How evangelical Christianity transformed from a European import into a global powerhouse

Ideas & Philosophy · Published 12 October 2026 Swipe more like this →

In short: Fifty years ago, observers predicted that the end of European empires would signal the end of Christianity. They thought the faith would be discarded alongside colonial rule. Instead, evangelicalism has undergone an unprecedented explosion, adapting to local cultures and fundamentally reshaping societies across the globe.

Historically, Protestantism was deeply tied to European identity. Until the eighteenth century, the faith struggled to expand beyond its cultural origins because it often required converts to adopt European social norms. During the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the spread of Protestant missions was closely linked to the expansion of European imperialism, as religious influence frequently piggy-backed on the imperial project of imposing European standards on other societies. This expansion occurred because missionaries began moving away from demanding total cultural conformity. Consequently, the religion moved beyond its initial European constraints.

As the era of colonial empires dissolved, many expected Christianity to follow suit. Nationalist movements in what was then termed the Third World often marginalized or expelled missionaries, seeking to establish secular states. The assumption was that the religion would be shrugged off as a relic of colonial rule. However, this prediction has spectacularly failed to materialize. Instead of receding, the faith has embedded itself globally, achieving unprecedented numerical growth. Rather than fading away, the movement has achieved massive scale. This growth has proven the previous sociological assumptions entirely incorrect.

Following the imperial era, evangelical Christianity has transformed into a truly worldwide faith that remains intensely local. It adapts to, and sometimes challenges, existing social structures, often developing unique and sometimes incompatible doctrines in the process. This phenomenon is visible in diverse contexts, including East Asia, Southern Africa, and Latin America, where the religion is not just being practiced, but is actively changing and being changed by these societies. In Africa, Christians now constitute more than half of the population. This demographic shift is particularly evident among Protestant denominations.

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