Image via Wikipedia97.5% of the population in Democratic Republic of Congo is Christian - Oh, really?
Only one of the ten countries in North and South America included in the report has a lower percentage of Christians in its population than the U.S. - Canada.
79.5% of the U.S. population is Christian. - Wait, that's lower than the DRC!
If these figures are true, my first thought was "What am I doing in Africa?" However, it is not up to me to decide where I serve God. That is His decision and I trust His sovereignty. We do have to keep in mind that this report is about "people calling themselves Christians," and includes a plethora of denominations. Did everyone in the study who called themselves Christians actually think about or understand what it means to be a Christian before they answered? In many cultures, if you ask someone a direct question, they will give the answer they believe you want, whether or not it is the truth. Is everyone who is on a church roll a Christian? I've been in the Congo for 15 months now, and I can't count the Christians but I can say my personal observations don't come anywhere near to meshing with the figures in this report. While many people here attend church, some of these "churches" teach witchcraft, magic and superstition with some gospel thrown into the mix. What saddens me is the thought that missions organizations might use a report like this to determine where their missionaries are or are not needed.
You can find an article by The Weekend Telegram that gives a brief overview of the report HERE. The entire report is available on the Pew Forum website HERE. Let me know what you think. Are the numbers inflated or do you believe they are accurate?
Well, Nancy, I certainly don't think that nearly 80% of Americans are Christian. That would be great, wouldn't it? But if that's the case, I think I live near to the 20% who aren't! Like you said, I think that's what people "call themselves" but do they really believe Jesus died on the cross to take the penalty of their sins so they could be in heaven with Him? You'd really need more questions to find their level of understanding!
ReplyDeleteOne more thing:
ReplyDeleteI totally agree with you that it is misleading and dangerous to assume someone is saved based on the label they put on themselves. If they say they're Christian without understanding what it means to be redeemed (or for that matter, to even know they Need to be redeemed), they may risk hardening their own hearts to the gospel message by proclaiming something that's not true.
I hope that any serious mission group will look at those numbers with question marks in their eyes, like we are. :)