US Likely Won’t Have Largest Christian Population by 2030
(Worthy News) – The greater the persecution, the greater the revival. It’s a phrase Chinese Christians are using these days, and with good reason.
You’ve probably heard a lot about China in the news lately: How it’s threatening peace in the Pacific by building military bases on artificial islands. You’ve heard presidential candidates warn that China may soon overtake the U.S. as the leading global economic power. But what you probably didn’t realize is that China is ready to overtake the U.S. in another area: the size of its Christian population.
You see, despite years of often savage oppression, the church in China is growing by leaps and bounds.
Yu Jie, a writer and dissident from China, tells the story powerfully in the August issue of First Things magazine. Yu reports that since 1949, when the communists took over and Christian missionaries were expelled, the number of Christians in China has multiplied from half a million to more than 60 million today. If current growth rates continue, “by 2030, Christians in China will exceed 200 million … making China the country with the largest Christian population in the world.” [ Source ]