View source for Christianity in Africa

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[[File:Bete Giyorgis Lalibela Ethiopia.jpg|300px|thumb|upright|right|alt=Colour photograph|The [[Church of Saint George, Lalibela|Church of Saint George]] in [[Lalibela]], [[Ethiopia]] is [[rock-cut architecture|rock-hewn]] in the shape of a cross]]
{{Christianity|expanded=hide}}
[[Christianity]] arrived to [[Africa]] in the 1st century AD; as of 2024, it is the largest religion on the continent.<ref name="Tagwirei 2024 p. ">{{cite journal | last=Tagwirei | first=Kimion | title=Rebuilding the broken walls of Zimbabwe with the Church, leadership and followership | journal=Verbum et Ecclesia | publisher=AOSIS | volume=45 | issue=1 | date=2024-02-27 | issn=2074-7705 | doi=10.4102/ve.v45i1.3054 | url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/378505412 | doi-access=free }}</ref> Several African Christians influenced the early development of Christianity and shaped its doctrines, including [[Tertullian]], [[Perpetua]], [[Felicitas of Rome|Felicity]], [[Clement of Alexandria]], [[Origen of Alexandria]], [[Cyprian]], [[Athanasius]] and [[Augustine of Hippo]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Agbaw-Ebai |first1=Maurice Ashley |last2=Levering |first2=Matthew |title=Joseph Ratzinger and the Future of African Theology |date=27 December 2021 |publisher=Wipf and Stock Publishers |isbn=978-1-6667-0360-3}}</ref><ref name="Avis 2018 627–628">{{cite book|title=The Oxford Handbook of Ecclesiology|first=Paul|last=Avis|year=2018|isbn=9780191081378|pages=627–628|publisher=Oxford University Press}}</ref> 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 its official religion, followed by the [[Nubians|Nubian]] kingdoms of [[Nobatia]], [[Makuria]] and [[Alodia]] and several [[Berber Christians|Christian Berber]] kingdoms.{{sfn|Isichei|1995|p=19}}

The [[Early Muslim conquests|Islamic conquests]] into [[North Africa]] brought pressure on Christians to convert to [[Islam]] due to special [[Jizya|taxation imposed on non-Muslims]] and other socio-economic pressures under Muslim rule, although Christians were widely [[People of the Book|allowed to continue practicing their religion]].<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |last=Simonsohn |first=Uriel |date=2017 |title=Conversion, Exemption, and Manipulation: Social Benefits and Conversion to Islam in Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages |url=https://www.medievalworlds.net/0xc1aa5576%200x00372f27.pdf |journal=Medieval Worlds |volume=6 |pages=196–216|doi=10.1553/medievalworlds_no6_2017s196 }}</ref> The [[Greek Orthodox Church of Alexandria|Eastern Orthodox Church of Alexandria]] and [[Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria]] (which separated from each other during the [[Council of Chalcedon#Consequences: Chalcedonian Schism|Chalcedonian Schism]]) in Egypt and the [[Orthodox Tewahedo|Orthodox Tewahedo Church]] survived Muslim invasion. [[Islamization]] of Muslim-ruled territory occurred progressively over the next few centuries, though this process is not fully understood by historians.<ref name=":1">{{Cite book |last=Kennedy |first=Hugh N. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Wux0lWbxs1kC&q=kennedy+caliphates |title=The Prophet and the Age of the Caliphates: The Islamic Near East from the Sixth to the Eleventh Century |date=2004 |publisher=Pearson/Longman |isbn=978-0-582-40525-7 |pages=199–201}}</ref><ref name=":0" /> Restrictions on church building and demolition of churches in Egypt, along with occasional persecutions such as during the reign of [[Al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah|al-Hakim]] (996–1021), put additional pressure on [[Copts in Egypt]].<ref name="Refugees">{{Cite web|last=Refugees|first=United Nations High Commissioner for|title=Copts of Egypt|url=https://www.refworld.org/docid/49749d2b2d.html|access-date=2020-06-15|website=Refworld}}</ref><ref name=":2">{{Cite book |last=Brett |first=Michael |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Sk6tAUL5ZWYC |title=Egypt and Syria in the Fatimid, Ayyubid and Mamluk Eras IV: Proceedings of the 9th and 10th International Colloquium Organized at the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven in May 2000 and May 2001 |publisher=Peeters |year=2005 |isbn=978-90-429-1524-4 |editor-last=Vermeulen |editor-first=Urbain |pages=1–32 |chapter=Population and Conversion to Islam in Egypt in the Mediaeval Period |editor-last2=Steenbergen |editor-first2=J. Van}}</ref>{{Rp|page=23}}<ref name=":3" /> In the [[Middle Ages]], the [[Ethiopian Empire]] was the only region of [[Africa]] to survive as a Christian state after the expansion of Islam.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.historyworld.net/wrldhis/PlainTextHistories.asp?historyid=ab92|title=HISTORY OF ETHIOPIA|work=historyworld.net}}</ref> 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 the contact of European Christians with the continent.

In the late 15th century, [[Portuguese people|Portuguese]] traders and missionaries began arriving in [[West Africa]], first in [[Guinea]], [[Mauritania]], the [[The Gambia|Gambia]], [[Ghana]], and [[Sierra Leone]], then [[Nigeria]] and later in the [[Kingdom of Kongo]], where they would find success in converting prominent local leaders to [[Catholic Church|Catholicism]]. During and after the [[Scramble for Africa]] in the late 19th century, these Christian communities and others began to flourish up and down the coast, as well as in [[Central Africa|Central]] and [[Southern Africa]] as new missionary activities from Europe started,{{sfn|Latourette, Kenneth Scott |1944|pp=301–464}} (Christian evangelists were intimately involved in the colonial process in southern Africa).<ref name=Sharkey>{{cite journal |title=Christianity and Colonialism in South Africa b|first1=Jean |last1=Comaroff |first2=John |last2=Comaroff |journal=American Ethnologist |volume=13 |year=1986 |pages=1–22 |issue=1 |doi=10.1525/ae.1986.13.1.02a00010|s2cid=143976274 }}</ref> In the 21st century, they constitute the bulk of the growing Christian community on the continent.

As of 2024, there are an estimated 734&nbsp;million Christians from all denominations in Africa,<ref name="Gordon-Conwell">{{cite web |title=Status of Global Christianity, 2024, in the Context of 1900–2050 |url=https://www.gordonconwell.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/13/2024/01/Status-of-Global-Christianity-2024.pdf |publisher=Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary |access-date=17 Aug 2024}}</ref> up from about 10 million in 1900.<ref>https://academic.oup.com/book/32113/chapter-abstract/268045986?redirectedFrom=fulltext "In 1900, Christians in Africa represented 2 percent (or 10 million people) of all Christians in the world and about 9 percent of the population of Africa."</ref> In a relatively short time, [[Africa]] has gone from having a majority of followers of indigenous, traditional religions, to being predominantly a continent of Christians and [[Muslims]],<ref>{{Cite book|last=Verstraelen-Gilhuis|first=Gerdien|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/25808325|title=A new look at Christianity in Africa: essays on apartheid, African education, and a new history|date=1992|publisher=Mambo Press|others=F. J. Verstraelen|isbn=0-86922-518-9|location=Gweru, Zimbabwe|oclc=25808325}}</ref> even though there is a significant and sustained [[syncretism]] with traditional beliefs and practices.<ref>Rosalind Shaw, Charles Stewart, [https://books.google.com/books?id=KVdNRYsR5JsC Syncretism/Anti-Syncretism: The Politics of Religious Synthesis] (1994)</ref> Christianity is embraced by the majority of the population in most Southern African, [[Southeast Africa]]n, and Central African states and in large parts of the [[Horn of Africa]] and [[West Africa]], while [[Coptic Christians]] make up a significant minority in Egypt. According to a 2018 study by the [[Gordon–Conwell Theological Seminary]], more Christians live in Africa than any other continent, with [[Christianity in Latin America|Latin America second]] and [[Christianity in Europe|Europe third]].<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Johnson |first1=Todd M. |last2=Zurlo |first2=Gina A. |last3=Hickman |first3=Albert W. |last4=Crossing |first4=Peter F. |title=Christianity 2018: More African Christians and Counting Martyrs |journal=International Bulletin of Mission Research |date=November 2017 |volume=42 |issue=1 |pages=20–28 |doi=10.1177/2396939317739833 |s2cid=165905763 |access-date=24 September 2019|url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/320788300}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Mauro |first1=J.-P. |title=Africa overtakes Latin America for the highest Christian population |url=https://aleteia.org/2018/07/24/africa-overtakes-latin-america-for-the-highest-christian-population/ |website=Aleteia — Catholic Spirituality, Lifestyle, World News, and Culture |access-date=24 September 2019 |language=en |date=24 July 2018}}</ref>

==History==
{{Christianity by country}}

=== Antiquity: Early Church ===
{{See also|Christianity in the Roman Africa province}}
Christianity reached Africa first in Egypt around the year 50 AD.{{Citation needed|date=May 2024}} [[Mark the Evangelist]] became the first [[List of Patriarchs of Alexandria|bishop]] of the [[Patriarch of Alexandria|Alexandrian Patriarchate]] in about the year 43.<ref>[[Eusebius of Caesarea]], the author of ''[[Church History (Eusebius)|Ecclesiastical History]]'' in the 4th century, states that St. Mark came to Egypt in the first or third year of the reign of Emperor [[Claudius]], i.e. 41 or 43 A.D. "Two Thousand years of Coptic Christianity", Otto F.A. Meinardus, p.28.</ref> At first the church in [[Alexandria]] was mainly [[Greek language|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 [[Nubia]]n churches, which were established in the sixth century within the kingdoms of [[Nobatia]], [[Makuria]] and [[Alodia]] were linked to those of [[Egypt]].<ref>Jakobielski, S. ''Christian Nubia at the Height of its Civilization'' (Chapter 8). UNESCO. University of California Press. San Francisco, 1992. {{ISBN|9780520066984}}</ref>

Christianity also grew in northwestern Africa (today known as the [[Maghreb]]), reaching  the region around [[Carthage]] by the end of the 2nd century.{{Citation needed|date=May 2024}}  The churches there were linked to the [[Holy See|Church of Rome]] and provided [[Pope Gelasius I]], [[Pope Miltiades]] and [[Pope Victor I]], all of them Christian Berbers like Saint Augustine and his mother [[Saint Monica]].
[[File:Spread of Christianity to AD 600 (1).png|thumb|left|{{legend|#1F63A7|Spread of Christianity to AD&nbsp;325}} {{legend|#6AB4FF|Spread of Christianity to AD&nbsp;600}}]]
At the beginning of the 3rd century the church in Alexandria expanded rapidly, with five new [[suffragan bishop]]rics. At this time, the Bishop of Alexandria began to be called Pope, as the senior bishop in Egypt. In the middle of the 3rd century the church in Egypt suffered severely in the [[persecution]] under the Emperor [[Decius]]. Many Christians fled from the towns into the desert. When the persecution died down, however, some remained in the desert as [[hermit]]s to pray. This was the beginning of [[Christian monasticism]], which over the following years spread from Africa to other parts of the Gohar, and Europe through [[France]] and [[Ireland]].

The early 4th century in Egypt began with renewed persecution under the Emperor [[Diocletian]]. In the [[Ethiopia]]n/[[Eritrea]]n [[Kingdom of Aksum]], King [[Ezana of Axum|Ezana]] declared Christianity the official religion after having been converted by [[Frumentius]], resulting in the promotion of Christianity in Ethiopia (eventually leading to the foundation of the [[Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church]]). At the beginning of the fifth century, no other region of the Roman Empire had as many bishoprics as Northern Africa; when the Vandal king summoned a synod in Carthage, 460 Catholic bishops attended.<ref name="Beaver">{{cite journal |last1=Beaver |first1=R. Pierce |title=The Organization of the Church of Africa on the Eve of the Vandal Invasion |journal=Church History |date=June 1936 |volume=5 |issue=2 |pages=169–170 |doi=10.2307/3160527|jstor=3160527 }}</ref>

In these first few centuries, African Christian leaders such as [[Origen]], [[Lactantius]], [[Augustine of Hippo|Augustine]], [[Tertullian]], [[Gaius Marius Victorinus|Marius Victorinus]], [[Pachomius the Great|Pachomius]], [[Didymus the Blind]], [[Ticonius]], [[Cyprian]], [[Athanasius of Alexandria|Athanasius]] and [[Cyril of Alexandria|Cyril]] (along with rivals [[Valentinus (Gnostic)|Valentinus]], [[Plotinus]], [[Arius]] and [[Donatus Magnus]]) influenced the Christian world outside Africa with responses to [[Gnosticism]], [[Arianism]], [[Montanism]], [[Marcionism]], [[Pelagianism]] and [[Manichaeism]], and the idea of the [[university]] (after the [[Library of Alexandria]]), understanding of the [[Trinity]], [[Vetus Latina]] translations, methods of [[exegesis]] and biblical interpretation, [[ecumenical council]]s, [[Christian monasticism|monasticism]], [[Neoplatonism]] and African literary, dialectical and rhetorical traditions.<ref>Oden, Thomas C. ''How Africa shaped the Christian Mind'', IVP 2007.</ref>

=== Early Middle Ages: After the Muslim conquest of North Africa ===
[[File:Church dongola (cropped).png|thumb|Reconstruction of a church from [[Old Dongola]], the capital of the [[Makuria]]n kingdom]]
[[File:Alger-Notre-Dame-D'Afrique Basilique.jpg|250px|thumb|upright|right|alt=Colour photograph|The basilica of [[Notre-Dame d'Afrique|Our Lady of Africa]] in [[Algiers]]]]
After the [[Early Muslim conquests|Muslim conquests]], most of the early Muslim caliphs showed little interest in converting the local people to [[Islam]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Abun-Nasr |first=Jamil |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jdlKbZ46YYkC&pg=PP1 |title=A history of the Maghrib in the Islamic period |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=1987 |isbn=0521337674 |location=Cambridge}}</ref>{{Rp|page=26}} Christianity continued to exist after the Muslim conquests. Initially, Muslims remained a ruling minority within the conquered territories in the Middle East and North Africa. Overall, the non-Muslim population became a minority in these regions by the 8th century.<ref name=":1" /> The factors and processes that led to the [[Islamization]] of these regions, as well as the speed at which conversions happened, is a complex subject.<ref name=":4">{{Cite journal |last=Simonsohn |first=Uriel |date=2017 |title=Conversion, Exemption, and Manipulation: Social Benefits and Conversion to Islam in Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages |url=https://www.medievalworlds.net/0xc1aa5576%200x00372f27.pdf |journal=Medieval Worlds |volume=6 |pages=198 |quote=It is a process that has attracted the interest of modern scholars who have been primarily preoccupied with questions as to when conversions to Islam took place, how many people converted in a given period, and why they chose to do so. Early in the twentieth century, scholars such as C. H. Becker considered conversion to Islam to have been principally motivated by economic considerations. This understanding was later revised, following Daniel Dennett's study on the poll tax (jizya) in the 1950s. Dennett convincingly showed that discriminatory taxes on non-Muslims were neither imposed consistently, nor uniformly conceived from the onset of Islamic rule. Thus, while acknowledging the role of economic growth in confessional change, Marshall Hodgson pointed to the great social advantages that were to be gained by conversion to Islam, underscoring the social mobility that went hand in hand with the new affiliation. In general, historians have come to the understanding that the phenomenon of conversion to Islam cannot be treated from a singular perspective.}}</ref><ref name=":1" /> Among other rules, the Muslim rulers imposed a special poll tax, the ''[[jizya]]'', on non-Muslims, which acted as an economic pressure to convert alongside other social advantages converts could gain in Muslim society.<ref name=":4" /><ref name=":0" /> The Catholic church gradually declined along with local Latin dialect.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=usUjj9OV9l0C&dq=carthage+archdiocese+11th+century&pg=PA99 Der Nahe und Mittlere Osten] By Heinz Halm, page 99</ref><ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=IgYqDwAAQBAJ&dq=pope+leo+Carthage+1053&pg=PA333 Ancient African Christianity: An Introduction to a Unique Context and Tradition] By David E. Wilhite, page 332-334</ref>

Historians have considered many theories to explain the decline of Christianity in North Africa, proposing diverse factors such as the recurring internal wars and external invasions in the region during [[late antiquity]], Christian fears of persecution by the invaders, schisms and a lack of leadership within the Christian church in Africa, political pragmatism among the inhabitants under the new regime, and a possible lack of differentiation between early Islamic and local Christian theologies that may have made it easier for laymen to accept the new religion.<ref name=":5">{{Cite book |last=Wilhite |first=David E. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IgYqDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA335 |title=Ancient African Christianity: An Introduction to a Unique Context and Tradition |publisher=Taylor & Francis |year=2017 |isbn=978-1-135-12142-6 |pages=321–349 |language=en}}</ref> Some Christians, especially those with financial means, also left for Europe.<ref name=":5" /><ref name=":6">{{Cite journal |last=Speel |first=C. J. |date=1960 |title=The Disappearance of Christianity from North Africa in the Wake of the Rise of Islam |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/3161925 |journal=Church History |volume=29 |issue=4 |pages=379–397 |doi=10.2307/3161925 |jstor=3161925 |s2cid=162471443 |issn=0009-6407|url-access=subscription }}</ref> In the lands west of Egypt, the Church at that time lacked the backbone of a [[Monasticism|monastic tradition]] and was still suffering from the aftermath of heresies including the so-called [[Donatist]] heresy, and one theory proposes this as a factor that contributed to the early obliteration of the Church in the present day Maghreb. Proponents of this theory compare this situation with the strong monastic tradition in Egypt and Syria, where Christianity remained more vigorous.<ref name=":5" /> In addition, the Romans and the Byzantines were unable to completely assimilate the indigenous people like the Berbers.<ref name=":5" /><ref name=":6" />

Some historians remark how the [[Umayyad Caliphate]] persecuted many [[Berber Christians]] in the 7th and 8th centuries CE, who slowly converted to Islam.<ref>''The Disappearance of Christianity from North Africa in the Wake of the Rise of Islam'' C. J. Speel, II Church History, Vol. 29, No. 4 (Dec. 1960), pp. 379–397</ref> Other modern historians further recognize that the Christian populations living in the [[Early Muslim conquests|lands invaded by the Arab Muslim armies]] between the 7th and 10th centuries CE suffered [[religious persecution]], [[religious violence]], and [[Martyrdom in Christianity|martyrdom]] multiple times at the hands of Arab Muslim officials and rulers.<ref name="Runciman 1987">{{cite book |last=Runciman |first=Steven |author-link=Steven Runciman |year=1987 |orig-year=1951 |chapter=The Reign of Antichrist |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uDj9sNezWzEC&pg=PA20 |title=[[A History of the Crusades|A History of the Crusades, Volume 1: The First Crusade and the Foundation of the Kingdom of Jerusalem]] |location=[[Cambridge]] |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |pages=20–37 |isbn=978-0-521-34770-9}}</ref><ref name="Sahner 2020">{{cite book |last=Sahner |first=Christian C. |year=2020 |orig-year=2018 |title=Christian Martyrs under Islam: Religious Violence and the Making of the Muslim World |chapter=Introduction: Christian Martyrs under Islam |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TZqzDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA1 |location=[[Princeton, New Jersey]] and [[Woodstock, Oxfordshire]] |publisher=[[Princeton University Press]] |pages=1–28 |isbn=978-0-691-17910-0 |lccn=2017956010}}</ref><ref name="Fierro 2008">{{cite journal |author-last=Fierro |author-first=Maribel |date=January 2008 |title=Decapitation of Christians and Muslims in the Medieval Iberian Peninsula: Narratives, Images, Contemporary Perceptions |journal=[[Comparative Literature Studies]] |volume=45 |issue=2: ''Al-Andalus and Its Legacies'' |location=[[Philadelphia, Pennsylvania]] |publisher=[[Penn State University Press]] |pages=137–164 |doi=10.2307/complitstudies.45.2.0137 |issn=1528-4212 |jstor=25659647 |s2cid=161217907|doi-access=free }}</ref><ref name="Trombley 1996">{{cite journal |author-last=Trombley |author-first=Frank R. |date=Winter 1996 |title=''The Martyrs of Córdoba: Community and Family Conflict in an Age of Mass Conversion'' (review) |journal=[[Journal of Early Christian Studies]] |volume=4 |issue=4 |location=[[Baltimore, Maryland]] |publisher=[[Johns Hopkins University Press]] |pages=581–582 |doi=10.1353/earl.1996.0079 |issn=1086-3184 |s2cid=170001371 }}</ref> Many [[Capital punishment in Islam|were executed under the Islamic death penalty]] for defending their Christian faith through dramatic acts of resistance such as refusing to convert to Islam, [[Apostasy in Islam|repudiation of the Islamic religion]] and subsequent [[Conversion to Christianity|reconversion to Christianity]], and [[Islam and blasphemy|blasphemy towards Muslim beliefs]].<ref name="Sahner 2020"/><ref name="Fierro 2008"/><ref name="Trombley 1996"/>

From the [[Muslim conquest of Egypt]] onwards, the [[Coptic Christians]] were [[Persecution of Copts|persecuted]] by different Muslim regimes.<ref name="Refugees"/><ref name="auto2">{{cite book |last=Etheredge |first=Laura S. |title=Middle East, Region in Transition: Egypt |publisher=Britannica Educational Publishing |year=2011 |isbn=9789774160936 |page=161}}</ref> Islamization was likely slower in Egypt than in other Muslim-controlled regions.<ref name=":1" /> Up until the [[Fatimid Caliphate|Fatimid]] period (10th to 12th centuries), Christians likely still constituted a majority of the population, although scholarly estimates on this issue are tentative and vary between authors.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":2" /><ref name=":452">{{Cite book |last1=Den Heijer |first1=Johannes |title=The World of the Fatimids |last2=Immerzeel |first2=Mat |last3=Boutros |first3=Naglaa Hamdi D. |last4=Makhoul |first4=Manhal |last5=Pilette |first5=Perrine |last6=Rooijakkers |first6=Tineke |publisher=Aga Khan Museum; The Institute of Ismaili Studies; Hirmer |year=2018 |isbn=978-1926473123 |editor-last=Melikian-Chirvani |editor-first=Assadullah Souren |location=Toronto; Munich |pages=190–217 |chapter=Christian Art and Culture}}</ref>{{Rp|page=194}} Under the reign of the Fatimid Caliph [[Al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah|al-Hakim]] (r. 96–1021), an exceptional persecution of Christians occurred,<ref name=":2" />{{Rp|page=23}} This included closing and demolishing churches and [[forced conversion]] to Islam, which brought about a wave of conversions.<ref name=":3">{{cite book|title=The Coptic Papacy in Islamic Egypt (641-1517)| first=Mark |last= N. Swanson|year= 2010| isbn= 9789774160936| page =54|publisher=American Univ in Cairo Press|quote= By late 1012 the persecution had moved into high gear with demolitions of churches and the forced conversion of Christian ...}}</ref><ref>ha-Mizraḥit ha-Yiśreʼelit, Ḥevrah (1988). Asian and African Studies, Volume 22. Jerusalem Academic Press. Muslim historians note the destruction of dozens of churches and the forced conversion of dozens of people to Islam under al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah in Egypt ...These events also reflect the Muslim attitude toward forced conversion and toward converts.</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=The Cave Church of Paul the Hermit at the Monastery of St. Pau| first=William |last=Lyster|year= 2013| isbn= 9789774160936|publisher=Yale University Press|quote= Al Hakim Bi-Amr Allah (r. 996—1021), however, who became the greatest persecutor of Copts.... within the church that also appears to coincide with a period of forced rapid conversion to Islam}}</ref>

[[File:Tétraévangéliaire bohaïrique - BNF Copte 13 f1v - Portrait de Marc III (cropped).jpg|thumb|left|upright=0.8|[[Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Alexandria and all Africa|Patriarch]] [[Patriarch Mark III of Alexandria|Mark III]] with a black African attendant]]
There are reports that the Roman Catholic faith persisted in the region from [[Tripolitania]] (present-day western [[Libya]]) to present-day [[Morocco]] for several centuries after the completion of the Arab conquest by 700.<ref>{{cite journal|url=http://rhr.revues.org/5401|title=Les dernières communautés chrétiennes autochtones d'Afrique du Nord|first=Virginie|last=Prevost|date=1 December 2007|journal=Revue de l'histoire des religions|issue=4|pages=461–483|via=rhr.revues.org|doi=10.4000/rhr.5401|doi-access=free}}</ref> A Christian community is recorded in 1114 in [[Qal'at Bani Hammad|Qal'a]] in central [[Algeria]].<ref name="auto" /> There is also evidence of religious pilgrimages after 850 to tombs of Catholic saints outside the city of Carthage, and evidence of religious contacts with Christians of Muslim Spain.{{Citation needed|date=October 2022}} In addition, calendar reforms adopted in Europe at this time were disseminated amongst the indigenous Christians of [[Tunis]], which would have not been possible had there been an absence of contact with Rome.{{Citation needed|date=October 2022}}

=== High Middle Ages: Decline and first missions ===
Local Christians came under pressure when the Muslim regimes of the [[Almohad Caliphate|Almohads]] and [[Almoravid dynasty|Almoravids]] came into power, and the record shows demands made that the local Christians of Tunis convert to Islam. There are reports of Christian inhabitants and a bishop in the city of [[Kairouan]] around 1150 AD - a significant event, since this city was founded by [[Arab Muslims]] around 680 AD as their administrative center after their conquest. A letter in Catholic Church archives from the 14th century shows that there were still four bishoprics left in North Africa, admittedly a sharp decline from the over four hundred bishoprics in existence at the time of the Arab conquest.<ref name="auto">{{cite web|url=http://www.orthodoxengland.org.uk/maghreb.htm|title=The Last Christians Of North-West Africa: Some Lessons For Orthodox Today|first=Fr Andrew|last=Phillips|website=www.orthodoxengland.org.uk}}</ref> The Almohad [[Abd al-Mu'min]] forced the Christians and Jews of Tunis to convert in 1159. [[Ibn Khaldun]] hinted at a native Christian community in 14th century in the villages of [[Nefzaoua]], south-west of [[Tozeur]]. These paid the jizyah and had some people of Frankish descent among them.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QjOoDQAAQBAJ&q=christians+frankish+nefzaoua&pg=PT495|publisher=Routledge|author=Eleanor A. Congdon|title=Latin Expansion in the Medieval Western Mediterranean|isbn=9781351923057|date=2016-12-05}}</ref> [[Berber people|Berber]] Christians continued to live in Tunis and [[Nefzaoua]] in the south of Tunisia up until the early 15th century, and in the first quarter of the 15th century texts state that the native Christians of Tunis, though much assimilated, extended their church, perhaps because the last Christians from all over the Maghreb had gathered there. However, they were not in communion with the Catholic Church.<ref name="auto"/> The community of Tunisian Christians existed in the town of [[Tozeur]] up to the 18th century.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Hrbek |first1=Ivan |title=Africa from the Seventh to the Eleventh Century |date=1992 |publisher=Unesco. International Scientific Committee for the Drafting of a General History of Africa. J. Currey |isbn=0852550936 |page=34 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qDFcD0BuekQC&pg=PA34}}</ref>

Another group of Christians who came to North Africa after being deported from Islamic Spain were called the [[Mozarabs]]. They were recognised as forming the Moroccan Church by Pope [[Innocent IV]].<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hGvDjfr_6rMC&q=christianity+africa+second+phase+portuguese&pg=PA9|publisher=Orbis Books|author=Lamin Sanneh|title=West African Christianity: The Religious Impact|isbn=9789966150691|year=2012}}</ref>

[[File:Priest of rock-Hewn Churches of Lalibela, a high place of Ethiopian Christianity, still today a place of pilmigrage and devotion..jpg|thumb|Priests of the [[Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church]]]]

==== First missions to Northern Africa ====
In June 1225, Honorius III issued the bull ''[[Vineae Domini custodes]]'' that permitted two friars of the [[Dominican Order]] named Dominic and Martin to [http://Catholic_Church_in_Morocco#Middle_Ages establish a mission in Morocco] and look after the affairs of Christians there.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6fPSBQAAQBAJ&q=friar+martin+morocco&pg=PA168|publisher=BRILL|author=Ibben Fonnesberg-Schmidt|title=Reconquest and Crusade in Medieval Spain|isbn=978-0812203066|date=2013-09-10}}</ref> The [[Diocese of Marocco|bishop of Morocco]] Lope Fernandez de Ain was made the head of the [[Church of Africa]], a title previously held by the archbishop of Carthage, on 19 December 1246 by Innocent IV.<ref name="Olga">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gSgL0jozFZwC&q=bishop+morocco+pope&pg=PA103|publisher=Orbis Books|author=Olga Cecilia Méndez González|title=Thirteenth Century England XIV: Proceedings of the Aberystwyth and Lampeter Conference, 2011|isbn=9781843838098|date=April 2013}}, page 103-104</ref> The bishopric of Marrakesh continued to exist until the late 16th century.<ref name="MTh"/>

The medieval Moroccan historian [[Ibn Abi Zar]] stated that the Almohad caliph [[Idris al-Ma'mun|Abu al-Ala Idris al-Ma'mun]] had built a church in [[Marrakech]] for the Christians to freely practice their faith at [[Ferdinand III of Castile|Fernando III]]'s insistence. [[Innocent IV]] asked emirs of Tunis, Ceuta and [[Béjaïa|Bugia]] to permit Lope and Franciscian friars to look after the Christians in those regions. He thanked the [[Abu al-Hasan as-Said al-Mutadid|Caliph al-Sa'id]] for granting protection to the Christians and requested to allow them to create fortresses along the shores, but the Caliph rejected this request.<ref name="Ibben">{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6fPSBQAAQBAJ&q=friar+martin+morocco&pg=PA118 |publisher=BRILL|author=Ibben Fonnesberg-Schmidt|title=Reconquest and Crusade in Medieval Spain|isbn=978-0812203066|date=2013-09-10 |access-date=2020-07-19}}, page 117-20</ref>

=== Early Modern Age: Jesuit missions in Africa ===
Another phase of Christianity in Africa began with the arrival of Portuguese in the 15th century.<ref>{{cite book|author=Lamin Sanneh|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DgCTBwAAQBAJ&q=mozarabic+moroccan+church+pope+innocent&pg=PT32|title=West African Christianity: The Religious Impact|date=2015-03-24|publisher=Orbis Books|isbn=9781608331499}}</ref> After the end of [[Reconquista]], the Christian Portuguese and Spanish captured many ports in North Africa.<ref>{{cite book|author=Kevin Shillington|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Fe1qDwAAQBAJ&q=north+africa+Christianity++portuguese&pg=PA106|title=West African Christianity: The Religious Impact|date=January 1995|publisher=Macmillan International Higher Education|isbn=9781137524812}}{{Dead link|date=December 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>

Missionary expeditions undertaken by the [[Society of Jesus]] (Jesuits) began as early as 1548 in various regions of Africa. In 1561, [[Gonçalo da Silveira]], a Portuguese missionary, managed to baptize Monomotapa, king of the [[Shona people]] in the territory of Zimbabwe.<ref>Mkenda, Festo. "Jesuits, Protestants, and Africa before the Twentieth Century." ''Encounters between Jesuits and Protestants in Africa'', edited by Festo Mkenda and Robert Aleksander Maryks, vol. 13, Brill, LEIDEN; BOSTON, 2018, pp. 11–30. {{JSTOR|10.1163/j.ctvbqs62t.4}}.</ref> A modest sized group of Jesuits began to establish their presence in the area of Abyssinia, or Ethiopia Superior, around the same time of Silveira's presence in Southern Africa. Although Jesuits regularly confronted persecution and harassment, their mission withstood the test of time for nearly a century. Despite this confrontation, they found success in instituting Catholic doctrine in a region that, prior to the existence of their vocation, maintained strictly established orthodoxies. During the sixteenth century, Jesuits extended their mission into the [[Kingdom of Kongo|old Kongo Kingdom]], developing upon a preexisting Catholic mission which had culminated in the construction of a local church. Jesuit missions functioned similarly in Mozambique and Angola until in 1759 the Society was overcome by Portuguese authority.

The Jesuits went largely unchallenged by rival denominational missions in Africa. Other religious congregations did exist who sought to evangelize regions of the continent under Portuguese dominion, however, their influence was far less significant than that of the Christians. The Jesuit's ascendency to prominence began with the padroado in the fifteenth century and continued until other European countries initiated missions of their own, threatening Portugal's status as sole patron of the continent. The favor of the Jesuits took a negative turn in the mid eighteenth century when Portugal no longer held the same dominion in Africa as it had in the fifteenth century. The Jesuits found themselves expelled from Mozambique and Angola, as a result, the existence of Catholic missions diminished significantly in these regions.

[[Image:Kabyle chrétien.jpg|thumb|250px|right|[[Christianity in Algeria|Christian Berber]] family from [[Kabylia]].]]
The bishopric of Marrakesh continued to exist until the late 16th century and was borne by the [[Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Seville|suffragans of Seville]]. [[Juan de Prado]] who had attempted to re-establish the mission was killed in 1631. A Franciscan monastery built in 1637 was destroyed in 1659 after the downfall of the [[Saadi dynasty]]. A small Franciscan chapel and monastery in the [[mellah]] of the city existed until the 18th century.<ref name="MTh">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Va6oSxzojzoC&q=morocco+bishop+juan+de+prado&pg=PA303|publisher=BRILL|title=E.J. Brill's First Encyclopedia of Islam 1913-1936, Volume 5|isbn=9004097910|year=1993}}</ref>

=== 20th century===
==== The horn of Africa ====
The Orthodox Tewahedo split into the [[Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church]] and the [[Eritrean Orthodox Tewahedo Church]]) in 1993.{{Citation needed|date=May 2024}} The [[P'ent'ay (Ethiopian Evangelicalism)|P'ent'ay]] churches are works of a Protestant reformation within [[Christianity in Ethiopia|Ethiopian Christianity]].<ref>http://www.africanchristian.org African Christianity</ref>

==== The Maghreb ====

The growth of Catholicism in the region after the French conquest was built on [[Pied-Noir|European colonizers and settlers]], and these immigrants and their descendants mostly left when the countries of the region became independent. As of the last census in Algeria, taken on 1 June 1960, there were 1,050,000 non-Muslim civilians (mostly [[Roman Catholic Church|Catholic]]) in Algeria (10 percent of the total population including 140,000 [[History of the Jews in Algeria|Algerian Jews]]).<ref name="Cook">{{Cite book | author=Cook, Bernard A. | title=Europe since 1945: an encyclopedia | url=https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaeuro01acoo | url-access=limited | year=2001 | publisher=Garland | location=New York | isbn=0-8153-4057-5 | pages=[https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaeuro01acoo/page/n461 398]}}</ref> Under [[French rule in Algeria|French rule]], the Catholic population of Algeria peaked at over one million.<ref name="Cook" />  Due to the exodus of the ''pieds-noirs'' in the 1960s, more North African Christians of Berber or Arab descent now live in [[France]] than in Greater Maghreb.
[[File:Cathédrale Saint-Pierre de Rabat.JPG|250px|thumb|upright|right|alt=Colour photograph|Roman Catholic Cathedral of [[Rabat]]]]
In 2009, the [[United Nations|UNO]] counted 45,000 [[Roman Catholicism|Roman Catholics]] and 50,000 to 100,000 [[Protestantism|Protestants]] in [[Algeria]]. Conversions to Christianity have been most common in [[Kabylie]], especially in the [[wilaya]] of [[Tizi Ouzou]].<ref>*{{in lang|fr}} [http://matoub.kabylie.free.fr/kabylie/article.php3?id_article=174 Sadek Lekdja, ''Christianity in Kabylie'', Radio France Internationale, 7 mai 2001] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190404003445/http://matoub.kabylie.free.fr/kabylie/article.php3?id_article=174 |date=2019-04-04 }}</ref> In that wilaya, the proportion of Christians has been estimated to be between 1% and 5%. A 2015 study estimates 380,000 Muslims converted to Christianity in Algeria.<ref name="Believers in Christ from a Muslim Background">{{cite web|url=https://www.academia.edu/16338087 |title=Believers in Christ from a Muslim Background: A Global Census {{pipe}} Duane A Miller Botero - Academia.edu|publisher=academia.edu|access-date=27 March 2016|last1=Miller|first1=Duane A.}}</ref>

Before the independence in 1956; Morocco was home to half a million [[European Moroccans|Europeans]], mostly Christians.<ref>De Azevedo, Raimondo Cagiano (1994) ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=N8VHizsqaH0C&pg=PA25 Migration and development co-operation.]''. Council of Europe. p. 25. {{ISBN|92-871-2611-9}}.</ref> The numbers of the Catholics in [[French Morocco]] reached about 360,000 or about 4.1% of the population.<ref name="auto1">{{cite book|title=Area Handbook for Morocco|first=Richard |last=F. Nyrop|year= 1972| isbn= 9780810884939| page =97|publisher=University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign|quote=}}</ref> In 1950, Catholics in [[Spanish protectorate in Morocco]] and [[Tangier]] constitute 14.5% of the population, and the Spanish Morocco was home to 113,000 Catholic settlers.<ref name="auto1"/> Catholics in [[Spanish protectorate in Morocco]] and [[Tangier]] were mostly of Spanish descent, and to a lesser extent of Portuguese, French and Italian ancestry.<ref name="auto1"/> The U.S. State Department estimates the number of Moroccan Christians as more than 40,000.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://2009-2017.state.gov/j/drl/rls/irf/religiousfreedom/index.htm#wrapper|title=International Religious Freedom Report for 2015|website=2009-2017.state.gov}}</ref> Pew-Templeton estimates the number of Moroccan Christians at 20,000.<ref>Pew-Templeton – Global Religious Futures http://www.globalreligiousfutures.org/countries/morocco#/?affiliations_religion_id=0&affiliations_year=2010&region_name=All%20Countries&restrictions_year=2013 {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221014160009/http://www.globalreligiousfutures.org/countries/morocco#/?affiliations_religion_id=0&affiliations_year=2010&region_name=All%20Countries&restrictions_year=2013 |date=2022-10-14 }}</ref> Most Christians reside in the [[Casablanca]], [[Tangier]] and [[Rabat]] urban areas.<ref>International Religious Freedom Report 2008, U.S Department of State</ref> The majority of Christians in Morocco are foreigners, although some reports states that there is a growing number of native [[Moroccans]] (45,000) converting to Christianity,<ref name="Carnes 2012 253">{{cite book|title=Al-Maghred, the Barbary Lion: A Look at Islam| first=Nat |last= Carnes|year= 2012| isbn= 9781475903423| page =253|publisher=University of Cambridge Press|quote=. In all an estimated 40,000 Moroccans have converted to Christianity}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/house-churches-and-silent-masses-the-converted-christians-of-morocco-are-praying-in-secret/|title='House-Churches' and Silent Masses —The Converted Christians of Morocco Are Praying in Secret – VICE News|date=23 March 2015|quote=Converted Moroccans — most of them secret worshippers, of whom there are estimated to be anywhere between 5,000 and 40,000 —}}</ref> especially in the rural areas. Many of the converts are baptized secretly in Morocco's churches.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://journalchretien.net/5369-converted-christians-in-morocco-need-prayers?lang=fr|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130221225613/http://journalchretien.net/5369-converted-christians-in-morocco-need-prayers?lang=fr|title=Converted Christians in Morocco Need Prayers|archive-date=February 21, 2013}}</ref> Since 1960 a growing number of Moroccan Muslims are converting to Christianity.<ref name="Carnes 2012 253"/>

Before the independence in 1956; [[Tunisia]] was home to 255,000 [[European Tunisians|Europeans]], mostly Christians.<ref>{{cite book|author=Angus Maddison|title=Contours of the World Economy 1–2030 AD:Essays in Macro-Economic History: Essays in Macro-Economic History|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EeWy7a6nAHcC&pg=PA214|access-date=26 January 2013|date=20 September 2007|publisher=OUP Oxford|isbn=978-0-19-922721-1|page=214}}</ref> The Christian community in [[Tunisia]], composed of indigenous residents, Tunisians of [[Italian Tunisians|Italian]] and [[French Tunisians|French descent]], and a large group of native-born citizens of Berber and Arab descent, numbers 50,000 and is dispersed throughout the country. The Office for Democracy, Human Rights and Labor in the United States also noted the presence of thousands of Tunisians who converted to Christianity.<ref name=report>[https://web.archive.org/web/20101123110838/http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/irf/2010/148847.htm International Religious Freedom Report 2010: Tunisia]. United States [[Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor]] (November 17, 2010). ''This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the [[public domain]].''</ref>

Some scholars and media reports indicate that there been increasing numbers of conversions to Christianity among the [[Berbers]].<ref>{{cite book|title=Minorities in the Middle East: A History of Struggle and Self-Expression, 2d ed.|first=Mordechai|last= Nisan |year= 2015| isbn=9780786451333| page =75 |publisher=Armenian Research Center collection|quote=In Kabylia people at the turn of the twenty-first century were reportedly converting to Christianity; new churches sprouted up. The deteriorating image of Islam, as violent and socially confining, had apparently persuaded some Berbers to consider an alternative faith.}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=Ethnic Groups of Africa and the Middle East: An Encyclopedia|first=John |last=A. Shoup |year= 2011| isbn=9781598843620| page =56 |publisher=ABC-CLIO}}</ref><ref name="The National Interest">{{cite web|url=https://nationalinterest.org/feature/perilous-path-muslim-christian-189544|title=The Perilous Path from Muslim to Christian|date=12 June 2021|publisher= The National Interest|quote=Reports of widespread conversions of Muslims to Christianity come from regions as disparate as Algeria, Albania, Syria, and Kurdistan. Countries with the largest indigenous numbers include Algeria, 380,000; Ethiopia, 400,000; Iran, 500,000 (versus only 500 in 1979); Nigeria, 600,000; and Indonesia, an astounding 6,500,000.}}</ref>

==Africanizing Christianity==
{{see also|African-initiated church}}
[[File:Jacob Jordaens - Moses and his Ethiopian wife Sephora.jpg|thumb|''[[Moses and his Ethiopian wife Zipporah|Moses and his Ethiopian wife Zipporah (Mozes en zijn Ethiopische vrouw Sippora)]]''. [[Jacob Jordaens]], c. 1650]]
According to [[Thomas C. Oden]], "Christians of northern Africa—of [[Copts|Coptic]], [[Berber Christians|Berber]], Ethiopian, Arabic, and Moorish descent—are treasured as part of the whole multicultural matrix of African Christianity".<ref name="Avis 2018 627–628"/> Within different geographical areas, Africans searched for aspects of Christianity that could more closely resemble their religious and personal practices. Adaptations of Protestantism, such as the [[Kimbanguist]] church emerged. Within the Kimbanguist church, [[Simon Kimbangu]] questioned the order of religious deliverance- would God send a white man to preach? The Kimbanguist church believed [[Jesus]] was black and regarded symbols with different weight than the Catholic and Protestant Europeans. The common practice of placing crosses and crucifixes in churches was viewed as a graven image in their eyes or a form of idolatry. Also, according to Mazrui, Kimbanguists respected the roles of women in church more than orthodox churches; they gave women the roles of priests and preachers.<ref>Mkenda, Festo. "Jesuits, Protestants, and Africa before the Twentieth Century." Encounters between Jesuits and Protestants in Africa, edited by Festo Mkenda and Robert Aleksander Maryks, vol. 13, Brill, LEIDEN; BOSTON, 2018, pp. 11–30. {{JSTOR|10.1163/j.ctvbqs62t.4}}.</ref><ref>Mazrui, Ali A. "Religion and Political Culture in Africa." Journal of the American Academy of Religion, vol. 53, no. 4, 1985, pp. 817–839. {{JSTOR|1464277}}.
</ref> Members within these churches looked for practices in the Bible that were not overtly condemned, such as [[polygamy]]. They also incorporated in their own practices relationships with objects and actions like dancing and chanting.<ref>Engelke, Matthew. "The Book, the Church and the 'Incomprehensible Paradox': Christianity in African History." Journal of Southern African Studies, vol. 29, no. 1, 2003, pp. 297–306. {{JSTOR|3557421}}.</ref> When Africans were able to read in the [[vernacular]], they were able to interpret the Bible in their own light. Polygamy was a topic of debate- many literate Africans interpreted it as acceptable because of information contained in the [[Old Testament]]- while it was condemned by European Christianity. [[Dona Beatriz]] was a woman from Central Africa known for her controversial views on the acceptance of polygamy – she argued that Jesus never condemned it – and she was burnt at the stake. European missionaries were faced with what they considered an issue in maintaining Victorian values, while still promoting the vernacular and literacy. Missionaries largely condemned the controversial African views and worked against leaders branching out. Simon Kimbangu became a [[martyr]], put in a cage because of Western missionaries concern, and died there.

Within African communities, there were clashes brought on by Christianization. As a religion meant to "colonize the conscience and consciousness of the colonized"<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Masondo |first1=Sibusiso |title=Ironies of Christian Presence in Southern Africa |journal=Journal for the Study of Religion |date=2018 |volume=31 |issue=2 |pages=209–231 |doi=10.17159/2413-3027/2018/v31n2a10 |jstor=26778582|doi-access=free }}</ref> Christianity caused disputes even amongst hereditary leaders, such as between [[Khama III]] and his father Sekgoma in nineteenth-century Botswana. Young leaders formed ideas based on Christianity and challenged elders. Dona Beatriz, an African prophet, made Christianity political and eventually went on to become an African Nationalist, planning to overthrow the Ugandan state with the help of other prophets. According to Paul Kollman, teaching from missionaries was up to the interpretation of each person and took different forms when acted upon.<ref>Kollman, Paul. "Classifying African Christianities: Past, Present, and Future: Part One." Journal of Religion in Africa, vol. 40, no. 1, 2010, pp. 3–32., {{JSTOR|20696840}}.</ref>
[[File:Benin - batism ceremony in Cotonou.jpg|thumb|300px|"Spiritual headwashing" in [[Cotonou]], [[Benin]]. [[Celestial Church of Christ]] is a religion which started in Benin in the middle of the 20th century by [[Samuel Oshoffa|Samuel Joseph Biléou Oschoffa]]]]
[[File:Percent of Christians by Country–Pew Research 2011.svg|thumb|250px|Christianity by country]]
David Adamo, a Nigerian within the [[Aladura]] church chose portions of the Bible that closely resembled what his church found important. They read portions of [[Psalms]] because of the idea that missionaries were not sharing the power of their faith. They found power in reading these verses and put them into the context of their lives.

In addition to Africanizing Christianity, there were movements to Africanize Islam. In [[Nigeria]], movements were created to arouse Muslims to de-Arabize Islam. There were clashes between people who accepted the [[de-Arabization]] and those who did not. These movements took place around 1980, resulting in violent behavior and clashes with police. [[Mirza Ghulam Ahmed]], the founder of the [[Ahmadiyya]] sect, believed that [[Muhammed]] was the most important prophet, but not the last- departing from typical Muslim views. [[Sunni]] Africans were largely against the Ahmadiyyas; the Ahmadiyyas were the first to translate the Quran into Swahili, and the Sunnis opposed that as well. There was a militarism developed in different groups and movements like the Ahmadiyyas and the [[Ansar (Sudan)|Mahdist]] movement and clashes between groups with opposing views.

The influenza pandemic of 1918 accelerated the Africanization of Christianity and hence its growth in twentieth century Africa.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Jenkins |first1=Philip |title=What happened in Africa after the pandemic of 1918 |journal=The Christian Century |date=29 May 2020 |url=https://www.christiancentury.org/article/notes-global-church/what-happened-africa-after-pandemic-1918 |access-date=15 June 2020}}</ref> As many as five million Africans are estimated to have died. European governments, churches and medicine were powerless against the plague, boosting anti-imperial sentiment. This contributed to growth of independent and prophetic Christian mass movements with prophecy, healings, and nationalist church restructuring. For example, the inception of the [[Aladura]] movement in Nigeria coincided with the pandemic. Evolving into the Christ Apostolic Church, it gave rise to many offshoots, which continued to emerge into the 1950s spreading with migrants around the world. For example, the Redeemed Christian Church of God, founded in 1952, has congregations in a dozen African states, Western Europe and North America.

== Christian education in Africa ==
Christian missionaries were compelled to spread an understanding of their gospel in the native language of the indigenous people they sought to convert. The Bible was then translated and communicated in these native languages. Christian schools did teach English, as well as mathematics, philosophy, and values inherent to [[Western culture]] and civilization. The conflicting branches of secularism and religiosity within the Christian schools represents a divergence between the various goals of educational institutions within Africa.<ref>Mazrui, Ali A. "Religion and Political Culture in Africa." ''Journal of the American Academy of Religion'', vol. 53, no. 4, 1985, pp. 817–839. {{JSTOR|1464277}}.</ref>

==Current status==
[[File:Dioceses and Archdiocese of the Greek Orthodox Church of Alexandria and of All Africa.png|thumb|right|250px|Archdioceses and Dioceses of the [[Eastern Orthodox Patriarchate of Alexandria and all Africa]]]]

There has been tremendous growth in the number of Christians in Africa - coupled by a relative decline in adherence to traditional African religions. In 1900, there were only nine million Christians in Africa, but by the year 2000, there were an estimated 380 million Christians. In 2020, there were nearly 658 million Christians in Africa, with 760 million expected by 2025,<ref>[https://www.gordonconwell.edu/center-for-global-christianity/wp-content/uploads/sites/13/2020/12/Status-of-Global-Christianity-2020.pdf Status of Global Christianity] Gordon Conwell Theological Seminary,{{Dead link|date=February 2025}}</ref> surpassing earlier estimates of 630 to 700 million for 2025.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Canaris|first=Michael M.|title=The rapid growth of Christianity in Africa {{!}} Catholic Star Herald|date=13 December 2018 |url=https://catholicstarherald.org/the-rapid-growth-of-christianity-in-africa/|access-date=2021-06-01|language=en-US}}</ref> In 2020, Christians formed 49% of the continent's population, with Muslims forming 42%.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.gordonconwell.edu/blog/african-christianity-101/|title=African Christianity|date=March 18, 2020|work=Gordon Conwell Theological Seminary}}</ref> As of 2023, there are an estimated 718 million Christians from all denominations in Africa,<ref name="Gordon-Conwell" /> and the majority of Africans are Christian.<ref name="Tagwirei 2024 p. "/>

According to a 2006 Pew Forum on Religion and Public life study, 147 million African Christians were "renewalists" ([[Pentecostal]]s and [[Charismatic Christianity|Charismatics]]).<ref>"Gospel Riches, Africa's rapid embrace of prosperity Pentecostalism provokes concern and hope", ''Christianity Today'', July 2007</ref> According to David Barrett, most of the 552,000 congregations in 11,500 denominations throughout Africa in 1995 are completely unknown in the West.<ref>See "Ecclesiastical Cartography and the Invisible Continent: The Dictionary of African Christian Biography" at http://www.dacb.org/xnmaps.html {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100121045754/http://www.dacb.org/xnmaps.html |date=2010-01-21}}.</ref> Much of the recent Christian growth in Africa is now due to indigenous African missionary work and evangelism and high birth rates, rather than European missionaries. Christianity in Africa shows tremendous variety, from the ancient forms of [[Oriental Orthodoxy|Oriental Orthodox Christianity]] in Egypt, Ethiopia, and Eritrea to the newest African-Christian denominations of [[Nigeria]], a country that has experienced large conversion to Christianity in recent times. Several [[syncretism|syncretistic]] and [[African initiated church#Messianic churches|messianic]] sections have formed throughout much of the continent, including the [[Nazareth Baptist Church]] in [[South Africa]] and the [[Aladura]] churches in Nigeria. Some [[Evangelicalism|evangelical]] missions founded in Africa such as the UD-OLGC, founded by [[Dag Heward-Mills|Evangelist Dag Heward-Mills]], are also quickly spreading in influence all around the world. There are also fairly widespread populations of [[Seventh-day Adventists]] and [[Jehovah's Witnesses]]. A 2015 study estimated 2.1 million Christians in Africa to be from a Muslim background, most of which belonged to some form of Protestantism.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Johnstone|first1=Patrick|last2=Miller|first2=Duane|title=Believers in Christ from a Muslim Background: A Global Census|journal=IJRR|date=2015|volume=11|page=14|url=https://www.academia.edu/16338087|access-date=20 November 2015}}</ref>

Some experts predict the shift of Christianity's center from the European industrialized nations to Africa and Asia in modern times. [[Yale University]] historian [[Lamin Sanneh]] stated that "African Christianity was not just an exotic, curious phenomenon in an obscure part of the world, but that African Christianity might be the shape of things to come."<ref>"Historian Ahead of His Time", ''Christianity Today'', February 2007</ref> The statistics from the ''[[World Christian Encyclopedia]]'' (David Barrett) illustrate the emerging trend of dramatic Christian growth on the continent and supposes, that in 2025 there will be 633 million Christians in Africa.<ref>World Council of Churches Report, August 2004</ref> In 2020, the Association of Religion Data Archives found that the majority of Eastern Africa was Christian and mostly Protestant.<ref name="u187">{{cite web | title=World Religion | website=The Association of Religion Data Archives (the ARDA) | date=2025-02-20 | url=https://www.thearda.com/world-religion/national-profiles?u=5r | access-date=2025-02-20}}</ref>

==The rise of the megachurch==
[[Megachurch]]es (defined as churches with weekend attendances of at least 2,000<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.usachurches.org/church-sizes.htm|title=Church Sizes|website=www.USAChurches.org}}</ref><ref>{{cite news| last = Baird| first = Julia |author-link=Julia Baird (journalist)| title = The good and bad of religion-lite | url=https://www.smh.com.au/news/opinion/the-good-and-bad-of-religionlite/2006/02/22/1140563858123.html  | work=[[The Sydney Morning Herald]] | date=February 23, 2006}}</ref><ref>{{OED|megachurch|id=115861}}</ref>) are found in many countries of [[Sub-Saharan]] Africa, including [[Tanzania]], Nigeria, South Africa, Ghana, Kenya, and Uganda. They are mostly of [[Pentecostal]] denominations.<ref name=ukah>{{cite book | last=Ukah | first=Asonzeh | title= Handbook of Megachurches| series= Brill Handbooks on Contemporary Religion, Volume 19 | chapter=Chapter 15: Sacred Surplus and Pentecostal Too-Muchness: The Salvation Economy of African Megachurches | publisher=Brill |isbn=9789004412927| date=6 February 2020 | url=https://brill.com/view/book/edcoll/9789004412927/BP000019.xml | access-date=5 February 2022 | pages=323–344|doi= 10.1163/9789004412927_017| s2cid=213645909 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | title=Rise of Mega Churches in Sub Sahara |first= Lorenzo| last= Maccotta | website=Cherrydeck | date=7 December 2019 | url=https://cherrydeck.com/blog/2019/12/07/the-rise-of-mega-churches-in-sub-saharan-africa-by-lorenzo-maccotta/ | access-date=5 February 2022}}</ref> The largest church auditorium, Glory Dome, was inaugurated in 2018 with 100,000 seats, in [[Abuja]], [[Nigeria]].<ref>Taylor Berglund, [https://www.charismanews.com/world/74340-world-s-largest-church-auditorium-dedicated-in-nigeria World's Largest Church Auditorium Dedicated in Nigeria], charismanews.com, December 7, 2018</ref>

== Statistics by country ==
{{Main|Christianity by country}}
{{More citations needed section|date=January 2023}}
{| class="wikitable sortable" id="toc" cellspacing="4"
|+ '''Christianity by country'''
|- style="background:#ccf;"
! Country
! data-sort-type="number" | Christians
! data-sort-type="number" style="max-width:5em" | % Christian
! data-sort-type="number" style="max-width:5em" | % Catholic
! data-sort-type="number" style="max-width:5em" | % Others
|-
| {{flag|Algeria}} ([[Christianity in Algeria|details]])
| style="text-align:right;" | 380,000<ref name="Believers in Christ from a Muslim Background2">{{cite web |url=https://www.academia.edu/16338087|title=Believers in Christ from a Muslim Background: A Global Census|first=Duane A|last=Miller}}</ref>
| style="text-align:right;" | 2%
| style="text-align:right;" | 1%
| style="text-align:right;" | 1%
|-
| {{flag|Angola}} ([[Christianity in Angola|details]])
| style="text-align:right;" | 17,094,000
| style="text-align:right;" | 75%<ref>Viegas, Fátima (2008) ''Panorama das Religiões em Angola Independente (1975–2008)'', Ministério da Cultura/Instituto Nacional para os Assuntos Religiosos, Luanda</ref>
| style="text-align:right;" | 50%
| style="text-align:right;" | 25%
|-
| {{flag|Benin}} ([[Christianity in Benin|details]])
| style="text-align:right;" | 3,943,000
| style="text-align:right;" | 42.8%
| style="text-align:right;" | 27%
| style="text-align:right;" | 15%
|-
| {{flag|Botswana}} ([[Christianity in Botswana|details]])
| style="text-align:right;" | 1,416,000
| style="text-align:right;" | 71.6%
| style="text-align:right;" | 5%
| style="text-align:right;" | 66%
|-
| {{flag|Burkina Faso}} ([[Christianity in Burkina Faso|details]])
| style="text-align:right;" | 3,746,000
| style="text-align:right;" | 22.0%
| style="text-align:right;" | 18%
| style="text-align:right;" | 4%
|-
| {{flag|Burundi}} ([[Christianity in Burundi|details]])
| style="text-align:right;" | 7,662,000
| style="text-align:right;" | 75.0%
| style="text-align:right;" | 60%
| style="text-align:right;" | 15%
|-
| {{flag|Cameroon}} ([[Religion in Cameroon|details]])
| style="text-align:right;" | 13,390,000
| style="text-align:right;" | 65.0%
| style="text-align:right;" | 38.4%
| style="text-align:right;" | 26.3%
|-
| {{flag|Cape Verde}} ([[Christianity in Cape Verde|details]])
| style="text-align:right;" | 487,000
| style="text-align:right;" | 89.1%{{citation needed|date=November 2020}}
| style="text-align:right;" | 78.7%
| style="text-align:right;" | 10.4%
|-
| {{flag|Central African Republic}} ([[Religion in the Central African Republic|details]])
| style="text-align:right;" | 2,302,000
| style="text-align:right;" | 80%
| style="text-align:right;" | 29%
| style="text-align:right;" | 51%
|-
| {{flag|Chad}} ([[Christianity in Chad|details]])
| style="text-align:right;" | 4,150,000{{citation needed|date=November 2020}}
| style="text-align:right;" | 35.0%
| style="text-align:right;" | 20%
| style="text-align:right;" | 15%
|-
| {{flag|Comoros}} ([[Christianity in Comoros|details]])
| style="text-align:right;" | 15,000
| style="text-align:right;" | 2.1%
| style="text-align:right;" | 
| style="text-align:right;" | 
|-
| {{flag|Congo, Republic of}} ([[Demographics of the Republic of the Congo|details]])
| style="text-align:right;" | 3,409,000
| style="text-align:right;" | 90.7%
| style="text-align:right;" | 50%
| style="text-align:right;" | 40%
|-
| {{flag|Congo, Democratic Republic of}} ([[Christianity in the Democratic Republic of the Congo|details]])
| style="text-align:right;" | 63,150,000
| style="text-align:right;" | 92%
| style="text-align:right;" | 50%
| style="text-align:right;" | 42%
|-
| {{flag|Djibouti}} ([[Christianity in Djibouti|details]])
| style="text-align:right;" | 53,000
| style="text-align:right;" | 6.0%
| style="text-align:right;" | 1%
| style="text-align:right;" | 5%
|-
| {{flag|Egypt}} ([[Christianity in Egypt|details]])
| style="text-align:right;" |10,000,000 
| style="text-align:right;" | 10% 
| style="text-align:right;" | 
| style="text-align:right;" | 
|-
| {{flag|Equatorial Guinea}} ([[Demographics of Equatorial Guinea|details]])
| style="text-align:right;" | 683,000
| style="text-align:right;" | 88.7%{{citation needed|date=November 2020}}
| style="text-align:right;" | 80.7%
| style="text-align:right;" | 8.0%
|-
| {{flag|Eritrea}} ([[Christianity in Eritrea|details]])
| style="text-align:right;" | 2,871,000
| style="text-align:right;" | 63%<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.globalreligiousfutures.org/countries/eritrea|title=Religions in Eritrea {{pipe}} PEW-GRF|website=www.globalreligiousfutures.org}}</ref>
| style="text-align:right;" | 4%
| style="text-align:right;" | 54%
|-
| {{flag|Ethiopia}} ([[Christianity in Ethiopia|details]])
| style="text-align:right;" | 52,580,000
| style="text-align:right;" | 64%
| style="text-align:right;" | 0.7%
| style="text-align:right;" | 63.4%
|-
| {{flag|Gabon}} ([[Religion in Gabon|details]])
| style="text-align:right;" | 1,081,000
| style="text-align:right;" | 88.0%<ref name="CIATONGA-gb">{{cite web|url= https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/gabon/|title= Africa :: GABON|date= 17 February 2022|publisher= CIA The World Factbook}}</ref>
| style="text-align:right;" | 41.9%
| style="text-align:right;" | 46.1%
|-
| {{flag|Gambia}} ([[Religion in the Gambia|details]])
| style="text-align:right;" | 79,000
| style="text-align:right;" | 4.2%<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/gambia-the/|title=The World Factbook — Central Intelligence Agency|website=www.cia.gov|date=17 February 2022}}</ref>
| style="text-align:right;" | 
| style="text-align:right;" | 
|-
| {{flag|Ghana}} ([[Religion in Ghana|details]])
| style="text-align:right;" | 19,300,000
| style="text-align:right;" | 71.2%<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/ghana/|title=The World Factbook — Central Intelligence Agency|website=www.cia.gov|date=17 February 2022}}</ref>
| style="text-align:right;" | 13.1%
| style="text-align:right;" | 58.1%
|-
| {{flag|Guinea}} ([[Demographics of Guinea|details]])
| style="text-align:right;" | 1,032,000
| style="text-align:right;" | 8.9%<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/guinea/|title=The World Factbook — Central Intelligence Agency|website=www.cia.gov|date=17 February 2022}}</ref>
| style="text-align:right;" | 5%
| style="text-align:right;" | 5%
|-
| {{flag|Guinea-Bissau}} ([[Christianity in Guinea-Bissau|details]])
| style="text-align:right;" | 165,000
| style="text-align:right;" | 10.0%
| style="text-align:right;" | 10.0%
| style="text-align:right;" | 
|-
| {{flag|Ivory Coast}} ([[Christianity in Ivory Coast|details]])
| style="text-align:right;" | 7,075,000
| style="text-align:right;" | 32.8%
| style="text-align:right;" | 28.9%
| style="text-align:right;" | 3.9%
|-
| {{flag|Kenya}} ([[Religion in Kenya|details]])
| style="text-align:right;" | 34,774,000
| style="text-align:right;" | 85.1%
| style="text-align:right;" | 23.4%
| style="text-align:right;" | 61.7%
|-
| {{flag|Lesotho}} ([[Religion in Lesotho|details]])
| style="text-align:right;" | 1,876,000
| style="text-align:right;" | 90.0%
| style="text-align:right;" | 45%
| style="text-align:right;" | 45%
|-
| {{flag|Liberia}} ([[Religion in Liberia|details]])
| style="text-align:right;" | 1,391,000
| style="text-align:right;" | 85.5%<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/irf/2010/148698.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101123105613/http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/irf/2010/148698.htm |url-status=dead |archive-date=November 23, 2010 |title=International Religious Freedom Report 2010: Liberia |work=United States Department of State |date=November 17, 2010 |access-date=July 22, 2011}}</ref>
| style="text-align:right;" | 
| style="text-align:right;" | 85.5%
|-
| {{flag|Libya}} ([[Christianity in Libya|details]])
| style="text-align:right;" | 170,000{{citation needed|date=November 2020}}
| style="text-align:right;" | 2.7%{{citation needed|date=November 2020}}
| style="text-align:right;" | 0.5%
| style="text-align:right;" | 1.5%
|-
| {{flag|Madagascar}} ([[Religion in Madagascar|details]])
| style="text-align:right;" | 8,260,000
| style="text-align:right;" | 41.0%
| style="text-align:right;" | 
| style="text-align:right;" | 
|-
| {{flag|Malawi}} ([[Demographics of Malawi|details]])
| style="text-align:right;" | 12,538,000
| style="text-align:right;" | 79.9%
| style="text-align:right;" | 
| style="text-align:right;" | 
|-
| {{flag|Mali}} ([[Religion in Mali|details]])
| style="text-align:right;" | 348,000
| style="text-align:right;" | 2.4%<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/mali/|title=The World Factbook — Central Intelligence Agency|website=www.cia.gov|date=22 February 2022}}</ref>
| style="text-align:right;" | 
| style="text-align:right;" | 
|-
| {{flag|Mauritania}} ([[Christianity in Mauritania|details]])
| style="text-align:right;" | 10,000<ref>{{cite book|title=Encyclopedia of Christianity in the Global South|first=Mark |last=A. Lamport|year= 2021| isbn=9781442271579| page =497|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield Publishers|quote= Influences—Christian influences in Mauritanian society are limited to the approximately 10,000 foreign nationals living in the country}}</ref>
| style="text-align:right;" | 0.14%
| style="text-align:right;" | 
| style="text-align:right;" | 
|-
| {{flag|Mauritius}} ([[Demographics of Mauritius|details]])
| style="text-align:right;" | 418,000
| style="text-align:right;" | 32.2%
| style="text-align:right;" | 
| style="text-align:right;" | 
|-
| {{flag|Morocco}} ([[Christianity in Morocco|details]])
| style="text-align:right;" | 336,000
| style="text-align:right;" | 1%<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/morocco/|title=The World Factbook — Central Intelligence Agency|website=www.cia.gov|date=18 February 2022}}</ref>
| style="text-align:right;" | 
| style="text-align:right;" | 
|-
| {{flag|Mozambique}} ([[Religion in Mozambique|details]])
| style="text-align:right;" | 13,121,000
| style="text-align:right;" | 56.1%
| style="text-align:right;" | 28.4%
| style="text-align:right;" | 27.7%
|-
| {{flag|Namibia}} ([[Religion in Namibia|details]])
| style="text-align:right;" | 1,991,000
| style="text-align:right;" | 90.0%
| style="text-align:right;" | 13.7%
| style="text-align:right;" | 76.3%
|-
| {{flag|Niger}} ([[Christianity in Niger|details]])
| style="text-align:right;" | 85,000
| style="text-align:right;" | 0.5%
| style="text-align:right;" | 
| style="text-align:right;" | 5%
|-
| {{flag|Nigeria}} ([[Christianity in Nigeria|details]])
| style="text-align:right;" |74,400,000-107,000,000
| style="text-align:right;" | 40%<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/nigeria/|title=The World Factbook — Central Intelligence Agency|website=www.cia.gov|date=22 February 2022}}</ref>- 58%<ref>{{cite web|author1=Dominique Lewis|title=Nigeria Round 5 codebook (2012)|url=http://afrobarometer.org/sites/default/files/data/round-5/nig_r5_codebook.pdf|website=Afrobarometer|access-date=13 September 2015|page=62|date=May 2013}}</ref>
| style="text-align:right;" | 10–14,5%
| style="text-align:right;" | 30–43,5%
|-
| {{flag|Rwanda}} ([[Religion in Rwanda|details]])
| style="text-align:right;" | 9,619,000
| style="text-align:right;" | 93.6%
| style="text-align:right;" | 56.9%
| style="text-align:right;" | 26%
|-
| {{flag|Senegal}} ([[Demographics of Senegal|details]])
| style="text-align:right;" | 570,000
| style="text-align:right;" | 4.2%<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/senegal/|title=The World Factbook — Central Intelligence Agency|website=www.cia.gov|date=14 February 2022}}</ref>
| style="text-align:right;" | 
| style="text-align:right;" | 
|-
| {{flag|Seychelles}} ([[Religion in Seychelles|details]])
| style="text-align:right;" | 80,000
| style="text-align:right;" | 94.7%
| style="text-align:right;" | 82%
| style="text-align:right;" | 15.2%
|-
| {{flag|Sierra Leone}} ([[Demographics of Sierra Leone|details]])
| style="text-align:right;" | 619,000-1,294,000
| style="text-align:right;" | 10%<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/sierra-leone/|title=The World Factbook — Central Intelligence Agency|website=www.cia.gov|date=22 February 2022}}</ref>-20.9%<ref name="Pew Research Centre">{{cite web |url=http://www.pewforum.org/files/2015/03/PF_15.04.02_ProjectionsFullReport.pdf |title=The Future of World Religions: Population Growth Projections, 2010-2050 |access-date=12 May 2015 |archive-url=https://wayback.archive-it.org/all/20150429153811/http://www.pewforum.org/files/2015/03/PF_15.04.02_ProjectionsFullReport.pdf |archive-date=29 April 2015 |url-status=dead |df=dmy-all}}</ref>
| style="text-align:right;" | 
| style="text-align:right;" | 
|-
| {{flag|Somalia}} ([[Christianity in Somalia|details]])
| style="text-align:right;" | 1,000<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.anglicanplanet.net/international-news/2009/11/30/almost-expunged-somalias-embattled-christians.html|title=Almost expunged: Somalia's Embattled Christians|date=2009-10-22|access-date=2009-10-22|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110723014244/http://www.anglicanplanet.net/international-news/2009/11/30/almost-expunged-somalias-embattled-christians.html|archive-date=2011-07-23|url-status=dead}}</ref>
| style="text-align:right;" | 0.01%
| style="text-align:right;" | 0.0002%
| style="text-align:right;" | 0.01%
|-
| {{flag|South Africa}} ([[Religion in South Africa|details]])
| style="text-align:right;" | 43,090,000
| style="text-align:right;" | 79.8%<ref>StatsSA National Census results 2012 http://www.statssa.gov.za/publications/SAStatistics/SAStatistics2012.pdf</ref>
| style="text-align:right;" | 5%
| style="text-align:right;" | 75%
|-
| {{flag|South Sudan}} ([[Religion in South Sudan|details]])
| style="text-align:right;" | 6,010,000<ref>{{cite web|url=http://features.pewforum.org/grl/population-number.php |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121221010333/http://features.pewforum.org/grl/population-number.php |url-status=dead |archive-date=21 December 2012 |title=Table: Religious Composition by Country, in Numbers |date=18 December 2012 |work=Pew Research Center's Religion & Public Life Project |access-date=14 February 2015}}</ref>
| style="text-align:right;" | 60.5%<ref>{{cite web |url=http://features.pewforum.org/grl/population-percentage.php |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130101080244/http://features.pewforum.org/grl/population-percentage.php |url-status=dead |archive-date=1 January 2013 |title=Table: Religious Composition by Country, in Percentages |date=18 December 2012 |work=Pew Research Center's Religion & Public Life Project |access-date=14 February 2015}}</ref>
| style="text-align:right;" | 30%
| style="text-align:right;" | 30%
|-
| {{flag|Sudan}} ([[Christianity in Sudan|details]])
| style="text-align:right;" | 525,000
| style="text-align:right;" | 1.5%<ref name=CWF>{{cite web|url=https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/fields/2122.html?countryName=Sudan&countryCode=SU&regionCode=af&#SU|title=The World Factbook|work=cia.gov|access-date=2016-01-26|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303170036/https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/fields/2122.html?countryName=Sudan&countryCode=SU&regionCode=af&#SU|archive-date=2016-03-03|url-status=dead}}</ref>
| style="text-align:right;" | 
| style="text-align:right;" | 
|-
| {{flag|Tanzania}} ([[Christianity in Tanzania|details]])
| style="text-align:right;" | 31,342,000
| style="text-align:right;" | 61.4%<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/tanzania/|title=CIA Site Redirect — Central Intelligence Agency|website=www.cia.gov|date=22 February 2022}}</ref>
| style="text-align:right;" | 
| style="text-align:right;" | 
|-
| {{flag|Togo}} ([[Demographics of Togo|details]])
| style="text-align:right;" | 1,966,000
| style="text-align:right;" | 29.0%
| style="text-align:right;" | 
| style="text-align:right;" | 
|-
| {{flag|Tunisia}} ([[Christianity in Tunisia|details]])
| style="text-align:right;" | 30,000<ref name="Tunisia">{{Cite web |last=Office of International Religious Freedom |date=12 May 2021 |title=2020 Report on International Religious Freedom: Tunisia |url=https://www.state.gov/reports/2020-report-on-international-religious-freedom/tunisia/ |access-date=16 January 2023 |website=US Department of State}}</ref>{{Efn|Tunisia's Ministry of Religious Affairs estimates there are approximately 30,000 Christians residing in the country, of which the majority are foreigners and about 80% of whom are Roman Catholic. Approximately 7000 Christians are Tunisian Citizens, mostly Anglicans and other Protestants.<ref name="Tunisia" />}}
| style="text-align:right;" | 
| style="text-align:right;" | 
| style="text-align:right;" | 
|-
| {{flag|Uganda}} ([[Religion in Uganda|details]])
| style="text-align:right;" | 29,943,000
| style="text-align:right;" | 88.6%
| style="text-align:right;" | 41.9%
| style="text-align:right;" | 46.7%
|-
| {{flag|Western Sahara}} ([[Christianity in Western Sahara|details]])
| style="text-align:right;" | 200
| style="text-align:right;" | 0.04%
| style="text-align:right;" | 0.04%
| style="text-align:right;" | 
|-
| {{flag|Zambia}} ([[Religion in Zambia|details]])
| style="text-align:right;" | 12,939,000
| style="text-align:right;" | 95.5%<ref>[http://www.zamstats.gov.zm/nada/index.php/catalog/63 Zambia - 2010 Census of Population and Housing] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160130073849/http://www.zamstats.gov.zm/nada/index.php/catalog/63 |date=2016-01-30}}</ref>
| style="text-align:right;" | 20.2%
| style="text-align:right;" | 72.3%
|-
| {{flag|Zimbabwe}} ([[Religion in Zimbabwe|details]])
| style="text-align:right;" | 12,500,000
| style="text-align:right;" | 87.0%<ref name=pewzimb>[http://www.pewforum.org/files/2012/12/globalReligion-tables.pdf Religious composition by country] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180219024554/http://www.pewforum.org/files/2012/12/globalReligion-tables.pdf |date=2018-02-19 }}, Pew Research, Washington DC (2012)</ref>
| style="text-align:right;" | 17%
| style="text-align:right;" | 63%
|- style="background:#9ff;"
!| Africa
! 526,016,926
! 62.7%
! 21.0%<ref name="The Global Catholic Population">[http://www.pewforum.org/2013/02/13/the-global-catholic-population/ The Global Catholic Population], Pew Research CenterReligion & Public Life</ref>
! 41.7%
|}

== Denominations ==
{{Main|List of Christian denominations by number of members}}

[[File:Christianism in africa.png|thumb|Christianity largest groups in Africa]]

Pew projected that 53% of Africa's population would be Christian in 2020.<ref name="Timothy 2023 p. 108">{{cite book | last=Timothy | first=D.J. | title=Cultural Heritage and Tourism in Africa | publisher=Taylor & Francis | series=Routledge Cultural Heritage and Tourism Series | year=2023 | isbn=978-1-000-83438-3 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QvSnEAAAQBAJ&pg=PT108 | access-date=2023-08-19 | page=108}}</ref> Estimates of Christians on the continent range up to eight hundred million.<ref name="Zook Haude 2016 p. 138">{{cite book | last1=Zook | first1=M.S. | last2=Haude | first2=S. | title=Challenging Orthodoxies: The Social and Cultural Worlds of Early Modern Women: Essays Presented to Hilda L. Smith | publisher=Taylor & Francis | year=2016 | isbn=978-1-317-16875-1 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qosGDAAAQBAJ&pg=PT138 | access-date=2024-03-30 | page=138}}</ref>

=== Catholicism ===

====Roman Catholic====
{{Main|Catholic Church in Africa}}

Catholic Church membership rose from 2 million in 1900 to 140 million in 2000.<ref>[http://www.zenit.org/article-33813?l=english The Catholic Explosion] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111114233303/http://www.zenit.org/article-33813?l=english |date=2011-11-14}}, [[Zenit News Agency]], 11 November 2011</ref> In 2005, the Catholic Church in Africa, including [[Eastern Catholic Churches]], was followed by approximately 135 million of the 809 million people in Africa. In 2009, when [[Pope Benedict XVI]] visited Africa, it was estimated at 158&nbsp;million.<ref name=Donadio>Rachel Donadio, "[https://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/16/world/africa/16pope.html?_r=0 On Africa Trip, Pope Will Find Place Where Church Is Surging Amid Travail]," ''New York Times'', 16 March 2009.</ref> Most belong to the [[Latin Church]], but there are also millions of members of the Eastern Catholic Churches.

===Orthodoxy===
====Oriental Orthodoxy====
{{See also|Oriental Orthodox Churches}}
* [[Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church]] – 37 million<ref>{{cite journal |title=Orthodox Christianity in the 21st Century |journal=Pew Research Center's Religion & Public Life Project |date=8 November 2017 |url=https://www.pewforum.org/2017/11/08/orthodox-christianity-in-the-21st-century/ |quote=Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church has an estimated 36 million adherents, nearly 14% of the world's total Orthodox population.}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia |first1=Population Census Commission |title=Summary and Statistical Report of the 2007 Population and Housing Census Results |date=4 June 2012 |url=http://www.csa.gov.et/pdf/Cen2007_firstdraft.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120604045256/http://www.csa.gov.et/pdf/Cen2007_firstdraft.pdf |archive-date=4 June 2012}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church {{!}} church, Ethiopia |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Ethiopian-Orthodox-Tewahedo-Church |website=Encyclopedia Britannica |date=23 January 2024 |language=en |quote=In the early 21st century the church claimed more than 30 million adherents in Ethiopia.}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church — World Council of Churches |url=https://www.oikoumene.org/en/member-churches/ethiopian-orthodox-tewahedo-church |website=www.oikoumene.org |date=January 1948 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |title=Ethiopia: An outlier in the Orthodox Christian world |journal=Pew Research Center |date=28 November 2017 |url=https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2017/11/28/ethiopia-is-an-outlier-in-the-orthodox-christian-world/}}</ref>
* [[Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria]] – 10 million<ref>{{cite journal |title=Orthodox Christianity in the 21st Century |journal=Pew Research Center's Religion & Public Life Project |date=8 November 2017 |url=https://www.pewforum.org/2017/11/08/orthodox-christianity-in-the-21st-century/ |quote=Egypt has the Middle East's largest Orthodox population (an estimated 4 million Egyptians, or 5% of the population), mainly members of the Coptic Orthodox Church.}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=BBC - Religions - Christianity: Coptic Orthodox Church |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/christianity/subdivisions/coptic_1.shtml |website=BBC |quote=The Coptic Orthodox Church is the main Christian Church in Egypt, where it has between 6 and 11 million members.}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |author=Matt Rehbein |title=Who are Egypt's Coptic Christians? |url=https://edition.cnn.com/2017/04/09/middleeast/egypt-coptic-christians/index.html |website=CNN|date=10 April 2017 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Coptic Orthodox Church — World Council of Churches |url=https://www.oikoumene.org/en/member-churches/coptic-orthodox-church |website=www.oikoumene.org |date=January 1948 |language=en}}</ref>
* [[Eritrean Orthodox Tewahedo Church]] – 2 million<ref>{{cite web |title=Eritrean Orthodox Tewahedo Church — World Council of Churches |url=https://www.oikoumene.org/en/member-churches/eritrean-orthodox-tewahedo-church |website=www.oikoumene.org |date=January 2003 |language=en}}</ref>

====Eastern Orthodoxy====
{{See also|Eastern Orthodoxy}}
* [[Greek Orthodox Church of Alexandria]] – 500 000<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.oikoumene.org/en/member-churches/greek-orthodox-patriarchate-of-alexandria-and-all-africa|title=Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Alexandria and All Africa — World Council of Churches|website=www.oikoumene.org|date=January 1948 |access-date=6 October 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191006202627/https://www.oikoumene.org/en/member-churches/greek-orthodox-patriarchate-of-alexandria-and-all-africa|archive-date=6 October 2019|url-status=live}}</ref>

===Protestantism===
In 2010, Pew estimated that there were around 300 million Protestants in Sub Saharan Africa.<ref name="Sallam Sallam 2016 p. ">{{cite journal | last1=Sallam | first1=HN | last2=Sallam | first2=NH | title=Religious aspects of assisted reproduction | journal=Facts, Views & Vision in ObGyn | publisher=Vlaamse Vereniging voor Obstetrie en Gynaecologie | volume=8 | issue=1 | date=2016-03-03 | pages=33–48 | pmid=27822349 | pmc=5096425 }}</ref> Other estimates range up to four hundred million.<ref name="Piper Grudem 2006 p. 421">{{cite book |last1=Piper |first1=John |author-link=John Piper (theologian) |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DECfuM4_YuoC&pg=PA421 |title=Recovering Biblical Manhood and Womanhood: A Response to Evangelical Feminism |last2=Grudem |first2=Wayne |author-link2=Wayne Grudem |publisher=Crossway |year=2006 |isbn=978-1-4335-1918-5 |page=421 |access-date=2024-03-30}}</ref><ref name="a567">{{cite book | last1=Hutchinson | first1=M. | last2=Wolffe | first2=J. | title=A Short History of Global Evangelicalism | publisher=Cambridge University Press | year=2012 | isbn=978-1-107-37689-2 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=E5UgAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA244 | access-date=2024-10-03 | page=244}}</ref> Protestantism is the largest Christian group in Africa, with 35.9% (more than a half) in sub-Saharan Africa.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Murphy |first=Caryle |date=24 November 2015 |title=In Africa, Pope Francis will find religious vibrancy and violence |url=https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2015/11/24/in-africa-pope-francis-will-find-religious-vibrancy-and-violence/ |access-date=5 December 2024 |website=Pew Research Center |language=en-US}}</ref> Protestant have grown to 35.9% of the whole population of the continent.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Le Bec |first=Christophe |date=3 January 2012 |title=The phenomenal rise of Christians in Africa |url=https://www.theafricareport.com/7857/the-phenomenal-rise-of-christians-in-africa/ |access-date=5 December 2024 |website=[[The Africa Report]] |language=en}}</ref> Studies have suggested there are an estimated two hundred million evangelicals in Africa.<ref name="d310">{{cite book | last1=Florence Muindi | first1=M.D.M.P.H. | last2=Charlie Vittitow | first2=D.M.D.A. | last3=Sindorf | first3=J. | last4=Sindorf | first4=K. | last5=Saint | first5=S. | title=Teach a Man to Fish: Engaging the Local Church to Create Sustainable, Transformational Missions | publisher=Tyndale House Publishers | year=2024 | isbn=978-1-4964-9008-7 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ouL5EAAAQBAJ&pg=PA236 | access-date=2024-12-04 | page=236}}</ref> There are an estimated 60 million Anglicans and 23 million Lutherans in Africa.<ref name="Bongmba 2012 p. 208">{{cite book | last=Bongmba | first=E.K. | title=The Wiley-Blackwell Companion to African Religions | publisher=Wiley | series=Wiley Blackwell Companions to Religion | year=2012 | isbn=978-1-118-25554-4 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=x30JDC4sRwwC&pg=PA208 | access-date=2023-08-19 | page=208}}</ref><ref name="Roper 2023 p. 172">{{cite book | last=Roper | first=L. | title=Living I Was Your Plague: Martin Luther's World and Legacy | publisher=Princeton University Press | series=The Lawrence Stone Lectures | year=2023 | isbn=978-0-691-20532-8 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=f0B_EAAAQBAJ&pg=PA172 | access-date=2023-08-19 | page=172}}</ref> There are also approximately 29 million Baptists in Africa.<ref name="y166" /> Methodists number up to 25 million on the continent.<ref name="Yrigoyen Warrick 2013 p. 9">{{cite book | last1=Yrigoyen | first1=C. | last2=Warrick | first2=S.E. | title=Historical Dictionary of Methodism | publisher=Scarecrow Press | series=Historical Dictionaries of Religions, Philosophies, and Movements Series | year=2013 | isbn=978-0-8108-7894-5 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aWUYAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA9 | access-date=2023-08-19 | page=9}}</ref> Presbyterians in Africa are estimated to number more than twenty million.<ref name="Vaux 2013 p. 35">{{cite book | last=Vaux | first=K.L. | title=For Such a Time as This: Evanston Killings, Election, Ethics Consult | publisher=Wipf and Stock Publishers | year=2013 | isbn=978-1-62189-812-2 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AZtJAwAAQBAJ&pg=PT35 | access-date=2023-08-19 | page=35}}</ref> About 12 million Africans are Adventists and 19 million belong to United churches.<ref name="y166">{{cite book |last=Zurlo |first=G. |author-link=Gina Zurlo |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hdFTEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA7 |title=Global Christianity: A Guide to the World's Largest Religion from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe |publisher=[[Zondervan Academic]] |year=2022 |isbn=978-0-310-11363-8 |page=7 |access-date=2024-12-04}}</ref>

====Anglicanism====
{{See also|Anglicanism}}
*[[Church of Nigeria]] – 20.1 million<ref>{{cite web|date=18 April 2007|title=Church of Nigeria|url=http://www.anglican-nig.org/enuguconsecration.htm|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927065421/http://www.anglican-nig.org/enuguconsecration.htm|archive-date=27 September 2007|access-date=13 August 2011|publisher=Anglican-nig.org}}</ref>
* [[Church of Uganda]] – 8.1 million<ref>{{cite web|title=Church of Uganda|url=http://www.oikoumene.org/en/member-churches/regions/africa/uganda/church-of-uganda.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080212235620/http://www.oikoumene.org/en/member-churches/regions/africa/uganda/church-of-uganda.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=February 12, 2008|access-date=13 August 2011|publisher=Oikoumene.org}}</ref>
* [[Anglican Church of Kenya]] – 5.0 million<ref>{{cite web|title=Anglican Church of Kenya|url=http://www.oikoumene.org/en/member-churches/regions/africa/kenya/anglican-church-of-kenya.html|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110521165748/http://www.oikoumene.org/en/member-churches/regions/africa/kenya/anglican-church-of-kenya.html|archive-date=21 May 2011|access-date=13 August 2011|publisher=Oikoumene.org}}</ref>
* [[Province of the Episcopal Church of South Sudan and Sudan|Episcopal Church of South Sudan and Sudan]] – 4.5 million<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.oikoumene.org/en/member-churches/regions/africa/sudan/episcopal-church-of-the-sudan.html |title= Episcopal Church of the Sudan|website=www.oikoumene.org |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080720024801/http://www.oikoumene.org/en/member-churches/regions/africa/sudan/episcopal-church-of-the-sudan.html |archive-date=20 July 2008}}</ref>
* [[Anglican Church of Southern Africa]] – 2.3 million<ref>{{cite web|title=Anglican Church of Southern Africa|url=http://www.oikoumene.org/en/member-churches/regions/africa/south-africa/anglican-church-of-southern-africa.html|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110521163132/http://www.oikoumene.org/en/member-churches/regions/africa/south-africa/anglican-church-of-southern-africa.html|archive-date=21 May 2011|access-date=13 August 2011|publisher=Oikoumene.org}}</ref>
* [[Anglican Church of Tanzania]] – 2.0 million<ref>{{cite web|title=Anglican Church of Tanzania|url=http://www.oikoumene.org/en/member-churches/regions/africa/tanzania/anglican-church-of-tanzania.html|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110906084427/http://www.oikoumene.org/en/member-churches/regions/africa/tanzania/anglican-church-of-tanzania.html|archive-date=6 September 2011|access-date=13 August 2011|publisher=Oikoumene.org}}</ref>
* [[Province of the Anglican Church of Rwanda|Anglican Church of Rwanda]] – 1.0 million<ref>{{cite web|title=Province of the Episcopal Church in Rwanda|url=http://www.oikoumene.org/en/member-churches/regions/africa/rwanda/province-of-the-episcopal-church-in-rwanda.html|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110904033616/http://www.oikoumene.org/en/member-churches/regions/africa/rwanda/province-of-the-episcopal-church-in-rwanda.html|archive-date=4 September 2011|access-date=13 August 2011|publisher=Oikoumene.org}}</ref>
* [[Church of the Province of Central Africa]] – 900,000<ref>{{cite web|title=Church of the Province of Central Africa|url=http://www.oikoumene.org/en/member-churches/regions/africa/malawi/church-of-the-province-of-central-africa.html|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110521152729/http://www.oikoumene.org/en/member-churches/regions/africa/malawi/church-of-the-province-of-central-africa.html|archive-date=21 May 2011|access-date=13 August 2011|publisher=Oikoumene.org}}</ref>
* [[Province of the Anglican Church of Burundi|Anglican Church of Burundi]] – 800,000<ref>{{cite web|title=Anglican Church of Burundi|url=http://www.oikoumene.org/en/member-churches/regions/africa/burundi/anglican-church-of-burundi.html|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110905223818/http://www.oikoumene.org/en/member-churches/regions/africa/burundi/anglican-church-of-burundi.html|archive-date=5 September 2011|access-date=13 August 2011|publisher=Oikoumene.org}}</ref>
* [[Church of Christ in Congo|Church of Christ in Congo–Anglican Community of Congo]] – 500,000<ref>{{cite web|date=20 December 2003|title=Church of Christ in Congo – Anglican Community of Congo|url=http://www.oikoumene.org/en/member-churches/regions/africa/democratic-republic-of-congo/church-of-christ-in-congo-anglican-community-of-congo.html|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110521164800/http://www.oikoumene.org/en/member-churches/regions/africa/democratic-republic-of-congo/church-of-christ-in-congo-anglican-community-of-congo.html|archive-date=21 May 2011|access-date=13 August 2011|publisher=Oikoumene.org}}</ref>
* [[Church of the Province of West Africa]] – 300,000<ref>{{cite web|title=Church of the Province of West Africa|url=http://www.oikoumene.org/en/member-churches/regions/africa/ghana/church-of-the-province-of-west-africa.html|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110521185401/http://www.oikoumene.org/en/member-churches/regions/africa/ghana/church-of-the-province-of-west-africa.html|archive-date=21 May 2011|access-date=13 August 2011|publisher=Oikoumene.org}}</ref>
* [[Reformed Evangelical Anglican Church of South Africa]] – 90,000<ref>{{cite web|title=South African Christian|url=http://www.sachristian.co.za/church.html|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140620221648/http://www.sachristian.co.za/church.html|archive-date=20 June 2014|access-date=26 October 2014|publisher=Sachristian.co.za}}</ref>

====Baptists====
{{See also|Baptists}}
* [[Nigerian Baptist Convention]] – 5.0 million<ref name="BWA">{{Cite web|url=https://www.bwanet.org/about-us2/stats|title=Baptist World Alliance - Statistics|website=www.bwanet.org|access-date=28 November 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160618021030/http://www.bwanet.org/about-us2/stats|archive-date=18 June 2016|url-status=live}}</ref>
* [[Baptist Union of Uganda]] – 2.5 million<ref name="BWA"/>
* [[Baptist Community of Congo]] – 2.1 million<ref name="BWA"/>
* [[Baptist Convention of Tanzania]] – 2.0 million<ref name="BWA"/>
* [[Baptist Community of the Congo River]] – 1.1 million<ref name="BWA"/>
* [[Baptist Convention of Kenya]] – 600,000<ref name="BWA"/>
* [[Baptist Convention of Malawi]] – 300,000<ref name="BWA"/>
* [[Ghana Baptist Convention]] – 300,000<ref name="BWA"/>
* [[Union of Baptist Churches in Rwanda]] – 300,000<ref name="BWA"/>
* [[Evangelical Baptist Church of the Central African Republic]] – 200,000<ref name="BWA"/>

====Catholic Apostolic Church (Irvingism)====
{{See also|Catholic Apostolic Church}}
* [[New Apostolic Church]] – 16 million<ref name="Nyika2008">{{cite book |last1=Nyika |first1=Felix Chimera |title=Restore the Primitive Church Once More: A Survey of Post Reformation Christian Restorationism |date=2008 |publisher=Kachere Series |page=14 |language=English |quote=In the 1990s the New Apostolic Church had almost 300 apostles with 60,000 congregations comprising 16 million members globally.}}</ref><ref name="Kuligin2005">{{cite journal |last1=Kuligin |first1=Victor |title=The New Apostolic Church |journal=Africa Journal of Evangelical Theology |date=2005 |volume=24 |issue=1 |pages=1–18 |language=English}}</ref>

====Lutheranism====
[[Lutheranism]] in Africa represent 24.13 million people.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.lutheranworld.org/content/member-churches|title = Member Churches|date = 19 May 2013}}</ref>

* [[Ethiopian Evangelical Church Mekane Yesus]] – 8.3 million<ref>{{cite web|url=http://eecmy.org/eecmy/en/news-events|title=Ethiopian Evangelical Church Mekane Yesus|access-date=10 February 2017|publisher=News and Events. EECMY.|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170211215408/http://eecmy.org/eecmy/en/news-events|archive-date=11 February 2017|url-status=live}}</ref>
* [[Evangelical Lutheran Church in Tanzania]] – 6.5 million<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.lutheranworld.org/country/tanzania|title=Tanzania {{pipe}} The Lutheran World Federation|website=www.lutheranworld.org|access-date=14 October 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160701165310/https://www.lutheranworld.org/country/tanzania|archive-date=1 July 2016|url-status=live}}</ref>
* [[Malagasy Lutheran Church]] – 3.0 million<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.lutheranworld.org/country/madagascar|title=Madagascar {{pipe}} The Lutheran World Federation|website=www.lutheranworld.org|access-date=14 October 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160701165757/https://www.lutheranworld.org/country/madagascar|archive-date=1 July 2016|url-status=live}}</ref>
* [[The Lutheran Church of Christ in Nigeria]] – 2.2 million<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.lutheranworld.org/country/nigeria|title=Nigeria {{pipe}} The Lutheran World Federation|website=www.lutheranworld.org|access-date=14 October 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160509110706/https://www.lutheranworld.org/country/nigeria|archive-date=9 May 2016|url-status=live}}</ref>
* [[Evangelical Lutheran Church in Namibia]] – 700,000<ref name="LWF-Namibia">{{Cite web|url=https://www.lutheranworld.org/country/namibia|title=Namibia {{pipe}} The Lutheran World Federation|website=www.lutheranworld.org|access-date=14 October 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160701164909/https://www.lutheranworld.org/country/namibia|archive-date=1 July 2016|url-status=live}}</ref>
* [[Evangelical Lutheran Church in Southern Africa]] – 600,000<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.lutheranworld.org/country/south-africa|title=South Africa {{pipe}} The Lutheran World Federation|website=www.lutheranworld.org|access-date=14 October 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160809050438/https://www.lutheranworld.org/country/south-africa|archive-date=9 August 2016|url-status=live}}</ref>
* [[Evangelical Lutheran Church in the Republic of Namibia]] – 400,000<ref name="LWF-Namibia"/>
* [[Evangelical Lutheran Church of Cameroon]] – 300,000<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.lutheranworld.org/country/cameroon|title=Cameroon {{pipe}} The Lutheran World Federation|website=www.lutheranworld.org|access-date=14 October 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161018235248/https://www.lutheranworld.org/country/cameroon|archive-date=18 October 2016|url-status=live}}</ref>
* [[Evangelical Lutheran Church in Zimbabwe]] – 300,000<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.lutheranworld.org/country/zimbabwe|title=Zimbabwe {{pipe}} The Lutheran World Federation|website=www.lutheranworld.org|access-date=14 October 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161019003029/https://www.lutheranworld.org/country/zimbabwe|archive-date=19 October 2016|url-status=live}}</ref>

====Methodism====
{{See also|Methodism}}
With over 20 denominations in the continent, [[World Methodist Council]] has 17.08 million members in the whole continent.<ref name="Resource: More Methodist Maps">{{Cite web|url=https://um-insight.net/in-the-church/umc-global-nature/resource-more-methodist-maps/|title=Resource: More Methodist Maps|date=5 April 2018}}</ref>

* [[Methodist Church Nigeria]] – 2 million<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.oikoumene.org/en/member-churches/regions/africa/nigeria/methodist-church-nigeria.html |title=Methodist Church Nigeria |publisher=Oikoumene.org |access-date=13 August 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110521154241/http://www.oikoumene.org/en/member-churches/regions/africa/nigeria/methodist-church-nigeria.html |archive-date=21 May 2011 |url-status=dead}}</ref>
* [[Methodist Church of Southern Africa]] – 1.7 million<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.oikoumene.org/en/member-churches/regions/africa/south-africa/methodist-church-of-southern-africa.html |title=Methodist Church of Southern Africa |publisher=Oikoumene.org |access-date=13 August 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110521170142/http://www.oikoumene.org/en/member-churches/regions/africa/south-africa/methodist-church-of-southern-africa.html |archive-date=21 May 2011 |url-status=dead}}</ref>
* United Methodist Church of Ivory Coast – 1.08 million<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.oikoumene.org/en/member-churches/regions/africa/ivory-coast/united-methodist-church-of-ivory-coast.html |title=United Methodist Church of Ivory Coast |publisher=Oikoumene.org |access-date=13 August 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110904225247/http://www.oikoumene.org/en/member-churches/regions/africa/ivory-coast/united-methodist-church-of-ivory-coast.html |archive-date=4 September 2011 |url-status=dead}}</ref>
* [[Methodist Church Ghana]] – 800,000<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.oikoumene.org/en/member-churches/regions/africa/ghana/methodist-church-ghana.html |title=Methodist Church Ghana |publisher=Oikoumene.org |access-date=13 August 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110521155709/http://www.oikoumene.org/en/member-churches/regions/africa/ghana/methodist-church-ghana.html |archive-date=21 May 2011}}</ref>
* Methodist Church in Kenya – 500,000<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.oikoumene.org/en/member-churches/regions/africa/kenya/methodist-church-in-kenya.html |title=Methodist Church in Kenya |publisher=Oikoumene.org |access-date=13 August 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110521145247/http://www.oikoumene.org/en/member-churches/regions/africa/kenya/methodist-church-in-kenya.html |archive-date=21 May 2011 |url-status=dead}}</ref>
* [[The United Methodist Church in Liberia]] – 350,000<ref name="Resource: More Methodist Maps"/>
* Free Methodist church in Congo– 110,000<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://fmwm.org/democratic-republic-of-congo/|title = Democratic Republic of Congo {{pipe}} Official Free Methodist World Missions}}</ref>

====Reformed (Calvinism)====
{{See also|Calvinism}}
* [[Presbyterian Church of East Africa]] – 4.0 million<ref>{{cite web|title=Presbyterian Church of East Africa|url=http://www.oikoumene.org/en/member-churches/regions/africa/kenya/presbyterian-church-of-east-africa.html|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110905122750/http://www.oikoumene.org/en/member-churches/regions/africa/kenya/presbyterian-church-of-east-africa.html|archive-date=5 September 2011|access-date=13 August 2011|publisher=Oikoumene.org}}</ref>
* [[Presbyterian Church of Nigeria]] – 3.8 million<ref>{{cite web|title=Presbyterian Church of Nigeria|date=January 1961 |url=http://www.oikoumene.org/en/member-churches/presbyterian-church-of-nigeria|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141026062324/https://www.oikoumene.org/en/member-churches/presbyterian-church-of-nigeria|archive-date=26 October 2014|access-date=26 October 2014|publisher=Oikoumene.org}}</ref>
* [[Presbyterian Church of Africa]] – 3.4 million<ref>{{cite web|title=Presbyterian Church of Africa|url=http://www.oikoumene.org/en/member-churches/regions/africa/south-africa/presbyterian-church-of-africa.html|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110904212501/http://www.oikoumene.org/en/member-churches/regions/africa/south-africa/presbyterian-church-of-africa.html|archive-date=4 September 2011|access-date=13 August 2011|publisher=Oikoumene.org}}</ref>
* [[Church of Christ in Congo|Church of Christ in Congo–Presbyterian Community of Congo]] – 2.5 million<ref>{{cite web|title=Church of Christ in Congo – Presbyterian Community of Congo|url=http://www.oikoumene.org/en/member-churches/regions/africa/democratic-republic-of-congo/church-of-christ-in-congo-presbyterian-community-of-congo.html|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110906101707/http://www.oikoumene.org/en/member-churches/regions/africa/democratic-republic-of-congo/church-of-christ-in-congo-presbyterian-community-of-congo.html|archive-date=6 September 2011|access-date=13 August 2011|publisher=Oikoumene.org}}</ref>
* [[Presbyterian Church of Cameroon]] – 1.8 million<ref>{{cite web|title=Presbyterian Church of Cameroon|url=http://www.oikoumene.org/en/member-churches/regions/africa/cameroon/presbyterian-church-of-cameroon.html|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110521134036/http://www.oikoumene.org/en/member-churches/regions/africa/cameroon/presbyterian-church-of-cameroon.html|archive-date=21 May 2011|access-date=13 August 2011|publisher=Oikoumene.org}}</ref>
* [[Church of Central Africa Presbyterian]] – 1.3 million<ref>Patrick Johnstone and Jason Mandryk, ''[[Operation World|Operation World: 21st Century Edition]]'' (Paternoster, 2001), [http://www.operationworld.org/country/mala/owtext.html p. 419] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110131135944/http://www.operationworld.org/country/mala/owtext.html|date=31 January 2011}}.</ref>
* [[Presbyterian Church in Sudan]] – 1.0 million<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.oikoumene.org/en/member-churches/regions/africa/sudan/presbyterian-church-of-the-sudan.html |title= Presbyterian Church of the Sudan|website=www.oikoumene.org |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110521140202/http://www.oikoumene.org/en/member-churches/regions/africa/sudan/presbyterian-church-of-the-sudan.html |archive-date=21 May 2011}}</ref>
* [[Presbyterian Church in Cameroon]] – 700,000<ref>{{cite web|title=Presbyterian Church in Cameroon|url=http://www.oikoumene.org/en/member-churches/regions/africa/cameroon/presbyterian-church-in-cameroon.html|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110521132734/http://www.oikoumene.org/en/member-churches/regions/africa/cameroon/presbyterian-church-in-cameroon.html|archive-date=21 May 2011|access-date=13 August 2011|publisher=Oikoumene.org}}</ref>
* [[Evangelical Presbyterian Church, Ghana]] – 600,000<ref>{{cite web|title=Presbyterian Church of Ghana|url=http://www.oikoumene.org/en/member-churches/regions/africa/ghana/presbyterian-church-of-ghana.html|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110521141616/http://www.oikoumene.org/en/member-churches/regions/africa/ghana/presbyterian-church-of-ghana.html|archive-date=21 May 2011|access-date=13 August 2011|publisher=Oikoumene.org}}</ref>
* [[Uniting Presbyterian Church in Southern Africa]] – 500,000<ref>{{cite web|title=Uniting Presbyterian Church in Southern Africa|url=http://www.oikoumene.org/en/member-churches/regions/africa/south-africa/uniting-presbyterian-church-in-southern-africa.html|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110904004900/http://www.oikoumene.org/en/member-churches/regions/africa/south-africa/uniting-presbyterian-church-in-southern-africa.html|archive-date=4 September 2011|access-date=13 August 2011|publisher=Oikoumene.org}}</ref>
* [[Presbyterian Church in Rwanda]] – 300,000<ref>{{cite web|title=Presbyterian Church in Rwanda|url=http://www.oikoumene.org/en/member-churches/regions/africa/rwanda/presbyterian-church-in-rwanda.html|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110521143740/http://www.oikoumene.org/en/member-churches/regions/africa/rwanda/presbyterian-church-in-rwanda.html|archive-date=21 May 2011|access-date=13 August 2011|publisher=Oikoumene.org}}</ref>
*[[Church of Jesus Christ in Madagascar]] – 3.5 million<ref>{{cite web|title=Church of Jesus Christ in Madagascar (FJKM)|url=http://www.oikoumene.org/en/member-churches/regions/africa/madgascar/church-of-jesus-christ-in-madagascar-fjkm.html|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110905073646/http://www.oikoumene.org/en/member-churches/regions/africa/madgascar/church-of-jesus-christ-in-madagascar-fjkm.html|archive-date=5 September 2011|access-date=13 August 2011|publisher=Oikoumene.org}}</ref>
* [[United Church in Zambia]] – 3.0 million<ref>{{cite web|title=United Church of Zambia|url=http://www.oikoumene.org/en/member-churches/regions/africa/zambia/united-church-of-zambia.html|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110521181214/http://www.oikoumene.org/en/member-churches/regions/africa/zambia/united-church-of-zambia.html|archive-date=21 May 2011|access-date=13 August 2011|publisher=Oikoumene.org}}</ref>
* [[Evangelical Church of Cameroon]] – 2.5 million<ref>{{cite web|author=Administrator|title=Qui sommes-nous?|url=http://www.eeccameroun.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=39&Itemid=3|url-status=usurped|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121130062738/http://www.eeccameroun.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=39&Itemid=3|archive-date=30 November 2012|access-date=26 October 2014|publisher=Eeccameroun.org}}</ref>
* [[Dutch Reformed Church in South Africa (NGK)]] – 1.1 million
* [[Uniting Reformed Church in Southern Africa]] – 500,000<ref>{{cite web|title=Uniting Reformed Church in Southern Africa|url=http://www.oikoumene.org/en/member-churches/regions/africa/south-africa/uniting-reformed-church-in-southern-africa.html|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110521190035/http://www.oikoumene.org/en/member-churches/regions/africa/south-africa/uniting-reformed-church-in-southern-africa.html|archive-date=21 May 2011|access-date=13 August 2011|publisher=Oikoumene.org}}</ref>
* [[Lesotho Evangelical Church]] – 300,000<ref>{{cite web|title=Lesotho Evangelical Church|url=http://www.oikoumene.org/en/member-churches/regions/africa/lesotho/lesotho-evangelical-church.html|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121007104943/http://www.oikoumene.org/en/member-churches/regions/africa/lesotho/lesotho-evangelical-church.html|archive-date=7 October 2012|access-date=13 August 2011|publisher=Oikoumene.org}}</ref>
* [[Christian Reformed Church of Nigeria]] – 300,000<ref>{{cite web|title=Reformed Church of Christ in Nigeria|url=http://www.oikoumene.org/en/member-churches/regions/africa/nigeria/reformed-church-of-christ-in-nigeria.html|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120921021303/http://www.oikoumene.org/en/member-churches/regions/africa/nigeria/reformed-church-of-christ-in-nigeria.html|archive-date=21 September 2012|access-date=13 August 2011|publisher=Oikoumene.org}}</ref>
* [[Reformed Church in Zambia]] – 300,000<ref>{{cite web|title=Reformed Church in Zambia|url=http://www.oikoumene.org/en/member-churches/regions/africa/zambia/reformed-church-in-zambia.html|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110521140845/http://www.oikoumene.org/en/member-churches/regions/africa/zambia/reformed-church-in-zambia.html|archive-date=21 May 2011|access-date=13 August 2011|publisher=Oikoumene.org}}</ref>
* [[Evangelical Reformed Church in Angola]] – 200,000<ref>{{cite web|title=Evangelical Reformed Church of Angola|date=January 1995 |url=http://www.oikoumene.org/en/member-churches/evangelical-reformed-church-of-angola|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180314185842/http://www.oikoumene.org/en/member-churches/evangelical-reformed-church-of-angola|archive-date=14 March 2018|access-date=14 March 2018|publisher=Oikoumene.org}}</ref>
* [[Church of Christ in the Sudan Among the Tiv]] – 200,000<ref>{{cite web|title=The Church of Christ in the Sudan among the Tiv (NKST)|url=http://www.recweb.org/index.php?section=34|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110825201904/http://recweb.org/index.php?section=34|archive-date=25 August 2011|access-date=13 August 2011|publisher=Recweb.org}}</ref>
* [[Evangelical Church of Congo]] – 200,000<ref>{{cite web|title=Evangelical Church of Congo|url=http://www.oikoumene.org/en/member-churches/regions/africa/congo-brazzaville/evangelical-church-of-congo.html|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110521144025/http://www.oikoumene.org/en/member-churches/regions/africa/congo-brazzaville/evangelical-church-of-congo.html|archive-date=21 May 2011|access-date=13 August 2011|publisher=Oikoumene.org}}</ref>
*[[Evangelical Congregational Church in Angola]] – 900,000<ref>{{cite web|title=Evangelical Congregational Church in Angola|url=http://www.oikoumene.org/en/member-churches/regions/africa/angola/evangelical-congregational-church-in-angola.html|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110521144312/http://www.oikoumene.org/en/member-churches/regions/africa/angola/evangelical-congregational-church-in-angola.html|archive-date=21 May 2011|access-date=13 August 2011|publisher=Oikoumene.org}}</ref>
* [[United Congregational Church of Southern Africa]] – 500,000<ref>{{cite web|title=United Congregational Church of Southern Africa|url=http://www.oikoumene.org/en/member-churches/regions/africa/south-africa/united-congregational-church-of-southern-africa.html|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110521190125/http://www.oikoumene.org/en/member-churches/regions/africa/south-africa/united-congregational-church-of-southern-africa.html|archive-date=21 May 2011|access-date=13 August 2011|publisher=Oikoumene.org}}</ref>

====Pentecostalism====
The population of [[Pentecostal Christians]] is around 202.29 million in 2015, being 35.32 percent of the continent's Christian population.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://oxfordre.com/africanhistory/oso/viewentry/10.1093$002facrefore$002f9780190277734.001.0001$002facrefore-9780190277734-e-120|doi=10.1093/acrefore/9780190277734.013.120|chapter=Pentecostalism in Africa|title=Oxford Research Encyclopedia of African History|year=2017|last1=Wariboko|first1=Nimi|isbn=978-0-19-027773-4}}</ref> A study estimated that there may be up to four hundred million Pentecostal and Charismatic Christians in Africa.<ref name="a082">{{cite book | last=Soeffner | first=H.G. | title=Transnationale Vergesellschaftungen: Verhandlungen des 35. Kongresses der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Soziologie in Frankfurt am Main 2010. Herausgegeben in deren Auftrag von Hans-Georg Soeffner | publisher=Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden | series=SpringerLink : Bücher | year=2012 | isbn=978-3-531-18971-0 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=p2RFkreKIekC&pg=PA67 | language=de | access-date=2024-10-03 | page=67}}</ref>
*[[Ethiopian Kale Heywet Church]]  – 9 million<ref>[https://ekhc.net/about-us/ "About us"], Ethiopian Kale Heywet Church. Retrieved 9 May 2020</ref>
*[[Ethiopian Full Gospel Believers' Church]]  – 4.5 million<ref>Ethiopian Full Gospel Believers' Church, [https://etfullgospel.org/index.php/en/49-english-new Overview of EMWACDO] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190920160204/https://etfullgospel.org/index.php/en/49-english-new |date=2019-09-20 }}, etfullgospel.org, Ethiopia, retrieved September 17, 2019</ref> 
*  – 1 million
*[[General Council of the Assemblies of God Nigeria]] - 3.6 million<ref>{{cite web | url = http://aognigeria.org/about-agnigeria/ | archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20190308000749/http://aognigeria.org/about-agnigeria/ | title = About Assemblies of God Nigeria | archivedate = 2019-03-08 | accessdate = 2020-01-03 | url-status=unfit }}</ref>
*[[Apostolic Faith Mission of South Africa]] – 1.2 million{{Citation needed|date=February 2023}}
* Association of Pentecostal Churches of Rwanda – 1 million{{Citation needed|date=February 2023}}

====Mennonites====
{{See also|Mennonites}}
*[[Meserete Kristos Church]] – 470,000<ref>''Meserete Kristos College Newsletter'' (December 2014): 3.</ref>

====Other evangelical groups====
*[[Evangelical church of west africa]] – 5 million{{Citation needed|date=February 2023}}

===Other Christian groups===
There are approximately 97 million Christians in Africa independent from denominations.<ref name="Sanneh McClymond 2016 p. 666">{{cite book | last1=Sanneh | first1=L. | last2=McClymond | first2=M. | title=The Wiley Blackwell Companion to World Christianity | publisher=Wiley | series=Wiley Blackwell Companions to Religion | year=2016 | isbn=978-1-118-55604-7 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KCzYCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA666 | access-date=2024-03-30 | page=666}}</ref> The Association of Religion Data Archives counts up to 128 million Christians independent from denominations.<ref name="x507">{{cite web | title=Custom Dataset | website=National Profiles | date=2024-12-04 | url=https://www.thearda.com/world-religion/np-sort?var=ADH_585 | access-date=2024-12-04}}</ref>

====African-initiated churches====
60 million people are members of [[African-initiated church]]es.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|url=http://protestantism.enacademic.com/11/African_Initiated_Churches|title=African Initiated Churches|author=Gordon Melton|encyclopedia=Academic Dictionaries and Encyclopedias|access-date=26 October 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141026174928/http://protestantism.enacademic.com/11/African_Initiated_Churches|archive-date=26 October 2014|url-status=live}}</ref>
*[[Zion Christian Church]] – 15 million{{Citation needed|date=February 2023}}
* [[Eternal Sacred Order of Cherubim and Seraphim]] – 10 million{{Citation needed|date=February 2023}}
* [[Kimbanguism|Kimbanguist Church]] – 5.5 million{{Citation needed|date=February 2023}}
* [[Redeemed Christian Church of God]] – 5 million<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.firstthings.com/article/2018/01/redemption-camp|title=Redemption Camp {{pipe}} Armin Rosen|website=First Things|date=January 2018 |access-date=15 February 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180215204235/https://www.firstthings.com/article/2018/01/redemption-camp|archive-date=15 February 2018|url-status=live}}</ref>
* [[Church of the Lord (Aladura)]] – 3.6 million<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.oikoumene.org/en/member-churches/regions/africa/nigeria/church-of-the-lord-aladura-worldwide.html |title=Church of the Lord (Aladura) Worldwide |publisher=Oikoumene.org |access-date=13 August 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110521183546/http://www.oikoumene.org/en/member-churches/regions/africa/nigeria/church-of-the-lord-aladura-worldwide.html |archive-date=21 May 2011 |url-status=dead}}</ref>
* Council of African Instituted Churches – 3 million<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.oikoumene.org/en/member-churches/regions/africa/south-africa/council-of-african-instituted-churches.html |title=Council of African Instituted Churches |publisher=Oikoumene.org |access-date=13 August 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110521154611/http://www.oikoumene.org/en/member-churches/regions/africa/south-africa/council-of-african-instituted-churches.html |archive-date=21 May 2011 |url-status=dead}}</ref>
* Church of Christ Light of the Holy Spirit – 1.4 million<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.oikoumene.org/en/member-churches/regions/africa/democratic-republic-of-congo/church-of-christ-light-of-the-holy-spirit.html |title=Church of Christ Light of the Holy Spirit |publisher=Oikoumene.org |access-date=13 August 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110521172644/http://www.oikoumene.org/en/member-churches/regions/africa/democratic-republic-of-congo/church-of-christ-light-of-the-holy-spirit.html |archive-date=21 May 2011 |url-status=dead}}</ref>
* African Church of the Holy Spirit – 700,000<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.oikoumene.org/en/member-churches/regions/africa/kenya/african-church-of-the-holy-spirit.html |title=African Church of the Holy Spirit |publisher=Oikoumene.org |access-date=13 August 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110909051756/http://www.oikoumene.org/en/member-churches/regions/africa/kenya/african-church-of-the-holy-spirit.html |archive-date=9 September 2011 |url-status=dead}}</ref>
* [[African Israel Church Nineveh]] – 500,000<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.oikoumene.org/en/member-churches/regions/africa/kenya/african-israel-nineveh-church.html |title=African Israel Nineveh Church |publisher=Oikoumene.org |access-date=13 August 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110521152020/http://www.oikoumene.org/en/member-churches/regions/africa/kenya/african-israel-nineveh-church.html |archive-date=21 May 2011 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

====Restorationism====
{{See also|Restorationism}}
* [[The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints]] – 600,000<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/facts-and-statistics|title = Statistics and Church Facts {{pipe}} Total Church Membership}}</ref>

== See also ==
*[[African theology]]
*[[Afrikaner Calvinism]]
*[[Christianity and colonialism]]
*[[Christian mysticism in ancient Africa]]
*[[Roman Catholicism in Africa]]
*[[Traditional African religion]]

==Notes==
{{Notelist}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==

* Cinnamon, John M. "Missionary expertise, social science, and the uses of ethnographic knowledge in colonial Gabon." ''History in Africa'' 33 (2006): 413-432. [https://www.academia.edu/download/35579953/Cinnamon_HA_2006.pdf online]{{Dead link|date=December 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}
* Froise, Marjorie. ''Southern Africa : a factual portrait of the Christian Church in South Africa, Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia and Swaziland'' (1989) [https://archive.org/details/southernafricafa0000unse online]
* Froise, Marjorie. ''World Christianity : South Central Africa : a factual portrait of the Christian church'' (1991) [https://archive.org/details/worldchristianit0000unse_q1j6 online]
* Hastings, Adrian. ''A history of African Christianity, 1950-1975'' (Cambridge University Press, 1979).
* Hastings Adrian. ''Church and mission in modern Africa'' (1967) [https://archive.org/details/churchmissioninm00hast online]
* Hastings Adrian. ''The Church in Africa, 1450–1950'' (Clarendon, 1995). [https://archive.org/details/churchinafrica140000hast online]
* {{cite book |last1=Isichei |first1=Elizabeth |title=A History of Christianity in Africa: From Antiquity to the Present |date=22 February 1995 |publisher=Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing |isbn=978-1-4674-2081-5 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QWOLEAAAQBAJ |language=en}}
* Lamport, Mark A. ed. ''Encyclopedia of Christianity in the global south'' (Rowman & Littlefield, 2018)
* [[Kenneth Scott Latourette|Latourette, Kenneth Scott]]. ''The Great Century: North Africa and Asia 1800 A.D. to 1914 A.D.'' (A History of The Expansion of Christianity, Volume 5) (1943), Comprehensive scholarly coverage. [https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.58452 full text online] also [https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/church-history/article/great-century-in-the-americas-australasia-and-africa-a-d-1800a-d-1914-by-kenneth-scott-latourette-new-york-harper-and-brothers-1943-ix-516-pages-400/C962ACA88C773BCF57C1A494B5EDF27C online review];
* {{cite book |author1=Latourette, Kenneth Scott |author1-link=Kenneth Scott Latourette |title=The Great Century In Northern Africa And Asia AD 1800 AD 1914 Volume VI in A history of the expansion of Christianity |date=1944 |url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.58452 |access-date=8 May 2024}}  [https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/church-history/article/great-century-in-the-americas-australasia-and-africa-a-d-1800a-d-1914-by-kenneth-scott-latourette-new-york-harper-and-brothers-1943-ix-516-pages-400/C962ACA88C773BCF57C1A494B5EDF27C online review]
* [[Kenneth Scott Latourette|Latourette, Kenneth Scott]]. ''The twentieth century outside Europe : the Americas, the Pacific, Asia, and Africa : the emerging world Christian community'' (1962) [https://archive.org/details/twentiethcentury0000unse_h9l8/page/n5/mode/2up online]
* Meyer, Birgit. "Christianity in Africa: From African independent to Pentecostal-charismatic churches." ''Annual Review of Anthropology'' 33 (2004): 447-474. [https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Birgit-Meyer/publication/228884096_Christianity_in_Africa_From_African_Independent_to_Pentecostal-Charismatic_Churches/links/0c96052cfe54e96855000000/Christianity-in-Africa-From-African-Independent-to-Pentecostal-Charismatic-Churches.pdf online]
* Neill, Stephen. ''A History of Christian Missions'' (1986), Global coverage over 19 centuries in 624 pages; [https://archive.org/details/historyofchristi0000neil_m6j0 online book] also see. [https://www.globalchinacenter.org/analysis/a-history-of-christian-missions-review-and-summary online review]
* Ranger, T.O. and John Weller, eds. ''Themes in the Christian history of Central Africa'' (1975) [https://archive.org/details/themesinchristia0000unse online]

===Historiography and memory===
* Bongmba, Elias Kifon. "Writing African Christianity: Perspectives from the History of the Historiography of African Christianity." ''Religion and Theology'' 23.3-4 (2016): 275-312. [https://www.academia.edu/download/65820149/Bongmba_Writing_African_Christianity.pdf online]{{Dead link|date=December 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}
* Etherington. Norman. "Recent Trends in the Historiography of Christianity in Southern Africa" in ''Critical Readings in ''The History of Christian Mission: volume 3" ed by Martha Frederiks and Dorottya Nagy. (Brill, 2021) pp 39–66. 
* Hastings, Adrian. "African Christian studies, 1967-1999: Reflections of an editor." ''Journal of religion in Africa'' 30#1 (2000): 30-44. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/1581621 online]
* Maluleke, Tinyiko Sam. "The Quest for Muted Black Voices in History: Some Pertinent Issues in (South) African Mission Historiography" in ''Critical Readings in ''The History of Christian Mission: volume 3" ed by Martha Frederiks and Dorottya Nagy. (Brill, 2021) pp 95–115.
* Maxwell, David. "Writing the history of African Christianity: Reflections of an editor." ''Journal of religion in Africa'' 36.3-4 (2006): 379-399.

==External links==
{{Commons category|Christianity in Africa}}
* [http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/africa/features/storyofafrica/index_section8.shtml BBC - The Story of Africa and Christianity]
* [http://www.africanchristian.org African Christian]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20101116113632/https://allaboutreligion.org/history-of-christianity-in-africa-faq.htm African Christianity Faq]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20110714162256/http://www.neednotfret.com/content/view/211/47/ Modern Evangelical African Theologians: A Primer]

{{Africa in topic|Christianity in}}
{{Africa religion}}
{{Protestant missions to Africa}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Christianity In Africa}}
[[Category:Christianity in Africa| ]]