by Gina Zurlo, Ph.D. – Co-Director – Center for the Study of Global Christianity and Yang Visiting Scholar of World Christianity, Harvard Divinity School
This post is part of The Occasional’s “Numbers and Trends” series, dedicated to sharing work, analysis, and perspectives from our friends and partners at the Center for the Study of Global Christianity based at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary.
A key part of the method behind the work of the Center for the Study of Global Christianity is what we call “showing up.” Our publications – such as the World Christian Database, World Christian Encyclopedia, and Global Christianity: A Guide to the World’s Largest Religion from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe – are always global in the sense that they cover trends in Christianity in every country of the world. However, we don’t want to give the impression that a group of researchers in Boston are alone in deciding the future of Christianity worldwide. We collaborate with a wide network of scholars, researchers, missionaries, and theological educators who help inform our work. Connecting global and local knowledge continues to be a key feature of our methodology.
As part of that commitment to “show up,” I traveled in New Zealand, Fiji, and Australia over four weeks this summer (their winter!) to connect with Christian leaders, give public lectures, attend listening sessions, and network throughout the region. I met with leaders of Pacifica churches, heads of theological schools, church historians, demographers of religion, current and former missionaries, and numerous others willing to share their perspectives on Christian trends in this part of the world. A major theme that emerged from these encounters was the substantial Christian demographic change resulting from migration.
Migration is an ongoing reality for Pacific Island nations as Pacifica peoples are both pushed out of their historic homelands due to the climate crisis and/or seek better work and education opportunities abroad. Students at Pacific Theological College in Suva, Fiji, are experiencing this firsthand. There are greater populations of Cook Islanders, for example, in New Zealand than back home in the Cook Islands. In Auckland, I had a sobering meeting with Rev. Teatu Fusi, an Elder Church Minister for the Tuvalu Church Overseas Mission in New Zealand. Our conversation largely revolved around his work with the Tuvaluan diaspora to ensure they are connected to their land back home, especially those born in New Zealand. He works to help his community retain their language and culture by organizing trips to Tuvalu for the second and third generation. There are only 11,000 people left in Tuvalu and the climate crisis is exacerbating the pace of migration abroad. Their people and culture are at risk of great loss.
Christianity has been declining in Australia and New Zealand more rapidly than many Western European countries, with both countries now at 54% Christian. While true that the largest denominations have been in decline, an under-reported reality is the internal demographic change of those churches due to migration. Research in New Zealand has shown people of Asian ethnicities and Pacifica peoples are more likely than Pākehā (white New Zealanders) to self-identify as religious, participate in religious activities, and be committed to religion. In Auckland alone, there are more than 30 Chinese Christian congregations.
According to the Australian national census, Anglicans have declined as a proportion of the country’s population from 38% in 1911 to 9% in 2021. But 20% of Anglicans were born outside of Australia, a number that is increasing. After English, the largest languages spoken by Anglicans are Mandarin, Cantonese, Dinka, Afrikaans, Yumplatok (Torres Strait Creole), German, and Korean. Likewise, the Uniting Church (a 1977 merger of Congregationalists, Methodists, and Presbyterians) declined from 27% of Australia’s population in 1911 to 4% in 2021. After English, the largest languages in Uniting churches are Korean, Mandarin, Tongan, and Afrikaans. These demographic changes have far-reaching implications, such as in theological education. The student body of United Theological College in Paramatta, for example, is now 50% Pacifica. I discussed with UTC’s leadership how they are responding to this demographic shift, such as changes in curriculum, community building, and assessments. The situation is similar at Pilgrim Theological College in Melbourne, which has placed a huge emphasis on de-colonizing its curriculum.
The Roman Catholic Church is the largest denomination in Australia with nearly 6 million members. Catholic decline has only been occuring in the last 10 years or so, largely because of the arrival of Catholics from other countries. According to the last census, 72% of Catholics were born in Australia, and the National Centre for Pastoral Research reports that Mass is celebrated in at least 42 different languages. Twenty-seven percent of Catholic Masses are in Vietnamese, followed by Arabic (22%), Italian (9%), Latin (6%), Polish (5%), Croatian (5%), and Korean (3%), plus Chin, Indonesian, Spanish, and Ukrainian, among other languages like Zomi and Swahili. In the Sydney diocese alone, nearly 12% of Masses are conducted in Vietnamese; in Adelaide, 7% are in Vietnamese.
I had a rich discussion with Beth Jackson, a Baptist pastor working to train new Baptist pastors in Victoria. There are 14 different languages present among Rev. Jackson’s 30 ministerial candidates, including four different languages from Myanmar alone. Although small in population (less than 2% of Australia’s population), Baptists in Victoria have an extremely high proportion of Christians from other countries. There are 52 Burmese churches, of which 38 are Chin and 54 Karen. In addition, there are 14 Chinese congregations, 9 Korean, 7 Samoan, 7 Vietnamese, and 4 Filipino, among others.
The internal demographic change of churches in Australia and New Zealand was a common theme of this trip, as well as the high proportion of Pacific Islanders on the move. When we speak of “Christian decline” in Western nations, especially this region, we should nuance that it’s largely White/Anglo decline, while the proportions of Christians from other countries is growing. The election of Rev. Charissa Suli, a Tongan-Australian woman, as head of the Uniting Church in Australia (third largest denomination), is just one indication of this demographic change. Although migration has always been important in the history of Christianity, it appears that continuing trends in the twenty-first century are fundamentally changing the way Christianity is practiced worldwide. More research is needed to uncover the ongoing implications of migration patterns and their impact on faith communities.
