What happened to Christianity? A once-dominant religion seems to be fading away from the global landscape when it comes to important decisions. A religion responsible for our calendar system is losing its influence on our culture. Its user numbers have plateaued as well. What could have been responsible for this decline? The Papacy used to control and influence global policy at one point, today they can barely control next door Sicily. I can’t remember one thing or value that Christianity agreed on that has become mainstream in the last decade.
According to the Pew Research Center, the number of Christians in the world is expected to grow from 2.4 billion in 2015 to 2.9 billion in 2060. This represents an increase of 20%, which is significantly lower than the growth rate of Islam (70%) and Hinduism (35%) over the same period. This means that Christianity will make up a smaller share of the world's population in 2060 than it does today.
If you are a Christian today, I think you should take some time to think about this stat. If Jesus has been kind to you, it is worth remembering that you probably would have never heard this gospel if someone did not build a church, distribute those Gideon Bibles, pay for the gospel to be preached on TV or walked up to your parents on a street and shared the good news of Christ with them. People laboured and carried this gospel into our age and some of them gave up their life. What would you give for this gospel before you die?
Digress A
Something interesting in happening in the English Premier League. It looks like the title race may go down to the wire between Arsenal and Man City. I know who I am rooting for but let’s see how this plays out.
Peter and John were two young lads who followed Jesus when he was on Earth. One day, they decided to go to the temple to pray and on their way, there was a lame man sitting by the Beautiful gate (what an ironic name) who was begging for money. He was not expecting to walk again in his life so he was happy to make do with the pittance he received. Peter saw the man and told the crippled man they could give him something more than money. Peter raised the man and told him to walk and his limbs received strength. Great crowds followed Peter and he was quick to remind them that the miracle was nothing to do with his godliness, he made it clear that it was faith in Jesus’ name that made the man whole. I don’t know, just thought to share this story with you guys as the story had stayed with me all week. Faith in the name of Jesus does wonders.
Digress B
Something happened to the world after the pandemic, a lot of people saw the value of marriage given the loneliness they experienced during that period, and as a result, we have seen more people getting married in their youths (although I did see an article once that said marriage rates went down and divorce rates went high during the pandemic). The proliferation of fancy videographers has further romanticized the idea of marriage and I do worry that a lot of the people getting married today do not undergo the required counselling necessary to prepare them for the institution called marriage. Anyway, if you are planning to get married, please ensure you read this amazing book by Timothy Keller before you get in. The book is called The Meaning of Marriage, I can assure you that your marital destiny will be positively impacted by this book.
What does the US Dollar and Google have in common? They are both too big to fail despite how inefficient they can, sometimes, be. Every once in a while, we hear about BRICS and how they want to circumvent the dollar by making their trade settlements in other currencies and after a few months, whatever agreement they have dies. The USD is the world's reserve currency. This means that it is the most widely used currency in international trade and finance. As a result, there is a large demand for USD, which helps to keep its value high. It will not die anytime soon, even those BRICS countries have their foreign reserves and sovereign wealth stored against the USD. As for Google, we know they have cannibalized the internet Search industry but there’s no worthy competitor. Microsoft’s Bing now pays people to use their search engine but it’s not kicked on. ChatGPT was supposed to be the end of Google but they have just released Bard, their own AI tool. It’s not as good as ChatGPT yet but it will be better. The thing with moats like Google is that they have all the resources in the world to drive mass adoption for whatever they release and also the resources to make it good. If I was chatGPT, I will be losing sleep about what Bard would look like in the next 5 years. Imagine Instagram asked this “5 years question” about Tiktok.
There was a time when I felt nothing could tamper with Instagram’s dominance. I was so fascinated by Instagram’s user spread and its potential for more growth that I didn’t think anything would knock it off its perch, in fact, I have had Sarah Frier’s No Filter book about the origins of Instagram on my reading list since. So when Tiktok rose to prominence and became the main sway on social media, it looked like I was about to swallow my humble pie. However, after reading through Meta’s Q1 performance, I don’t think I will be doing any swallowing anytime soon. Instagram is a moat and is not going anywhere. Tiktok’s For You algorithm which drew people to the app has lost its vigour, Instagram allows you to do more and the product team has made significant and bold upgrades. The folks at Instagram were not shy to release Reels (which is now their fastest-growing segment), they released Stories and they remain audacious in pushing releases that meet user demands.
Keep thinking about the gospel of Christ.
Always True!
Miracle Roch.