Guest author: Bob Mathews
I became aware this week of a survey conducted by the Pew Research Center (PRC). The PRC conducts many surveys; I’m sure you’ve seen some of them. This one was titled Tolerance and Tension: Islam and Christianity in Sub-Saharan Africa, and that caught my eye for a couple of reasons. One, this congregation has partnered with Gospel Chariot Missions for years, teaching the gospel in Namibia. The congregation I worshipped with after moving away from Fredericksburg has worked with GCM since 2011 in Malawi. Both of these countries are very much in “sub-Saharan Africa”, which is what the poll focused on. That made me interested enough, but it was the second reason that hooked me. I’ve been concerned for years about the increasing prevalence of Islam in Africa. Has it increased? Is Islam growing any faster than Christianity?
Islam in Africa
The Southern Hills congregation in Buda made its first trip to Malawi in 2011. The photo to the right is from that trip. That’s George Funk in the middle, with Chariot driver Alec on his right and Chariot 2 coordinator Moster on his left. In the background is a mosque. This is the only mosque we saw that week.
Two years later, we didn’t notice any difference, but in 2015, we worked almost exclusively in the capital city of Lilongwe. Not only was there a mosque within a couple miles of our hotel there, but we noticed more Muslims in town than we had noticed in previous years. We all noticed Islam had made a significant presence in Malawi. In 2016 and 2017, we noticed a surge in activity. We saw more mosques and many more Muslims in town and on the roads. Many of the new mosques we saw were in rural areas.
What about Namibia? I’ve been to Namibia with teams from the Fredericksburg congregation a number of times. I know there are Muslims in Namibia, but try as I might, I just couldn’t recall seeing too many of them, nor any mosques. My experience has been that Islam seems to be more prevalent in Malawi than in Namibia.
Back to the PRC survey…
“While sub-Saharan Africa has almost twice as many Christians as Muslims, on the African continent as a whole the two faiths are roughly balanced, with 400 million to 500 million followers each. Since northern Africa is heavily Muslim and southern Africa is heavily Christian, the great meeting place is in the middle, a 4,000-mile swath from Somalia in the east to Senegal in the west.”
That doesn’t sound so bad, especially since it’s no secret that Northern Africa is heavily Muslim. Islam very dominant in countries from Egypt to Morocco, and from Sudan to Mauritania (map of Africa – for the location of Namibia look at the bottom of the map, and from South Africa, go up and to the left 1 country; there it is). This map shows vividly where Islam is concentrated in Africa, where Christianity is concentrated, and where there is balance:
Source: Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life, April 2010
So there are “over 200 times as many Christians [as Muslims]” in Namibia. Note this was from 9 years ago. It’s easy to see though, the 2 countries in Africa with the highest proportion of Christians to Muslims are Namibia and Botswana. Angola and Zambia aren’t far behind.
What does that mean for Fredericksburg?
First, let’s consider another finding of the PRC study: “Despite the dominance of Christianity and Islam, traditional African religious beliefs and practices have not disappeared. Rather, they coexist with Islam and Christianity.” This idea is completely independent of whether Islam influence is increasing or decreasing in Namibia.
The effect of this is at the tent meetings, we are seeing people who consider themselves Christian and yet continue to hold to some “traditional African” religious customs. The PRC explained this as belief in “witchcraft, evil spirits, sacrifices to ancestors, traditional religious healers, reincarnation and other elements of traditional African religions.”
This isn’t an issue to be taken lightly, but consider that when Abraham was called, his family worshiped other gods (Joshua 24:2). Jacob’s wives were raised in a pagan household (Genesis 31:19). In Namibia, the practice is something we need to be aware of and to be ready to teach against. It’s quite likely those we are teaching see no conflict between Christianity and traditional African religious customs. In fact, we talked with some in Ondangwa Namibia who were told they wouldn’t receive the Lord’s blessing unless they bought a wall hanging (from the person claiming this, of course) for some exhorbitant price.
How has it changed?
Also, one might wonder how the demographics have changed. As mentioned earlier, it certainly seemed the Muslim influence was much greater in 2017 than in 2011. What does the data show? Actually the news isn’t as bad as one might expect. In 2011, PRC reported these figures for Namibia:
| Estimated 1990 Muslim Population | Percentage of 1990 Population that is Muslim | Estimated 2010 Muslim Population | Percentage of 2010 Population that is Muslim | Projected 2030 Muslim Population | Projected Percentage of 2030 Population that is Muslim |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4,000 | 0.3% | 9,000 | 0.4% | 12,000 | 0.4% |
So while the Muslim population in Namibia is growing, the relative population of Muslims among the total population in Namibia is expected to increase only slightly.
For sure, it’s important to know what opposition we face from satan. It’s more important though to understand, teach, and show the sufficiency of Christ (1 Corinthians 2:2). What Namibians, indeed what we all, need to understand is that Jesus alone has paid the price of our salvation (John 14:6, et.al.). He alone can offer a place in heaven that He has personally prepared for those who trust in Him (John 14:1-4). If we continue to preach Jesus, we’ve done what we were called to do.
