Going full circle: History and impact of Christianity in Asia – The Manila Times

Read this in The Manila Times digital edition.
CHRISTIANITY today is the world’s largest faith — embraced by more than 2 billion people. From open democracies to closed regimes, every continent has been touched by its influence. Yet Christianity began not in Europe but in Asia, in a land where God entered human history.
Jesus Christ was born in, lived, died, rose again and will return to Jerusalem — in the heart of the Asian continent. His apostles were Asian men who carried the message of salvation eastward long before it ever reached Rome. Christianity, therefore, is not a Western faith but God’s revelation from the East to the whole world.
As centuries passed, the faith that began in Judea became identified with the West. Yet to understand the future God is shaping in Asia, we must look backward to the Gospel’s Asian roots and forward to the spiritual destiny of this continent.
Early Asian roots of Christianity
“Go therefore and make disciples of all nations.” (Matthew 28:19)
The cradle of Christianity was Asian. From Judea, the Gospel spread through the Levant — modern Israel, Palestine, Lebanon, Syria and Cyprus. The missionary city of Antioch — Antakya in today’s Turkey — was where believers were first called Christians (Acts 11:26).
Apostles like Thaddaeus, Bartholomew and Andrew carried the message north and east — to Armenia, Mesopotamia and Parthia. Thomas the Apostle reached India about AD 52, founding communities that survive as the St. Thomas Christians of Kerala.
By the second and third centuries, Christianity had traveled along the Silk Road, through Persia to Central Asia. Archaeological finds reveal ancient monasteries stretching from Syria to China. The Gospel’s first momentum was eastward, proving its foundation was thoroughly Asian — born of the deserts and rivers of the East.
Gospel’s reach into the Far East
By the seventh century, Nestorian Christians from Mesopotamia brought the Gospel to China’s Tang Empire. In AD 635, the missionary Alopen was welcomed in Xian, where Emperor Taizong allowed the Scriptures to be translated. The famous Nestorian Stele still records: “The Gospel has been made manifest.”
During the 13th century, under the vast Mongol Empire, Christianity flourished again. The Mongols had long been exposed to Nestorian Christianity through tribes of Central Asia. In the time of Genghis Khan, his sons took Christian wives of the Keraites.
During the reign of his grandson Möngke Khan, the primary religious influence was Christian. While another of his grandsons, the great Kublai Khan, established his court in Beijing, he received envoys from the pope and requested teachers of Western learning and faith. Though only a few friars reached him, this openness created a short but remarkable bridge between Europe and Asia.
Missionaries such as John of Monte Corvino translated parts of Scripture into Mongolian and Chinese, built churches in Beijing and baptized thousands of locals and foreigners in the Yuan capital.
The church’s presence waned with later dynasties, yet these centuries proved that the message of Christ could travel freely across Asian empires.
Even when suppression came, the seeds remained. In later centuries, missionaries would rediscover those ancient traces, and today tens of millions of believers across East Asia testify that the Word sown along the Silk Road still bears fruit.
Age of Discovery: The Gospel returns by sea
“How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news.” (Romans 10:15)
A second wave of Christian influx to Asia came with the Age of Discovery. In the 15th and 16th centuries, European vessels sailed eastward, reopening contact between Christendom and Asia. The 1494 Treaty of Tordesillas divided the world between Spain and Portugal, and though politics and empire were their motives, Providence used imperfect hands to carry perfect news.
Portugal brought the Gospel to Goa, Sri Lanka and the Spice Islands — the Moluccas and Timor in today’s Indonesia.
Spain introduced Christianity to the Philippines, where faith became the soul of the nation.
Missionary orders — the Jesuits, Franciscans and Dominicans — built churches, hospitals and schools that remain Asia’s intellectual backbone. St. Francis Xavier, the “Apostle to the Indies,” evangelized India, Malacca and Japan. Arriving in Japan in 1549, he played a key role in the early spread of Christianity in the country. He later died gazing toward China — the land he longed to enter.
Why Christianity’s spread was limited
If the Gospel was born in Asia, why did it flourish more in the West? Here are some of the five reasons according to research:
1. Deep-rooted religions — Asia’s ancient civilizations possessed strong systems: Hinduism, Buddhism, Confucianism and Islam. The Gospel confronted fully formed worldviews, not empty fields.
2. Political context — In Europe, Christianity gained imperial support; in Asia, it often faced suspicion as the faith of foreigners.
3. Cultural distance — Asian traditions prized harmony and pluralism, while Christianity proclaimed exclusive truth in Christ.
4. Social cost — Conversion could sever family ties or caste identity. Yet many endured for conscience’s sake.
5. Institutional weakness — Without political power, early Asian churches lacked universities and infrastructure to shape whole cultures.
Yet the Holy Spirit continued to move — through suffering and scholarship, through hospitals and hymnals. Wherever truth met need, transformation began. The Gospel in Asia has never advanced by force but by faithfulness.
Impact of Christianity in Asia
Christianity introduced Asia to a personal, loving and holy God. It replaced fatalism with hope, karma with grace and fear with forgiveness.
From tribal worshipers in Borneo to house-church believers in China, the Spirit of God has kindled hearts. Asian Christians now send missionaries abroad — completing the circle of the Great Commission.
Scripture teaches that authority is from God and accountable to Him (Romans 13). Christian thought birthed ideas of equality, justice and servant leadership.
In the Philippines, India, Korea and Malaysia, Christian educators and reformers promoted law, liberty and good governance. The moral courage of believers proved that freedom is a sacred stewardship, not a secular prize.
The Protestant work ethic dignified labor and discipline. Christian entrepreneurs and cooperatives modeled honest trade and stewardship.
Missionaries pioneered hospitals, agricultural projects and micro-enterprise long before state programs existed. Nations like South Korea and Singapore exemplify how biblical diligence and moral restraint can underpin prosperity.
Christianity redefined human worth. It abolished slavery, elevated women and protected children.
Churches founded hospitals, orphanages and schools that serve all people: Bangkok Christian Hospital, Penang Adventist, Tansen Mission Hospital, Don Bosco Schools and hundreds more.
In times of disaster, Christian nongovernmental organizations stand at the frontlines. Even where small in number, believers act as salt and light — preserving compassion in public life.
The full circle of God’s plan
The story of Christianity in Asia is one of resilience and return. Born in the East, carried westward and now reborn across the East again — it completes a divine circle.
From the underground churches of China to the open worship of Manila; from prayer mountains in Korea to quiet chapels in Brunei; from universities in Singapore to tribal huts in Borneo — God is moving in Asia again.
The question before us is not why Christianity once struggled, but what Asia must now fulfill.
Let us rise as a spiritual and moral force for our time — courageous in truth, compassionate in service and united in purpose — until the circle closes and the King returns to Jerusalem, where every tribe and tongue, including ours, will bow before Him.
“And from the East, they will come and sit at the table in the Kingdom of God.” (Luke 13:29)
The 2000-year gospel journey through generations of faithful men and women has now gone full circle across the world, back to where it started — in Asia.
“And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.” (Matt 24:14)
Lawyer Jeremiah B. Belgica, REB, EnP, was the first director general of the Anti-Red Tape Authority (ARTA). He is a founder and co-managing partner of Belgica Aranas Baldueza de la Cruz and Associates. He is also a pastor and a sought-after speaker for Christian biblical law and policy.
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