Posted September 18, 2026
For most of Christian history, missionaries have gone from the West to share the gospel with other parts of the world. But what happens when the West begins to turn its back on that same faith? As I discussed in the “God is good” section of this week’s Focus, the thousands of missionaries being sent from Africa, Asia, and other parts of the developing world to Europe, Canada, and the United States are providing the answer.
In 1900, over 80 percent of the world’s Christians lived in Europe and North America. That number is now down to 25 percent. The rest reside in the Global South, namely, Africa, Asia, Latin America, and Oceania.
Interestingly, though, the percentage of the world’s population who are Christians hasn’t really changed, falling roughly 2 percent from 34.5 percent in 1900 to 32.3 percent today. So, while Christianity has increasingly left the West, it hasn’t diminished. God has simply gone where he’s wanted.
That said, he hasn’t abandoned the West. In fact, the US has become both the largest sender of missionaries to the rest of the world and the largest recipient of missionaries from abroad. And Europe is not that far behind, at least in the latter category.
Africa, in particular, has seen an explosion of the faith in recent years. It’s now estimated that more than 40 percent of the global Christian population will reside in Africa by 2060. And they are increasingly committed to taking the gospel back to the places that first brought it to them.
As Nigerian pastor and evangelist Jerry Eze put it, “They preached God to us. We accepted him and wanted to know him. Now, we’re going back to show them what he can do.”
In his article for CNN (yes, that CNN) on the work God is doing through African missionaries, Nimi Princewill notes that “The mission is not only about bringing people back to faith. Some African Christians also see it as a way of restoring Christian values they believe the West has moved away from.”
A big part of why the gospel is exploding in Africa is that it’s presented as a way of life. As Malawian theologian Harvey Kwiyani described,
Christianity is a very demanding religion. It requires you to sort of shift your culture so you can be shaped by God in spirit, and most Westerners don’t really want to deal with this at the moment.
Is he right? I think the answer is largely yes, and that could be why much of the success these African missionaries are having so far is with the pockets of other Africans that have immigrated or sought asylum in recent years.
Many of the leaders in this movement are quick to point out that these “diaspora communities” are not the sum total of the work God has called them to do. Instead, they see them as an important entry point into the West and a foundation from which they can more easily take the gospel into the surrounding culture. In that sense, their strategy is reminiscent of the apostle Paul, who went to the Jews first before taking the gospel to the Gentiles.
As Paul often found, though, the larger world was not always receptive to his message. And that is one of the primary points we need to pray for today.
It doesn’t seem like a coincidence that, in recent years, the West has been given ample reasons to be wary of those crossing our borders from African nations and elsewhere, even as many of those nations are beginning to send missionaries our direction. In the same way that Christianity’s colonial ties have complicated Western evangelism in Africa, the anti-immigration sentiment born from open borders and failed policies across much of Europe and North America is complicating African evangelism here.
Satan wants to keep people from turning to God as much as God wants them to turn to him, and we must never underestimate the resolve of our enemy to see the Lord’s kingdom hindered.
So, let’s start by praying that God will continue to move among the nations and that our brothers and sisters in Africa and elsewhere will be empowered by the Holy Spirit to make a real impact here. Let’s continue that prayer by asking that the broader cultural climate will not close people’s hearts and minds to the gospel that’s coming with them. And finally, let’s pray that God would help us be open to any ways we can partner with them in those efforts.
I’ll admit, though, that last prayer is the one I find myself struggling most to offer in earnest.
When I first read about this movement of African missionaries to the West, my initial reaction was surprise. It’s great that God is sending more of his people to help share the gospel in new and exciting ways, but there was a small part of me that resented the fact that he has to do so. After all, historically, we’ve been the ones who help other parts of the world to know Christ, not the ones who need missionaries to come do the same here.
It didn’t take long for the Holy Spirit to disabuse me of that notion, but it felt significant that I had it at all. And if the same was true for you in any way, perhaps you, too, need to take some time to ask why.
Just before Jesus sent out the twelve apostles to share the good news of his coming throughout Judea, he encouraged them by saying, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest” (Matthew 9:37–38).
Far too often, Christians in the West have read that passage and seen only the challenge to be those workers. But what if the United States and Europe are becoming the fields ready for harvest, and God’s answer is to bring more laborers here to help?
If that’s the case, then it would be a blessing. However, accepting it as such will require a level of humility that doesn’t always come easily to us.
So, as we finish for today, let’s pray once again that God will continue to bring missionaries to the West with whom we can join in sharing the good news of Jesus with a culture in desperate need of his salvation.
God has not abandoned the West, and perhaps the West is nearing a point of repentance for the degree to which our culture has abandoned God.
Will you be ready when it does?
“Every Christian a missionary; every non-Christian a mission-field.” —Winkie Pratney
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