Christianity around the world

Christianity in the United States

The United States has a large and unusually diverse Christian population, shaped by immigration, revival, and religious freedom rather than by a single state church. Its Christian story runs from Spanish Catholic missions and English Protestant settlers through the Great Awakenings, the deep witness of the Black church, and waves of Catholic and Orthodox immigrants. Today American Christianity spans Catholic, mainline and evangelical Protestant, Orthodox, and countless independent churches.

How Christianity developed in the United States

Christianity came to North America along several paths. Spanish Catholic missions reached Florida and the Southwest in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries; French Catholics settled the north; and English Protestants, among them Puritans seeking to worship freely, settled the eastern seaboard from the early seventeenth century. Unusually, the new nation adopted no established national church, protecting the free exercise of religion, which let many kinds of Christianity flourish side by side.

Waves of revival, the Great Awakenings of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, spread a heartfelt, personal faith and gave rise to new movements. Among the most important stories is the Black church, born among enslaved and free African Americans, which held a deep faith in a God who sets the captive free and became the moral engine of the civil rights movement. Later immigration brought large Catholic, Orthodox, and Pentecostal communities.

The church here today

American Christianity is strikingly varied: Roman Catholics, mainline Protestants (Methodist, Lutheran, Presbyterian, Episcopal, and others), a large evangelical world, historically Black churches, Orthodox communities, and thousands of independent and nondenominational congregations. Levels of practice differ widely by region and community, and the share of Americans claiming no religion has grown. Yet Christianity remains the faith of a majority, and the country is a major sender of missionaries and Christian media worldwide.

If you are seeking here

If you are living in the United States and quietly wondering about Jesus, you are not alone, and you are welcome. Faith is not a nationality or a family tradition you are locked into or out of; it begins wherever one person turns to Christ and asks. You can start today by reading a Gospel, by praying honestly in your own words, and by finding a community that follows Jesus near you.

Frequently asked questions

Is the United States a Christian country?

Christianity is the faith of a majority of Americans, though the country has no established national church and protects religious freedom. Its Christian landscape is unusually diverse, and the share claiming no religion has grown.

What is the Black church in American Christianity?

It is the tradition born among enslaved and free African Americans, holding a deep faith in a God who sets the captive free. It became the moral engine of the civil rights movement and remains a vital part of American Christianity.

What kinds of churches are in the United States?

Roman Catholic, mainline Protestant, a large evangelical world, historically Black churches, Orthodox communities, and thousands of independent and nondenominational congregations.