Africa at a Glance
- Population: ~1.5 billion (2nd largest continent by population and size)
- Countries: 54 — more than any other continent
- Major Religions: Christianity (~50%), Islam (~44%), Traditional African Religions (~3%), other (~3%). Christianity dominates Sub-Saharan Africa; Islam dominates North Africa and the Horn.
- Largest Cities: Cairo, Egypt (25.6M) · Lagos, Nigeria (12.8M) · Kinshasa, DRC (17.8M metro) · Luanda, Angola · Khartoum, Sudan · Addis Ababa, Ethiopia · Nairobi, Kenya · Dar es Salaam, Tanzania · Johannesburg, South Africa · Casablanca, Morocco
- Major Languages:
- Arabic — North Africa
- French — West & Central Africa (25 countries)
- English — East & Southern Africa (27 countries)
- Swahili — East & Central Africa
- Hausa — West Africa
- Yoruba — Nigeria, Benin, Togo
- Amharic — Ethiopia
- Zulu / Xhosa — Southern Africa
- Portuguese — Angola, Mozambique, Cape Verde
The African church is one of the great stories of modern Christianity. At the start of the twentieth century, there were an estimated 9 million Christians on the continent. By century’s end, that number had grown to 380 million. Projections suggest 600 to 700 million professing Christians by mid 21st century. Churches meet under trees, in classrooms, in makeshift structures — and still they grow. The door of opportunity is wide open.
Estimates suggest that as many as 90% of pastors serving across Africa have received no formal biblical or theological training.
But growth and depth do not always keep pace. Estimates suggest that as many as 90% of pastors serving across Africa have received no formal biblical or theological training. The zeal is genuine and remarkable. It deserves to be met with solid grounding in God’s Word. Without it, churches remain vulnerable — and the prosperity gospel has exploited that vulnerability aggressively across the continent.
The good news is that a movement toward theological depth is underway. A generation of African pastors and scholars is doing theology for Africa, in Africa. Theological institutions are being established. Standards are rising. The work is urgent, and it is bearing fruit.
French is not a fading colonial language. It is becoming the language of one of the world’s most dynamic and fastest-growing populations — and the church is at the center of that story.
This is precisely where books matter — and where the stakes are particularly high across francophone Africa. French is already the fourth most spoken language in the world, with 396 million speakers today — 65% of whom live in Africa, a figure projected to rise to 90% by 2050. The International Organization of La Francophonie projects there could be 700 million French speakers in the world by 2050, driven almost entirely by African demographic growth. French is not a fading colonial language. It is becoming the language of one of the world’s most dynamic and fastest-growing populations — and the church is at the center of that story.
Global Christian Book Fund serves Bible schools and church networks across Africa partnering to get the right theological resources and Bibles into the hands of the pastors and leaders who need them most.
Stories from Africa
Walking 186 Miles to deliver Bibles in the Democratic Republic of Congo
Helping Future Pastors Understand the New Testament: Textbooks for 13 Seminary Students in Cameroon
Bridging the Resource Gap in Uganda to Build Stronger Leaders and Growing Churches
Meet Pastor Joely In Madagascar
