar-resolution-2009-kairos-document/ (opens in a new tab)
  45. 45Status of Global Christianity, 2026, in the Context of 1900 to 2075 (Center for the Study of Global Christianity, World Christian Database)https://www.worldchristiandatabase.org/static/downloads/Status-of-Global-Christianity-2026.2b54be19fc0c.pdf (opens in a new tab)
  46. 46Christian population change, in How the Global Religious Landscape Changed From 2010 to 2020 (Pew Research Center)https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2025/06/09/christian-population-change/ (opens in a new tab)
  47. 47Census 2022 Statistical Release P03014 (Statistics South Africa)https://census.statssa.gov.za/assets/documents/2022/P03014_Census_2022_Statistical_Release.pdf (opens in a new tab)
  48. 48Cultural Dynamics in South Africa, Report 03-01-84 (Statistics South Africa)https://www.statssa.gov.za/publications/03-01-84/03-01-84.pdf (opens in a new tab)
  49. 49World Christianity 2026: Anticipating the Future, Gina A. Zurlo and Todd M. Johnson (International Bulletin of Mission Research)https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/23969393251385515 (opens in a new tab)
  50. 50Christianity, chapter 4 of Measuring Religion in China (Pew Research Center)https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2023/08/30/christianity/ (opens in a new tab)
  51. 51Censo 2022: católicos seguem em queda; evangélicos e sem religião crescem no país (Agência Gov)https://agenciagov.ebc.com.br/noticias/202506/censo-2022-catolicos-seguem-em-queda-evangelicos-e-sem-religiao-crescem-no-pais (opens in a new tab)
  52. 522021 Census shows changes in Australia's religious diversity (Australian Bureau of Statistics)https://www.abs.gov.au/media-centre/media-releases/2021-census-shows-changes-australias-religious-diversity (opens in a new tab)
  53. 53Coptic Orthodox Church (World Council of Churches)https://www.oikoumene.org/member-churches/coptic-orthodox-church (opens in a new tab)
  54. 54Eritrean Orthodox Tewahedo Church (World Council of Churches)https://www.oikoumene.org/member-churches/eritrean-orthodox-tewahedo-church (opens in a new tab)
  55. 55Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church (World Council of Churches)https://www.oikoumene.org/member-churches/malankara-orthodox-syrian-church (opens in a new tab)
  56. 56Operation World: The Definitive Prayer Guide to Every Nation (InterVarsity Press)https://shop.ivpress.com/operation-world (opens in a new tab)
  57. 57Models of Contextual Theology, Stephen B. Bevans (Bookshare)https://www.bookshare.org/browse/book/1820125 (opens in a new tab)
  58. 58Theology in India, Jesudas Athyal (St Andrews Encyclopaedia of Theology)https://www.saet.ac.uk/Christianity/TheologyinIndia (opens in a new tab)
  59. 59Arabic Christian Theology, Najib George Awad (St Andrews Encyclopaedia of Theology)https://www.saet.ac.uk/Christianity/ArabicChristianTheology (opens in a new tab)
  60. 60Studies in World Christianity 25.3 (Centre for the Study of World Christianity, University of Edinburgh)https://www.cswc.div.ed.ac.uk/?p=1608 (opens in a new tab)
  61. 61Rise of intercultural Biblical exegesis in Africa, Jean-Claude Loba-Mkole (HTS Theological Studies)https://hts.org.za/index.php/hts/article/download/77/73 (opens in a new tab)
  62. 62Postcolonial Perspectives in African Biblical Interpretations (SBL Press)https://cart.sbl-site.org/books/060813C (opens in a new tab)
  63. 63Kenya mourns the late Prof. Samuel John Mbiti (World Council of Churches)https://www.oikoumene.org/news/kenya-mourns-the-late-prof-samuel-john-mbiti (opens in a new tab)
  64. 64C. S. Song (Boston Collaborative Encyclopedia of Western Theology)https://people.bu.edu/wwildman/bce/song.htm (opens in a new tab)
  65. 65Christology from below: an examination of the Black Christology of Takatso Mofokeng, Michael Forrest (University of Cape Town)https://open.uct.ac.za/handle/11427/14338 (opens in a new tab)
  66. 66African Cry, Jean-Marc Ela (Wipf and Stock)https://wipfandstock.com/9781597523295/african-cry/ (opens in a new tab)
  67. 67Turning the World Upside Down, Mark A. Noll (Christianity Today, Books and Culture)https://www.christianitytoday.com/?p=90405 (opens in a new tab)
  68. 68Christianity in the Twentieth Century: A World History, Brian Stanley (Princeton University Press)https://press.princeton.edu/books/ebook/9781400890316/christianity-in-the-twentieth-century-0 (opens in a new tab)
  69. 69African Instituted Churches: Close to God and the people, Hans Spitzeck (OAIC)https://oaic.org/newsite/?p=1835 (opens in a new tab)

Page record

Reviewed and approved by Duane Herholdt, BA (Theology), Chief Executive Officer, Numa Verse

Study version: v1.1, 6 November 2026 (theology map v1.27)

Last reviewed: 9 November 2026

How these pages are made

  • 9 November 2026: First draft from the approved assessment v1.1.