Honoring Black HIStory '23 . . . Not a White Man's religion!

Interesting . . . .Christianity in Africa first arrived in Egypt in approximately 50 AD, reached the region around Carthage by the end of the second century. In the 4th century, the Aksumite empire in modern-day Ethiopia and Eritrea became one of the first regions in the world to adopt Christianity as their official religion. The Nubian kingdoms of Nobatia, Makuria and Alodia followed two centuries later. Important Africans who influenced the early development of Christianity include Tertullian, Perpetua, Felicity, Clement of Alexandria, Origen of Alexandria, Cyprian, Athanasius and Augustine of Hippo.

Envoys will come out of Egypt; Ethiopia will quickly stretch out her hands to God. (Psalm 68:31)

Mark the Evangelist became the first bishop of the Alexandrian Patriarchate in about the year A.D.43. At first the church in Alexandria was mainly Greek-speaking. By the end of the 2nd century the scriptures and liturgy had been translated into three local languages. Christianity in Sudan also spread in the early 1st century, and the Nubian churches, which were established in the sixth century within the kingdoms of Nobatia, Makuria and Alodia were linked to those of Egypt.


The Ethiopian Empire was the only region of Africa to survive as a Christian state after the expansion of Islam. The Ethiopian church held its own distinct religious customs and a unique canon of the Bible. Therefore, the Ethiopian church community is globally unique in that it wasn't Christianised through European missionaries, but was highly independent and itself spread missionaries throughout the rest of Africa prior to European Christians contact with the continent.


Today, Christianity is embraced by the majority of the population in most Southern African, Southeast African, and Central African states and others in large parts of Horn of Africa and West Africa. The Coptic Christiansmake up a significant minority in Egypt. As of 2020, Christians formed 49% of the continent's population, with Muslims forming 42%.


A 2018 study by the Gordon–Conwell Theological Seminary discovered that more Christians live in Africa than any other continent, with 631 million Christians throughout the landmass. According to updated data for 2021, there are now nearly 685 million Christians in Africa, with 760 million expected by 2025. This surpasses earlier estimates of 630 million to 700 million for 2025.