As of 2025, Africa is home to the largest Christian population of any continent. In the early 1900s, only around ten million of its inhabitants identified as Christians; today, that number exceeds 754 million.[1] Yet within this remarkable continental expansion, there remain countries where Christianity has gained only a small foothold. The Federal Republic of Somalia is one such country. With a population of 18.7 million—over 99% of whom are Sunni Muslim—Somalia has long been considered one of the most challenging environments in which the Christian faith can survive. Today, there are no public churches in the country, and simply owning a Bible can result in assault or imprisonment.[2] Christians face threats from militant groups, government institutions, religious authorities, and even family members. Until recently, estimates placed the number of Christians in Somalia at no more than a few thousand. However, in December 2023, the Somali Bible Society published census results indicating that at least 178,869 Christians now live in the country—a figure that, while significantly higher than previously assumed, still comprises less than one percent of the population.[3]
While a considerable body of research has been published on Somalia and its Muslim majority, higher-level academic studies specifically addressing Somali Christianity remain scarce. Historical overviews of Christianity in the Horn of Africa tend to address Somalia briefly and in general terms, while more detailed studies have primarily focused on the work of particular organisations or isolated periods. A comprehensive historical account of Christianity in the territory of present-day Somalia remains unwritten—one that would draw together the diverse missiological, political, and cultural threads shaping its past and present.
This paper addresses that gap by offering an historical analysis of both foreign and indigenous Christian missions in Somalia from c. 1880 to 2025. Based on multilingual archival research and interviews with key indigenous Somali Christian leaders, the study traces the emergence, challenges, and enduring witness of Christian communities in Somalia, while exploring why their numbers have remained consistently low despite more than 140 years of missionary activity in the region.
By situating Somali Christianity within the broader narrative of East African church history and world Christianity, this study contributes to neglected areas of both historical and missiological scholarship. It also engages this year’s conference theme by highlighting the witness of believers who embody Nicene Christianity not only in creed, but in costly, lived faithfulness.
[1] Gina A. Zurlo, Todd M. Johnson, and Peter F. Crossing, “World Christianity 2025: Regional Perspectives,” International Bulletin of Mission Research 49, no. 1 (2025): 67.
[2] “Somalia,” Religious Freedom in the World Report 2023, Aid to the Church in Need, accessed 27 March 2025, https://acninternational.org/religiousfreedomreport/reports/country/2023/somalia; Tibebe Eshete, “Ethiopia, Eritrea, Somalia and Djibouti,” in Christianity in Sub-Saharan Africa, ed. Kenneth R. Ross, J. Kwabena Asamoah-Gyadu, and Todd M. Johnson (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2017), 154.
[3] Bureau of Statistics, Somali Bible Society, “Somali Christian Census, 2023,” Somali Bible Society Journal 4, no. 2 (2023), 54–55.