WASHINGTON -- Christianity is on the rise but changing, says historian Philip Jenkins, who predicts more Third World residents will claim Jesus as Lord and Savior in coming years, according to United Press International.
"By the year 2050, three billion Christians will inhabit the globe, but of those only one in six will be a non-Hispanic Caucasian," Jenkins told UPI.
Jenkins, a history professor at Pennsylvania State University, said according to his demographic projections, there will be three Christians for every two Muslims in the next 40 to 50 years. Results from Jenkins' study recently were published in "Next Christendom: The Coming of Globalized Christianity."
As the birth rate of Europeans has slowed, Jenkins said "Christianity will become much more of a black and brown religion."
Jenkins' study also reports at least 1,500 Christian foreign missionaries - most of whom are from Africa and Asia - are at work in Britain.
"In London, where by now half of all churchgoers are of African descent, black churches are doing mission among whites, using missionary impulses of years gone by," Jenkins said. "They are trying to enculturate Christianity to make it acceptable to white people."
