Where the church stands in Sub-Saharan Africa
In 1900 there were perhaps 9 million Christians in all of Africa. Today Sub-Saharan Africa alone holds around 718 million — more than Europe and North America combined — and roughly six in ten people in the region identify as Christian. No comparable shift has happened anywhere in Christian history in so short a time.
The growth is overwhelmingly indigenous: African evangelists, African-founded churches, and denominations that arrived a century ago and are now led entirely by Africans. It has also produced an African missionary movement — Nigerians, Ethiopians and Kenyans now serve across the continent, into the Muslim north, and in Europe and North America.
Signs of hope
A church that grew roughly 75-fold in a century, now sending workers into the Horn of Africa, the Sahel and the West.
The honest difficulty
Nominalism and prosperity teaching where Christianity is culturally dominant, and sustained violence against believers across the Sahel and Nigeria's north and middle belt.
How to pray for Sub-Saharan Africa
Take one of these for a week rather than all of them for a day.
- Thank God for the largest and fastest-growing Christian population on earth.
- Pray for depth to match breadth — discipleship that outlasts a decision.
- Ask God to protect believers in Nigeria's north, the Sahel and the Horn, where the cost of faith is highest.
- Pray for African workers reaching the Fulani, Somali and other large Muslim peoples of the continent.
Nations in Sub-Saharan Africa on this site
Each profile carries church size, unreached peoples, what is going well, what is hard, and four prayer points.
Questions people ask about Sub-Saharan Africa
How many Christians are there in Sub-Saharan Africa?
About 718 million of Sub-Saharan Africa's roughly 1.2 billion people identify as Christian — around 59.8% of the population. The trend is fastest growing. Figures follow Pew Research Center's regional definitions and the Center for the Study of Global Christianity, and are rounded estimates that vary by source and year.
Is Christianity growing in Sub-Saharan Africa?
The centre of gravity of world Christianity has moved here — and it is still moving. A church that grew roughly 75-fold in a century, now sending workers into the Horn of Africa, the Sahel and the West. At the same time: Nominalism and prosperity teaching where Christianity is culturally dominant, and sustained violence against believers across the Sahel and Nigeria's north and middle belt.
Which nations in Sub-Saharan Africa are least reached?
Of the 5 Sub-Saharan Africa nations profiled on this site, 1 is frontier and 0 are unreached. Somalia (frontier, about 0.05% Christian)