Christianity is no longer a religion dominated by Europeans.
According to some projections, by 2050, at least four-fifths of the world's three billion Christians will be of non-European descent. The demographic sea change is the subject of the Divinity School's annual ministry conference, "From the Ends of The Earth," which will convene at 10 a.m. Friday, May 1 in Swift Hall, 1025 East 58th Street.
The two-day conference will welcome a diverse group of religious scholars, clergy and students to explore a wide range of questions related to the shift-from how it will influence Christian leadership in a post-colonial era, to how it will shape the self-understanding of Christians in the United States.
The free, public conference will feature keynote addresses from Kwok Pui Lan, professor of Christian theology and spirituality at the Episcopal Divinity School; William Dyrness, professor of theology and culture at Fuller Theological Seminary; and Betta Mengitsu, founding member of the Beza International Ministries, based in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
The Divinity School's fifth ministry conference will approach Christianity's changing demographics through a ministerial lens. For more information, please visit http://divinity.uchicago.edu/martycenter/conferences/ministry/ministry2009.shtml.