Abstract
The Christian globe had been tilting southward for decades, but the majority of Christians worldwide were living in the Global South. Having replaced earlier terms such as the “developing world” or the “Third World,” the Global South refers to most countries in a broad band from Latin America to Africa to Asia. Indeed, although journalists, academics, and ordinary Christians in the West are often preoccupied with their own debates and “culture wars,” the tilting Christian globe is already proving to have profound theological, social, and political implications. In any case, although missionary work has certainly been one key factor in the coming of global Christianity, it is only one. Bitter theological disagreements may have divided Christians into competing traditions and denominations historically in the West, and bitter “culture wars” over social issues sometimes divide denominations.