Missionaries are still going to Africa. But for African Christian leaders, it is the West that needs help

Courtesy Streams of Joy Media

Two years ago, Nigerian pastor Jerry Eze arrived in London to lead a prayer conference at Twickenham — the world’s largest rugby stadium — and immediately wondered whether he had picked the wrong place.

The event had yet to begin, and the 82,000-seat arena appeared even larger than he had imagined, with rows of empty seats stretching out before him.

But as the start time approached, worshippers began to arrive, filling the seats one by one. Soon, the vast stadium was packed — not with rugby fans or concertgoers, but with thousands who came to pray with an African preacher.

When Eze stepped onto the stage and faced the crowd, he told CNN he felt a mix of nerves and gratitude — praying he would fulfill what he believed was God’s purpose for him there.

Eze reaches a global audience through daily prayer broadcasts on YouTube.

To him, what happened at Twickenham showed how Christianity is changing around the world.

For generations, Christian mission flowed primarily from Europe and North America to Africa. Missionaries often arrived alongside European militaries, closely linking Christian mission with colonial rule in the minds of many Africans.

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Their presence is still felt – the United States remains the world’s largest missionary-sending country by far, according to the World Christian Database. Only last month, American missionary Kevin Rideout was released after nine months in captivity in Niger, where he worked with SIM International, a Christian mission organization that has operated in the country for more than 100 years.

But now the traffic is two-way. A new generation of African Christians is challenging that old pattern, spreading the gospel in the opposite direction.

“When I was growing up, the common picture of a missionary was a Westerner coming to Africa,” Tshepang Basupi, the Southern Africa director of Africa Inland Mission, told CNN. “Today, we have Africans going to other parts of Africa, to Asia, to Europe and to North America.”

Basupi, who is from Botswana, leads more than 100 missionaries and helps recruit Africans for cross-cultural mission work.

Many are finding their style of preaching is highly popular among the African diaspora in Europe and North America, where they satisfy a hunger for a different kind of Christianity. Rather than bringing a new religion to a population, these missionaries are bringing a new style of religion to places they see as having lost the fervor that they see at home.

Eze describes himself as “a missionary to the West,” and says this influence comes partly from the way Africans practice Christianity.

courtesy Pastor Jerry Eze

The YouTube prayer channel started during Covid that’s become a global movement

“For us here in Africa, it is the fervency and the zeal with which we do it. There’s an African passion and stamina,” he said, adding, “the fire is leaving the West.”

This movement is not new, but it has grown as Christianity spreads in Africa.

In 2008, about 18,400 African missionaries had served abroad, according to one estimate . Although more recent data is not available for direct comparison, a 2024 report by the Lausanne Movement, using World Christian Database data, found that missionary activity is now much more global, with Nigeria alone sending an estimated 20,000 missionaries abroad in 2020.

CAPRO, a mission group from Nigeria, says it has over 800 missionaries from more than 27 countries working in 46 nations worldwide, including Canada, where its teams evangelize among indigenous communities.

Courtesy Femi Odufeso

Dondo Iorlamen, the international director of CAPRO, believes Africa is well-positioned to send missionaries because Christianity is growing stronger there. “Africa and Asia are the leading mission-sending regions in the world,” he said.

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.

Harvey Kwiyani, a Malawian theologian based in England who studies African Christianity and its role in the West, said this includes conservative views on sexuality, as well as differences over everyday life, such as going to pubs, which some African Pentecostals consider incompatible with Christian life.

“The Africans are coming in to re-evangelize Westerners so they can go back to what they consider Christian values,” he told CNN.

But Kwiyani is skeptical about how successful that effort will be. He says the West has, to a great extent, “moved on from Christianity,” and many people there no longer consider themselves religious.

“Christianity itself is a very demanding religion,” he said. “It requires you to sort of shift your culture so you can be shaped by this golden spirit that most Westerners don’t really want to deal with at the moment.”

The growing movement of African Christians into the West is sometimes described as “reverse mission.” But Basupi rejects that idea.

“‘Reverse mission’ assumes that mission belongs to the West and that Africa is simply reversing the direction of Western missionary movement,” he said. “Mission is not for the West only; it is for every believer.”

Eze says African missions are increasingly looking to the West because many churches there are shrinking and fewer people identify as religious.

The decline is visible across Europe. A 2025 Pew study found that 67% of people in Europe were Christian in 2020, compared with 75% in 2010. In North America, 63% were Christian in 2020, versus 77% in 2010.

The US has also seen a decline in the number of Christians. Pew’s latest Religious Landscape Study found that 62% of US adults identified as Christian in 2023-24, while 29% had no religious affiliation.

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In sub-Saharan Africa, the number of Christians grew 31% between 2010 and 2020, reaching 697 million, according to Pew . It is now home to the world’s largest Christian population.

Eze sees those changes as evidence of a spiritual need that African Christians can help address.

“These are the people who showed us God,” he said. “But Christianity is declining there.”

He believes “the baton of revival is in Africa right now” — and that African Christianity has something the West needs.

“God has given us something we call the miraculous. It is our currency. It is something they are looking for,” he said, describing a strong emphasis many African Christians place on prayer, healing and the supernatural.

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Nigerian pastor William Kumuyi, whose Global Crusades have taken his ministry to countries across several continents, sees those qualities as a wider feature of African Christianity.

“Christianity in Africa is characterized by unreserved faith, fervent prayer, and reliance on God’s supernatural intervention,” he said, adding that African churches can offer Western societies “a rekindled passion for the authority of Scripture, holiness of life, and expectancy for miracles.”

But reaching the West doesn’t always mean reaching large numbers of Westerners.

African churches in the West often serve migrant communities. A 2021 study by the World Council of Churches found that migration is contributing to the growth of minority churches in some European countries.

“They are not growing among the Whites. They are growing among the migrants, especially Africans,” said Iorlamen.

Eze, whose ministry has churches in the US, UK, and Canada, said many who attend his conferences are Black, but some are White as well.

Kumuyi said the goal is to reach beyond diaspora communities.

“While diaspora communities often provide an initial entry point, our clear objective is never to build ethnic enclaves,” he said. “In the Canadian cities of Granby, Toronto, and Hamilton, as well as outreaches across Asia and Oceania, the focus is the broader host population.”

The changing direction of Christian mission is also challenging the old idea of what a “missionary” is.

Iorlamen says the word still carries the weight of Africa’s colonial past.

“Some people don’t like it,” he said. “It reminds them of colonialism and the offenses some missionaries committed — conniving with the colonial masters to enslave people.”

Basupi says the growing role of African Christians in global mission does not mean Western missionaries are no longer needed in Africa.

“There is room for everyone,” he said. “We should come as equal partners and fellow servants, learning from one another and contributing where we are needed.”

Two years after Twickenham, Eze is preparing to return to Britain for a conference at Manchester’s Old Trafford stadium, with nearly 100,000 people registered, he said.

Whether that reflects a revival among Western populations or the strength of Africa’s Christian diaspora, Eze sees it as a new chapter.

“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.”

图片由 Streams of Joy Media 提供

两年前，尼日利亚牧师杰里·埃泽来到伦敦，准备在特威克纳姆（世界上最大的橄榄球场）主持一场祈祷会议，他立刻开始怀疑自己是不是选错了地方。

活动尚未开始，这座可容纳 82,000 人的体育馆看起来比他想象的还要大，一排排空座位在他面前延伸开来。

但随着开始时间的临近，信徒们开始陆续抵达，一个个坐满了座位。很快，这座巨大的体育场就挤满了人——不是橄榄球迷或音乐会观众，而是成千上万前来与一位非洲传教士一同祈祷的人。

当埃泽走上舞台面对观众时，他告诉 CNN，他感到既紧张又感激——祈祷自己能够完成他认为上帝赋予他的使命。

Eze 通过 YouTube 上的每日祈祷直播，面向全球观众。

在他看来，特威克纳姆事件表明基督教在世界各地正在发生怎样的变化。

几代以来，基督教传教活动主要从欧洲和北美流向非洲。传教士常常与欧洲军队一同抵达，这使得许多非洲人将基督教传教与殖民统治紧密联系在一起。

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他们的影响依然存在——据世界基督教数据库统计，美国仍然是全球最大的传教士派遣国。就在上个月，美国传教士凯文·赖德奥特在尼日尔被囚禁九个月后获释。他此前在尼日尔为国际宣教机构（SIM International）工作，该机构在尼日尔开展事工已有100多年历史。

但现在情况已经发生了变化。新一代的非洲基督徒正在挑战这种旧模式，朝着相反的方向传播福音。

“在我成长的年代，人们对​​传教士的普遍印象是西方人来到非洲，”非洲内地会南部非洲主任特谢庞·巴苏皮告诉CNN。“如今，我们看到非洲人前往非洲其他地区、亚洲、欧洲和北美。”

来自博茨瓦纳的巴苏皮领导着 100 多名传教士，并帮助招募非洲人从事跨文化传教工作。

许多传教士发现，他们的布道方式在欧洲和北美的非洲裔群体中非常受欢迎，满足了他们对不同类型基督教的渴望。这些传教士并非向当地民众传播一种新的宗教，而是将一种新的宗教形式带到他们认为已经失去家乡那种热情的地方。

埃泽自称是“西方的传教士”，并表示这种影响部分源于非洲人实践基督教的方式。

承蒙杰瑞·埃泽牧师惠允

这个在新冠疫情期间创立的YouTube祈祷频道，如今已发展成为一场全球运动。

“对我们非洲人来说，重要的是我们做事的热情和干劲。这里有一种非洲式的激情和毅力，”他说道，并补充道，“西方的这股热情正在消退。”

这种运动并非新生事物，但随着基督教在非洲的传播而发展壮大。

据估计，2008年约有18400名非洲传教士在海外服务。虽然目前尚无更新的数据可供直接比较，但洛桑运动在2024年发布的一份报告（该报告使用了世界基督教数据库的数据）显示，如今的传教活动已更加全球化，仅尼日利亚在2020年就向海外派遣了约2万名传教士。

来自尼日利亚的宣教团体 CAPRO 表示，他们拥有来自 27 个国家的 800 多名传教士，在全球 46 个国家开展工作，其中包括加拿大，他们的团队在加拿大的土著社区中传播福音。

承蒙 Femi Odufeso 惠允

CAPRO国际主任唐多·约拉门认为，非洲具备派遣传教士的优势，因为基督教在非洲发展壮大。“非洲和亚洲是全球主要的传教士派遣地区，”他说。

这项使命不仅仅是让人们重拾信仰。一些非洲基督徒也将其视为恢复基督教价值观的一种方式，他们认为西方已经背离了这些价值观。

居住在英国的马拉维神学家哈维·奎亚尼研究非洲基督教及其在西方的作用，他表示，这包括对性行为的保守观点，以及日常生活方面的差异，例如去酒吧，一些非洲五旬节派教徒认为这与基督教生活不相容。

“非洲人来到这里是为了重新向西方人传福音，让他们回归他们认为的基督教价值观，”他告诉 CNN。

但奎亚尼对这项努力能否成功持怀疑态度。他说，西方在很大程度上已经“摆脱了基督教”，那里许多人不再认为自己是宗教信徒。

他说：“基督教本身就是一种要求很高的宗教。它要求你改变自己的文化，以便被这种金色的精神所塑造，而大多数西方人目前并不想面对这种精神。”

非洲基督徒向西方传教的趋势日益增长，有时被描述为“反向传教”。但巴苏皮并不认同这种观点。

他说：“‘反向宣教’假定宣教是西方的专属，而非洲只是在逆转西方宣教运动的方向。宣教并非西方的专属，而是每个信徒的使命。”

埃泽表示，非洲的传教士们越来越倾向于向西方寻求帮助，因为那里的许多教会正在萎缩，而且认同宗教信仰的人也越来越少。

这种下降趋势在欧洲各地都很明显。皮尤研究中心2025年的一项研究发现，2020年欧洲基督徒的比例为67%，而2010年为75%。在北美，2020年基督徒的比例为63%，而2010年为77%。

美国基督徒人数也出现了下降。皮尤研究中心最新的宗教景观研究发现，在2023-2024年，62%的美国成年人自认为是基督徒，而29%的人没有宗教信仰。

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据皮尤研究中心的数据显示，2010年至2020年间，撒哈拉以南非洲的基督徒人数增长了31%，达到6.97亿。如今，这里拥有世界上最多的基督徒人口。

埃泽认为这些变化表明非洲基督徒存在精神需求，而非洲基督徒可以帮助满足这种需求。

“是这些人让我们认识了上帝，”他说。“但基督教在那里正在衰落。”

他认为“复兴的接力棒现在在非洲”，而且非洲基督教拥有西方所需要的东西。

“上帝赐予我们一些我们称之为奇迹的东西。它是我们的通行证。这是他们所寻求的东西，”他说道，并描述了许多非洲基督徒对祈祷、治愈和超自然现象的重视。

美国空荡荡的教堂迎来新的解决之道：信仰的转变

尼日利亚牧师威廉·库穆伊（William Kumuyi）的全球布道活动已将他的事工带到了多个大洲的国家，他认为这些特质是非洲基督教的更广泛特征。

他说：“非洲的基督教以毫无保留的信仰、热切的祈祷和对上帝超自然干预的依赖为特征。”他还补充说，非洲教会可以为西方社会带来“对圣经权威、圣洁生活和对奇迹的期待的重新燃起的热情”。

但进入西方并不总是意味着能接触到大量的西方人。

在西方的非洲教会通常服务于移民群体。世界基督教协会2021年的一项研究发现，移民正在促进一些欧洲国家少数族裔教会的发展。

“这种疾病并没有在白人中蔓延，而是在移民群体中蔓延，尤其是在非洲移民群体中，”伊奥拉门说道。

埃泽的教会遍布美国、英国和加拿大，他说参加他举办的会议的人很多是黑人，但也有一些是白人。

库穆伊表示，目标是扩大受众范围，超越侨民社区。

他说：“虽然侨民社区通常是一个初始切入点，但我们的明确目标绝不是建立族裔聚居区。在加拿大格兰比、多伦多和汉密尔顿等城市，以及在亚洲和大洋洲的拓展项目中，我们的重点是更广泛的东道国人口。”

基督教传教方向的改变也挑战了人们对“传教士”这一概念的旧有看法。

伊奥拉门说，这个词仍然承载着非洲殖民历史的沉重包袱。

“有些人不喜欢这样，”他说。“这让他们想起殖民主义以及一些传教士犯下的罪行——与殖民统治者勾结奴役人民。”

巴苏皮表示，非洲基督徒在全球传教中发挥的作用日益增强，但这并不意味着非洲不再需要西方传教士。

他说：“这里容得下所有人。我们应该以平等伙伴和共同服务者的身份来到这里，互相学习，并在需要的地方贡献力量。”

埃泽表示，在特威克纳姆球场事件发生两年后，他正准备返回英国，参加在曼彻斯特老特拉福德球场举行的一次会议，已有近 10 万人注册参加。

无论这反映了西方人群的复兴，还是非洲基督教侨民的强大力量，埃泽都将其视为一个新的篇章。

“他们向我们传讲上帝。我们接受了他，并渴望认识他。现在，我们要回去向他们展示他能做什么。”