By O. Henry Swartzentruber
Daviess County has a growing population and many still value the family structure, thank goodness. But this week, I noticed a serious shift: the Christian West is headed South.
For centuries, Western Christendom found its hub in the historic capitals of Europe and North America. Today, that is changing. As the traditional geographic West (all that is west of the Holy Land) grapples with secularization, the rise of the religiously unaffiliated (the so-called religious “Nones”), and demographic stagnation, Sub-Saharan Africa is a new center of global Christianity.
Why? Some piece of it lies in the comfort and ease of the post-Christian West, where many no longer see the daily need to encounter God. My god has become myself.
This dramatic change was documented this week in the Fides News Agency, showing Africa now has approximately 288.3 million Catholic Christians, compared with Europe's 287.2 million. The broader Christian population also points to Africa's influence, with 700 million total Christians in Africa vs 500 million in Europe. A milestone in the shifting center of global Christianity.
Meanwhile, birthrates across much of the modern West are falling, creating demographic challenges for governments and religious institutions alike. Perhaps, in a society where life has become easier and more comfortable, we are losing. Stay strong, Daviess.
A Demographic Shift
Three trends illustrate this transition:
Growth: According to the report, Africa added 7.58 million Catholic Chrisitans in the most recently reported period, marking the largest increase worldwide.
Youthfulness: As the world's youngest continent, with a median age of approximately 19.5 years, Africa possesses an advantage. By comparison, Europe's median age is approximately 43. Africa's youthful population is expanding congregations, religious communities, and Christian institutions.
Clergy: Growing numbers of African seminarians, pastors, priests, missionaries, and religious workers are strengthening the Church at home while serving communities abroad—even in Montgomery, Indiana! One priest before was from Kerala Province, India, the historic home of St. Thomas Christians.
The numbers tell a remarkable story. Africa's Christian population continues to expand, while its youthful demographics provide fertile ground for growth.The future of Christianity is becoming less European and increasingly global, with Africa playing a major role.
This shift reveals a historical irony. As parts of Western Europe experience secularization and demographic decline, many African communities embrace the faith with conviction.
In matters of ancient doctrine, institutional fidelity, and public expressions of faith, leaders from the Global South (like Africa) increasingly influence the direction of global Christianity. Many defend more conservative, orthodox, and traditional interpretations of Christian teaching, challenging Western institutions that have become more accommodating of secular cultural trends. Somewhere a West German bishop is fixated on the latest letter in identity politics. For those concerned about preserving historic Christian teachings, this is a sad, significant development. Thank God for Africa.
Thus, the West is moving South—not geographically, but spiritually.
The “Comfort Crisis” vs. the Foxhole
To understand why the Global North appears to be losing religious vitality, see our Western landscape of comfort.
In his popular book The Comfort Crisis, author Michael Easter argues modern conveniences can weaken resilience, while deliberately embracing discomfort can improve physical health, mental toughness, and overall well-being.
Yes, my friends, perhaps the historic West is getting comfortable while the South is hardened by necessity and daily difficulty. With our success, we may have become trapped in a version of the comfort crisis.
Climate-controlled homes, artificial intelligence, modern plumbing, instant digital gratification, and unprecedented material abundance have eliminated much of the physical hardship that defined earlier generations. These advances have brought enormous benefits, but they may also carry unintended consequences.
The result, I believe, can be spiritual malaise and meaninglessness.
William Cummings, a World War II chaplain, is credited with the expression “There are no atheists in foxholes." When confronted with vulnerability, hardship, and mortality, many of us begin asking deeper questions.
Hardship can narrow our focus and make the importance of faith, family, and community impossible to ignore. In Man's Search for Meaning, Viktor Frankl reflects on survival in Nazi concentration camps and the importance of finding meaning even amid awful, daily suffering. His work shows us that people need a “why” to live; purpose and hope beyond immediate circumstances. Consider the early Church, which grew amid persecution, sacrifice, and hardship. Faith flourishes when it is lived as a necessity rather than treated merely as a cultural inheritance or a one-hour Sunday obligation.
What Can I Learn?
An article on the growth of the Church in Nigeria offers recommendations.
First, recover a daily awareness of God. Faith need not be confined to Sunday or moments of crisis. It can shape the ordinary rhythms of work, family life, service, and gratitude. We should learn to see God not merely as someone to call upon when life falls apart, but as the foundation of our lives every day.
Second, rediscover community and your sense of belonging. All of us need it. The Christian life was never meant to be lived alone. Churches should be places of genuine belonging, mutual responsibility, and practical support—not country clubs that people visit once a week.
Third, affirm the preeminence of the family as the domestic Church. The home is where faith is first taught, practiced, and passed to the next generation. And each of us then decides. The family is the smallest building block of a functional society and one of the most important places where virtue, responsibility, and conviction takes hold.
The West has much to offer the world, but every generation decides how it will live and what it will pass on. God does not have grandchildren, as they say, and material success alone cannot sustain a civilization.